Lamia Part One Revision

Question 1

What rhythm is the poem written in?

Answer 1

Iambic pentameter

Question 2

Where does the tale of Lamia come from?

Answer 2

Greek mythology

Question 3

What are the references to ‘faery broods’ driving Nymph and Satyr from the woods and Oberon being linked to ‘sceptre and mantle’ intended to achieve?

Answer 3

They present the faerie as powerful at the very beginning of the poem.

Question 4

Who is Oberon?

Answer 4

An intertextual reference to the king of the faeries in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Question 5

How does ‘bent warm on amorous theft’ present Hermes?

Answer 5

As predatory for the euphemism for rape.

Question 6

How does Lamia’s introduction of a ‘mournful voice’ that ‘destroys all pain but pity’ present her?

Answer 6

As a source of sympathy or as a dangerous manipulator.

Question 7

‘thus the ___ ____ spake’

Answer 7

lone voice

Question 8

‘When from this _____ _____ shall I awake’

Answer 8

wreathed tomb

Question 9

What is the effect of the syndeton in ‘And love, and pleasure, and the ruddy strife’?

Answer 9

It emphasise her deep longing for a physical connection.

Question 10

‘Ah, ______ me!’

Answer 10

miserable

Question 11

‘Until he found a ________ snake’

Answer 11

palpitating

Question 12

Analyse ‘dazzling hue, vermillion spotted, golden, green and blue.’

Answer 12

The heavy use of colour imagery presents Lamia with a sense of vibrancy and beauty.

Question 13

Analyse: ‘striped as a zebra, freckled like a pard’

Answer 13

The antithesis of predator versus prey like imagery present the complicated interpretation of Lamia as the villain or a sympathetic victim.

Question 14

Analyse: ‘full of silver moons’

Answer 14

1. false light could indicate the sense of deception surrounding Lamia.
2. Astronomical imagery creates a sense of her being a sublime being, making her decision to give that up for human form seem unusual.
3. Contextually, the moon was thought of as being a symbol for the fickle nature of women.

Question 15

Analyse: ‘so rainbow sided, touched with miseries’

Answer 15

The juxtaposition once again brings about her struggle and suffering despite the incredible and memorable nature of her snake-like form.

Question 16

‘some ______ mistress, or the _______ self’

Answer 16

demon’s

Question 17

‘Sprinkled with stars, like Ariadne’s tiar’ is another example of what technique Keats uses when describing Lamia?

Answer 17

Astrological imagery

Question 18

What does the link to Prosperine (Persephone) serve to achieve in the introduction of Lamia?

Answer 18

It links Lamia to another mythological character trapped in Hades (hell). It once more implies Lamia to be suffering in her form and create a sense of her as a sympathetic victim.

Question 19

‘words she spake, came through as ______ ______’

Answer 19

bubbling honey

Question 20

How does Lamia’s decision to allow Hermes to ‘behold’ the nymph complicate her presentation?

Answer 20

Whilst some might see that as a deep yearning for love, others will see this as a sacrifice for her own personal gain.

Question 21

What does the description of Hermes as ‘the charmed God’ indicate?

Answer 21

That he has been manipulated by Lamia.

Question 22

What is interesting about Lamia using the imperative ‘Stoop, Hermes’?

Answer 22

She is commanding a God.

Question 23

What do we call places that exist between places, such as the space between dreams and reality?

Answer 23

Liminal

Question 24

Analyse the simile: ‘like a moon in wane’

Answer 24

It implies the diminishing state of the nymph as she submits to Hermes, who has been betrayed by Lamia.

Question 25

What technique is used in ‘Nor grew they pale, like mortal lovers do.’?

Answer 25

Foreshadowing - the mortal love of Lamia and Lycius will fail.

Question 26

How does Keats’ use of language change when describing Lamia’s transformation?

Answer 26

It becomes much more violent. ‘wither’d’ ‘torture fix’d’ ‘anguish drear’ ‘hot’ ‘glaz’d’ ‘sear’.

