The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

land of promise
274
origins in the nodding of the head when a person
is drowsy. “At last I slid off into a light doze, and had
pretty nearly made a good offi ng towards the land
of Nod, when I heard a heavy footfall in the passage,
and saw a glimmer of light come into the
room from under the door” (Herman Melville,
Moby- Dick, 1851).
land of promise See promised land.
land of the living <strong>The</strong> realm of the living; alive.
<strong>The</strong> expression appears several times in the Bible,
for example in Isaiah 53:8: “He was taken from
prison and from judgment: and who shall declare
his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of
the living: for the transgression of my people was
he stricken.” “He had spoken of it as yet to no one,
and he thought that he was resolved not to do so
while Sir Louis should yet be in the land of the
living” (Anthony Trollope, Doctor Thorne, 1858).
Lane, Lois See superman.
Laocoön (layahkbwahn) Archetype of a prophet
who suffers for telling the truth. In Greek legend
Laocoön was a priest of Apollo who warned his
fellow Trojans against bringing the trojan horse
within the walls of Troy. As he prepared to sacrifi
ce a bull to Poseidon, he and his two sons were
set upon and killed by two sea serpents (an event
memorably depicted by a huge statue by an
unknown sculptor of classical times found in Rome
in 1506 and today known simply as <strong>The</strong> Laocoön).
“ ‘I don’t know what to do,’ cried Scrooge, laughing
and crying in the same breath; and making a
perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings. ‘I
am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I
am as merry as a schoolboy’ ” (Charles Dickens, A
Christmas Carol, 1843).
Laodamia (layodaymeeb) Archetype of a loving,
devoted wife. According to Greek legend Laodamia
was the wife of King Protesilaus of <strong>The</strong>ssaly,
who despite knowing from the oracle at Delphi
that the fi rst of the Greeks to set foot on the Trojan
shore was doomed to death, became the fi rst of
the invading Greeks to land at the start of the Trojan
War. Protesilaus was duly slain by Hector. <strong>The</strong>
grieving Laodamia begged the gods to grant her an
audience with her dead husband. <strong>The</strong> gods allowed
Protesilaus to return to the mortal world for three
hours, and when the time was up, Laodamia voluntarily
accompanied him to Hades. <strong>The</strong> episode
subsequently furnished the En glish poet William
Wordsworth with the material for his celebrated
poem “Laodamia” (1815). Like Laodamia, she refused
to leave her husband’s side, even accompanying him to
the guillotine.
Laodicean (layodiseebn) Lukewarm; timid; indecisive,
especially with regard to religious matters.
<strong>The</strong> allusion is to the early Christian inhabitants of
“lukewarm” Laodicea, who are described as half
hearted in their attitude toward religion in Revelation
3:15–16: “I know thy works, that thou art
neither cold not hot; I would thou wert cold or
hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither
cold not hot; I will spue thee out of my
mouth.” “He felt himself to occupy morally that
vast middle space of Laodicean neutrality which
lay between the Communion people of the parish
and the drunken section” (Thomas Hardy, Far from
the Madding Crowd, 1874).
Laputa (lapootb) A society of intellectuals who
are completely incompetent in practical matters.
<strong>The</strong> fl ying island of Laputa and its population of
absent- minded scientists was an invention of the
Irish satirist Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) in his