Metamorphoses · Chapter
Fable of Dryope explained
Dryope, while picking a lotus flower to amuse her infant son, unknowingly plucks a branch from the transformed nymph Lotis.
What happens
Dryope, while picking a lotus flower to amuse her infant son, unknowingly plucks a branch from the transformed nymph Lotis. As punishment, the sylvan deities begin transforming her into a tree. She becomes rooted to the ground, bark covers her body, and her hair turns to leaves. Her family witnesses the transformation, and Dryope, in her final moments, speaks to them, asking them to care for her son and protect her tree form. She then fully becomes a lotus tree, retaining latent life and warmth.
Themes in this chapter
Transformation and Metamorphosis
Dryope's physical transformation from a nymph into a lotus tree is the central event, illustrating the theme of metamorphosis as both punishment and a new form of existence.
Divine Power and Human Folly
Dryope's innocent but rash act of plucking the lotus branch leads to divine retribution, highlighting the power of sylvan deities and the folly of humans who unknowingly transgress sacred boundaries.
Characters to notice
- Dryope
The fair nymph of Oechalia, wife of Andraemon, mother of Amphisus, who is transformed into a lotus tree after plucking a sacred branch.
- Andraemon
Husband of Dryope, who mourns her transformation and embraces the tree.
- Apollo
The god who loved Dryope and fathered her son Amphisus; referenced as the ruler of Delphi and the Delian isle.
- Lotis
The nymph who fled from Priapus and was transformed into a lotus tree, which Dryope unknowingly violates.
Key passages
“She feels the encroaching bark around her grow By slow degrees, and cover all below.”
Dryope senses the bark gradually spreading over her lower body, encasing her from the feet upward.
Describes the slow, inexorable process of her transformation into a tree.
“The face was all that now remain'd of thee; No more a woman, nor yet quite a tree:”
Only Dryope's face remained human; she was no longer fully a woman but not yet entirely a tree.
Captures the liminal state between human and plant during the metamorphosis.
“She ceased at once to speak, and ceased to be, And all the nymph was lost within the tree: Yet latent life through her new branches reign'd, And long the plant a human heat retain'd.”
Dryope stopped speaking and ceased to exist as a nymph, fully absorbed into the tree, though a lingering warmth and life remained in her new form.
Concludes the transformation, emphasizing the persistence of her essence within the tree.