To be honest, I only read this because the Callisto story was in it. Hughes does a really nice job at retelling the stories, but readers should be aware, this isn't really a translation: it's an English retelling that tends to follow the Latin in structure, but doesn't serve to be precise. A very loose translation, if you will. Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and would recommend it, especially if someone wants an intro to some of the Metamorphoses' greatest hits.

This is not so much a translation of twenty-four tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses as a transformation of them, and a brilliant one. Sinewy and exciting, it's hard to imagine a more vital gateway to classical mythology, or a more thrilling example of modern narrative verse. Hughes works with language that is both familiar (I found only a couple of words that were new to me in the whole book) and reinvigorated. Sometimes this is done by stunning but never jarring imagery - the "nuclear blast / Of [Jove's] naked impact" on Semele, or Nessus's "strawberry shirt of blood" - sometimes by subtle shifts and repetitions, as when Callisto, transformed into a bear, comes face to face with her hunter son, and

Reared upright to face him,
Standing tall to see him better, fearless,
As if she recognised him. She recognised him.

and sometimes, but only when appropriate, as in the tale of Pentheus, in a Bacchic frenzy of words. Exhilarating.

Using Hughes' Ovid as a wonderful base while i dive in and out of Charles Martin's translation (Norton critical), which is rather hefty. Each time I return to the larger volume I wish Hughes had translated more than the 24 tales presented here.
But maybe its size is a strength, giving us a glimpse into what Hughes thought were the tales that excited readers the most. I hope that others appreciate its beauty and that it also inspires readers who were struggling with or unaware of Ovid to maybe give him a second chance like myself.

amazing. easily my newest favorite book. bravo, ted hughes.

This was such a great introduction to Ovid’s poetry! My high school English teacher recommended this translation and the excerpts and writing make the Metamorphoses so much more accessible. Occasionally the translation can be a bit modern but it makes for such easy reading. If like me you haven’t read the myths of Pygmalion or Arachne yet this is your chance!

A wonderful, hypnotic translation of the classic myths. Ted Hughes doesn't shy away from the brutality or emotional ferocity of the original tales, adding his own lyrical touches. I would recommend this collection to anyone.

Read it in 2 days. I loved it

Loved these. Greek and Roman myths are some of my favourite things to read. I don't know how much was Ovid's original and how much was Hughes' translation, but it felt like a perfect blending of the two.

I've only read a few excerpts from Metamorphoses before, but it's pretty obvious that these aren't very literal versions of the original stories. Hughes's translations are very loose, but he perfectly captures the beauty and horror of the myths. I still plan to read a complete translation, eventually, but I loved these. Some are well known, like "The Rape of Proserpina" or "Echo and Narcissus" but most of them I'd never heard of before.

Some of my favorite quotes:

from "Creation"

“He conjured springs to rise and be manifest,
Deep and gloomy ponds,
Flashing delicious lakes.
He educated
Headstrong electrifying rivers
To observe their banks — and to pour
Part of their delight into earth’s dark
And to donate the remainder to ocean
Swelling the uproar on shores.”

from "Phaethon," describing the disastrous fire all over Earth when Phaethon, son of the sun god Phoebus, loses control of the Sun's chariot:

“That day, Libya, in a flash of steam, became a shimmering desert,
Where the nymphs of the springs and lakes
Wandered like wraiths, wailing for lost water.”

from "Erysichthon" describing a man cursed with endless hunger for offending the goddess Ceres:

“This voracity, this bottomless belly,
As if his throat opened into the void of stars,
Engulfed his entire wealth.”

At the minute I'm trying to respond to Ovid, Metamorphoses, with my own poems, so it was great to read Hughes interpretation of Ovid, twenty four stories. And they included stories I know from Shakespeare, from Carol Ann Duffy The World's Wife, from Tales Of Ancient Greece by Enid Blyton which I read when I was younger and is my first reference point!

I haven't read Ovid the original properly yet so where it becomes more Ted Hughes than Ovid I can't judge. But it was compelling reading, within a few stanzas the stories became plotted, convoluted, sad.

One of my favourite transformations that deepened my understanding of the Hades/Persephone story, Cyane, 'her sorrow/ melted her into the very waters...her limbs thinned, her bones became pliant,/ her nails softened. Swiftly she vanished.' The entry point into the fluidity of shape, of form, and the danger and relief of melting into nothing. Even the transforming of Niobe into stone feels like relief, escape from her immediate anguish into eternal symbol of sorrow.

A lot of reviews say Hughes and Ovid are mismatched in style, but it makes sense to me that Hughes would understand the Ovid world of violent and sudden change, deathly passions, nature colliding with human mortality. The links between explanations of life on earth and myth making took my breath away with the ingenious twists and turns.

'Hughes considered myths as our ancestors’ earliest attempts to civilise the archaic powers of instinct and feeling. He saw myths, in a Jungian sense, as an expression of a collective dream'
http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/ta...

http://montanawriter.com/2010/08/12/b...
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/12/14...

Often, when returning to the source material for stories which have become part of the cultural lingo, one fears that the original would not offer anything new. That fear was dispelled two pages into this collection, fresh, immediate, and emotionally moving as it must have appeared to its original readers 2000 years ago. I don't know how much is Ovid and how much Ted Hughes, but amazing work from both.

Still, this treatment of myths is lacking a bit of the psychological depth compared to the great Greek poets and tragedians. "Cygnet", for instance, offers a portrayal of the wrath of Achilles that is comical compared to the OG Homeric version. And as much as I enjoyed this version of the story of Bacchus and Pentheus, Ovid relies too much on gore and violence for emotional appeal, in contrast to Euripides' version which places center-stage a cross-dressing, homophobic creep for maximal dramatic effect.

I agree with Ted Hughes' intro: much of this Roman bloodbath fed into Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet, but for the darkest, screwiest works like King Lear, Shakespeare must have done back to the Greeks.

Very good!

Read this for class and I found it very enjoyable.

Hughes' translation took a hold of me brought light to Ovid's original and our current climate. His translation of the fiery pride and courage of Phaeton reflects directly on our growing concerns and issues with climate change. Hughes realization of the Earth burning was a little to real at times, describing a 'cracked earth' and 'shrinking seas'. Other narratives also felt very contemporary, like that of Tiresias' transformation and fluid gender identity.

Hughes' poetic form and careful word choice made this translation more meaningful I think, as he had less words to work with. He describes Niobe's transformation into a weeping rock very conscisely, becoming

'...all stone.
Packed in stone'.
And yet
This stone woman wept.'

Hughes has taken the Metamorphoses and brought it into the new century, bringing attention to different aspects of Ovid. His translation feels even more contemporary than I imagine it did at its first publication in the 90s. Passion is something we will always talk about, its part of who we are as people, as Ovid and Hughes reiterate.

Recommend! Very accessible way to engage with classical poetry.