The Ovid’s Metamorphoses is written in 15 books mainly recounting stories from the Roman and Greek myth. In book one, Ovid establishes the theme of Metamorphoses. Metamorphoses refers to changes or transformations that are witnessed in the poem, a theme that cuts across to entire collection and becoming the name of the poem. Book one features a tale of creation with progression into human stories that then leads to the current breed of man. A flood myth follows the story of creation and a discussion about the ages of mankind. The ages of mankind, which include gold, silver, bronze and iron, is a description of how man slowly progresses a good society into a miserable and self-destructive society. The subsequent tales are about gods and goddesses …show more content…
He says that the first age that man lived in was the Age of Gold. Just as the name “gold” suggests, this age was one like pieces of gold, wholesome and good. He says that life then was a “bowl of cherries”, consisting of fruits like blackberries, strawberries and acorns. Man ate everything for free. The Age of Gold demystifies the biblical Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve had everything to use for free. Ovid articulates the story to bring in the theme of change through the introduction of another age, the Age of Silver. The Age of Silver is brought about by the new administration that comes post kicking out of Saturn by Jupiter. Saturn was the god who was in charge of the world at the time who was kicked out by Jupiter who became the new king of the gods. This transition into a new administration brings with it a lesson. Change in society begins with a change of the leadership and restructure of the administration. Series of changes are always related, one change results to another. The age that followed was the Age of Bronze, which was a little bit rougher and tough as contrasted to its predecessor. The Age of Iron was the toughest of all the ages. Ovid describes the Age of Iron as one where there is strife, killing and a degradation of the remnant good of the Age of Bronze. This age is a true reflection of what is witnessed in today’s societies, where people fight one another in quest to mass for themselves the precious resources that nature offers. The transformation of the ages shows how non-permanent things can be. Things change, and in most cases the changes are brought about by deliberate efforts or actions. Every activity that mankind engage in either revolve around change, transits from change or culminates to change. Mankind should therefore take responsibility of the environment in order to elude from some of the miseries associated with the Age of