‘Lamia’ quotes

• "from vale to vale from wood to wood"


  -parallel phrasing

  -natural imagery
• "to find where this sweet nymph prepared her secret bed"


  -delicate imagery

  -she wants to be hidden and private
• "mournful voice"


  -lamia has a very powerful voice that allows her to turn hermes' head and get his attention

  -our first introduction to lamia paints her as avictim however it comes from her own voice
• "when from this wreathed tomb shall i awake"


  -she seems to be a tragic victim

  -themes of entrapment
• "he found a palpitating snake, bright, and cirque-couchant"


  -seems like she is uncomfortable/ in pain

  -snake links to original sin

  -she is tied in a knot- trapped

  -imagery is reminiscent of a circus implying humiliation and ridicule
• "vermillion-spotted, golden, green and blue"

  - she has a very eye-catching appearance, could be representative of how poisonous animals and plants often have bright colouring
• "eyed like a peacock"


  -perhaps relating to omnipotence?

  -they are bad luck but also attract attention
• "what could such eyes do there but weep, and weep, that they were born so fair?"


  -she's sad, or at least pretending to be

  -she used to be fair but something has happened- in original greek mythology she is trapped in this snake-like form by athena
• "bubbling honey"


  -lamia has a sweet, seductive voice
• "like a stooped falcon ere he takes his prey"

  -lamia is shown as a potential victim here, powerless
• "smooth-lipped serpent"


  -she is presented as sneaky and deceptive

  -sexualising?
• "melancholy eyes"


  -even if she is putting on this powerful and deceptive outer shell on the inside she seems sad
• "my nmyph"


  -masculine power and dominance
• "by my power is her beauty veiled to keep it unaffronted, unassailed"


  -lamia is helping to hide the nymph from the dangerous, selfish men in the forests seemingly out of the kindness of her heart however she does give up the nymphs hiding spot in return for finding lycius so in reality she only did it so she had something for a bargain
• "i was a woman, let me have once more a womans shape as charming as before"


  -she is a victim of having her original form taken away from her

  -she is charming which could link to a femme fatale character
• "her eyes in torture fixed and anguish drear. hot glazed and wide"


  -she is suffering to get back to her true form

  -she must be determined to become a woman once more and to finmd lycius
• "spoilt all her silver mail and her golden brede. "


  - the silver mail could be symbolic of her armour that was this snake form, maybe it gave her power of seduction and persuasion
• "eclipsed her crescents amd licked up her stars"


  -her beauty seems to be diminishing, she goes from one form of powerlessness to another
• nothing but pain and ugliness were left


  -depiction of reality which breeds suffering. Real world in comparison to fantasy
• "these words dissolved, cretes forests heard no more"


  -lamia has lost her voice, this along with her beauty has previously provided her power and seduction but now without these she seems to have become vulnerable
• "a young bird's flutter"


  -delicate, fragile imagery that represents innocence and insecurity
• "as though in cupids college she had spent sweet days a lovely graduate"


  -cupid is a male, cupids college implies that men control how women act

  -she is well versed in seduction
• "serpent prison house"


  -Theme of entrapment

  Implies Lamia is trapped as a snake as a form of punishment or she sees being denied her women's form as a form of punishment

  Could link to patriarchal societal views & the subordination of women
• "young corinthian lycius"


  -many people travel to corinth, it is a manmade port, contrasts the soft magical world

  -known for being proud
• "elysium" "neredids fair" "thetis"


  large semantic field of greek mythology and worship

  -refers back to the original story of lamia which, if know, can change your perspective of lamia's character
• His fantasy was lost, where reason fades


  -he isnt thinking straight

  -whatever happens may not be an accurate representation of his character
• "his silent sandals swept the mossy green"


  -sibilance

  -refelects the dreamlike state he is in
• "her eyes followed his steps"

  -predator?

  -femme fatale?
• "lycius bright, and will you leave me on the hills alone? lycius look back!"


  -she uses his name even though they have never met

  -she uses a question to provoke attention

  -the hill imagery reflects that in la belle

  -she uses command and persuasion
• "for so delicious were the words she sung"


  -links to "bubbling honey"

  -she still has a powerful persuasive voice

  -she is a very dominant character, seemingly mythical attributes
• "it seemed he had loved them a whole summer long"

  -lies vs truth

  -illusion vs reality

  -she has entranced him
• "stay! though a Naiad of the rivers, stay!"

  -caesura

  -imperative

  -commanding, passionate
• "he, sick to lose the amorous promise of her lone complain "


  -he is totally absorbed in her
• "the cruel lady"


  -femme fatale
• "threw the goddess off and won his heart more pleasnatly by playing the woman's part"


  -isb she being herself with him or is she playing the part that she thinks he wants?

  -does this make her a victim or a femme fatale?
• "they passed the city gates"


  -she has left one prison for another
• "like tempest in the distance brewed"


  -there is something lurking that will ruin this idyllic state that lamia has found

  -tragedy will come

  -appolonius and the truth
• "moving shadows on the walls"


  -link to plato's alegory of the cave?

  -acting out a life they are expected to live
• "with curled gray beard, sharp eyes, and a smooth bald crown"

  -appolonius

  -wisdom, age, perceptive
• "why does your tenderpalm dissolve in dew?"

  -lycius can tell she is scared/ nervous yet he still uses soft and kind language with her