Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Myth of Hyacinth

Hyacinth is a divine hero from Greek mythology. He was a beautiful boy and the lover of Apollo. Zephyr also admired Hyacinth. One day Hyacinth and Apollo were throwing discus. Apollo hit Hyacinth with the discus and he died. In some versions Zephyr blew the discus off course in order to cause the death of Hyacinth because he was jealous of Apollo. When Hyacinth died, Apollo didn't allow Hades to claim the boy; rather, he made a flower, the hyacinth, from his spilled blood.

5 comments:

Ravin S said...
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Ravin S said...

There are too many references in such a short poem. Wikipedia says that Eliot references more than 30 artists and thinkers in The Waste Land, but that number could be much higher. I thought that Dante had a lot of allusions, but this work is much more dense. I honestly cannot tell if I really like the poem yet. I understand Eliot's main conflict with society, but don't know if this poem sufficiently got the point across. Maybe it did, I will wait and judge after we go over the entire thing.

Sorry that this post doesn't relate to the Hyacinth myth Meredith.

Shaina Lu said...

I really like all these track and field events in Greek Mythology! I realize that track and field in its most primative form is as old as civilization. The sport began with the Greeks which are basically the oldest civilization we know, or at least I think so. I think it's really cool that track and field is basically the oldest sport around and a original competition of sheer athleticism.

ParkerC said...

I liked the idea that someone had in class today that maybe it was a gay relationship. 2 men fighting over a boy, but they wind up killing him. And in that particular part, it's people having trouble being to communicate with one another. They do say Hyacinth girl, but idk

Christine Catinis said...

There are many different colors of hyacinth flowers, and all symbolize different things.

blue - constancy
purple - sorrow or apology
red/pink - recreation
white - loveliness
yellow - jealousy

Since Eliot doesn't specify which color, he allows the reader to connect the dots and make the connection for themselves.