The Bees of Rome: Representing Social and Spiritual Transition in Victorian Poetry
In Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil used bees to lgure human spirits in the Underworld. This was not the earliest association of bees with death and the afterlife, but it was the lrst such link in European literature. Virgil’s bees lgured those spirits who would become Aeneas’ descendants, future citiz...
| Published in: | Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture |
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| Subtitles: | Special issue: Bees and Honey in Religions |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox Publ.
2020
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Vergilius Maro, Publius 70 BC-19 BC, Aeneis 6
/ Apidae (Family)
/ Death
/ Great Britain
/ Culture
/ History 1837-1901
/ Literature
/ Spirituality
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BE Greco-Roman religions CE Christian art KBF British Isles |
| Further subjects: | B
Browning
B Virgil B Michael Field B Catholicism B Anglo-Catholicism B Bees B Dante B Tennyson B Christina Rossetti |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil used bees to lgure human spirits in the Underworld. This was not the earliest association of bees with death and the afterlife, but it was the lrst such link in European literature. Virgil’s bees lgured those spirits who would become Aeneas’ descendants, future citizens of Rome. This moment in Pagan mythology had a remarkable literary afterlife in the work of (among others) Dante, Milton, Tennyson, Browning, C.G. Rossetti, and Michael Field, for each of whom (according to his or her religious faith) the bees were variously linked with Christ, Lucifer, France, Rome, the Saints, and both personal and national spiritual transition. Elucidating apian allusions in these poets’ works, I explain how the bees became poetical lgures for social and spiritual upheaval (at once dangerous and creative) and for the vital presence of the non-human (or angelic) in spiritual life. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-4915 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.38586 |