The Lethe is a feature of the Underworld that is described in Book III of The Dunciad as a source for Dullness. It is one of the landmarks that Cibber discovers; a place where millions of souls waited, and demanded new bodies after being “reborn” (The Dunciad 223-224). These, “poetic souls” were being dipped into the Lethe in order to, “blunt the sense” alluding to the birth of the dull people that roam the Earth. This is a birth in the sense that these souls were renewed with dullness in their minds and insistent in attaining new bodies in order to litter the world with their presence. Although the source of dullness may originate with the Queen herself, the Lethe reforms the soul into a dull state. In Greek Mythology, the Lethe was one of the rivers in Hades that contained the “waters of …show more content…
The water would make the person who drank it forget their past which is somewhat similar to Pope’s version of the Lethe except that it infuses the soul and mind with dullness. This portion of The Dunciad is a great example of how Pope utilizes the stanza in order to draw out the significance of the river Lethe. In the portion of the poem, Bavius is the one that dips the souls into the Lethe in order to anoint them with the spirit of dullness which is apparently an “instant” process (The Dunciad 223). Yet Pope explains this idea with multiple lines in a stanza, explaining the process by which this occurs and the aftermath in which these dull souls demand new bodies. Yet if one separates the lines 8-9 from the rest of the stanza, leaving only, “Hence the Fool’s Paradise, the Statesman’s Scheme, / The air-built castle, and the golden Dream,” (The Dunciad 221) there is a loss of overture from the entirety of the stanza. The reason that Pope includes descriptions and details is to not only give information about what is transcending, but it used to draw the reader in. In our discussions of Pope, he is a man who lodges the true meaning behind layers of poetic and
As the souls await reincarnation, they resemble “bees in tranquil summer meadows / Who move from bud to vivid bud and stream / Around white lilies--the whole field whirs loudly” (VI,707-9). Much like his reaction to the bustle of Carthage, Aeneas is “enthralled” by the scene (VI,710). However, the aimless group of souls sharply contrasts with the organized, dedicated citizens of Carthage. Without a purpose or leader guiding them, the souls simply “whir” aimlessly awaiting rebirth. Perhaps this lack of purpose provides an answer to Aeneas’ inquiry as to why these souls wish to return to the land of the living (IV,719-20). Just as bees cannot prosper without belonging to a hive, the souls of men demand they be a part of an enterprising, organized community. Thus, Virgil concludes that men long for the kind of organized society bees have, strengthening his contention that individuals find purpose in belonging to the
This theme of death giving meaning to life is prevalent throughout the Odyssey. Hell is death, heaven is now, in life, in the field of time and action.
Furthermore, the renewal and rejuvenation of the Catholic Church makes Pope John a major reformer of the 20th century and a significantly large influencer during his time. He made universal and worldwide impacts to religious adherents by reforming and revitalizing the Christian traditions through achieving ressourcement, aggiornamento. In addition, his passion for unity amongst Christian faiths and interfaith dialogue, world peace and economic justice also furthered his impact not only within the Catholic Church but also in other Christian denominations. Moreover, in the short time of Pope John’s authority and power within the Catholic Church, the contributions and achievements he made had a substantially large impact to the Christian traditions as he brought the Catholic Church into the modern era,
Therefore, by putting the two developments together, a fuller understanding of libations is gained. An understanding Aeschylus possessed. In Greek works,
Thus when he states: “’for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it--no, though its delirium were for years instead of moments’”, he has achieved his desired expectation of whether or not he would in fact return to his own foolish follies or not. Yet both of the works reveal the fact of malleability and ignorance that youth brings upon the characters and their evidential throes of death due to malice and endless sorrow caused by their encounter with the
Prior to the careers of Popes Celestine V and Boniface XII in the 13th century, the long and, sometimes tumultuous, history of the church can be helpful in setting the stage for these two church official’s very famous, and very different tenures as pope. In different forms and methods, the medieval Catholic Church has always had a strong hold on society in addition to politics. The church has also had a troubling past when it comes to corruption, usually manifesting itself through the pursuit of this dominance over political and outside figures on all aspects of everyday life. Coupling these two themes together, the past actions and power exerted
Now, one of the main problems of mythology is reconciling the mind to this brutal precondition of all life, which lives by the killing and eating of lives. You don’t kid yourself by eating only vegetables, either, for they, too, are alive. So the essence of life is this eating of itself! Life lives on lives, and the reconciliation of the human mind and sensibilities to that fundamental fact is one of the functions of some of those very brutal rites in which the ritual consists chiefly of killing—in imitation, as it were, of that first, primordial crime, out of which arose this temporal world, in which we all participate. The reconciliation of mind to the conditions of...
