Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Michael Drayton: Sonnet XVIII
Some, when in ryme they of their Loues doe tell,
With flames and lightning their exordiums paynt:
Some inuocate the Gods, some spirits of Hell,
And heauen, and earth doe with their woes acquaint.
Elizia is too hie a seate for mee:
I wyll not come in Stixe or Phlegiton;
The Muses nice, the Furies cruell be,
I lyke not Limbo, nor blacke Acheron,
Spightful Erinnis frights mee with her lookes,
My manhood dares not with foule Ate mell:
I quake to looke on Hecats charming bookes,
I styll feare bugbeares in Apollos cell.
I passe not for Minerua nor Astæa.
But euer call vpon diuine Idea.
Stixe River that separates Earth
from the underworld.
Phlegiton Fire flaming river.
Archeron River of woe in Hades.
Both Cocytus river (river of lamentation)
and Phlegiton river join the Archeron
(this is a hell of a time to think about maps).
Erinnis or Erinys are Furies or
female chthonic (beneath the earth)
deities (known for their bad manners).
Hecats are those that practice magic,
witchcraft, and consort with ghosts (bad
neighbors)!
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