Publius Ovidius Naso
Ancient Roman · 1st century BC / 1st century AD
Roman poet of the Augustan era, best known for the Metamorphoses, a fifteen-book narrative poem in dactylic hexameter covering Greek and Roman mythology from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar. The Metamorphoses is the primary classical source for many myths invoked across English-language literary tradition, including Echo and Narcissus (Book III).
Connection to Taylor Swift
Source for the Echo and Narcissus myth referenced in Enchanted ('my thoughts will echo your name'). Mythological figures and motifs from Ovid's Metamorphoses surface across Taylor's catalogue and recur in podcast analysis.
Notable Works
- Metamorphoses, Heroides, Ars Amatoria
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Echo and Narcissus myth
“My thoughts will echo your name”
Angela & Uncle Jerry note that the word 'echo' in the bridge connects to the myth of Echo and Narcissus. Echo is a minad who sees Narcissus and falls in love at first sight. Uncle Jerry acknowledges Taylor probably doesn't know this connection but notes the word 'echo' appears in the song and the myth is a love-at-first-sight story. Narcissus falling in love with his own reflection is the origin of the word narcissism.
Metamorphoses
Uncle Jerry quotes Ovid in the summative discussion of cardigan as the framing text for the trilogy's question about permanence: 'There's a great line from Ovid. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit. All things do change, but nothing eternal ever changes.' The line is from the Metamorphoses (Book XV), Pythagoras' speech on the doctrine of universal flux balanced by eternal essence. Uncle Jerry deploys the quote to anchor the new theme 'The nature of permanence': the question of what lasts when everything is in motion, and whether anything is eternal.