From the Catholic observation point, the Church presents two parts: One representing its divine nature as the untarnished body of Christ, and one direc...
Clashing sentiments of reason and passion also exist throughout today’s culture. Likewise, the modern church not only faces the conflict between reason and passion but a cultural shift of the ages through the changing viewpoints of various generations. “The Sandman” hallmarks the
Death in “Ozymandias” is both an ancient and physical one, and a metaphorical one. In “Darkness,” death is brutal, agonizing, violent, and touching. In “Darkness,” Byron writes, “All the earth was but one thought – and that was death,” (Byron, Line 42). In this poem, everything dies, beginning with the sun and ending with the moon. Death is achieved through killing when the humans kill the animals for food, and through dying, which happens when the humans fail to stay warm. In “Ozymandias,” Shelley uses the crumbling statue of an Egyptian king as a metaphor for the shortness of life. The poem also points out the death of the king’s ego by directly contrasting the king’s command to “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” with the fact that his statue and his works have crumbled into the desert sands (Shelley, Line 11). Although it is not a death (because the statue was never living), it is important to note how Shelley describes the statue as “lifeless” and that what survives of it is not a symbol of Ozymandias’s great power, but a more negative portrayal of him thorough his “frown / [a]nd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command” and that it is the talent and artistic power of the sculptor which lives on (Shelley, Lines 4-5). In short, in the poems, “Darkness” and “Ozymandias,” the overarching theme of destruction is further emphasized by the use of different ideas about different
Here he explains that by conforming to the order of the universe we can all agree on and connect to one goal. Through this connection, we would then reach the purest form of humanity. The belief in this poem is that although things do not turn out well for some individuals, everything falls into place in the great chain of the universe. In the long run everything works out for the best, Pope argues. Because humanity is ignor...
Keats’s Ode to Melancholy is best described by one word, melancholy. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Melancholy as a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause. In this poem, melancholy is the art of embracing sorrow and a sort of madness in order to be able to cherish the joy of truly living. Keats accomplished the idea of melancholy by using his imagery to reinforce the idea of sustaining opposites such as sorrow and joy in a person’s life. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker warns, “No, no go not to Lethe” which is the forgetful water of Hades (Keats 932).
Many philosophers, theologians, and poets have grappled with the question of divine judgment throughout history and continue to this struggle today. However, John Donne offers a fascinating and unique perspective on the Christian view of judgment for the afterlife in Sonnets XIII and XIV of his Holy Sonnets. With vivid imagery that makes his ideas, fears, and hopes almost tangible, Donne addresses the power of pity and the need for divine intervention in his own heart, while being consumed with a desire to know what will happen to him when he dies. Donne expresses a wide range of emotions including devastating despair, but never loses his ability to express his thoughts beautifully and coherently. While Sonnets XIII and XIV may deviate sharply
Milton begins "Lycidas" by introducing Mythical imagery. Milton writes, "Yet once more, O ye Laurels, and once more/ Ye Myrtles brown, with Ivy never sear" (1-2). In the poem Laurels refers to the crown of poetry given by Apollo, while myrtle refers to the Greek goddess Venus, and Ivy to the god Bacchus. Then Milton introduces powerful symbolism derived from nature. He writes, " I com to pluck your Berries harsh and crude, / And with forc'd finger rude, (3-4). Milton is first alluding to the forced and premature writing of his poetry in the memorial to his classmate Edward King. Secondly, he is perhaps alluding to the premature and violent death of his classmate. In the passage King is the "Berrie" that has been "plucked" before it is ripe or mature. The "Berrie" (King) is "plucked" with "forc'd finger rude," which suggest some degree of violence in his death. It seems that this passa...
to he caverns, and ''ancient'', referring to the forests, purposely present in the first stanza to show the importance they hold. The mysterious names he employs, like Kubla Khan and Xanadu, he is suggesting that what is man-made is evanescent, unlike the ternity of nature. To enforce this feeling and underline eternity, he chose to keep the natural subjects in the poem undefinite : "green hills", "caves of ice''.