2/2: trees with ears

I'm reading the Homeric Hymn to Demeter today to prepare for my class this afternoon. It's a poem which I love and which I've read many times. With each reading I see new details. Here's something about it which struck me today: when Persephone is snatched to the underworld by Hades, the poem tells us that no gods and no humans heard her cries--the poem also proceeds to tell us that "not even the olive trees" heard her call out. I love the implicit and casual presumption that trees can hear!

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Not simply an exaggerated way of saying how absolutely unheard she was?? Not even the TREES heard her!

I can imagine myself saying something like that without believing that trees can hear (although plants that are talked to grow better so maybe they can.... a whole different point!). - Barbara

RR said...

Hello, Barbara--Yes, it probably is mostly an exaggerated way of saying how her screams weren't heard. But I love how it's put so matter-of-factly in the poem, and every now and then in Greek poetry there are interesting analogies between humans and plants (whereas we're more likely to make analogies between humans and animals), so I savor them when I find them (even if they're being enlisted for poetic effect rather than their literal truth).