Mythical elements found in the poem "Sweeney Among the Nightingales" by T. S. EliotPlease explain the Mythical elements in the poem "Sweeney Among...

Sweeny is a representation of a Greek Hero named
Agamemnon. Agamemnon fought in the Trojan-Greek War. After the walls of Troy fell,
Agamemnon left Troy and went home to Greece. He brought along a mistress from the war
named Cassandra. Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra pretended to be happy to see him. She
laid before him a purple carpet (rug)….(the grapes and wisteria in the poem are purple
like the rug…)

While Agamemnon bathed, Clytemnestra
murdered Agamemnon…Clytemnestra had a lover herself while Agamemnon was at
war…

Before the war, Agamemnon could not sail his ship to
war because he had offended one of the goddesses (Artemis). He had killed an animal of
the forest. To please the goddess, he had to sacrifice his virgin daughter Iphigenia.
Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for killing their daughter. That is one reason she
murdered Agamemnon. Also, he had mistresses (women outside of their
marriage).

Sweeny is symbolic for Agamemnon. He has
mistresses as well. He mistreats his mistresses. His mistresses are plotting to tear at
him like Ms. Rachel Rabinovitch tears at the fruit in the
poem.

The Nightingale is a bird that alerts others to those
who are adulterous (those who have mistresses outside of their
marriage).

Nightingales begin singing at a convent. What do
nightingales have to do with this tale?

Another name for a
nightingale (a bird) is philomel.
Philomel is a term derived from the name Philomela:

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In Greek mythology. Philomela was a princess of
Athens. Her sister, Procne, was married to King Tereus of Thrace. Not satisfied with
only one of the sisters, Tereus lusted after Philomela and one day raped her. To prevent
her from revealing his crime, he cut out her tongue. However, Philomel embroidered a
tapestry depicting his brutality and showed it to her sister. The two women then plotted
against Tereus and ended up serving him his son, Itys, in a
stew.

The two women in the
poem appear to be conspiring against Sweeney like the mythological Philomela and Procne
conspired against Tereus.

Tereus discovers that his son has
been cooked in a stew and he chased them with an axe. To protect Philomela, the gods
then turn her into a nightingale (a bird). They turn Procne into a swallow (a bird). The
nightingale became a bird that "tattled" on promiscuous (sexual
affairs) behavior:

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In later literature, the song of the nightingale
became associated with “tattling” on promiscuous behavior, as in line 463 of
Shakespeare's King Edward III: "The nightingale sings of adulterate
wrong."

Back to the poem. The
nightingales singing at the convent of the Sacred Heart appear to represent all the
Philomelas whom “King Sweeney” has wronged. The poem ends before the reader learns what
happens to Sweeney.