Poetry · Chapter
Στροφή explained
The chapter opens with an invocation to cloud maidens, calling them to rise from the river of Ocean and soar to pine-covered mountains and watch-towers, where they can gaze upon the land with far-seeing vision, shedding the haze of mists.
What happens
The chapter opens with an invocation to cloud maidens, calling them to rise from the river of Ocean and soar to pine-covered mountains and watch-towers, where they can gaze upon the land with far-seeing vision, shedding the haze of mists.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Seasons
The passage is rich with natural imagery: clouds, dew, rivers, pine-covered mountains, corn-fields, and sea-waves.
Classical Mythology and Antiquity
References to Ocean (Sire's loud river), nymph-haunted rivers, and the sun's radiance evoke classical mythological elements.
Characters to notice
- The Dryads
Implied as nymphs haunting the rivers and mountains.
Key passages
“Cloud maidens that float on for ever, Dew-sprinkled, fleet bodies, and fair, Let us rise from our Sire’s loud river, Great Ocean, and soar through the air To the peaks of the pine-covered mountains where the pines hang as tresses of hair.”
Eternal cloud nymphs, delicate and beautiful, let us ascend from our father Ocean's roaring stream and fly to the pine-topped mountains where the trees drape like hair.
The speaker calls upon the cloud maidens to leave the river Ocean and journey to the mountains.
“Let us seek the watch-towers undaunted, Where the well-watered corn-fields abound, And through murmurs of rivers nymph-haunted The songs of the sea-waves resound; And the sun in the sky never wearies of spreading his radiance around.”
Let us boldly seek the lookout points where fertile fields thrive, and where the sound of nymph-inhabited rivers mingles with the ocean's song, while the sun tirelessly shines its light.
The destination is a place of natural abundance and beauty, where water, land, and sky harmonize.
“Let us cast off the haze Of the mists from our band, Till with far-seeing gaze We may look on the land.”
Let us clear the fog from our company so that we can see the land clearly from afar.
The final call is to dispel obscurity and gain a clear vision of the earth below.