Cupid+and+Psyche

Love at First Sight = = =** Summary- **= Cupid and psyche is a story of the youngest girl of three siblings named Psyche, who is said to have the beauty of Venus. The people coming in crowds to enjoy looking at her beauty offended Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, who does not want a mortal girl to be worshiped more than her. Venus sends her son, Cupid, to give Psyche a passion for a lowly creature that would result in her death. Cupid, however, uses his power to make her fall in love with him instead.

Psyche begins to grow sick of her looks as she couldn't find love. Her parents consult an oracle who said that she needed to go to the top of a mountain to find her love. Psyche climbs the mountain and falls asleep to awaken near a palace. A voice tells her to rest in a bed and stay for supper. She obeys, and meets her husband, who only ever stays during the night. Since her husband won't reveal his identity, Psyche sends for her sisters who convince her that her husband is a terrible monster that will eventually eat her. They suggest she take a lamp and a knife to cut off his head if he actually is a monster.

Psyche goes in the middle of the night with the lamp and knife to reveal who her husband is. She leans over him and realizes that he is Cupid. As she is watching him, a drop of oil from the lamp falls on his shoulder, waking him up. Offended by her lack of trust, Cupid leaves her. Psyche tells her sisters what happened as they silently rejoice. She leaves the palace and wanders into a temple of Ceres. Ceres advises her to go to Venus and surrender herself.

Venus is angered by Psyche. She tells her that she needs to perform multiple tasks to regain her former lover. First, she tells her to separate grains. While she does nothing, Cupid commands ants to do the task for her. Venus knows that Cupid is the one who did it, so she orders Psyche to get wool from a group of sheep. A river god gives Psyche an alternate way to get the fleece, and Venus once again suspects that she did not do it. She gives her the final task of giving Proserpine a box to return some beauty to Venus.

Psyche safely makes it to Proserpine and gets the box of her beauty. Getting curious, Psyche opens the box which only puts her into a deep sleep. Cupid begs Jupiter to help him and Psyche. He gains her consent, and they go up to heaven where Psyche becomes immortal. They both have a child named pleasure.


 * The theme of this myth is that you should love who you want to without the beliefs or interference of others, just as Cupid and Psyche did in the end

= Allusions =
 * Book- " Marius the Epicurean" by Walter Pater
 * Poem- " Ode to Psyche" by John Keats
 * Masque- " Comus" by John Milton
 * Opera- Psyché by Jean-Baptiste Lully
 * Painting- Allegory of Love, Cupid and Psyche (to the right) by Francisco Goya

In allusions to Cupid and Psyche, the love between two people is almost always the allusion topic. Most allusions will reference the love between two people who cannot be together but love each other a great amount. A "Psyche" could refer to the female lover while a "Cupid" would be the male.

= Poem- Ode to Psyche =


 * O GODDESS! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung ||  ||
 * By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear, ||  ||
 * And pardon that thy secrets should be sung ||  ||
 * Even into thine own soft-conchèd ear: ||  ||
 * Surely I dream'd to-day, or did I see || //5// ||
 * The wingèd Psyche with awaken'd eyes? ||  ||
 * I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly, ||  ||
 * And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise, ||  ||
 * Saw two fair creatures, couchèd side by side ||  ||
 * In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof || //10// ||
 * Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran ||  ||
 * A brooklet, scarce espied: ||  ||
 * 'Mid hush'd, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed, ||  ||
 * Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian ||  ||
 * They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass; || //15// ||
 * Their arms embracèd, and their pinions too; ||  ||
 * Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu, ||  ||
 * As if disjoinèd by soft-handed slumber, ||  ||
 * And ready still past kisses to outnumber ||  ||
 * At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love: || //20// ||
 * The wingèd boy I knew; ||  ||
 * But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove? ||  ||
 * His Psyche true! ||  ||
 * O latest-born and loveliest vision far ||  ||
 * Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy! || //25// ||
 * Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star, ||  ||
 * Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky; ||  ||
 * Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none, ||  ||
 * Nor altar heap'd with flowers; ||  ||
 * Nor Virgin-choir to make delicious moan || //30// ||
 * Upon the midnight hours; ||  ||
 * No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet ||  ||
 * From chain-swung censer teeming; ||  ||
 * No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat ||  ||
 * Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming. || //35// ||
 * O brightest! though too late for antique vows, ||  ||
 * Too, too late for the fond believing lyre, ||  ||
 * When holy were the haunted forest boughs, ||  ||
 * Holy the air, the water, and the fire; ||  ||
 * Yet even in these days so far retired || //40// ||
 * From happy pieties, thy lucent fans, ||  ||
 * Fluttering among the faint Olympians, ||  ||
 * I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired. ||  ||
 * So let me be thy choir, and make a moan ||  ||
 * Upon the midnight hours; || //45// ||
 * Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet ||  ||
 * From swingèd censer teeming: ||  ||
 * Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat ||  ||
 * Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming. ||  ||
 * Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane || //50// ||
 * In some untrodden region of my mind, ||  ||
 * Where branchèd thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain, ||  ||
 * Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind: ||  ||
 * Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees ||  ||
 * Fledge the wild-ridgèd mountains steep by steep; || //55// ||
 * And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees, ||  ||
 * The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull'd to sleep; ||  ||
 * And in the midst of this wide quietness ||  ||
 * A rosy sanctuary will I dress ||  ||
 * With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain, || //60// ||
 * With buds, and bells, and stars without a name, ||  ||
 * With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign, ||  ||
 * Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same; ||  ||
 * And there shall be for thee all soft delight ||  ||
 * That shadowy thought can win, || //65// ||
 * A bright torch, and a casement ope at night, ||  ||
 * To let the warm Love in! ||
 * That shadowy thought can win, || //65// ||
 * A bright torch, and a casement ope at night, ||  ||
 * To let the warm Love in! ||

Ode to Psyche is a poem written by John Keats. He talks about the beauty of Psyche, and how she is worthy of praise. He then claims that although she may have more beauty than many other gods and goddesses, she does not receive nearly enough praise and recognition for herself as she should. This could support the idea that some love may be hidden to you unless you look hard enough.

"Cupid and Psyche." //Cupid and Psyche //. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Goya, Francisco. //An Allegory of Love, Cupid and Psyche //. 1828. N.p.

Milton, John, and John Dalton. Comus: a Masque. London: Printed for J. Wenman, 1777. Print.

"Ode to Psyche." //By John Keats : The Poetry Foundation //. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Pater, Walter. //Marius the Epicurean, //. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1934. Print.