Darkness/death imagery

Question: In what ways do the story's closing lines (165-66) aptly conclude the darkness/death imagery which Ovid has developed throughout the narrative? Ovid's darkness and death imagery was throughout the whole story. At first the imagery was both good and bad. In line 79, "sub noctem", the two lovers were planning on leaving the wall behind to meet outside of the cities walls. They planned this right before night, "nocte silenti". This is good because the two lovers get to meet but this turns bad. In line 88, they planned on meeting under the shade tree, "sub umbra arboris". In the silent night Thisbe arrived first to find out there was a lioness right where they were going to met. So "callida Thisbe egreditur per tenebras" and "obscurum fugit in antrum"(lines 93 and 100) Once Pyramus arrived and thought Thisbe is death when he saw the lioness with Thisbe's veil all cover in blood. Pyramus is so heart sick over the "death" of his love, Pyramus took out his sword and stabbed him self in the groin. Ovid chose to have Pyramus's death, out of the two lovers, to be the graphic and detail death. Ovid did this for and effect he was trying to lay across. As Pyramus dies he was saying how "una duos nox perdet amantes." (line 108) As Pyrumas is slowly dying Thisbe comes out the cave and sees "tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum membra solum"(line 133/134) These are no branches, these are Pyrmus's arms beating the ground under the tree in pain. When Thisbe sees this she crys tears in Pyrmus wound. This gives her strength to be able to kill her own self "dabit hic in vulnera vires." (line 150) All this death takes place under a mulberry tree and the idea of darkness and death Ovid was making in this story is that all the blood is soaked into the roots of the tree and made the fruit turn dark color when they matured. "nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater"(line 165)

Page 47, Question 3

One commentary (DeVeau and Getty) calls the comparison in 122-24 "certainly one of Ovid's least attractive similes." Is the simile effective or not? Why?
Ovid's simile is very effective. This simile paints a perfect picture in your mind of Pyramus's blood spurting high in the air like a broken water pipe shooting water high in the sky. The point of a simile is to compare two unlike things using like or as. Ovid does both, uses like and compares to unlike things. This is most definitely one of Ovid's least attractive similes. But Ovid did this on purpose because Ovid is painting a very graphic and blood picture in your mind of this painfully slow death of this broken hearted young boy to the reader. Ovid throws the simile in to be more dramatic.

Limerick

There once was a sad young boy.
Who knew the tracks without his detective toy.
His heart became broke.
As the garment was soaked.
The only thing left for him to say is oy.

Pyramus and Thisbe lines 105-127

Three figures of speech in lines 105-127 in Pyramus and Thisbe.

1."O quicumque sub hac habitatis rope leones!" line 114
Pyramus addressing the absent lion in line 114 is an example of apostrophe which is the reversal of normal word order, as with a preposition following its object, often with the effect of emphasizing the word(s) placed earlier.

2. In lines 122-124 Ovid uses a simile to compare Pyramus's bleeding wound to a broken lead pipe. The wound spurts blood just like a broken lead pipe spurts water.

3.Ovid also used transferred epithet which is an application of an adjective to one noun when it properly applies to another, often involving personification and focusing special attention on the modified noun. In line 113 Ovid uses a transferred epithet when he says "wicked entrails"