Frederick Ahl
Metaformations: Soundplay and Wordplay in Ovid and Other Classical Poets.
Cornell University Press, 1985. First edition. 0801417627 352 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.25" x 9.25", is bound in gray cloth, with dark gray lettering to spine. Book shows very light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Interior is clean and bright. Dust jacket exhibits light shelfwear and has closed tear to upper inside corner of front panel. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"Greek and Roman writers often assumed that words that sounded or looked alike had a common etymological origin. Marcus Varro, perhaps the most famous scholar of Roman antiquity, viewed such etymologizing as fundamental to Latin poetry, to Roman religion, and to language itself. This book looks at Latin and Greek poetry through Varronian eyes.
Focusing on Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Ahl finds that Ovid accompanied descriptions of change in physical shape with changes in the shape of words or syllables used to tell the tale. He maintains that Ovid's syllabic play were not merely ornamental to the themes of the "Metamorphoses" but fundamental to its structure. Although the book centers on Ovid, Ahl shows that his method of reading is applicable to other Greek and Latin authors. He frequently analyzes  passages from Homer, Plato, Plautus, Seneca, Statius, Vergil, and St. Augustine to illustrate or develop his arguments."