A Dictionary of Literary Symbols

ADictionaryofLiterarySymbols Thisisthe?rstdictionaryofsymbolstobebasedonliterature,rather than“universal”psychologicalarchetypes,myths,oresoterica.Michael Ferberhasassemblednearlytwohundredmainentriesclearly explainingandillustratingtheliterarysymbolsthatweallencounter (suchasswan,rose,moon,gold),alongwithhundredsofcross- referencesandquotations.ThedictionaryconcentratesonEnglish literature,butitsentriesrangewidelyfromtheBibleandclassical authorstothetwentiethcentury,takinginAmericanandEuropean literatures.Itsinformedstyleandrichreferenceswillmakethisbookan essentialtoolnotonlyforliteraryandclassicalscholars,butforall studentsofliterature. michael ferberisprofessorofEnglishandHumanitiesatthe UniversityofNewHampshire.HisbooksincludeThePoetryofWilliam Blake(1991)andThePoetryofShelley(1993). ADictionaryofLiterarySymbols MichaelFerber ????????? ?????????? ????? Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press ??? ??? The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , United Kingdom Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521591287 © Michael Ferber 1999 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 1999 ????-?? ???-?-???-?????-? eBook (Gale) ????-?? ?-???-?????-? eBook (Gale) ????-?? ???-?-???-?????-? hardback ????-?? ?-???-?????-? hardback ????-?? ???-?-???-?????-? paperback ????-?? ?-???-?????-? paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of ??? s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. ForLucy Contents Acknowledgments pageviii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 Dictionary 7 Authorscited 249 Bibliography 259 Acknowledgments Imust?rstthankmycolleagueDouglasLanierforhelpingmethink throughthisdictionaryfromtheoutset,forencouragementduring earlyfrustrations,andforagreatdealofdetailedadvice.E.J.Kenneyof Peterhouse,Cambridge,savedmefromanumberofmistakesinLatin andofferedcountlesssuggestionsaboutnotonlyclassicalbutEnglish literature;hisnoteswouldmakeausefulanddelightfullittlebookby themselves.DavidNortonmademanyhelpfulsuggestionsregarding biblicalpassages.TwograduatestudentsattheUniversityofNew Hampshiregavevaluableassistance,HeatherWoodatanearlyphaseby collectingdatafrombooksnotcloseathandandWilliamStroupby goingovereveryentrywithakeeneyetoreadabilityandcuts.Mywife SusanArnoldalsocheerfullyreadeveryentryandofferedmanyhelpful ideas. IamgratefultoMariaPanteliaforprovidingmewiththeThesaurus LinguaeGraecaeoncd-romandadviceonhowtouseit.CynthiaPawlek ofBakerLibrary,Dartmouth,initiatedmeintotheEnglishPoetryData- Base,alsoondisk.RobinLent,DeborahWatson,andPeterCrosbyof DimondLibraryatUNHpatientlyhandledmymanyrequestsand, duringthereconstructionofthelibrary,evensetupalittleroomjust largeenoughfortheLoebclassicalseriesandme.Ialsomadegooduseof thelibraryofGonvilleandCaiusCollege,Cambridge,andIthank GordonHuntforhisgoodof?cesthere. TheHumanitiesCenterofUNHgavemeagrantforasemester’sleave andanof?ceinwhichtostoreunwieldyconcordancesandworkin peace;itsdirectorBurtFeintuchandadministratorJoanneSaccocould nothavebeenmorehospitable. Forcontributingideas,quotations,references,andencouragementI alsothankAnnandWarnerBerthoff,BarbaraCooper,MichaelDePorte, PatriciaEmison,JohnErnest,ElizabethHageman,PeterHolland, EdwardLarkin,RonaldLeBlanc,LaurenceMarschall,SusanSchibanoff, andCharlesSimic.MyeditoratCambridgeUniversityPress,Josie Dixon,notonlysolicitedProfessorsKenneyandNortontogoovermy entriesbutmademanyhelpfulsuggestionsherselfwhileshepherding thebookthroughitscomplexeditingprocess.Fortheerrorsand weaknessesthatremaindespiteallthisexperthelpIamofcourse responsible. Iwouldbegladtohearfromreaderswhohavefoundparticularly glaringomissionsofsymbolsormeaningsofasymbol,oranymistakes, againstthepossibilityofarevisededition.Icanbereachedc/oEnglish Department,UniversityofNewHampshire,Durham,nh03824,USA. viii Abbreviations Bible AV AuthorizedVersion(KingJamesVersion)oftheBible (1611).Allquotationsarefromthisversionunless otherwisestated. NT NewTestament.QuotationsfromtheNTthatare paralleledinmorethanoneGospelarecitedfromthe ?rstinwhichtheyappear(usuallyMatthew). OT OldTestament NEB NewEnglishBible(1961) Pindar Olymp. Olympian Pyth. Pythian Isth. Isthmian Nem. Nemean Horace QuotationsfromHoracearefromthe“Odes”or Carminaunlessotherwisestated. Ovid Met. Metamorphoses Apuleius Met. Metamorphoses(orTheGoldenAss) Chaucer CT CanterburyTales(Gen.Pro.