Endymion! You're honoured. ;)

Miss-Delectable

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What Endymion means: Endymion was a handsome shepherd boy of Asia Minor, the mortal lover of the moon goddess Selene. Each night he was kissed to sleep by her. She begged Zeus to grant him eternal life so she might be able to embrace him forever. Zeus complied, putting Endymion into eternal sleep and each night Selene visits him on Mt. Latmus, near Milete, in Asia Minor. The ancient Greeks believed that his grave was situated on this mountain. Selene and Endymion have fifty daughters.


Endymion was a beautiful youth who fed his flock on Mount Latmos.
One calm, clear night, Diana, the Moon, looked down and saw him
sleeping. The cold heart of the virgin goddess was warmed by his
surpassing beauty, and she came down to him, kissed him, and
watched over him while he slept.

Another story was that Jupiter bestowed on him the gift of
perpetual youth united with perpetual sleep. Of one so gifted we
can have but few adventures to record. Diana, it was said, took
care that his fortunes should not suffer by his inactive life,
for she made his flock increase, and guarded his sheep and lambs
from the wild beasts.

The story of Endymion has a peculiar charm from the human meaning
which it so thinly veils. We see in Endymion the young poet, his
fancy and his heart seeking in vain for that which can satisfy
them, finding his favorite hour in the quiet moonlight, and
nursing there beneath the beams of the bright and silent witness
the melancholy and the ardor which consumes him. The story
suggests aspiring and poetic love, a life spent more in dreams
than in reality, and an early and welcome death.
S. G. Bulfinch

The Endymion of Keats is a wild and fanciful poem, containing
some exquisite poetry, as this, to the moon:

"The sleeping kine
Couched in thy brightness dream of fields divine.
Innumerable mountains rise, and rise,
Ambitious for the hallowing of thine eyes,
And yet thy benediction passeth not
One obscure hiding place, one little spot
Where pleasure may be sent; the nested wren
Has thy fair face within its tranquil ken."

Dr. Young in the Night Thoughts alludes to Endymion thus:

"These thoughts, O Night, are thine;
>From thee they came like lovers' secret sighs,
While others slept. So Cynthia, poets feign,
In shadows veiled, soft, sliding from her sphere,
Her shepherd cheered, of her enamored less
Than I of thee."

Fletcher, in the Faithful Shepherdess, tells,

"How the pale Phoebe, hunting in a grove,
First saw the boy Endymion, from whose eyes
She took eternal fire that never dies;
How she conveyed him softly in a sleep,
His temples bound with poppy, to the steep
Head of Old Latmos, where she stoops each night,
Gilding the mountain with her brother's light,
To kiss her sweetest."
 
*blush* ;) You've discovered the meaning behind my name! Congratulations!

I particularly love this Keats excerpt:

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon"

- John Keats, Book One, Endymion: A Poetic Romance
 
Endymion said:
*blush* ;) You've discovered the meaning behind my name! Congratulations!

I particularly love this Keats excerpt:

I'm not much into poetry, but yeah, this Keat exercpt's a good one and I do like it.
 
Keats seems to be allright, I suppose. :) Ok, don't throw sharp objects at me!

Me? I'm more of a Poe fan. And there's a Bawlmore connection, too! I used to live there and attended Univ. of Baltimore. Have you ever visited his grave? Quite nondescript, almost ill-fitting for one of America's best authors, littered with pennies.

Instead of a penny, I shall lift a Natty Boh in Poe's honor. :)
 
Hate to hijack a thread like this, but this was too good to pass up!

Apparently, I should have brought Cognac instead. :)

And trying to get back to this thread, thanks Miss D., for unearthing that information about the Endymion mythos. Quite entertaining!
 
Oh yes! I have heard of this myth. Now I am reminded of one question when I was told about this myth-- How could Selene and Endy have fifty children if Endy is forever asleep? Now we know who is the vixen! Hmm hmm! Endy sure had a lot of wet dreams! ;) :cuddle:
 
Oh, Selene must have raped Endy constantly while he's asleep if they had that 50 daughters to show for.

Ahh, that's why mythology's well revered as they always have the impossible in their stories.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Oh, Selene must have raped Endy constantly while he's asleep if they had that 50 daughters to show for.

Ahh, that's why mythology's well revered as they always have the impossible in their stories.

If Selene thinks I'm that good when I'm not even trying . . . ;)
 
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