Pyramus and Thisbe

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 8

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Background

Historical Context

Ovid’s production period coincides with one of the most prosperous eras in Roman history: the Pax Romana, a time of unprecedented stability enabled by Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. But this halcyon age came at heavy cost to the Roman people. In the decades before Ovid’s birth, a series of destructive civil conflicts had nearly torn the Roman republic in two. Various political parties vied for supremacy until finally, a climatic civil war between the populist Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction, led by Pompey the Great, ended in sound defeat for the Senate (49-45 BCE). In 44 BCE Julius Caesar assumed the mantle of dictator perpetuo, “dictator-in-perpetuity,” transforming Rome from a constitutional republic into an empire.

While Julius Caesar was soon assassinated by conspirators in the Senate in 44 BCE, his heir and successor, Octavian Augustus, proved more adept at playing the political game. Augustus took a step back from Caesar’s inflammatory verbiage; tyranny was a highly distasteful concept to the Romans, who prided themselves on their devotion to liberty. In contrast to his adoptive father, Augustus situated himself as the princeps, or “first citizen,” of Rome. He perpetuated an illusion of working with the Senate while in reality, he ruled the state single-handedly—and with an iron fist.

While many Romans remained uneasy about the prospect of dictatorship—Augustus was particularly ruthless with proscriptions, or state-sanctioned executions of his political opponents—it was hard to argue with his results. Rome thrived under Augustus’s leadership. The boundaries of the empire were greatly expanded. Trade flourished. Augustus undertook several civic projects too: Networks of roads, improved infrastructure, and a slew of new temples and building projects improved life substantially for the Roman people.

Most importantly for the purposes of this guide, Augustus was keenly aware of the power of propaganda and made a focused effort to revive the arts scene in Rome. His tastemaker Maecenas identified and supported some of the most famous Roman poets in history, including Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. So successful was this program that this era is referred to as the “Golden Age” of Roman literature. Court poets were, naturally, expected to praise and thank the emperor in their works, which they did (to varying degrees of sincerity).

But while Ovid certainly paid his dues in lip service to Augustus, he was something of a rebel among the Augustan poets. Unlike his more even-keeled predecessors, Virgil and Horace, Ovid’s poetry was erotic, youthful, and provocative. Even as Augustus undertook a campaign to encourage upstanding moral virtue in Rome—particularly in the realms of marriage and sexuality—Ovid published works like Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) and Remedia Amoris (The Cure for Love), tongue-in-cheek handbooks on how to seduce, secure, and dump your lover. Even “Pyramus and Thisbe,” one of the sweeter examples of Ovid’s love stories, has undertones of Ovid’s distinct brand of raunchy humor.

While these works were undoubtedly thorns in Augustus’s side, scholars generally agree that they were likely not the reason for Ovid’s banishment—or at least not the sole reason. As Ars and Remedia were published many years before Ovid’s relegation in 8 AD, they do not seem to have been the immediate cause. But knowledge of this historical background helps reconstruct the culture in which Ovid produced his poetry—a culture from which he was eventually banished near the end of his life.

Literary Context

Ovid’s works are resistant to categorization. While Roman poets tended to specialize in a genre or two, Ovid had a more cutting-edge approach towards poetic composition. He was less interested in perfecting a certain style and more interested in adapting features of different genres to suit his themes and tone. In practice, this means that many of his works are “hybrids” of genres often kept distinct in antiquity. His Ars Amatoria, for example, covers erotic themes and uses the appropriate meter for erotic poetry, elegiac couplets. But in its tone, Ars more closely resembles a didactic poem: It is meant to sound educational, even if that “education” is firmly tongue-in-cheek. While Ovid did not pioneer this sort of fusion—nor was he alone in deploying these techniques in the Augustan age—his comfort with blurring generic lines is a hallmark of his poetic voice.

The Metamorphoses, too, is a colorful pastiche of various literary genres. As befits its overarching theme of transformation, it is an epic, which slides fluidly from one genre’s influence to another’s. To understand “Pyramus and Thisbe,” it is especially useful to consider two of these genres: elegy and epic.

The first genre, elegy, covered subjects of strong emotion—sometimes grief, but often love. It was pioneered by the Greeks and showcased by some of their finest poets, including Archilochus and Callimachus, before its appropriation by the Roman elegists Propertius, Catullus, Tibullus, and Ovid. Ovid’s first collection of poetry, Amores (The Loves), was elegiac; it imagined a variety of first-person erotic scenarios between lovers. Similarly, Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) and its follow-up, Remedia Amoris (Remedies for Love), are poetic handbooks on how to secure the sexual partner of one’s dreams. The story of “Pyramus and Thisbe” exhibits many hallmarks of elegiac poetry. The lovers are kept apart by various societal obstacles and circumstances outside of their control. They experience a roller coaster of subjective, highly personal emotions—another hallmark of elegy—before finally, their story ends in sad (but satisfying) tragedy.

That being said, the Metamorphoses is not an elegiac poem—it is an epic. Its meter is not elegiac couplets, but epic’s dactylic hexameter. The epic genre generally covered themes of heroism, military accomplishment, and national history. It was widely considered to be the pinnacle of poetic achievement in antiquity—only the best of the best tried to write epic. Ovid’s decision to compose the Metamorphoses was a bold one; it put him in competition with ancient literature’s heaviest hitters, including the Greek epicists Homer and Hesiod, as well as Ovid’s wildly successful contemporary, the Augustan poet Virgil.

Being the latest in a long line of epicists inflicted Ovid with what the American literary critic Harold Bloom has termed “the anxiety of influence” (Bloom, Harold. The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry. Oxford University Press. 1973.) This phrase refers to the interior struggle of an up-and-coming author in dealing with the incredible success of their predecessors. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid did not want to retread ground covered by his rivals. Instead, he often put a playful and irreverent spin on epic mainstays, a technique seen in full force in “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Pyramus’s noble suicide by sword, for example, is a call-back to similar epic suicidal lovers (like Virgil’s Dido), but the botched effort gives Ovid’s version a slight comedic spin. Ovid’s willingness to be playful—his unique ability to make a joke and pull heartstrings in the same breath—is an important factor in distinguishing him from his epic peers.