=GeneralPrologue, Pro.=Prologue) PF ParliamentofFowls TC TroilusandCriseyde Spenser FQ FaerieQueene(Pro.=Prologue) SC ShepheardesCalendar Shakespeare 1H4,2H4 KingHenrytheFourth,PartOne,PartTwo 1H6,2H6,3H6 KingHenrytheSixth,PartOne,PartTwo,PartThree 2GV TwoGentlemenofVerona 12N TwelfthNight AC AntonyandCleopatra AWEW All’sWellthatEndsWell ix Abbreviations AYLI AsYouLikeIt CE TheComedyofErrors Cor Coriolanus Cym Cymbeline H5 KingHenrytheFifth H8 KingHenrytheEighth JC JuliusCaesar KJ KingJohn Lear KingLear LLL Love’sLabour’sLost MAAN MuchAdoAboutNothing MM MeasureforMeasure MND AMidsummerNight’sDream MV TheMerchantofVenice MWW TheMerryWivesofWindsor Per Pericles R2 KingRichardtheSecond R3 KingRichardtheThird RJ RomeoandJuliet TC TroilusandCressida Timon TimonofAthens Titus TitusAndronicus TS TheTamingoftheShrew(Ind.=Induction) WT TheWinter’sTale LinenumbersforShakespearearekeyedtotheRiversideedition;they willnotvarybymuchfromanymodernedition. Milton PL ParadiseLost Shelley PU PrometheusUnbound x Introduction The idea for this dictionary came to me while I was reading a student essay on Byron’s“Stanzas Written on the Road between Florence and Pisa,”which sets the true glory ofyouthful love against the false glory ofan old man’s literary renown.After a promising start the student came to a halt before these lines: “the myrtle and ivy ofsweet two-and- twenty / Are worth all your laurels,though ever so plenty.”His copy lacked footnotes,and he lacked experience ofpoetry before the Romantics.With disarming candor he confessed that he had no idea what these three plants were doing in the poem,and then desperately suggested that Byron might have seen them on the road somewhere between Florence and Pisa and been inspired to put them in his poem the way you might put plants in your of?ce.I wrote in the margin that these were symbolic plants and he had to look them up.But where, exactly,do you send a student to ?nd out the symbolic meaning of myrtle? The Oxford English Dictionarywas all I could come up with,but I felt certain there must be a handier source,designed for readers oflitera- ture,with a good set ofquotations from ancient times to modern.But there is no such book. Adozen times since then I have asked colleagues and librarians ifthey knew ofone.They were all sure they did,or thought “there must be one,”but they could never ?nd it.Several ofthem came up with Cirlot’s Dictionary ofSymbols,but that work,whatever its uses,is the last thing I would recommend to a student.It has no entry at all for myrtle.Under ivy it mentions the Phrygian god Attis and its eunuch-priests and then says,“It is a feminine symbol denoting a force in need ofprotection.” One can hardly imagine the interpretations ofByron that would arise from those claims.Under laurel it names Apollo and mentions poets, but has nothing about fame,and it goes on about “inner victories over the negative and dissipative in?uence ofthe base forces.” Only slightly better are two recent ones: Hans Biedermann’s Dictionary ofSymbolism: Cultural Icons and the Meanings Behind Them,trans- lated from the German,and Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant’s Penguin Dictionary ofSymbols,translated from the French.Both range widely but unsystematically over the cultures ofthe world,packing Mayan and Chinese meanings next to those from medieval alchemy.The latter book,much the larger,lacks an entry for myrtle; under ivy it dis- cusses Dionysus,which is on the right track,but it says nothing about its uses in Roman poetry that lie behind Byron.Neither book quotes widely from poetry or prose ?ction. Ifno adequate dictionary exists,but everyone thinks it does (because it must),that seemed a good reason to write one.It was also a reason not to write one,for ifeven the Germans have not produced one,as it seemed,it might be beyond mortal powers.After all,anything can be a 1