Ovid and Shakespeare

“In all creation Nothing endures, all is in endless flux,
Each wandering shape a pilgrim passing by
And time itself glides on in ceaseless flow,
A rolling stream-and streams can never stay,
Nor lightfoot hours.
As wave is driven by wave
And each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead,
So time flies on and follows, flies and follows.
Always, forever new.
What was before
Is left behind;
what never was is now;
And every passing moment is renewed.”
"There is no death -- no death, but only change
And innovation; what men call birth
Is but a different new beginning;
death Is but to cease to be the same."
Ovid
Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” was a powerful source of inspiration for William Shakespeare. Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C - 17 A.D.), a Roman aristocrat and poet, wrote a collection of poems based on Greek and Roman mythology. Ovid called it “Metamorphoses” as he selected myths that dealt with the transformation of people, gods, and heroes into forces or features of nature. Metamorphoses became one of the most popular and influential literary works in the history of European civilization. Shakespeare must have read Ovid in Latin, as Metamorphoses was part of his school program.
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