Rubens, Peter Paul. Deutsch: Sturz Phaëthons. 17th Century, Brussel, Belgium.
As the “The Story of Phaethon” and the Metamorphoses as a whole are
pieces of poetry, it is expected that poetic devices are hiding around every single corner. The section of “The Story of Phaethon” that I chose was the beginning (lines 1-48), where Phaethon ventures toward the royal palace of the sun to first meet Apollo and converse with him about the legitimacy of Apollo’s fatherhood. Apollo promises the young boy anything in order to prove that he really is the father of Phaethon, so Phaethon chooses the sun chariot. Throughout the first part of “The Story of Phaethon”, Ovid uses polysyndetons many times. For example, in line 15-16, when describing the world the story takes place in, Ovid says, “Terra virōs urbēsque gerit silvāsque ferāsque flūminaque et nymphās et cētera nūmina rūris”, which is directly translated as “The ground carries men and cities and forests and beasts and rivers and nymphs and other divinities of the countryside”. Also, in lines 25-26, when describing the surroundings of Apollo in the royal palace of the sun, Ovid writes, “Ā dextrā laevāque Diēs et Mēnsis et Annus Saeculaque et positae spatiīs aequālibus Hōrae”, which is directly translated to “By the right hand and on the left side the days and months and years and the lifetimes and placed in even spaces the hours”. Both of these quotes from lines 1-48 of “The Story of Phaethon” are perfect examples of polysyndetons - a poetic device in which conjunctions are used repeatedly one after another. The reason why Ovid included these polysyndetons in these sentences is in order to create a sense of magnitude and greatness within the contents of the poetic device. By repeating the linking conjunction in these sentences an unnecessary amount of times, the list seems to continue stacking and stacking upon itself, which therefore causes the list to feel much more vast and almost overwhelming than it actually is. Concerning the contents of each of the polysyndetons, the first one listed above addresses the many things the earth carries on it, and the second one listed above addresses the seasons and durations of time surrounding Apollo. In context of what is contained inside the polysyndetons, it is very clear why Ovid might have chosen to include this poetic device here. For the first example, Ovid wanted to make it seem that the earth holds many different places and people etc., and for the second example, he wanted to make the presence of the different seasons and what not seem overwhelming to the reader in an attempt to mimic Phaethon’s feelings in the scene. In conclusion, through poetic devices, Ovid is able to subconsciously create different emotions within the reader without blatantly telling them. |