Ovid published his Metamorphoses, a collection of tales exploring transformation, in 8 CE—the same year he was sent into exile.
In this excerpt he writes grief using the sound and movement of the sea—the place and cause of the tragedy told. I chose this section because it moved me, and I have made my linguistic choices primarily to carry over the emotion and flow of the piece.
The reader of the Metamorphoses had the context and characters set up for them as the story unfolded. By titling the excerpt I give some context for the reader, while retaining ambiguity, so that the title means something different after reading the poem. At the time of Ovid’s writing there was no majuscule-minuscule distinction, or punctuation, so I have used these tools sparsely, and in unfamiliar ways. There is an ebb and flow to the Latin that I tried to replicate in English. I have used em dashes as they seem to join, and simultaneously stretch away from, the phrases they connect, like the pull of the waves. I also wanted to preserve the flex and tension of the Latin, blurring the lines between what is thought, speech, or narrative. Square brackets were my apparatus of choice.
Finally, in deciding which lines to excerpt I kept in mind that Ovid repeatedly took tales and reworked them for his own usage. I like to think he would not mind the slice that I have cut, and where I made the incision.
Read the poem this note is about, “Beach Body.”
Victoria Punch is a voice coach and performer in Devon, England. She is currently researching silence in text and translation.