Medieval Literature – Between The Purple Passages

Between The Purple Passages

by Ashley Zimunya

Close Reading: Arachne, trans. by William Caxton

In his Middle English translation of a French retelling of the story of ‘Arachne’ found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, William Caxton capitalises on the theme of propriety in the relationships between the gods and immortals and amongst mortals of different social standings to primarily warn readers against overstepping their bounds, focusing… Continue reading

Past Essays, Prose and Poetry

Medieval Literature, Metamorphoses, Ovid, Ovide moralise, The Book of Ovyde Named Methamorphose, William Caxton
Translation as Metamorphosis in Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower’s Versions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses

The primary meaning of the verb translate is ‘To convert or render (a word, a work, an author, a language, etc.) into another language’. Thus, a translation is often understood as a (usually completed) work resembling that from which it is translated, often with the only difference between source and… Continue reading

Past Essays, Prose and Poetry

Classical Literature, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Medieval Literature, Mythology, Ovid, Translation

About

If your hobbies also include reading, thinking excessively about everything you read, and learning other people’s thoughts on the things they’ve read recently or a long time ago, you’re very welcome here!

This is where you can find my observations on various texts (a text here being anything that can be ‘read’ and thus including film, theatre, or Taylor Swift lyrics, for example) and what I think can be found between their “purple passages”.

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