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Home > Features > Teaching Ovid in the Context of His Cultural Perspective
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Teaching Ovid in the Context of His Cultural Perspective
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by Phyllis Katz
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
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| | My colleague Charbra Jestin offers a very useful practicum for teaching students to translate the poems of Ovid effectively. She rightly focuses on showing her students how important accurate translation is. Most valuable, she leads the students steadily toward understanding how to apply their knowledge of forms and syntax so as to translate correctly. When students are able to write a clear and accurate translation of a specific passage, then they have acquired the necessary tools to read the Latin.
All too often, however, students believe that they have done the necessary work once they have finished a translation. If we question them about what they have translated, about what the lines mean, about what significance the lines have for an individual poem or passage, or about how the translation illuminates their understanding of Ovid as a writer of varying genres in the context of his cultural perspective, frequently students cannot answer us.
Yet, reading for comprehension, that vital step beyond translation, is at the very core of mastering any language. In our textbook we address this overall problem via the introduction to Ovid's life and works, the general introductions to Ovid's Amores and Metamorphoses, and the specific introductions to individual poems from the Amores and passages from the Metamorphoses. When I teach from our text, I expect my students to have read and digested these introductions and to apply what they have learned to their comprehension of the passage. I supplement these introductions with further interpretative materials as needed, beginning with the bibliography in the text. In addition, in class and on quizzes and tests, I always include questions on interpretation. Students generally understand the function of poetic devices such as metaphors in conveying meaning; they need more help with perceiving how metrical variations and sound patterns function. This is where the teacher plays a vital role.
Many students also have difficulty recognizing the importance of tone for Ovid. For this reason, I use Amores 1.1 and 1.3 as vehicles for perceiving the humorous and ironic tone that Ovid employs throughout most of the Amores. Subsequently, I expect my students to be aware of the importance of tone, particularly as it varies throughout the Metamorphoses, and to be ready to move beyond the literal in their reading of the poet.
One concrete way of enabling students to focus on their translations as conveyors of ideas rather than as Latin homework tasks is to ask them to construe the sentences they have translated into their own words. So, for example, I might ask a student to take their translation of Amores l.3, lines 7-14, and rewrite their translation in an interpretive manner. I would expect that their rewriting of the lines would reflect an understanding not only of what Ovid is saying, but also of how it is being said and for what overall purpose. If students, through their renderings, are unable to perceive that Ovid is presenting his credentials to his as yet unnamed puella, they will fail to appreciate the impact of these lines. If students cannot see that Ovid is trying to win his girl in the manner of a boasting Roman citizen listing his ancestors, his professional qualifications, and his moral qualities for her approval, and if they cannot understand the function of these lines and the humor behind them, their recasting of the lines into their own words will show their confusion. Through this technique they become aware of when they should take Ovid seriously and when to see his humor.
Students who have learned to read Ovid beyond the literal translation will not fail to appreciate his diverse poetic skill. Perhaps their successful reading and comprehension of this delightful poet will encourage them and give them the confidence to carry on to other Latin authors.
Phyllis Katz has taught Classics and related subjects at various colleges and universities, as well as a secondary school, for the past 40 years. She has been teaching at Dartmouth College since 1991. She is the author, along with Charbra Adams Jestin, of Ovid: Amores Metamorphoses Selections, published by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers.
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