# Costa Magic explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Mina Loy.

## What happens

Cesira falls ill and is suspected to be bewitched by her father. Despite medical diagnosis of phthisis, a wise woman's ritual is performed, but Cesira ultimately dies, leaving the narrator to reflect on the unnaturalness of a father bewitching his own daughter.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Body and Mortality

Cesira's physical decline from phthisis and her eventual death are central to the chapter, highlighting the fragility of the body.

### Religion and Mythology

The ritual at the magic tree and the belief in bewitchment invoke folk magic and supernatural causation.

## Character check-ins

### Cesira

The daughter who is bewitched by her father, falls ill with phthisis, and dies after a ritual at a magic tree.

### Exodus

Cesira's father, who is described as a rabid man and is suspected of bewitching his daughter.

### Nurse

The wise woman who instructs the family to take Cesira to the magic tree.

## Key lines

> It is unnatural in a Father Bewitching a daughter Whose hair down covers her thighs.

The narrator reflects on the unnaturalness of a father casting a spell on his own daughter, whose long hair reaches her thighs.

_This line underscores the taboo of paternal bewitchment and the intimate, disturbing nature of the act._

> Cesira becomes as a wild beast A tree of age

At the magic tree, Cesira transforms into a wild animal, as if the tree itself is ancient.

_The transformation at the tree blurs the line between human and beast, suggesting a loss of self under the spell._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/costa-magic
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters