Bobo’s Metamorphosis (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Czesław Miłosz
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Mythology or myths, California, West, U.S., Legends, Gods or goddesses, Shakespeare, William, or Shakespearean plays, Insects, Morning
The Poem
“Bobo’s Metamorphosis” is a 102-line poem—or cycle of poems—in eight sections, each having its own style, subject, and structure. Despite the differences, the poem develops cohesiveness on the basis of recurrent imagery and consistent thematic focus.
Drawn from an eighteenth century Polish text entitled Zabawy przyjemne i pożyteczne (1776; entertainments pleasant and useful), the poem’s epigraph, “The distance between being and nothingness is infinite,” serves as an excellent introduction to both the poem and the six typographically...
[The entire page is 1772 words long]

