The Ornamented Being
Ornamented: -verb: Adorn; beautify. Be·ing: -noun: Fulfillment of possibilities; essential completeness.
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Aquamarine and Seafoam Green.
Those are two of my favorite colours
when I think of these names visions of Aphrodite appear sweeping me away into a tide of the past where the present and the future collide in an array of exquisite glory that leaves me gasping
even now the visions my mind conjures are overwhleming
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“A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown.”- William Butler Yeats
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” … The little mermaid lifted her glorified eyes towards the sun, and felt them, for the first time, filling with tears. On the ship, in which she had left the prince, there were life and noise; she saw him and his beautiful bride searching for her; sorrowfully they gazed at the pearly foam, as if they knew she had thrown herself into the waves. Unseen she kissed the forehead of her bride, and fanned the prince, and then mounted with the other children of the air to a rosy cloud that floated through the aether… . “
The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson
Natalia Vodianova in Alexander McQueen
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” … The slaves next performed some pretty fairy-like dances, to the sound of beautiful music. Then the little mermaid raised her lovely white arms, stood on the tips of her toes, and glided over the floor, and danced as no one yet had been able to dance. At each moment her beauty became more revealed, and her expressive eyes appealed more directly to the heart than the songs of the slaves. Every one was enchanted, especially the prince, who called her his little foundling; and she danced again quite readily, to please him, though each time her foot touched the floor it seemed as if she trod on sharp knives…”
The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson
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” … Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you.”
Hans Christian Anderson, The Little Mermaid
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“… At last she reached her fifteenth year. “Well, now, you are grown up,” said the old dowager, her grandmother; “so you must let me adorn you like your other sisters;” and she placed a wreath of white lilies in her hair, and every flower leaf was half a pearl. Then the old lady ordered eight great oysters to attach themselves to the tail of the princess to show her high rank. “But they hurt me so,” said the little mermaid. “Pride must suffer pain,” replied the old lady… “The Little mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson
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A very mermaid-esque headdress?
Silvered paper headdress
c. 1860
Museum Purchase
2008.35.2“Delicate headdresses made of jewels, ribbons and real or artificial flowers and leaves were popular in the late 1850s and early 1860s. These were worn primarily for evening or formal dress, and often matched or complemented motifs seen on the dress itself. Whether incorporating roses, ribbons or the oak leaves seen here, this style is a clear reference to the crowns seen on ancient Greek and Roman statuary. In both ancient Greece and Rome, wreaths of flowers or leaves were awarded to Olympic athletes, military commanders and supreme rulers. Oak leaves and acorns have a particular significance, as they were sacred to the Greek god Zeus and his Roman equivalent, Jupiter.”
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“No siren did ever so charm the ear of the listener as the listening ear has charmed the soul of the siren”
Henry Taylor quotes (British Author, 1800-1866)
John William Waterhouse A mermaid, 1901
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I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin’s back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song;
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid’s music.
- William ShakespeareA Midsummer Night’s Dream
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Christine’s Masquerade dress fits in perfectly with this song: At the ball I’ll dance like never before spinning up and down and round on the floor. When the music plays it’s so entrancing at the mermaid’s ball when I go dancing. It’s a lovely night, the seabreezes flow, dancing by the light of starfish a-glow. Dreaming I’m in love, it’s so enchanting at the mermaid’s ball when I go dancing
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Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?
I would be a mermaid fair;
I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I comb I would sing and say,
“Who is it loves me? who loves not me?”
- Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Mermaid(click the photo for more beautiful photos of waves)
