Pipes, and poured his pain
Unto earth and heaven
In a piercing strain.”
—Archibald Lampman.
Although Pan had a pleasant, cheerful face, he was curiously formed, having a man’s body and a goat’s legs and feet. He was supposed to delight in inspiring people with sudden and unfounded fears—hence the word panic.
INTERPRETATION.
The character of Pan was symbolic of Nature; the music of his pipes was the gentle, intermittent breeze.
The lower part of his body was that of a goat on account of the rough and rocky nature of his favorite haunts. His leaf-shaped ears—terminating in little peaks like those of some animals—indicate his wild, forest nature.
ART.
The face and figure of Pan as displayed in this statue by Fremiet, in the Luxembourg, give an idea of an easy, amiable creature. It is impossible to gaze long at it without conceiving a kindly sentiment towards it. The nose is almost straight, but curves inward slightly, giving the face a good-humored charm. The mouth seems so nearly to smile outright that one involuntarily smiles in return.