Dear listers,

I wonder if "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" has any relation to Dionysus
cult and especially, if Agamemnon is in some way or another related to it,
besides the commonly accepted view of the remote ritual origins of Greek
tragedy from the collective worshipping of Dionysus.

Can the animal images of the striped zebra and the spotted giraffe, along
with the "horny gate", Doris's "murderous paws", grapes (hothouse grapes,
as mentioned for the second time), figs, bananas, oranges, etc. stand for
allusions and hints to the manifestations or avatars of Dionysus?

And in case they CAN, do these images lead to the exploration of further
ritual complexities in the poem? Is there a solid ritual and mythical
substructure in the poem (like the one of The WL), which calls for further
interpretations? Is Sweeney a parodied Agamemnon,and Agamemnon a disguised
Dionysus? And to what extent are (if only)all the females of the poem
Menades, and the males - Satyrs? Is the whole poem a contemporary parody of
the ancient rite of worshipping the god of fertility and wine?

In short, is the latent meaning of this poem similar to that of "Sweeney
Erect"?

Regards,

TK