Literary notes about satyr (AI summary)
The term “satyr” is used in literature in a variety of ways, often drawn from its classical roots to embody both mythic and human characteristics. In some works, the satyr is portrayed as a literal, flute-playing creature from Greek myth, echoing the Dionysian revelry and the untamed forces of nature ([1], [2], [3]). In other texts, the figure is less a mythological entity and more a symbol for rustic, often mischievous or lecherous behavior, serving as a metaphor for human folly and unrefined impulses in fable-like encounters ([4], [5], [6]). Additionally, the satyr’s image is sometimes extended to denote unruly, satirical criticism in works that use the term allegorically to comment on human weaknesses or societal norms ([7], [8], [9]). This multiplicity of uses—from mythic figure to emblem of raw, earthly human behavior—demonstrates the rich, enduring versatility of the term in literary tradition ([10], [11]).
- And this is what I and many others have suffered from the flute-playing of this satyr.
— from Symposium by Plato - ANTIOPE , to whom Zeus appeared under the form of a satyr, was the daughter of Nicteus, king of Thebes.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - The satyr, as being the Dionysian chorist, lives in a religiously acknowledged reality under the sanction of the myth and cult.
— from The Birth of Tragedy; or, Hellenism and Pessimism by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - As he went along to the Satyr's cell, the Man raised both his hands to his mouth and kept on blowing at them.
— from The Fables of Aesop by Aesop - A long time ago a Man met a Satyr in the forest and succeeded in making friends with him.
— from The Aesop for Children by Aesop - But much to the Satyr's surprise, the Man began to blow into his bowl of porridge.
— from The Aesop for Children by Aesop - I do not know whether to call the following Letter a Satyr upon Coquets, or a Representation of their several fantastical Accomplishments, or
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - I consider it as a Satyr upon Projectors in general, and a lively Picture of the whole Art of Modern Crit
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - Sure I was born with budding antlers like a young satyr, or a citizen’s child, ’sdeath, to be out-witted, to be out-jilted, out-matrimonied.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve - I am a disciple of the philosopher Dionysus, and I would prefer to be even a satyr than a saint.
— from Ecce Homo by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - He seemed to partake of those obscure forces of nature which the Greeks personified in shapes part human and part beast, the satyr and the faun.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
