Arethuse : poetic form of Arethusa, the nymph loved by the river-god Alpheus. She fled his attentions but Alpheus pursued & caught her; whence the story that the waters of the river Alpheus flow beneath the sea from Greece to reappear in the fountain of Arethusa in the harbour of Syracuse.
... accent of ordinary psychological motives. Such, for instance, is the following, based ostensibly on Greek elegiac style, where the pan-piping lover, in the midst of his lament by the banks of the Arethuse for the cruel manner in which Nisa has forsaken him for Mopsus, longs for death: Oplaintive murmuring reed, breathe yet thy strain. Ye glades, your bliss I grudge you not, Nor would... glorious beauty stained with gold From shadows of her hair, nor by some well Made naked of their sylvan dress The breasts, the limbs I never shall possess, Therefore, O Mother Arethuse, farewell. Page 4 Mark how the consonances, assonances, long vowels, and slow spondees interspersing the iambic beat hum and sing and with the help of the grammatical suspense of ...
... more behold Your glorious beauty stained with gold From shadows of her hair, nor by some well Made naked of their sylvan dress The breasts, the limbs I never shall possess, Therefore, O mother Arethuse, farewell. For me no place abides By the green verge of thy beloved tides. To Lethe let my footsteps go And wailing waters in the realms below, Where happier song is none than moaning pain ...
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