Hair in literature!

[Becky9679]

I apologise if there is a thread like this already but I love literature and I wondered if anyone else has any favourite books or poems that feature hair as a major theme? I think my favourite is this one, "I Love my Love" by Helen Adam (sorry you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, it's the only place I could find it online)
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/lizzie.html
It's just incredible, I love all the imagery and I always feel very empowered after reading it!

[humble_knight]

The Little Town Where Time Stood Still by Bohumil Hrabal is a good read :)

[Lunnafindel]

I always liked Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith - the main character's father dies and she swears never to cut her hair until she's saved the kingdom, so she's got awesome knee-length hair that she wraps around her head when going into battle.

[Madora]

Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

There's also a reference to hair in "Return of the Native" by Thomas Hardy, to the effect that Tamsen Yeobright styled her hair in eights. I always wondered what that meant.

Of course there's several references to Jo March's hair in Louisa May Alcott's classic "Little Women".

[pinkbunny]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=46316&highlight=long+hair+book+movie

[Nae]

I apologise if there is a thread like this already but I love literature and I wondered if anyone else has any favourite books or poems that feature hair as a major theme? I think my favourite is this one, "I Love my Love" by Helen Adam (sorry you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, it's the only place I could find it online)
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/lizzie.html
It's just incredible, I love all the imagery and I always feel very empowered after reading it!

Oh that poem was goosebump-y for me......is that a word? Anyways, so awesome I got chills. Thanks for sharing.

[Fingolphin]

When I was younger I was really into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and I liked how they were always talking about various characters' preternaturally-amazing hair. :)

[Becky9679]

When I was younger I was really into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and I liked how they were always talking about various characters' preternaturally-amazing hair. :)

I loved that too, especially how if they cut it then it regenerates to its previous length during the day!


Oh that poem was goosebump-y form me......is that a word? Anyways, so awesome I got chills. Thanks for sharing.

You're very welcome, I enjoy sharing the wealth ;)

[aurorabridge]

I always liked Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith - the main character's father dies and she swears never to cut her hair until she's saved the kingdom, so she's got awesome knee-length hair that she wraps around her head when going into battle.

Aw, I like Crown Duel too. I think growing hair for remembrance is a lovely idea.

[Yamainu]

"The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. The titualar highwayman (robber) is visiting his ladylove in the dead of the night. She's leaning outside a second story window, high enough that even standing up in his stirrups on his horse they can barely touch hands, so she lets her hair out the window:

"She loosened her hair in the casement
His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast
And he kissed it's waves in the moonlight
(Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his reigns in the moonlight
And galloped away to the west."

Fantastic poem. Loreena McKinnet did a song version as well that's gorgeous.

[Fingolphin]

"The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. The titualar highwayman (robber) is visiting his ladylove in the dead of the night. She's leaning outside a second story window, high enough that even standing up in his stirrups on his horse they can barely touch hands, so she lets her hair out the window:

"She loosened her hair in the casement
His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast
And he kissed it's waves in the moonlight
(Oh, sweet waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his reigns in the moonlight
And galloped away to the west."

Fantastic poem. Loreena McKinnet did a song version as well that's gorgeous.

Ooh, yes, I forgot about that one. Both the poem and the song are wonderful.

[Knotted]

I used to love The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede. The main character, Cimerone, had long black hair that fell to her knees. She usually wore it in two braids.

[Fingolphin]

Anne of Green Gables is also very hair-centric in a lot of ways. :)

[RebeccaLemonade]

We studied Pothyria's lover this year and i just loved it. If you didnt know its about a woman who is stangled by her own hair. I just think it's so cool :D It has a mobid billiance about it; of beiing killed by something so beautiful

[Sunshineliz]

I used to love The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede. The main character, Cimerone, had long black hair that fell to her knees. She usually wore it in two braids.

I always loved those books too (AND her hair!)

[silverstars]

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. The way the mord'sith wear their hair is pretty cool. I wonder if mine will ever be that long.

[Slinks]

I LOVE Loreena McKinnet !! as soon as I read this I searched out youtube and am listening to it :-)

[Yamainu]

She's awesome, isn't she? :D

[dazeydayze]

Memoirs of a Geisha! (highly recommend the book and the movie equally rules!)

[pinkbunny]

I was a bit disappointed when Hannibal came out in theatres and they changed Mason Verger's appearance from the book (it would have made him more interesting, I think). In the book, "Mason's plaited hair lies in a thick coil on the respirator shell covering his chest on the elevated bed."

[ArienEllariel]

I know this wasn't exactly what you were looking for but when I recently read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I squeed at the end of the book because Lewis describes the grown up Susan as "a tall and gracious woman with black hair that fell almost to her feet and the Kings of the countries beyond the sea began to send ambassadors asking for her hand in marriage". It made me insanely happy for whatever reason. :p

[bettylibertine]

When I was younger I was really into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and I liked how they were always talking about various characters' preternaturally-amazing hair. :)

Yes! Gotta love the Vampire Chronicles. That hair, if real, would be amazing.. :p

[beez1717]

I can't believe that nobody mentioned rapunzel. I want that hair.... i really do...

