The King’s Council in the Reign of Edward VI

Abstract

by Ovid's Metamorphoses.Bireno's abandonment of Olimpia, Ruggiero's abandon- ment of Alcina and Orlando's liberation of Olimpia are renditions of Ovidian myths but Ariosto plays myth against myth to produce a number of variations on the basic theme of abandonment.In exploring these ideas, Professor Manning provides a novel approach to the problem of Ariosto's indebtedness to his classical sources.The final paper on the Furioso is B. Reynolds' "Ariosto in English: Prose or Verse?" Professor Reynolds compares the relative merits of three noted prose translations of the epic poem and of three prominent verse translations.She offers her own verse translations of several stanzas to exemplify her view that the limita- tions of the individual versifier, rather than those of the EngHsh language, are responsible for producing inferior translations.Her point is well contended and her verses are truly representative of the aesthetic experience of the original, although, as she herself concedes, "much is inevitably lost."