►Greek Mythology: “Andromeda and Perseus” / Poetry: “On The Sonnet”, by John Keats 💫.-

“Perseus and Andromeda” by Gustave Moreau. 1869.

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Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of  Joppa in Palestine (called Ethiopia).

Cassiopeia had offended the Nereids by boasting that Andromeda was more beautiful than they, so in revenge Poseidon sent a sea monster called Cetus to ravage Cepheus’ kingdom as divine punishment.

Since only Andromeda’s sacrifice would appease the gods, she was chained to a rock and left to be devoured by the monster.

Meanwhile, Perseus had already killed the fearsome Gorgon Medusa .

As he was riding the winged horse, Pegasus over Africa in his return home, he encountered the Titan Atlas, who challenged him. 

In their confrontation, Perseus used Medusa’s head to turn the Titan into stone. 

Later on, he came across the beautiful chained Andromeda, and as he did, he approached Cetus while being invisible (because he was wearing Hades’s helm, which had that power).

He promptly killed the sea monster Cetus. 

Perseus took Andromeda to her father Cepheus and asked for her hand in marriage. That infuriated Andromeda’s uncle Phineus, to whom the maiden was already promised.

During the ensuing quarrel, Perseus turned Phineus into a stone by showing him the head of the Gorgon Medusa.

Grateful for all his victories, Perseus gave his flying sandal, mirror and magical cap to god Hermes.

He also gave his great trophy, the head of Medusa, to goddess Athena. 

Perseus and Andromeda finally married and had seven sons, as well as two daughters.

After the death of King Acrisius, the Kingdom of Argos naturally passed on to Perseus, who thought himself unworthy of it, since he had caused his grandfather’s death, even by accident, while throwing the discus in a sport competition. 

As to Andromeda, when she died, Athena placed her on the sky as a constellation, nearby her beloved husband Perseus and her mother Cassiopeia.

Located north of the celestial equator, the Andromeda constellation is most prominent during autumn evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, along with several other constellations named for characters in the Perseus myth. Because of its northern declination, Andromeda is visible only north of 40° south latitude. Its brightest star, Alpha Andromedae, is a binary star that has also been counted as a part of Pegasus.

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On the Left: Johannes Hevelius’s depiction of Andromeda, from the 1690 edition of his Uranographia. On the Right: Andromeda as depicted in Urania’s Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London, in 1825.

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►Gallery: “Andromeda and Perseus”:

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“Perseus and Andromeda” by Charles Napier Kennedy. 1890.

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►Poetry: “The confinement Andromeda as an analogy of the thoroughness of Sonnet Structure:

►“On The Sonnet”, by John Keats: 

(written in 1819, published in 1848)

If by dull rhymes our English must be chain’d,

   And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet

Fetter’d, in spite of pained loveliness;

Let us find out, if we must be constrain’d,

   Sandals more interwoven and complete

To fit the naked foot of poesy;

Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress

Of every chord, and see what may be gain’d

   By ear industrious, and attention meet:

Misers of sound and syllable, no less

   Than Midas of his coinage, let us be

   Jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown;

So, if we may not let the Muse be free,

   She will be bound with garlands of her own.

 

 ►Analysis:“On The Sonnet”, by John Keats: 

The poet begins by positing the necessity of “dull rhymes,” which he feels chain “our English” and “fetter” the sonnet. He offers next the image of Andromeda, or “pained loveliness” . Here Keats compares the confinement of the Andromeda with the sweet beauty of poetry being fettered by the demands of rhyme. The poet seems, however, resigned to rhyme’s fetters but insists that rhyme, like an intricate sandal, be more “interwoven and complete/ To fit the naked foot of poesy.”

Keats compares poetry to a foot and the sonnet form to a sandal. A sandal is a shoe that does not fully cover the foot. By suggesting that the sandals should be more interwoven, it is as if he is saying the sonnet form does not fully cover what poetry is.

The poet offers this interweaving as a solution to what Keats in his letters calls “pounding rhymes”.

He wants rhyme to be more subtle and intricate, complementing the content of the poem as a whole and not drawing attention to itself.

Keats believes that if poets follow the specific rhyme scheme of a sonnet, they will be “chained” and not express themselves fully.

