Literature
Many historical writers whose works have shaped the development of literature have used astrological symbolism to add subtlety and nuance to their literary themes. For example, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (early 14th cent.) builds varied references to planetary associations within his described architecture of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, (such as the seven layers of Purgatory's mountain purging the seven cardinal sins that correspond to astrology's seven classical planets). Similar astrological allegories and planetary themes are pursued through the works of Geoffrey Chaucer (late 14th century), William Shakespeare (late 16th/early 17th cent.) and Milton (17th cent.). Often, an understanding of astrological symbolism is needed to fully appreciate such literature and some passages in the older English poets are unintelligible without a basic knowledge of traditional astrological theory.
Chaucer's astrological passages are particularly frequent and knowledge of astrological basics is often assumed through his work. He knew enough of his period's astrology and astronomy to write a Treatise on the Astrolabe for his son. He pinpoints the early spring season of the Canterbury Tales in the opening verses of the prologue by noting that the Sun "hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne". He makes the Wife of Bath refer to "sturdy hardiness" as an attribute of Mars, and associates Mercury with "clerkes".
More recently, Michael Ward has proposed that C.S. Lewis, after a lifetime of study in medieval & renaissance literature, infused each of his 7 Chronicles of Narnia with imagery representing the character of each of the seven pre-Copernican planetary spheres. For example, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe represents Jove (Jupiter) with its emphasis on winter overtaken by spring, kingship and queenship, "guilt forgiven", and mixture of the solemn and the jovial. In 1978, notes from Margaret Mitchell’s library revealed that the author had based each character from her classic prize-winning novel, Gone with Wind (1936) including the central star-crossed lovers, Scarlett O'Hara (Aries) and Rhett Butler (Leo), around an archetype of the zodiac. In 2010, a detailed personal horoscope analyzed and illustrated by J K Rowling at the time she was writing her first Harry Potter novel, came up for sale. The auctioneer commented that Rowling “displays a detailed knowledge of Western astrology which was later to play an important part in her books".
Read more about this topic: Cultural Influence Of Astrology
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