Context:
In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Fate of Adonis is the last poem of Book 10, and is introduced directly after the Story of Atlanta. The story goes that Venus, fueled by revenge, makes Hippomenes have sex with Atlanta in the temple of the Goddess Cybele so that all the god’s could see. When Cybele sees this, she transforms them into wild lions which are unable to be tamed and attack anyone who comes near.
After Venus finishes, she warns him again that he should not hunt animals who are not afraid of men. Adonis ignores her advice and goes out on a hunting trip with his dogs, where he comes upon a boar hiding in a cave. He attempts to kill it by throwing a spear, but he misses and the boar impales him with his horns and leaves Adonis to die upon the sand. Venus, on her way to the island of Cyprus, hears his dying groans and rushes back to him, only to find that he was already dead. She mourns him and promises that each year there will be a monument held for his death; she then changes him into a flower but its petals are too weak and they break off easily in the wind.
Ovid’s version of the Fate of Adonis is the most popular and the most complete telling of the story. Before him few poets mentioned Adonis, and if they did it was vague or unfinished. An exception of this is Bion, a Greek poet from sometime in the late second century and early first century BCE. His poem, the Lament for Adonis, is one of his most famous and only surviving works. His writing in comparison to Ovid seems florid and focused more on the romance between Venus and Adonis, rather than the whole story. In this poem Ovid pays more attention to the metamorphoses of Adonis, rather than the mourning and the love between him and Venus. Athenaeus of Naucratis mentions him briefly in the Deipnosophists, but doesn’t go into detail about his death or of his love for Venus. Overall, Ovid’s Fate of Adonis, is by far the most well read and the most direct and best explanation of Adonis and Venus.
Artistic Analysis:
I chose the piece Venus and Amor Mourning the Death of Adonis by Cornelis Holsteyn, because I feel that it reflects the meaning of the story the best. Many of the art that I looked at strayed from the story in order to provide more drama, excitement, and romance to their paintings. Holsteyn manages to keep his painting as simple as possible with only Venus, Adonis, and Amor. In the original poem by Ovid, Amor is not mentioned, but in all of the artwork based of the story he is there. Besides Amor there are often other women included who may have been the muses or just other women who had seen his death.
Little is known about Holsteyn except that he was a Dutch painter during the 17th century, and almost all of his paintings were based off of mythology; which was highly influential during the Renaissance. In his painting Holsteyn chose to capture the moment that Venus finds Adonis dying on the sand, next to her stands Cupid, her son. In other translations of the Fate of Adonis, Cupid is mentioned briefly which may have been the inspiration for Holsteyn to paint him, but it almost feels unnecessary.
This depiction of Adonis shows each of the most important parts of the story. Underneath his body lies the spear he used in an attempt to kill a boar, nearer to the background by the trees are the dogs he used to hunt the boar, and next them is the boar itself. Venus herself is leaning over him and although she is mourning his death, she is still seen as the most beautiful part of the painting. It was a common trend in painting with Venus that she would be shown naked or at least partially naked in order to symbolize her beauty and the love she embodies. Adonis as well seems to have strength and beauty in him even in death. Holsteyn doesn’t show the wound that the boar had caused, which could be representative of the fact that he was thought of as the most beautiful man before his death, and so his wounds would only bring ugliness to his body.
Rhetorical Analysis
Ovid uses poetic devices within his poetry in order to bring emotion to the stories. These figures are most often found nearer to the climax of the story, without it the poems would seem dull and bland to the Romans reading it. In the Fate of Adonis Ovid uses them sparingly and they almost all appear while Venus is mourning his death. On line 727, “annua plangoris peraget simulamina nostri,” is a golden line. The line translates as, “will finish the annual imitations of our wailing,” in the context of the story, it is the point at which Venus decides that instead of allowing fate to take Adonis away from her, she will transform him into a flower and dedicate a holiday to him. Golden lines in poetry are rare, already considered antique even when it was used in Greek poetry. Because of this, golden lines are thought of as almost superior to other poetic forms, and are meant for the higher class readers. Ovid’s use of this poetic device gives this line a particular emphasis on its importance. By using it, Ovid illustrates just how deep Venus’ love for Adonis goes; in that she is willing to defy fate itself in order to change him into a flower.
Just after the golden line Ovid uses an apostrophe on lines 729-730, “an tibi quondam/femineos artus in olentes vertere mentas.” Which translates into, “can it be that it is permitted formerly by you, Persephone, to turn womanly limbs into fragrant mint.” An apostrophe is a poetic device in which either a character or the author addresses someone not actively involved in the story. In this case, Venus is addressing Persephone who had, sometime before this took place, changed a nymph into mint because she claimed to be superior to Persephone. Ovid uses the apostrophe in order to provide a sense of the desperation and sadness Venus is feeling. Instead of just immediately changing Adonis into a flower she feels the need to plead to Persephone, she needs some kind of assurance that if Persephone was allowed out of spite to change a nymph into mint, then Venus should be able too as well.
Both of these poetic devices bring an effect to the poem that would have been otherwise lost without them. The golden line gives a sense of importance and love, and the apostrophe brings despair and sadness to the story as well. Overall Ovid’s use of both of these gives this poem emotion and drama which allows the reader to understand more the feelings of the characters.
Ovid uses poetic devices within his poetry in order to bring emotion to the stories. These figures are most often found nearer to the climax of the story, without it the poems would seem dull and bland to the Romans reading it. In the Fate of Adonis Ovid uses them sparingly and they almost all appear while Venus is mourning his death. On line 727, “annua plangoris peraget simulamina nostri,” is a golden line. The line translates as, “will finish the annual imitations of our wailing,” in the context of the story, it is the point at which Venus decides that instead of allowing fate to take Adonis away from her, she will transform him into a flower and dedicate a holiday to him. Golden lines in poetry are rare, already considered antique even when it was used in Greek poetry. Because of this, golden lines are thought of as almost superior to other poetic forms, and are meant for the higher class readers. Ovid’s use of this poetic device gives this line a particular emphasis on its importance. By using it, Ovid illustrates just how deep Venus’ love for Adonis goes; in that she is willing to defy fate itself in order to change him into a flower.
Just after the golden line Ovid uses an apostrophe on lines 729-730, “an tibi quondam/femineos artus in olentes vertere mentas.” Which translates into, “can it be that it is permitted formerly by you, Persephone, to turn womanly limbs into fragrant mint.” An apostrophe is a poetic device in which either a character or the author addresses someone not actively involved in the story. In this case, Venus is addressing Persephone who had, sometime before this took place, changed a nymph into mint because she claimed to be superior to Persephone. Ovid uses the apostrophe in order to provide a sense of the desperation and sadness Venus is feeling. Instead of just immediately changing Adonis into a flower she feels the need to plead to Persephone, she needs some kind of assurance that if Persephone was allowed out of spite to change a nymph into mint, then Venus should be able too as well.
Both of these poetic devices bring an effect to the poem that would have been otherwise lost without them. The golden line gives a sense of importance and love, and the apostrophe brings despair and sadness to the story as well. Overall Ovid’s use of both of these gives this poem emotion and drama which allows the reader to understand more the feelings of the characters.