Question 27

Why does Keats change to use of violent imagery when Lamia transforms?

Answer 27

To indicate the damage she make come to do or the damage she is doing to herself. This message is clear that the transformation is not a good one but it is up to the reader to interpret for who.

Question 28

‘Scarlet pain’ is an example of what?

Answer 28

Synaesthesia

Question 29

‘_______ her crescents and lick’d up her _______’

Answer 29

crescents/stars

Question 30

How does Keats return to the use of astrological imagery during Lamia’s transformation?

Answer 30

‘Eclips’d her crescents and and lick’d up her stars’

Question 31

Why does Keats return to the use of astrological imagery ‘Eclips’d’ and ‘licked up her stars’ during Lamia’s transformation?

Answer 31

To show that becoming mortal has rid her of her mystical and ethereal qualities. Lamia’s magnificence has been diminished by becoming an ordinary woman.

Question 32

‘she was ____ // of all sapphires, greens and amethyst’

Answer 32

undrest

Question 33

‘Nothing but _____ and ugliness were left’

Answer 33

pain

Question 34

What are Lamia’s first words in human form?

Answer 34

“Lycius! gentle Lycius”

Question 35

Why does Keats use real places in the poem such as Corinth, Peraean hills and Cleone?

Answer 35

To ground the poem in some degree to reality, perhaps making its messages more applicable to the reader.

Question 36

What technique is used here: ‘A virgin purest lipp’d, yet in the lore // Of love deep learned?

Answer 36

Anthithesis

Question 37

‘When in the serpent ___ - ______’

Answer 37

Prison house

Question 38

Lycius’ introduction says that he was ‘charioting’. How does this present him?

Answer 38

It presents him as a source of strength and masculinity.

Question 39

Why does ‘her neck Regal white’ make her seem more desirable during the time of writing?

Answer 39

Pure white skin was considered to be a desirable quality when Keats was writing.

Question 40

How does Lamia present herself when she asks Lycius if he ‘will leave her on these hills alone?’

Answer 40

As a vulnerable damsel in distress.

Question 41

What does ‘Orpheus-like at an Eurydice’ foreshadow?

Answer 41

The tragedy to come. Like Orpheus losing Eurydice in the underworld, Lamia and Lycius’ love is doomed.

Question 42

‘What technique is used in ‘For so delicious were the words she sung’?

Answer 42

Synaesthesia

Question 43

When first speaking to Lycius, why does Lamia bid him ‘adieu!’ and act like she does not want him?

Answer 43

As a way to manipulate him and make his longing for her deeper.

Question 44

What is the effect of the spider metaphor in ‘and gave afresh // the life she had so tangled in her mesh’?

Answer 44

It makes her seem predatory and again manipulative, as if she has played Lycius.

Question 45

‘And clear his soul of doubt // For that she was a woman’ shows us what?

Answer 45

That Lycius had doubted that at some point but that either he has been foolish to trust her or Lamia has been powerful even to manipulate his trust.

Question 46

‘Throbbing blood’ ‘self-same pains’ ‘frail-strung heart’ all present Lamia as…

Answer 46

vulnerable

Question 47

‘and won his heart // more pleasantly by playing the ______ ____’

Answer 47

woman’s part

Question 48

‘he knew not how // so noiseless and he ______ thought to know.’

Answer 48

never

Question 49

How is Apollonius juxtaposed with ‘blind Lycius’?

Answer 49

‘sharp eyes’

Question 50

Lycius’ home is described as ‘mild as a star in water’. How does that compare to the earlier description of Lamia?

Answer 50

It is clearly not as bright, as magical as Lamai’s snake-like form. There is a clear sense of majesty fading.

Question 51

‘Of the wide doors disclos’d a place ______’

Answer 51

unknown

Question 52

‘Shut from the busy world’ reminds us of what from La Belle Dame Sans Merci?

Answer 52

The elfin grot. Typical of Keats the protagonists disappear into a different, often magical realm, solitary away from the real world.

It could also imply Lamia’s predatory nature as she effectively has taken Lycius from the world.