John Lyly, Love's Metamorphosis

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Of disputed date and the shortest of Lyly's eight extant comedies,

Love's Metamorphosis

is an unjustly neglected work. Closely related to

Gallathea

(composed 1584?), the play turns, like the earlier drama, on the mollification of offended deities, and explores the relationship between love and chastity – embodied, in this instance, in Cupid and Ceres. The action is set, once again, in a pastoral location adjacent to woods and the sea, and involves a tree associated with sacrilege and the disruption of religious rites. The concept of antithetical change is again deeply embedded in the work, physical transformation affording the means by which the desires of the dramatis personae are fulfilled (cf. the concluding metamorphosis of

Gallathea

). Like its predecessor, the play was written for…

1046 words

Citation: Scragg, Leah. "Love's Metamorphosis". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10483, accessed 19 March 2024.]

10483 Love's Metamorphosis 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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