Lamia
by John Keats
'Lamia' Summary
The poem tells how the god Hermes hears of a nymph who is more beautiful than all. Hermes, searching for the nymph, instead comes across Lamia, trapped in the form of a serpent. She reveals the previously invisible nymph to him and in return he restores her human form. She goes to seek a youth of Corinth, Lycius, while Hermes and his nymph depart together into the woods. The relationship between Lycius and Lamia, however, is destroyed when the sage Apollonius reveals Lamia's true identity at their wedding feast, whereupon she seemingly disappears and Lycius dies of grief.
According to Michael O'Neill, Lamia in the poem "is treated ambivalently but with considerable sympathy", making "a sharp contrast with the more leisurely and seemingly uncritical use of romance in [the] two narrative poems that follow....the hapless Lycius is caught between the reductive rationalism of Apollonius and the bewitching illusoriness of Lamia."
Book Details
Authors
John Keats
England
John Keats was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tubercul...
Books by John KeatsDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books
Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends by John Keats
These are the letters of John Keats, as written to family, close friends and others during his brief, eventful years as an artist. The celebrated Keat...
Ingoldsby Legends, 1st Series by Richard Harris Barham
The Ingoldsby Legends are a collection of humorous and often macabre verse tales written by Richard Harris Barham under the pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby...
Outward Bound by Sir Henry Newbolt
Sir Henry John Newbolt, was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in...
Verses by Susan Coolidge
This volume of verse by Susan Coolidge, the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, offers a collection of poems that touch upon a range of themes. The po...
Letter From A Girl To Her Own Old Age by Alice Meynell
Alice Meynell's "A Letter From A Girl To Her Own Old Age" is a poignant and contemplative poem that explores the passage of time and its impact on the...
Poetry Everywhere by W. S. Gilbert
In the enchanting world of Poetry Everywhere, Sir William Schwenck Gilbert unveils the hidden poetry embedded in everyday life. Through his masterful...
The Elder Edda by Sæmund Sigfusson
Embark on a captivating journey into the realm of Norse mythology and heroic poetry with The Elder Edda, a seminal collection of ancient poems compile...
The 'Sacred' Kurral of Tiruvalluva-Nayanar by Thiruvalluvar
The 'Sacred' Kurral is a timeless classic of wisdom and guidance on ethics, morality, and social justice. The 'Sacred' Kurral of Tiruvalluva-Nayanar...
Night in March by Duncan Campbell Scott
“A Night in March” by Duncan Campbell Scott is a lyrical poem that celebrates the arrival of spring. The speaker, a lover of nature, observes the subt...
A Roadside Harp by Louise Imogen Guiney
In a world that is often dark and uncertain, A Roadside Harp by Louise Imogen Guiney offers a glimmer of hope. This collection of poems celebrates the...
Reviews for Lamia
No reviews posted or approved, yet...