Context Essay:
The Raven’s Tale follows the Raven, who was once one of the respected white birds. One day, he comes across one of Apollo’s lovers, Coronis, having an affair. Thinking he’ll receive a reward for the information, he heads towards Apollo before he is stopped by the Crow.. The crow warns him against revealing this information, telling him he too desired a reward for his honesty, but was turned black instead. The Raven disregards this advice, and tells Apollo everything he saw. Furious, Apollo kills Coronis and her unborn child along with her. Immediately regretting his decision, Apollo punishes the Raven for making him kill Coronis, turning him black. The folklore origin of this story is immediately apparent, resulting in both a strange structure and an unexpected moral. The entire goal of the story is to answer the question “why are Ravens black?”, and since that could be answered in a couple of lines, Ovid has had to use some tricks to extend its length. Firstly, almost half of The Raven’s Tale isn’t about the Raven at all - it’s about the crow. Instead of simply telling him to keep quiet, the crow tells an entire self contained story about how his honesty got him black feathers. Additionally, while the scene of Apollo’s reaction is described in vivid detail, the aftermath is hardly mentioned. We know nothing of the Raven’s reaction, only that he is now white (and even that is covered in only a couple of lines). The themes of the tale also feel foreign: many tales in the Metamorphoses have morals that we can identify with (e.g the danger of pride in Narcissus), but the ending statement in The Raven’s Tale tells its readers that it’s okay to let your friends be cheated on. All in all, this story is a strange one, and I think Ovid knew that: It’s kind of thrown in with the rest of the book 2 stories which explain how the world works, and the only connection it has to the story before or after it is that they both contain birds.
Artistic Analysis Essay:
Apollo and Coronis by Giovanni Battista Foggini is a 16th-17th century sketch which depicts the murder of Coronis by Apollo. When we think about baroque art, we often have very specific expectations: detail, decadence, and Biblical imagery. Through this lens, one might consider Apollo and Coronis to be a unique piece - one that challenges the expectations set by previous artists. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as this sketch is quite close to the baroque period in its purest form: the emotion of the subjects. This idea of genuine emotion can be seen in the work of his contemporaries, like Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa or Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ. Foggini is trying to depict a moment of great raw emotion, and he does so through his own artstyle: the rough lines and washed out color indicate that this is from Apollo’s perspective. This is further amplified through the near shapeless form of Coronis, as Apollo doesn’t fully know what’s happening, and just wants an outlet for his emotion. Unfortunately, through capturing this moment of unbridled rage, Foggini misses a lot of other key elements, most importantly the vivid imagery. Ovid really plays up her death in the story, describing “The body, empty of soul, followed the lethal cold”. Part of his goal is to make you aware of the carnage Apollo, and therefore the Raven, have caused. However, Foggini’s depiction of Apollo’s rage prevents him from adapting this, as it’s impossible to simultaneously show the muddled perception and brutal reality of Apollo’s mistake. He’s also limited by his format, as a relatively simple, colorless sketch will completely miss some of The Raven’s other details, like how it describes “the iron… dragged from her body white limbs flowed with red gore. In this sense, Foggini isn’t quite able achieve what he wants to with this piece: The simplistic format and minimal style prevent the brutal imagery from tying the whole story together, resulting in a finished product which is far too clean for The Raven.
The Raven’s Tale follows the Raven, who was once one of the respected white birds. One day, he comes across one of Apollo’s lovers, Coronis, having an affair. Thinking he’ll receive a reward for the information, he heads towards Apollo before he is stopped by the Crow.. The crow warns him against revealing this information, telling him he too desired a reward for his honesty, but was turned black instead. The Raven disregards this advice, and tells Apollo everything he saw. Furious, Apollo kills Coronis and her unborn child along with her. Immediately regretting his decision, Apollo punishes the Raven for making him kill Coronis, turning him black. The folklore origin of this story is immediately apparent, resulting in both a strange structure and an unexpected moral. The entire goal of the story is to answer the question “why are Ravens black?”, and since that could be answered in a couple of lines, Ovid has had to use some tricks to extend its length. Firstly, almost half of The Raven’s Tale isn’t about the Raven at all - it’s about the crow. Instead of simply telling him to keep quiet, the crow tells an entire self contained story about how his honesty got him black feathers. Additionally, while the scene of Apollo’s reaction is described in vivid detail, the aftermath is hardly mentioned. We know nothing of the Raven’s reaction, only that he is now white (and even that is covered in only a couple of lines). The themes of the tale also feel foreign: many tales in the Metamorphoses have morals that we can identify with (e.g the danger of pride in Narcissus), but the ending statement in The Raven’s Tale tells its readers that it’s okay to let your friends be cheated on. All in all, this story is a strange one, and I think Ovid knew that: It’s kind of thrown in with the rest of the book 2 stories which explain how the world works, and the only connection it has to the story before or after it is that they both contain birds.
Artistic Analysis Essay:
Apollo and Coronis by Giovanni Battista Foggini is a 16th-17th century sketch which depicts the murder of Coronis by Apollo. When we think about baroque art, we often have very specific expectations: detail, decadence, and Biblical imagery. Through this lens, one might consider Apollo and Coronis to be a unique piece - one that challenges the expectations set by previous artists. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth, as this sketch is quite close to the baroque period in its purest form: the emotion of the subjects. This idea of genuine emotion can be seen in the work of his contemporaries, like Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa or Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ. Foggini is trying to depict a moment of great raw emotion, and he does so through his own artstyle: the rough lines and washed out color indicate that this is from Apollo’s perspective. This is further amplified through the near shapeless form of Coronis, as Apollo doesn’t fully know what’s happening, and just wants an outlet for his emotion. Unfortunately, through capturing this moment of unbridled rage, Foggini misses a lot of other key elements, most importantly the vivid imagery. Ovid really plays up her death in the story, describing “The body, empty of soul, followed the lethal cold”. Part of his goal is to make you aware of the carnage Apollo, and therefore the Raven, have caused. However, Foggini’s depiction of Apollo’s rage prevents him from adapting this, as it’s impossible to simultaneously show the muddled perception and brutal reality of Apollo’s mistake. He’s also limited by his format, as a relatively simple, colorless sketch will completely miss some of The Raven’s other details, like how it describes “the iron… dragged from her body white limbs flowed with red gore. In this sense, Foggini isn’t quite able achieve what he wants to with this piece: The simplistic format and minimal style prevent the brutal imagery from tying the whole story together, resulting in a finished product which is far too clean for The Raven.