Ovid's Metamorphosis

Ovid (Publius Ovidus Naso) was a Roman born on March 20, 43 b.c. and lived until 18 a.d. His father was of the Eqestrian order in Rome and provided Ovid with a first class education and opportunities to serve in public office. His passion for poetry led him to write the Metamorphoisis, fascinating stories of transformation enabled by the power of gods. Ovid completed the Metamorphosis some where near the time that Christ was born. Chaucer himself favoured the Metamorphosis along with most all of Western Culture. The Metamorphosis and other works of Ovid are said to have furnished great painters and sculptors with the material for their works of timeless art. Ovid also published some of his poetic work under the name of Naso.
Ovid's station is society placed him in a familiar position with the family of Augustus, the emperor of Rome. It is believed that it was some offense to a memeber of this family that led to Ovid's exile from Rome. At the age of 50 Ovid was sent to live the remainder of his ten years in Tomis, a barbarous country that borders the Black Sea known for a severe climate. Seperated from his wife, his work and the prosporous life he had led in Rome Ovid began a metamorphosis of his own.
The tale An Imaginary Life written by David Malouf is the story of Ovid's life in exile at Tomis. In this story Ovid is reaquainted with the Child, a wild boy raised in the forest most likely by wolves or deer. It is Ovids obsession with this creature of nature that drives him to request that the boy be captured and brought to the village. This of course is the beginning of a metamorphosis for the Child. During this period Ovid continues to morph from the political figure of Rome to a man comfortable living among those with a crude language and supersticious practices.
The Metamorphosis written by Ovid and An Imaginary Life written about Ovid are fascinating stories of transformation either from the gods or as a result of man's will. It is the Metamorphosis however that has made Ovid the father of transformation.