Getting Ashford's Goat(footed balloonman)

[azurelunatic]

Yesterday, Ashford read us some poems. The one had the line, "goatfooted balloonman". He asked us what the imagery "goat footed" suggested to us. "Who has goat feet?" he asked.

"Pan!" I responded.
He made that Eh? face, cupping his ear.
"The Classical god Pan," I repeated.

That was not the answer he was looking for.

This morning, AJ came over at breakfast and told me that he'd really appreciated my comment in class yesterday, even if no one else had. Darkside looked at me in inquiry, and I explained the situation to him.


Today I suggested a novel idea to AJ for the oral interpretation. If we had only had the foresight to record class, then we could interpret "The Best of Ashford"! AJ cracked up.


Evidently, Neighbor's class had also been asked to interpret the symbolism of goat feet. Satyr! was Neighbor's first thought, of course, but he didn't, sadly, add this aloud.

Comments

[crimmycat.livejournal.com]

lesee, there's Pan, and the satyrs,

there's the 'satan' image from medieval mythology - he got Pan's furry legs n' Poseidon's trident, right?

and then didn't the wiccans give the horned god goat feet? Or is that just another fuzzy-bunny trapping, like the fifteen pounds of jewelry?

I really can't think of any other mythology that has goat legs - what was your prof looking for?

oh! outside of mythology, there's the amber chronicals. One of the charecters in that series has goat feet! Pretty cool guy, if I remember right.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

No, Cerne, the horned god, has goat feet.

[crimmycat.livejournal.com]

noted and logged, thank you. hope I didn't offend you - I tend to hold a derisive view of the kids who claim any religion or subculture for shock value, and take anything they spout with a skeptical eye, til I look it up m'self.

[azurelunatic]

No offense taken. I was pretty sure that it was traditional for the Horned God to have goat feet, but I haven't done my research lately, not being a particularly traditional pagan type.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

Yup. And, unfortunately, the Silver-RavenWolf-Teen-Witch-Watched-The-Craft-One-To-Many Times crowd seems to outnumber the folks who really know what they're doing, and do it for the right reasons.

[azurelunatic]

Oooooh, you just said a *Bad Word*.

We do have one copy of one Sliver Ravenfluff (credits to Auntie Krizu for the creative spelling) book; it is heavily annotated, and the other books prefer that it remain in the fiction section.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Oops!

I work at a metaphysical shop on the weekends, and am constantly moving her books to bottom shelves, or behind other things. *sheepish look*

[azurelunatic]

One fellow I'm acquainted with actually worked or works for Llewellyn, and, from all accounts, rolls his eyes and closes his mouth when someone mentions that author.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

That seems to be the general reaction to her work.

I'm adding you to my friends list, unless you object.

[azurelunatic]

No objections. <azzgrin>

Welcome to the insanity.

[azurelunatic]

Ashford was looking for Satan. No one would give him the satisfaction.

[crimmycat.livejournal.com]

okay, went and found the poem you mentioned. Not that e.e. can'tcapitalize poetry makes sense at the best of times for me, but WHY would ashford be looking for satan in that reference? that's nonsensical!

[azurelunatic]

Because, to him, that portion of the poem should be read darkly and mysteriously and perhaps dangerously, because goat feet symbolize Satan.

He was underscoring the importance of catching the nuances of symbolism in poetry.

Silly Judeo-Christian-centrics!

[lasayla.livejournal.com]

As the resident obnoxious, atheist I like to think that I would have been right there beside you with my hand in the air yelling "Goats! Goats have goat feet!"

Re: Silly Judeo-Christian-centrics!

[azurelunatic]

If you were in that class, it would have attained critical mass by now and exploded or imploded, depending on your perspective. AJ would be delighted to have another live intellect present.

[azurelunatic]

Notecard:
Yesterday when Ashford mentioned "goat-footed balloon man" and inquired & I responded "Pan", AJ appreciated it.