CYDIPPE THE POET.

Metapoetics is a strong focus of the scholarship on Ovid's Heroides 20-1. Viewed from this perspective, the figure of Acontius is frequently regarded as a prefiguration of the poet, while Cydippe has traditionally been seen as the poet-lover's object. This article argues that Cydippe too may be understood as an embodiment of the poet--even, to some degree, of the poet Ovid. The argument for this identification emerges from a close analysis of Callimachean and Ovidian allusions that appear to promote significantly different kinds of poetics in the two letters. Finally, the article reflects on the ways in which the notion of Cydippe as a prefiguration of the poet may inform our appreciation of Ovid's Callimacheanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]