Lamia, Keats

·         ‘Lamia’ tells the story of the god Hermes who ears of a nymph who is more beautiful than all. On his way to find the nymph he comes across a Lamia (who is trapped in the form of a serpent). Hermes transforms the Lamia into her human form after she reveals that the previously invisible nymph to him. Lamia goes to the Greek city of Corinth where she falls in love with a man called Lycius. At their bridal feast, Apollonius, one of Lycius’s friends, recognises Lamia as an evil sorceress and calls her by her name. As a result of this Lamia vanishes and heartbroken, Lycius falls dead.

Pluto Roman god of the underworld and judge of the dead.	Plato (ic) Ancient Greek philosopher known for his ‘theory of forms’ - everything on earth, whether an object or an idea, is actually an imperfect copy of an ideal and permanent “form” that exists somewhere, beyond our universe.  Plato believed that the ideal version of love is a meeting of the minds and doesn’t entail a physical aspect― “platonic relationship.”
Hermes An Olympian god in Ancient Greek mythology and religion. He was the messenger of the Gods as well as being the god of transitions and boundaries. He is also the protector of literature and poetry.	Lethe Lethe was also the name of the Greek spirit of forgetfulness and oblivion
Jove God of sky and thunder in Ancient Roman mythology.	Circe (an) The goddess of magic (or sometimes a nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress).
Nymph A mythological spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden who inhabits rivers, woods or other locations.	Crete Greek Island
Satyrs Creatures who looked like men but had the hooves and feet as well as the tails of goats. Pastimes – chase after wood nymphs and play nasty tricks on men.	Corinth The Greek capital city of Corinthia.
Proserpine Roman goddess of the underworld	Elysium A ‘paradise’ or the ‘Elysian Fields’ is a  conception of the afterlife, the final resting places of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.
Olympus Mount Olympus – home of the Greek Olympian gods.	Nereids Sea nymphs in Greek mythology who helped sailors on their voyage when face with severe storms.
Apollo Greek god of music; god of healing; god of light; god of truth

·         ‘The sound of characters’ voices are just as important as the words they speak’

·         Before the serpent begins to even speak in the poem, her voice is described as being ‘a mournful voice/such as once heard, in a gentle voice, destroys/All pain but pity’.

·         The use of recurring sibilants capture the serpent’s hissing snakelike voice however the use of the words ‘pain’ and ‘pity’ portray the vulnerability of the serpent and creates pathos for the reader. Nevertheless, the negative ‘satanic’ connotations of a serpent make us cautious of the snake supposedly because of her ability to charm.

·         ‘Her throat was serpent but the words she spake/ Came, as through bubbling honey’ – captures the seductive power and sweetness of her voice – Keats could be trying to almost warn us of the way in which we as readers should consider the words used in the poem by characters.

·         Keats also wants us to know how Hermes sounds and so his voice is compared by the other vocal tones of the other gods. For example the voice of Muses is described as being ‘soft, lute-finger’d...chanting clear’. The fact that his voice is being compared to the other gods makes him more complex –

·         ‘It is Lamia who must go in pursuit of her man, apparently reversing the conventions of traditional romance narrative’

·         Narrative rhyme of 708 lines of rhymed couplets.

·         The opening words ‘once upon a time’ echo a fairy tale, an appropriate opening for a narrative that involves mythological creatures such as nymphs, satyrs and gods.

·         A lamia – reputed to feast on the blood of children.

·         “There are instances when the women of his poetry are also literally cruel, the two most obvious examples being Lamia, a 'cruel lady' (I. 290) and the mysterious La Belle Dame Sans Merci who seduces and then abandons the knight, leaving him anguished, 'haggard' and 'woe-begone'. In both of these examples, there is an inextricable link between sex and cruelty. The women use sex to assert their supremacy over men - ultimately obtaining power and control rather than love.”

·         “Lamia's seduction of Lycius is wholly dishonest, she is a serpent, a 'gordian shape of dazzling hue' who bribes the love-struck Hermes to turn her into a woman so that she can enact her seduction of Lycius (her ruthlessness even extends so far that she perpetuates female subordination as a way to meet her own needs: she reveals the nymph to Hermes hence treating her as nothing more than a bargaining tool). He is duly dumbstruck by her beauty, so much so he believes her to be a Goddess. Her incredible sexuality dims Lycius's common sense.”

·         However we still feel sympathetic towards Lamia towards the end of the poem. Appollonius and his ‘cold philosophy’ destroy Lamia from her human form – ultimately it is males that either transform her into her female form and she depends on males to prolong her female form as well.

·         “In some ways Lamia is cruel but Keats resists the temptation to make her only that, making her a multi-faceted character rather than a simple, one dimensional villain. She is a Romantic 'pin-up', if you will; rationality and reason being what ultimately crushes both hers and Lycius's happiness.”

·         However, the fact that she is a female in a time where females were seen as inferior as men, the fact that she has the ability to be ‘cruel’ makes her powerful. On the other hand, we may also feel sympathy for her because despite her power and ability she is still destroyed both physically and emotionally – she ‘vanishes’ and her love with Lycius at her own dinner party is destroyed. She is in a worst state than what she was at the beginning of the poem when she took the form of a serpent as opposed to her ceasing to exist at the end of the poem.

·         “Throughout his poetry, the feminine presence is an intricate one. He is puzzled and enchanted by women.”

Heroic couplets ­ reflect characters/story
Iambic pentameter ­ typical of Greek Mythology
Couplets run over rhyme scheme to progress to end/sense of continuous motion.

·         Since Hermes in Greek Mythology is known as being cunning, our suspicions arise when he appears in the beginning of  the poem.