英语词汇swan song的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

swan song; Swan of Avon; Swan of Meander, etc. The swan makes no sound other than a hiss when it is angry, but the ancient Greeks thought that the mute bird broke its life- long silence with one last melodious song just before it died. This swan song, according to Socrates, was a happy one, for the dying bird, sacred to Apollo, knew that it would soon be joining its master. The superstition, embraced by poets through the ages, led to the use of swan song to mean a per- son’s last, eloquent words or performance. Shakespeare was called the Swan of Avon; Homer was called the Swan of Me- ander, and Virgil the Mantuan Swan because Apollo, the god of poetry and song, was fabled to have been changed into a swan and the souls of all poets were at one time thought to pass into the bodies of swans after death. Still other “swans” of literature include: the Swan of Padua, Francesco Algarotti; the Swan of the Thames, John Taylor; the Swan of Usk, Henry Vaughn; and the Swan of Lichfield, Anna Vaughan. See bards.

词汇	swan song
词源	swan song; Swan of Avon; Swan of Meander, etc. The swan makes no sound other than a hiss when it is angry, but the ancient Greeks thought that the mute bird broke its life- long silence with one last melodious song just before it died. This swan song, according to Socrates, was a happy one, for the dying bird, sacred to Apollo, knew that it would soon be joining its master. The superstition, embraced by poets through the ages, led to the use of swan song to mean a per- son’s last, eloquent words or performance. Shakespeare was called the Swan of Avon; Homer was called the Swan of Me- ander, and Virgil the Mantuan Swan because Apollo, the god of poetry and song, was fabled to have been changed into a swan and the souls of all poets were at one time thought to pass into the bodies of swans after death. Still other “swans” of literature include: the Swan of Padua, Francesco Algarotti; the Swan of the Thames, John Taylor; the Swan of Usk, Henry Vaughn; and the Swan of Lichfield, Anna Vaughan. See bards.
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