When personifying the sun and moon in modern English poetry, the French or Romance gender for sol (masculine) and luna (feminine) has been used rather than the Germanic grammatical genders where the sun is feminine and the moon is male. The term "lunar poetry" may therefore be applied to this genre of poetry.
Luna was originally the goddess of the moon, but it came to be used as a generic name for the moon itself. Because the moon affects both men and women, its gender is not important when talking about poetic forms specific to lunar poetry.
The term "lunar poetry" may also apply to other genres of poetry that use the moon as a subject matter area instead of focusing on love. For example, a lunar poem could be about battles or anything else that takes your mind away from reality for a while.
Lunar poetry is known to have been written by many artists throughout history. Some famous names include: Virgil, Pope; Ovid, Tristianus; Horace, Catullus; Propertius, Cynthia; Martial, Domitilla; and Statius, Silvia.
The sun and moon have distinct genders in other languages: in French and many other Romanic languages, le soleil (the sun) is male while la lune (the moon) is female. "Die Sonne" is feminine in German and other Germanic languages, whereas "der Mond" is male. In Latin, both are masculine.
In English, gender is not associated with names of celestial objects; there are no feminine forms of the names Sun or Moon. However, adjectives derived from these names are usually considered to be masculine, such as solar and lunar. This does not apply to all words containing those letters, however; examples include solstice and luna moth.
In some languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Greek, and Russian, the sun and moon are called "the Sons" or "the Daughters", reflecting the belief that they are two manifestations of the same power source or spirit.
In English, "son" can also mean "a young man", so this phrase can also be interpreted as meaning "the young men". But since we are specifically referring to the sun and moon, this interpretation makes no sense.
The moon is a feminine emblem that represents the rhythm of time by embodying the cycle. The moon has many phases through which it can be shown to have different qualities, but overall it is thought to be feminine.
Feminine symbols are often associated with feelings and intuition, while masculine symbols are associated with reason and action. The moon as a feminine symbol may therefore be used to show harmony or balance between opposites such as joy and sadness, up-and-down energy or chaos and structure. It can also be used to represent female sexuality or nature's fertility if you find many moons in your monthly chart.
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the moon is regarded as a feminine organ. This is because it is said to be the source of blood flow and menstruation for women. The moon has similar functions for men too though, so this doesn't just apply to females only.
In that culture, male deities were first identified with the sun as the progeny of a mother (except Ra, King of the Gods, who gave birth to himself). The Sun is feminine in Germanic mythology, whereas the Moon is male. This difference exists among other cultures as well.
The sun was often depicted as a woman because at dawn and dusk she gives life to plants and animals. Thus, she is called the giver of life.
This identification of the sun with female deity has been preserved in some European languages such as Spanish and French where sun and moon are respectively used to refer to the solar system's female and male members. Also, Latin words for "day" and "night" come from sonus ("sound") and luna ("moon").
However, this identification of the sun with female deity was not always present in ancient myths. For example, the Phoenicians associated the sun with their chief god, El, who was also responsible for the moon. They never identified the sun with female deity though; rather, they regarded both the sun and the moon as males.
So in conclusion, yes, the sun is female in Germanic mythology.
Sold Sol (also known as Sunna) is the goddess of the sun in Norse mythology, whereas her brother, Mani, is the god of the moon... Sun Goddesses who are female.
| Name | Sol (Sunna) |
|---|---|
| Nationality/Religion | Norse |
| God or Goddess? | Sun Goddess |
| Notes | She rides in a horse-drawn solar chariot. |
In "To His Coy Mistress Sun," the "sun" is a metonym for the concept of time. The speaker makes romantic overtures to his sweetheart by emphasizing the passage of time as symbolized by the movement of the sun. He says that since they have no children of their own, they will enjoy this paradise forever as husband and wife.
The word "metonymy" comes from two Greek words, meta meaning "after" or "to", and nous meaning "mind" or "spirit". In linguistics, metonymy is the use of parts of objects or events as substitutes for the whole. For example, if you put your hand into a jar of peanut butter, you would be likely to pull out your finger instead of the jelly band-aid that was actually there all along. This act of replacing one thing with another is called "synecdoche". Synecdoche involves using part of something rather than the entire thing, while metonymy involves using an attribute of something (such as its color) when referring to the whole object.
Metaphors are similar to metonyms in that they are examples of synecdoche, but metaphors often include more than one term to represent the whole idea or thing being talked about.
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