He says that poets be “Misers” of “syllable” like King Midas was of gold… he states that they should be “jealous of dead leaves in the bay wreath crown” (as laurel crowns were an emblem of poetic achievement).

Recognition as a traditional value is not what fuly matters, but probably the most important thing is to be original and not to stick to old patterns and formal constrictions

Nevertheless, in the last two verses, Keats says: “if we may not let the Muse be free,/She will be bound with garlands of her own”. And by that he seems to have resigned himself to the fact that for poets are constrained, at least to some extent, by conventional forms. (Source:Brian Register).

Within this rhyme scheme the lines are still written in Iambic Pentameter (*), and the type of sonnet he chose here is known as Petrarchan Sonnet (**). With these means, Keats indicates that he remains within conventions even if he questions them. 

Maybe the ending verses are not just a way to ease up his critique, or just a withdrawal but maybe an opportunity to validate and recognize the merits of the classic poetic form he had chosen to criticize.

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(*) Iambic Pentameter is closely associated with Blank Verse, Iambic is an adjective. Iamb is the noun and is short for Iambus. Iambus is from the Greek and refers to two. Therefore, Iamb refers to a foot, or any two syllable“unit”, referred to as a foot by metrists, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (or ictus).

(**) The Petrarchan Sonnet is named after Petrarch, a 14th century Italian poet who made the form popular throughout Europe. Like all sonnets, the Petrarchan sonnet has 14 lines.

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John Keats (1795 / 1821).-

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►Links Post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_(mythology)

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Andromeda-Greek-mythology

http://www.greeka.com/greece-myths/perseus-andromeda.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_(constellation)

https://brianregister.wordpress.com/2011/02/22/meaning-and-form-in-john-keatss-on-the-sonnet/

http://allpoetry.com/Sonnet.-If-By-Dull-Rhymes-Our-English-Must-Be-Chain’d

•~~~• :star: •~~~ • :star: •~~~• :star: •~~~• :star: •~~~•  :star: •~~~•  :star: •~~~•

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►Last but not Least: Blogger Interview Tag: 

•How did you get into blogging?. 🔛It was many years ago… I usually posted reviews on books, films, philosophical subjects, as main topics… I wrote in Spanish by then…
I think I lacked of technical skills… I am not sure if WordPress was so easy to manage or if It was just me… But anyhow, the main purposes were accomplished by then.

•Which advice would you give to a blogger just starting out?.🔛Try to think of your blog as a sort of diary or compilation of archives of your interest…. write, in first place, for yourself. That way the beginning of your journey as a blogger would be loaded with positive expectations, instead of whatever kind of pressures …
Follow along a good amount of blogs… Create an email list with the URLS of the blogs you follow. Leave likes and comments, and you will soon identify bloggers who are reciprocal with you… Cut down your list of bloggers, using the previous criteria. Repeat the same steps for new lists, as many times as you want.
If you are systematic and a quite good blogger… You´ll easily reach a good amount of committed followers who will like your posts and comment in return if you have previously done so…
The number of posts you publish is not directly related to the level of engagement of your followers. It is up to you to find your Golden Mean, so to speak… And that would depend in many circumstances, which might vary according to each one of us. •What would be your dream campaign?.  🔛I will tie in this question to my blogging motto. Which would be this aphorism by Hippocrates: Ars longa vita brevis, i.e Art is long, life is short. Life is rather ephemeral… and there are many things to learn. My aim is to try to approach the classics and particularly Greek Mythology in a quite cohesive way as I believe that many cultural legacies remain there.

•Do you have a plan for your blog?.🔛I plan to keep it up and also would love to dig more deeply into symbolisms of certain myths. And even to consider psychoanalytic, sociological and cultural approaches from a diachronic point of view.

•What do you think about rankings?. 🔛I think there might be valuable if you are planning to upgrade your blog or already did so… Otherwise, numbers of visitors could be considered, not only as a reflection of your level of commitment, but also as a sample of the most appealing topics among your readers.

💥I ´d love to invite these bloggers for The Blogger Interview. Join only if you want or have time: 1. Shehanne Moore 2. The Mockingbird in Me 3. Scattered Thoughts 4. Inesemjphotography 5. Faraday´s Candle 6. Johanna Massey 7. Travels with Choppy.

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So called Wild Orchids blooming. Photographs taken on October 23rd, 2015. ©Amalia Pedemonte.

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