Sophia’s Sea, Pascoaes’Marão and Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Abstract

The Sea often symbolizes the dynamic matter: it is “a place of births, metamorphosis and rebirths”. To understand it better, we will start with a dies memorabilis: the morning the young Sophia meets the well-known poet Teixeira de Pascoaes to talk about Ovid. This essay aims to prove the influence/presence of Metamorphoses in both Sophia’s and Pascoaes’ poetry. We do not wish to find some Ovid’s verses or images in their poetry. We would prefer to prove that Ovid showed Sophia and Pascoaes a way of seeing and a way of living, and that the conscientiousness of time and movement necessarily leads to an ethical aesthetics. Maybe Ovid is the common cause of a strange similarity between the Sea and the Marão.