"During the intervening period I had no time to nurse chimeras"(chpt 17)
In Greek mythology, the Chimera is a monstrous creature made of the parts of multiple animals. Chimera was one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Descriptions vary – some say it had the body of a goat, the tail of a snake or dragon and the head of a lion, though others say it had heads of both the goat and lion, with a snake for a tail. All descriptions, however, agree that it breathed fire from one or more of its heads.
Therefore, the phrase "nurse chimeras" means taking care of problems or people that are made up of many different parts, or a bunch of smaller problems.
sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(animal)
This is a good choice for allusions, but what is being specifically referred to here (in the context of Jane Eyre)? What are the "smaller problems" and who is "nursing" them?
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ReplyDeletedeez nuts
ReplyDeleteI think she refers to taking care of Adele in the sense of attending her whims and tantrums.
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