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

is an unjustly neglected work. Closely related to

(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

). 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 26 November 2024.]

• View recommended reading for this article