As for other hair? I want the one from Bayonetta. Now that is epic hair.... I soooo want it....

[ElusiveMuse]

Anne of Green Gables is also very hair-centric in a lot of ways. :)

YES! Particularly the 5th book in the series, Anne's House of Dreams. There is a character named Leslie who has golden hair to her feet.

[Diamondbell]

I remembered this story:
Kannagi (the heroine of Silappathigaram, which was written by famed prince Ilango Adigal as one of the five greatest Tamil epics) perished in flames that engulfed and destroyed Madurai (South India) after she cursed the city and its Pandyan king because he ordered the execution of her innocent husband suspecting him of the theft of the queen's anklets, which were actually filled with pearls.

To prove that the anklet ( which had rubies inside it and not pearls), which her husband had tried to sell was her own anklet, Kannagi marched to the king's court and hurled her second anklet on the floor to break it. As the red rubies from within scattered all over, the king regretted his verdict and begged for pardon. But the furious widow cursed him and his kingdom, sending Madurai up in flames.

The sculptor had done a great job depicting all the rage and tragedy on the face of his 10-foot-tall stone statue, showing Kannagi in all her fury —hair let loose, an arm raised to hurl the anklet of pearls. The statue is now awaiting its new site at the government museum in the city.

Statue of Kannagi
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x121/Diamondbell_photo/554px-Statue_of_Kannagi.jpg

[Robbi Dehlinger]

In "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe after Aslan has saved the Kingdom and Edmund, Peter, Lucy and Susan reign as joint rulers, it is mentioned that Lucy and Susan have knee length hair:)

[noelgirl]

In The Time-Traveler's Wife, Clare's hair is described as amber/red, and probably at least waist-length - in other words, my dream hair. I was disappointed that the film did not stay true to that!

[Fingolphin]

YES! Particularly the 5th book in the series, Anne's House of Dreams. There is a character named Leslie who has golden hair to her feet.

Hmm...sadly, perhaps, I have only seen the movies, but I love looking at the hair in them! ;)

[Othala]

I apologise if there is a thread like this already but I love literature and I wondered if anyone else has any favourite books or poems that feature hair as a major theme? I think my favourite is this one, "I Love my Love" by Helen Adam (sorry you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, it's the only place I could find it online)
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/lizzie.html (http://faculty.pittstate.edu/%7Eknichols/lizzie.html)
It's just incredible, I love all the imagery and I always feel very empowered after reading it!

Wow. that is amazing!

[maria_asa]

I apologise if there is a thread like this already but I love literature and I wondered if anyone else has any favourite books or poems that feature hair as a major theme? I think my favourite is this one, "I Love my Love" by Helen Adam (sorry you have to scroll to the bottom of the page, it's the only place I could find it online)
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/lizzie.html
It's just incredible, I love all the imagery and I always feel very empowered after reading it!

Thank you for sharing this poem, I love it!

[loveandwaves]

Shakespeare on Portia:


“a golden mesh t’ entrap the hearts of men
Faster than gnats in cobwebs”(“The Merchant of Venice”)





Pope on Belinda:


“Love in these Labyrinths his Slaves detains,
And mighty Hearts are held in slender Chains.
With hairy Springes we the Birds betray,
Slight lines of Hair surprise the Dinney prey,
Fair tresses Man’s imperial Race insnare,
And Beauty draws us with a single Hair” (“The Rape of the Lock”)





William Empson on Milton Eve, argues that Eve’s curled hair,


“… modest but “requiring” … clutches at Adam like the tendrils of vine. Eve now then is herself the forbidden tree; the whole face of Hell has become identical with her face; it is filled , as by the mockery of the temptress, with her hair that entangled him; all the beauty of nature, though her, is a covering, like hers, for moral deformity. But at least now we have exposed her; her hair is corpse worms…”

Lydgate on Rosamond Vincy:


“that perfect piece of womanhood who would reverence her husband’s mind after the fashion of an accomplished mermaid, using her comb and looking-glass and singing her song for the relaxation of his adored wisdom alone” (“Middlemarch”)






“ … that filling her, passed redundant
Into her very hair, back swerving
Over each shoulder, loose and abundant,
As her head thrown back showed the white throat curing;
And the very tresses shared in the pleasure,
Moving to the mystic measure,
Bounding as the bosom bounded.” (“The Flight of the Duchess”)




Charles Baudelaire’s “Her Hair” (Passage)


Pavilion, of autumn-shadowed tresses spun,
You give me back the azure from afar;
And where the twisted locks are fringed with down
Lurk mingled odors I grow drunk upon
Of oil of coconut, of musk, and tar.

