Lamia Flashcards
Quote describing Lamia’s appearance as a snake
‘palpitating snake/Bright, and circe-couchant’
Quote about immortal dreams
‘Real are the dreams of Gods, and smoothly pass/ Their pleasures in a long immortal dream.’
Quote about immortal love
‘Nor they grew pale, as mortal lovers do.’
Example of classical allusion
‘Orpheus-like at an Eurycide.’
Quote emphasising deception/sexuality
‘playing woman’s part’
Narrative intrusion end of part 1
’ ‘Twould humour many a heart to leave them thus.’
Quote personifying love
‘Love, jealous grown of so complete a pair.’
Quote about hubris
‘His foolish heart from its mad pompousness’
Quote about logic/imagination
‘Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings’
End of poem, impact of Apollonius’ outburst
‘empty of delight’
Analysis of ‘palpitating snake/ Bright and circe-couchant’
- Miltonic personification of serpentine sin, Christian context Garden of Eden
- Connotations of betrayal and deviancy due to her lying in wait and the phallic connotations of ‘palpitating snake’ painting her as a femme fatale, also her as a snake reminds of the devouring power of love
- Fanny Brawne Lamia-like figure ‘How I applied this to you, my dear; how I palpitated at it’
- ‘circe-couchant’ has lexical affinity with Circe, great enchantress who turned Odysseus’ followers into pigs, implications of her as tragic antagonist?
Analysis of ‘Real are the dreams of Gods, and smoothly pass/ Their pleasures in a long immortal dream.’
- Dramatic comparison to dream/reality
- Dreams of mortals deceptive and complex
- Juxtapostion of fulfilled immortal love
- Implies disruption will be caused by Lamia and Lycius’ immortal/ mortal pairing, ‘forbidden entanglement’ Christian concept
Analysis of ‘Nor they grew pale, as mortal lovers do.’
- Happy conclusion of Endymion turned into cautionary motto
- For Gods means and ends are simultaneous yet such ‘flight’ is shown to be mere fantasy for mortals
- Concludes introductory framing device- deviation from Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy- purpose of adding another layer of complexity and negative capability juxtaposes relative simplicity of immortal love to Lamia and Lycius
‘Orpheus-like at an Eurydice’
- Classical allusion
- Lycius as tragic victim and infatuation as undoing/fatal flaw
- Association with vulnerable man, accentuating Lamia’s feminine sexuality and power, paints her as femme fatale
‘playing woman’s part’
- ‘playing’ suggests deception and exploitation
- Innuendo implying sexual union
- Burton’s simple message- don’t have sex with Lamia. Too simple for Keats who recognised supernatural sex would be immensely satisfying yet was likely to prove harmful
- Mortal man/ immortal woman symbolised for Keats ‘the human yearning to retain forever the apex of passionate intensity’
- Leads to Christian perspective portrayed by Apollonius as this portrayed ‘forbidden entanglement’ between mortal and immortal meaning they should be punished and damned
’ ‘Twould humour many a heart to leave them thus’
- Narrative intrusion accompanies structural shift from part 1 where false hope was built to part 2 as tragic inevitability takes hold
- Foreshadows tragic fate, presage of doom
- ‘many’- wider interest in tragedy. Public crucial as Lycius shows off to them and they take role of Greek chorus
‘Love, jealous grown of so complete a pair,’
- Personification of love as Cupid
- Love portrayed as antagonist, responsible for downfall ‘forbidden entanglement’ Christian notion, mortal love perennially doomed
- Tragic inevitability
‘His foolish heart from its mad pompousness’
- Narrator’s opprobrium of Lycius juxtaposes favourable view of Lamia dressing for unwanted wedding, creates pathos
- Hubris, pride wanting to display love fatal flaw
- Shift of sympathy to Lamia
‘Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings’
- Enlightenment vs. Romanticism
- Logic destroys beauty, Apollonius destroys Lamia/ their love
- Philosophy sees through corruption yet has nothing to replace its delight
- Negative capability celebrating uncertainty vs. logic
- Apollonius same function as brothers in Isabella, brings world of cold reality into lover’s secret and intimate world
- Nietzsche’s theory of tragedy: Apollonian and Dionysian need to be equal or else tragedy
- Hegel’s theory two ‘right’ sides yet wrong in their failure to acknowledge each other
‘empty of delight’
- Cruelty of logic
- Apollonius tragic antagonist as he destroys Lamia, Lycius and their love
- Negative capability blurred lines victim/villain hero/villain
- Informed by Keats’ personal experience of death
- Lycius’ subsequent death suggest even if love is mirage puncturing this is a cruelty akin to murder, philosophy shown to devastate soul that put its trust in beauty
