Home › Glossary › Letter O

Ovid

Historical Figure
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Roman poet exiled by Augustus, famed for "Metamorphoses" and "Ars Amatoria"

Detailed Definition
Ovid’s witty, subversive verse on love and transformation contrasted with Augustan moralism. His exile shaped his later work. Poets reference him as the master of change, the exiled voice, and the poet who turns myth into psychological exploration of desire and loss.
Example
Example in poetry:
Ovid, exiled by Augustus’ frown, wrote “Metamorphoses” from distant town; Poets borrow his myths—Daphne, Narcissus, Icarus—in stanzas of transformation’s core; His “Ars Amatoria” got him banned, yet love poetry still expands; In Renaissance verse, Ovid’s fluid tales shape allegory’s bright veil; “Everything changes, nothing perishes”—a line poets echo in cycles of birth; Ovid’s legacy: the poet of change, where form and feeling rearrange.
Additional Notes
Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE), Roman poet of “Metamorphoses,” “Ars Amatoria,” and “Tristia,” mastered mythic transformation and erotic wit; in poetry, Ovid represents fluid identity, exilic lament, and the power of storytelling—his influence spans from Chaucer to Shakespeare to modern mythopoeic verse; essential for analyzing allusions to Daphne, Pyramus, or the poetics of change and desire.
Also Known As
Publius Ovidius Naso
Skip to main content