Natasa said -
This occured to me while I was watching 'Orac' - I noticed that Ensor has a mechanical bird in his lab. OK, he's a nice guy who doesn't want to keep a real bird in a cage - but is there anything more to it? Then I realized it wasn't exactly a bird. It has the body of an animal and the head and wings of a bird. It could be a griffin.
That made me think, and I realized that the whole imagery of this episode
is
suggestive of ancient Greece.
This reminds me of one of my favourite poems, Sailing to Byzantium, by Yeats
Once out of nature I shall never take My bodily form from any natural thing But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make Of hammered gold and gold enamelling To keep a drowsy emperor awake Or set upon a golden bough, to sing To lords and ladies of Byzantium Of what is past, or passing, or to come
Alison