Tkachenko Olena. Motives of Ovid’s "Metamorphoses" in the works by Taras Shevchenko

Abstract

The article deals with the role of Ovidius in formation of esthetic principles of Shevchenko’s
personality. Each metamorphosis written by both poets is an artistic comprehension of the fate of the
individual. But unlike Ovidius, which describes in detail the process of transformation, when no
single detail is neglected and emotional tension, spiritual torments and lyricism create a credible
image, this process is almost absent in the Shevchenko’s works. He is interested in the real feelings of
his heroines, the causes and the result, not the process of transformation itself. The cause in the works
of both poets is the same: inability to stay in the existing state. It can be a punishment for a crime,
revenge, unhappy or happy love. Metamorphoses in the works of Ovidius and Shevchenko are
generated by the incredible sorrow are the greatest manifestation of emotional tension, which
encourages the reader to feel all the intensity of suffering on the one hand and the invincibility of the
spirit on the other hand. Artistic images created by Shevchenko by means of transformation, appear
in various forms and have many shades. Stylistic comparisons and detailed parabola comparisons
perform the function of metamorphoses