All 16 entries tagged Mythology
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June 06, 2008
sphinx
sphinx (5.XXXVIII.ii).
The sphinx, made up of a lion's body and a human head, is an easily recognisable mythological creature, particularly in the riddle incident with Oedipus. Sphinxes are usually used, especially in Greek culture, to guard temples and places with divine connotations. The fact that the sphinxes guarding London are ‘somnolent’ (sleepy) is again keeping in line with the idea of London putting on a façade/face for the world, when in fact it is hiding a disgusting underbelly and its pious guardians are asleep. The Sphinx also represents many negatives when placed in an Egyptian context for it, like the pyramids, was built using slave labour and Aker, the Egyptian god of the underworld, is sometimes portrayed as a double-headed sphinx (Bib:28b).
Amanda Hopkins
06 Jun 2008 17:29
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Tags: Context Egypt Europe Glossary London Mythology Places Sphinx
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Gryphon
Gryphon (5.XXXVIII.i).
An older pronunciation and spelling of the mythical beast, the griffin. In Berber folklore, the gryphon it is the result of the Ormaddu, a huge bird, mating with a female wolf. The mother is split apart by the gryphon upon birth. However, the griffin is also one of the oldest and most respected creatures in mythology, dating back as far as the writings of Aristeas in the seventh century BC. It is often used as a symbol of strength and regality. In Greek legend, the griffin was the chosen animal of Apollo and it was also used as a symbol of the Roman Empire. The creature is in a simile describing Satan in Paradise Lost: 'As when a griffin through the wilderness/With winged course o’er hill or moory dale/Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth/Had from his wakeful custody purloined/The guarded gold; so eagerly the Fiend/O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,/With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way' (II: 943-7); the Arimaspi were a race of one-eyed horseman from the North of Greece who were said to always be at war with the griffins as the Arimaspi always stole their gold (Bib:27; Bib:28a). The griffin is clearly a beast of dual interpretation, representing strength and honour, but also pain and war. Walcott’s griffins seem to be snarling because they are forced to hear ‘the cries in/the Isle of Dogs running over Westminster Bridge’, evoked by the ‘voice’ of the ‘bargeman’, the Isle of Dogs being another symbol of a darker side of London.
Amanda Hopkins
06 Jun 2008 16:31
| Tags: Apollo Arimaspi Arimaspian Europe Glossary Griffin Gryphon Milton Mythology Paradise Lost Peoples Satan
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rites like crabs
These were the rites […] like crabs (1.VI.i).
Imagery of struggle and division, depicted with the images of 'divid[ing] the wrestlers' and men as 'centaurs', suggests the difficulties that the natives of St Lucia face when conforming to the needs of tourists, while maintaining ownership of their island. The island is in a constant struggle against the infiltration of Western colonization.
Amanda Hopkins
06 Jun 2008 14:39
| Tags: Colonialism Context Dispossession Mythology Rites Like Crabs St Lucia Tourism
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July 09, 2007
click of a Cyclops
the scream of a warrior losing his only soul/to the click of a Cyclops, the eye of its globing lens (1.59.iii).
The single lens of the camera is likened to the single eye of the Cyclops (Polyphemos) from Odyssey 9 (cf. 'taking/his soul with their cameras', 1.I.i).
Amanda Hopkins
09 Jul 2007 13:43
| Tags: Click Of A Cyclops Epic Tradition Mythology Odyssey Poetics Tourism
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epic erased written
It was an epic where every line was erased//yet freshly written (7.LIX.i).
A comment on the oral epic tradition? Myths/stories would be slightly altered through each oral transmission as they were passed on.
Amanda Hopkins
09 Jul 2007 13:40
| Tags: Epic Erased Written Epic Tradition Mythology Poetics
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the Golden Fleece
the Golden Fleece (7.LIX.i).
The saga of the quest for the Golden Fleece by Jason and the crew of the Argo. Guarded by a dragon, the fleece became 'a goal for a hero's quest' (Bib:14a).
Amanda Hopkins
09 Jul 2007 13:37
| Tags: Epic Tradition Mythology The Golden Fleece
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July 06, 2007
cord heel
Then a cord […] heel […] He fell hard (3.XVII.iii).
A reference to Achilleus' heel as his weak spot. This is not sourced from an epic text on The Epic Tradition module but from a later poem written by the Roman poet Statius (Bib:4). Achilles' heel was the only area that remained vulnerable as this was where Thetis held him when he was submerged in the Styx. He is killed by a fatal arrow wound to his heel by Paris (Bib:14c).
Amanda Hopkins
06 Jul 2007 14:10
| Tags: Achilleus Characters Cord Heel Epic Tradition Mythology
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June 28, 2007
peace beyond beauty
she wished//for a peace beyond her beauty, past the tireless/quarrel over a face that was not her own fault (2.XXII.iii).
A reference to Helen of Troy and her regret at the war that was fought over her (e.g. Iliad 3:172-80). Helen's beautiful face has been celebrated in literature, e.g. Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (variously dated between 1590 and 1604), referring to Helen of Troy, or as Marlowe had it 'Helen of Greece': 'Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?' (V:i:97-8).
Amanda Hopkins
28 Jun 2007 16:33
| Tags: Characters Epic Tradition Helen Helen Of Troy Mythology Peace Beyond Beauty Trojan War
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twins
All in a night's work he saw them simply as twins (2.XXII.ii).
Possibly a reference to the constellation Gemini, the stars Castor and Pollux. In Greek mythology, these are the twins sons of Zeus and the mortal Leda (Bib:10); in the Iliad they are the brothers of Helen of Troy, whose absence from the battlefield she observes from the walls of Troy (3.236-8).
Amanda Hopkins
28 Jun 2007 16:27
| Tags: Epic Tradition Helen Of Troy Iliad Mythology Twins
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stars in Heaven
those stars were too fixed in Heaven/to care […] forgets a star (2.XXII.i).
The Ancient Greeks believed that the dead are sometimes placed into the firmament as a constellation, e.g. Andromeda, a princess of Ethiopia, was placed into the stars as a memorial (Bib:8). Stars represent what is permanent, infinite and unchanging, in contrast with the island in its state of dramatic change. Even as the young turn away from the traditional culture of Africa and the canoes, dubbing it 'longtime shit', the island itself betrays its values and becomes westernised. Helen is metaphorically representative of this when she is seen as 'a meteor … and her falling arc//crossed over the village'.
Amanda Hopkins
28 Jun 2007 15:55
| Tags: Characters Epic Tradition Helen Mythology Stars In Heaven
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