The Shrine of Persephone
Detail of Proserpine
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874
The maiden goddess, Proserpine,Was innocent, uncalculating.
She strolled the formal gardens
Of the king of death, her captor.
There she saw a pomegranate
Which, plucking, she tore open.
Beneath its yellow skin she found
Blood-red seeds. She swallowed seven.
��from Metamorphoses by Ovid
Spring
by Rosalba Carriera, c. 1720-1
Daughter of Demeter, Only-Begotten, Come, Blessed Queen and to these rites incline,
Almighty, Venerable Goddess, Source of Life,
Who dwells in the profound depths of Earth,
Fast by the wide gates of the Underworld,
Beautiful, Fatal, Lovely-Haired Infernal Queen,
Source of the Furies, whose wrath descends upon those whom Demeter decrees,
Mother of Dionysus, Hypnotic, Divine and Many-Formed Father of the vine,
The dancing hours attend Thee, All-Ruling Virgin, bearing incandescent light.
Illustrious, Horned, Bounteous Maiden, alone sought out by mortal kind,
Oh Vernal Queen, who rejoices in the sweet and grassy plains,
Whose Holy Form in budding fruits is seen, Earth's vigorous Daughter in rainbow hues,
Thine alone is the power over the life and death of mortals.
�from The Orphic Hymns
Detail of The Rape of Proserpine
Dell'Abbate, 15th century
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