When poets refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Literary and Philosophical References:
- Son of God (all over the place, starting at 1): Jesus (also conflated with God—as in the concept of the Trinity—several times)
- Changeling (344): fairy child that has been left in place of a human one
- Pan (496): not Peter Pan, but the Greek god of shepherds, the wilderness, and rustic music
- Paradise (514, 2784): Biblical Paradise, or Heaven
- Seraphic (631, 2337): like a Seraph, a type of angel in the Bible
- Lazarus (637): Biblical figure who Jesus resurrected from the dead
- Mary (638): not the mother of Jesus, but Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus
- Evangelist (652): John, who is the reputed author of one of the four Gospels in the New Testament
- Æonian (711, 1961): relating to Aonia, region in Greece sacred to the Muses
- Satyr (722)
- Urania (741): Muse of astronomy in Greek mythology
- Melpomene (749): Muse of singing and tragedy in Greek mythology
- Muse (753, 1125, 1637, 2336)
- Unity of place (847): one of the three unities from the Poetics of Aristotle
- Lethean (882): relating to Lethe, river of the Underworld in Greek mythology, said to cause forgetfulness when dead souls passed over
- Fury (976): goddesses of vengeance in Greek mythology
- Hell (1032, 2685)
- Shakespeare (1172)
- Eden (1770, 2780)
- Tuscan poets (1804)
- Anakim (2195): a race of giants mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
- Titans (2196)
- Pallas (2448): Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, who sprang fully-formed from the head of Zeus
- Paul (2556): Biblical author
Historical References
- Arthur (203, 217, 1486, 1786): Arthur Henry Hallam, a friend of Tennyson's who died at the young age of 22
- Phosphor (210, 2573, 2581): the morning star (actually Venus when seen in the morning)
- Danube (401, 2053)
- Severn (401, 405): longest river in England
- Wye (407, 409): river in England
- Argive (506): relating to Argos, a major port city in ancient Greece
- Arcady (508): remote area in Greece, often likened to a pastoral paradise
- Olivet (648): the Mount of Olives, a ridge of mountains east of Jerusalem
- Parnassus (746): mountain in Greece that was said to be the home of the Muses
- Michael Angelo (1748): the famous sculptor and painter
- Sinai (2006): Mount Sinai, a significant location for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments
- Rhine (2045): second-longest river in Europe
- Hesper (2565, 2581): Hesperus, or the evening star (actually Venus when seen at night)
- Seine (2675): river that runs through Paris
- Æon (2684): another name for Uranus