Ovid in the Third Reich

"Ovid in the Third Reich" is a poem by the English writer Geoffrey Hill. It consists of a monologue in two quatrains and reflects on politics and innocence by transposing the ancient poet Ovid to Nazi Germany. The poem was published in the New Statesman in 1961 and opens Hill's poetry collection King Log from 1968. One of Hill's most famous poems, "Ovid in the Third Reich" is known for its ambiguity which has led to disparate interpretations. Scholars have discussed its treatment of despair, the Third Reich, political complicity and the autonomy of poetry. Ovid's presence divides critics, who have associated his attitude in the poem with the average person during the Third Reich, or interpreted him as a contrast to ordinary people because he appears in a place where he does not belong. Background Geoffrey Hill (1932–2016) was an English poet and scholar of English literature. He began to publish poems in 1952, at the age of 20. When he wrote "Ovid in the Third Reich" he was a lecturer at the University of Leeds. Structure and summary Through its title, "Ovid in the Third Reich" transposes the ancient Roman poet Ovid to Nazi Germany. The poem is introduced with a Latin quotation from Ovid's Amores 3.14: "".