Metamorphosis in Literature: Startling Transformations in Prose and Verse

One of the great delights of the literary arts is their ability to give form to dreams and fantasies. There is no limit to a writer's imagination, and a skillful writer can make the strangest things seem quite natural. A compelling theme in literature is that of transformation, or metamorphosis. One of the most famous tales of metamorphosis is Franz Kafka's story by the same name, but there are many others. Why do we like reading about these things, pleasant or unpleasant? Partly because they tickle our fancies, no doubt, and partly because we can identify with them on some level, even if most of the transformations we undergo are less dramatic. Here are some of the most amazing metamorphoses in prose and verse I have come across.

1: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and And Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll. (1872) A mushroom that makes you grow or shrink, courtiers who turn into a pack of playing cards, a fussy baby who turns into a pig-Carroll's classics are full of alarming transformations. For full immersion in this world where precise logic mingles freely with utter nonsense, try to get editions with the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.

2: Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. (1902) These imaginative tales of origins explain how the world changed from primordial times and became the interesting place it is today, with alphabets and wondrous beasts. For example, find out how a misadventure on the banks of the "great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River" gave the elephant his long trunk.

3: Lamia by John Keats. (1820) This is a tragic poem about enchantment and disillusionment. Lamia is a sorceress trapped in the form of a serpent who falls in love with a mortal young man. She regains human form, seduces him, and conjures up a palace where they are to marry, but the young man's mentor, a level headed philosopher, sees through the illusion and destroys their happiness.