Swan song
The swan song (
Origin and description
In Greek mythology, the swan was a bird consecrated to Apollo, and it was therefore considered a symbol of harmony and beauty and its limited capabilities as a singer were sublimated to those of songbirds.
In Plato's Phaedo, the character of Socrates says that, although swans sing in early life, they do not do so as beautifully as before they die. He adds that there is a popular belief that the swans' song is sorrowful, but Socrates prefers to think that they sing for joy, having "foreknowledge of the blessings in the other world".[3] Aristotle noted in his History of Animals that swans "are musical, and sing chiefly at the approach of death".[4] By the third century BC the belief had become a proverb.[5][6]
Ovid mentions the legend in "The Story of Picus and Canens":[7]
In tears she poured out words with a faint voice,
lamenting her sad woe, as when the swan
about to die sings a funereal dirge.
It is also possible that the swan song has some connection to the lament of Cycnus of Liguria at the death of his lover, Phaethon, the ambitious and headstrong son of Helios and Clymene. The name Cycnus is the Latinised form of the Greek, which means "swan". Hyginus proposes in his Fabulae that the mournful Cycnus, who is transformed into a swan by the gods, joins the dirge of the amber-crying poplars, the Heliades, the half-sisters of the dead Phaethon, who also experienced a metamorphosis at the death of the reckless Phaethon.[8]
Ornithological accuracy
The most familiar European swan, the
However, the
The whooper swan's nearest relatives, the trumpeter and tundra swans, share its musical tracheal loop. Zoologist D.G. Elliot reported in 1898 that a tundra swan he had shot and wounded in flight began a long glide down whilst issuing a series of "plaintive and musical" notes that "sounded at times like the soft running of the notes of an octave".[11]
Later cultural references
The notion that swans sing a final song before dying continued to influence Western culture into the early modern era. For instance, Chaucer's Parlement of Foules contains a reference to "the Ialous swan, ayens his deth that singeth [the jealous swan, that sings at his death]".[12] Leonardo da Vinci also mentioned the legend in his notebooks: "The swan is white without spot, and it sings sweetly as it dies, that song ending its life."[13]
In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Portia exclaims "Let music sound while he doth make his choice; / Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, / Fading in music."[14] Similarly, in Othello, the dying Emilia exclaims, "I will play the swan, / And die in music."[15]
A
The silver Swan, who living had no Note,
when Death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast against the reedy shore,
thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:
"Farewell, all joys! O Death, come close mine eyes!
"More Geese than Swans now live, more Fools than Wise."
Other poets who have taken inspiration from the legend include Alfred, Lord Tennyson, whose poem "The Dying Swan" is a poetic evocation of the "wild swan's death-hymn";[16] and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who quipped: "Swans sing before they die— 't were no bad thing / Should certain persons die before they sing."[17]
Idiomatic usage
The phrase "swan song" has also taken on a metaphorical sense, referring to the final work of a creative artist, especially when produced shortly before death, or more generally to any final performance or accomplishment.
A dramatic or notable achievement by an athlete just prior to their retirement, such as baseball player
See also
References
- ISBN 0-14-044649-4.
- ^ Aeschylus. "Agamemnon". Perseus Digital Library. Lines 1444–5. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ Plato. "Phaedo". Perseus Digital Library. 84e–85b. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ Aristotle (1910). Historia Animalium. Translated by Thompson, D'Arcy W. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 615b.
- S2CID 248519337.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7136-6570-3. Archivedfrom the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ^ Ovid. "Metamorphoses XIV". Perseus Digital Library. Lines 428–430. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ISBN 9783110975512. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2021.)
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help - ^ ISBN 978-0-203-94662-6. Archivedfrom the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ISBN 0-618-16675-0.
- ^ Johnsgard, Paul A. (January 2013). "The Swans of Nebraska". Prairie Fire. USA. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
- ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1896). Chaucer: the Minor Poems. Clarendon Press. p. 86.
- ISBN 9781465514141. Archivedfrom the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ^ The Merchant of Venice, Act 3 Scene 2 Archived 7 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Hosted at Open Source Shakespeare.
- ^ Othello, Act 5 Scene 2 Archived 7 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Hosted at Open Source Shakespeare.
- ^ Tennyson, Alfred. "The Dying Swan". The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021 – via Project Gutenberg.
- ^ Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1848). The Poems of S. T. Coleridge. London: William Pickering. p. 350. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ^ "swansong". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Denham, Jess (11 January 2016). "David Bowie dead: Swansong 'Lazarus' takes on poignant new meaning in lyrics and music video". Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
- ^ Blumczynski, Piotr (2023). Experiencing Translationality: Material and Metaphorical Journeys. Taylor & Francis.
- ^ Senich, Eric (26 January 2019). "Remembering Freddie Mercury's hauntingly epic swan song: Queen's Innuendo". i95. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ^ Hoch, Bryan (3 January 2015). "Jeter's swan song one for the ages". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ^ Travers, Peter (30 March 2018). "'The Last Movie Star' Review: Burt Reynolds Shines in His Swan Song". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
- ^ "Burt Reynolds Dies at 82". Us Weekly. 6 September 2018. Archived from the original on 12 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.