Content
The main figures of the poem are Constantine and his sister Arete (which means "Virtue"), a name derived from the ancient Greek goddess Arete and the homonym for the excellent ideal. The presence of both is evident in the poem, as well as the presence of Charon. The poem is called a παραλογή (paralogē, "illogic") as its theme is supernatural, featuring a dead person resurrecting for some time to fulfil an oath, and birds speaking with human voice. Another well-known medieval paralogē is the song of the Bridge of Arta, a bridge whose foundations would not stand unless the master builder buried his own wife within the masonry.
Read more about this topic: The Dead Brother's Song
Famous quotes containing the word content:
“He that has and a little tiny wit—
With heigh-ho, the wind and the rain—
Must make content with his fortunes fit,
Though the rain it raineth every day.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Now they express
All that’s content to wear a worn-out coat,
All actions done in patient hopelessness,
All that ignores the silences of death,
Thinking no further than the hand can hold,
All that grows old,
Yet works on uselessly with shortened breath.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Nothing can or shall content my soul
Till I am evened with him, wife for wife,
Or failing so, yet that I put the Moor
At least into a jealousy so strong
That judgment cannot cure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)