A long time! always! my hand in your hair
Will sow the stars of sapphire, pearl, ruby,
That you be never deaf to my desire,
My oasis and my gourd whence I aspire
To drink deep of the wine of memory.



Poe’s “For Annie” (Passage)


And so it lies happily,
Bathing in many
A dream of the truth
And the beauty of Annie-
Drowned in a bath
Of the tresses of Annie.





“His cold white head mingled with her radient hair, which warmed and lighted it as though it were the light of Freedom shining on him.” (“A Tale of Two Cities”)



“Ah with blind lips I felt you, and found
About my nexk your hands and hair enwound,
The hands that stifle and the hair that stings,
I felt them fasten sharply without a sound.”
(Swinburne’s “Laus Veneris”)



- Love&Waves

[charalito]

There are a lot of hair references in George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones (first book of A Song of Ice and Fire), specially when describing the Dothraki. At first it was nice to read about oiled hair, but after a while I got tired of Khal Drogo's oiled braid again and again. And for khals, the length of the braid means how long you've been undefeated in battle. :eyebrows:

[taimatsuko]

The play Salome by Oscar Wilde is absolutely beautiful {like really beautiful and chilling} and mentions this:

It is of thy hair I am enamoured, Iokanaan. Thy hair is like clusters of grapes, like the clusters of black grapes that hang from the vine-trees of Edom in the land of the Edomites. Thy hair is like the cedars of Lebanon, like the great cedars of Lebanon that give their shade to the lions and to the robbers who would hide them by day. The long black nights, when the moon hides her face, when the stars are afraid, are not so black as thy hair. The silence that dwells in the forest is not so black. There is nothing in the world that is so black as thy hair. Suffer me to touch thy hair. [No response. Angrily.] Thy hair is horrible. It is covered with mire and dust. It is like a crown of thorns placed on thy head. It is like a knot of serpents coiled round thy neck. I love not thy hair.

Also the Odyssey makes mention of Odysseus intriguing locks throughout. Also The Bacchae by Euripides mentions hair a lot. The women weave snakes in their hair to honor Dionysus. Dionysus himself has long beautiful locks.


"My hair is holy. I grow it long for the God."

Speaking of hair and snakes: Medusa

But initially, the story of Samson and Delilah came to mind.


15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.


God, when he gave me strength, to shew withal
How slight the gift was, hung it in my Hair.
-from Samson Agonistes by Milton

[dancingrain91]

All of the books by Amelia Atwater Rhodes have someone with long hair. Particularly the Shapeshifters of the Kiesha'ra. There are vampires with hair to their ankles, feet or past floor length and at least one dancer with knee length hair. At a minimum, someone has waist length hair. I've been enjoying the books by Sherwood Smith as well. It doesn't always mention hair length as with Mel but most of the time they seem to have at least classic length because there's been a couple instances of heroines braiding their hair, getting into some sort of trouble when they sat down too tired to care in mud they ended up with tangly muddy ends which led me to think the ends of their braids could be sat on. Also most Inuyasha fanfics, though long hair care and understanding is pretty low. Usually Inuyasha (hair length somewhere between tailbone and thigh) is described as having waist length hair and Sesshomaru (hair lengh between knee and ankle) is described as having longer than waist length hair.

[chen bao jun]

BUMP..
Hope no one minds me resurrecting this thread.
I'm rereading the Narnia books by CS Lewis and I never noticed before, but in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it mentions at the end that Queen Susan (Susan grown up) is sought by all the kings in the neighboring areas because of her beauty and that she has black hair that is almost floor length.
Now THAT didn't make it into the movie version.

[ashke50]

In Brandon Sanderson's book Warbreaker the royal family have the ability to change the colour of their hair based on their emotions, and to grow it at will. Mostly they take it as a matter of pride to stop their hair from changing colour, but there's one daughter who isn't good at doing so and her hair colour betrays how she is feeling. She also gets her hair really tangled at one point and just cuts it all off and grows it back longer within about 5 minutes.
I really liked the idea of colour changing hair, and would LOVE such controlled and fast hair growth!

[Winter Fox]

Hehe I guess my hair colour would change way too often during the day if I was able to do that :D
It's an amazing idea <3

[squirrrel]

Books I remember fondly from childhood that have hair references (written from approx 1920-1960) include the Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent Dyer, where in the earlier books there is reference to the prefects putting their hair up, some reference to just how long it is when it is down, and the main character, Joey Bettany (later Maynard) grows her hair which has been kept in a bob, and eventually puts it into 'earphones'.

There is also often mention of hair in Elsie Oxenham's books... A School Campfire being one of them (any mention of campfire talks of long plaits that were taken out of their updo's for the ceremony. Some of the plaits were knee length at least. I think hair was referred to in similar manner in many girls books written around that kind of time.