Exploring The Waste Land: auxilary text

Hyacinth as a male symbol - Line 35

The hyacinth flower is classically a male symbol. This symbolism comes from the Greek myth of the handsome young man Hyacinthus. In one version of the myth, Hyacinthus was loved by the god Apollo. Apollo threw a discus but it was blown off course by the god of the wind Zephyrus. The discus struck Hyacinthus and killed him. Apollo then changed Hyacinthus into the flower named for him.


Exploring The Waste Land - [Home] [E-mail] Url: http://world.std.com/~raparker/exploring/thewasteland/xqhyac.html File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002