Classics Department Invites Alumna for Presentations
This past week, Ellen Oliensis ‘77, Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, led a four-day seminar during lunch periods to introduce students to the idea of critical thinking of an ancient text, specifically of the story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Considered one of the most significant and influential literary works, Metamorphoses, or “Book of Transformations,” contains approximately 250 myths in 15 books. Ovid, a prolific Roman poet, has influenced famous modern writers such as Shakespeare and Dante. Metamorphoses covers a wide breadth of topics concerning history and myths, ranging from the creation of the world to the idolatry of Caesar.
The famous tale of “Apollo and Daphne” links the gods to laurel trees and leaves. Apollo—god of music, poetry, healing and much more—mocked Cupid, the famed god of love, for his use of the bow and arrow. Insulted, Cupid swore revenge upon the god by forcing him to fall ill-fatedly for a nymph, Daphne who had sworn off men. In his tale, Ovid finished this myth with the tragic ending; Daphne transformed into a laurel tree, and Apollo’s only way to remember her was through the leaves of the laurels.
“I think [Ovid] is just so incredibly engaging and fun to read, and so interesting to think about, and so endlessly interpretable, which is what I love to do most,” Oliensis said, explaining her passion for the classic tale.
“It was extremely fun to see my classics studies at Exeter placed in a larger context of literature as a whole.”
Head of the Classics Department Nicholas Unger praised Oliensis for her work. Unger explained that the Visiting Scholars Program, founded in 2011, invited two classical scholars to Exeter each year with the intent of exposing Exonians to “college-level research in such fields as philology, linguistics, papyrology, history and archaeology.” Calling Oliensis an “international star in the field of Latin literature,” he emphasized his delight at her presence on campus. “We are delighted she has returned to Exeter to share her knowledge with both students and faculty,” Unger said.
Oliensis, an Exeter alumna, studied the classics during her years as a high school student and went on to earn a bachelor degree in literature from Yale and a doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard. Oliensis then taught at Yale for many years before teaching at Berkeley. Although she is very highly regarded internationally in the field of Latin literature, Oliensis simply classifies her occupation as “a reader,” and that she teaches “interpretation and responsive attention” when reading any book. “I’m really a literature person more than I am a classicist so I feel the same way about Ovid that I do about Shakespeare or Wallace Stevens, and anyone else incredibly engrossing to read,” she said. According to Unger, Oliensis is currently penning two books on Ovid’s Amores and his Metamorphoses 6 for the Cambridge University Press.
The first day of the four-part seminar on Monday, Mar. 27 was an introduction to Book 1 of the text, and set the stage for the next three sessions during the week. Oliensis also introduced some of the typical literary features of the story, including narrative technique, aetiology, and transformation. She explored themes and symbolism throughout the poem, and specifically how this related to “Apollo and Daphne” being the first love story in the poem.
Tuesday, Mar. 28’s seminar covered the prevalence of art throughout Ovid’s work. Oliensis emphasized Ovid’s especially interesting artistic preference; the emphasis on the parallels that can be drawn from specific words and language used by Ovid in Metamorphoses to Virgil’s Aeneid and to Ovid’s earlier book Amores, the latter of which was what catapulted him into fame as a poet. The students who attended the forum discussed why this may have been, and came to a general consensus that Ovid used these parallels to echo back to more famous and well-liked works and appeal to his readers that way. As put by prep Griffin Brown,“I enjoyed her way of explaining Ovid’s writing through comparisons to other books and how she constantly asked us for our feedback and questions.” Prep Alphonso Bradham also found these connections to be interesting. “One of my favorite moments was when she showed the exact quotes that showed up in multiple stories,” he said.
While Oliensis did not offer a seminar on Wednesday, Mar. 29, she hosted an evening lecture entitled “How To Make Over A Classic.” Oliensis explored the idea of the meaning behind the words “classic” and “classical,” and discussed how Ovid’s story about Arachne and Minerva both defies and fits these definitions.
The seminar on Thursday, Mar. 30 is set to focus on the psychology of love. Oliensis will discuss why Apollo and Daphne reacted in different ways to love in a “tragicomedy of desire,” as the title proclaims.
Finally, Friday’s seminar will cover the political influence of Ovid’s text. As Metamorphoses was written during the Augustinian times, Oliensis will delve into the complicated, often subtle political subtext of the work, and will focus particularly on Apollo’s final speech.
Upper and classics student Daisy Tichenor appreciated Oliensis’ knowledge on the topics discussed. “She brought energy to the analysis and provided insightful conclusions about love’s place in poetry,” Tichenor said. “It was extremely fun to see my classics studies at Exeter placed in a larger context of literature as a whole.”
Lower Gillian Quinto felt as though the seminar gave her a deeper understanding of the text saying, “[I’m taking out of it] how to analyze Latin poetry, and [this meeting] is giving me a way to think about [reading the poetry].”
Oliensis hoped that through her lectures, she will have engaged students and gotten them to appreciate Ovid’s masterpieces as much as she does. In addition, she aimed to demonstrate to Exonians the value of truly analyzing the text in order to grasp its intricate meanings. “I’m on a mission to promote the rewards of slow reading, just generally: reading carefully, and thinking about why things are the way we are,” Oliensis said. “I think that reading carefully and being aware of rhetoric and how it’s organized and designed is I think incredibly important for citizens of a democracy.”