Question

Read the following passage and answer the question.

Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land,
disease infects our herds of grazing cattle,
makes women in labour lose their children.
And deadly pestilence, that fiery god,
swoops down to blast the city, emptying
the House of Cadmus, and fills back Hades
with groans and howls.

How would you describe the imagery of this section?

Answer 1

The passage's imagery is intensely dark and foreboding, depicting widespread suffering and death caused by a personified, destructive pestilence that devastates society and fills Hades with mourning.

Step-by-step explanation:

The imagery in the passage is dark and foreboding, creating a sense of despair and calamity. References to disease infecting fruit blossoms, cattle, and causing loss of children during childbirth, along with the presence of a deadly pestilence, convey a picture of widespread suffering and death. The imagery personifies pestilence as a 'fiery god' that 'swoops down' to 'blast the city,' reinforcing the impact of the plague and invoking a powerful, destructive force that indiscriminately causes suffering and fills Hades with 'groans and howls.' This creates an atmosphere of hopelessness that permeated many societies impacted by plagues throughout history. Those plagues often resulted in dramatic changes to landscapes and societies as indicated in the abstract, as well as in the myths and histories of various cultures.