The revolution of Ovid's Metamorphoses in Golding's translation: the case of Thomas Lodge

Establishing a codified language is one of the first and most important signals that a nation is going towards a solid formation: in England, in the first part of the sixteenth century, vernacular began to be studied and was included into the educational programs of the upper social classes. During this period of social, political, religious tumultuousness, the need for a cultural identity was strongly felt. It became necessary to study and spread those texts which had contributed to the development of the greater European powers: a highly prolific translation movement born in the Elizabethan Age, mainly involving very young scholars which had to endure harsh criticism from the elder generation. Arthur Golding defended this movement and its translation method: despite being a notorious Puritan he believed that the Ovidian stories, finally available in English thanks to his translation (1567), were but a simple means to pass on moral lessons to readers from all the social classes. After a focus on Thomas Lodge’s Scillaes Metamorphosis (1589), the first short poem to have really revolutionized the English perception of the Ovidian myth, there will be analyzed contrasts and affinities between Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Golding’s translation and Lodge’s work to demonstrate how Golding’s translation had been so necessary for the enlargement of Renaissance culture and fundamental for the birth of that delightfully Elizabethan genre that was the epyllion.