Elysium
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Greek Elysian Fields
In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). The Elysian fields were the final resting place of the souls of the virtuous. In Homeric mythology the Elysian Fields lay on the western margin of the earth, by the encircling stream of Oceanus, and there the mortal relatives of the king of the gods were transported, without tasting death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss (Odyssey book iv: 563). Hesiod refers to the Isles of the Blessed (makarôn nêsoi) in the Western (Atlantic) Ocean (Works and Days). Pindar makes it a single Isle.
Virgilian Elysium
Amongst the poets to interpret Elysium is Virgil, who describes an encounter there between Aeneas and his father Anchises. Virgil's Elysium knows perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars solemque suum, sua sidera norunt (Aeneid book vi:541).
"Geographical" Elysian Fields
In the Renaissance, the heroic population of the Elysian Fields tended to outshine its formerly dreary pagan reputation; the Elysian Fields borrowed some of the bright allure of paradise. In Paris, the Champs-Élysées retain their name of the Elysian Fields, first applied in the late 16th century to a formerly rural outlier beyond the formal parterre gardens behind the royal French palace of the Tuileries.
What suited Catherine de' Medici suits Harrison County, Texas, where a rural community is Elysian Fields, Texas.
"Poetical" Elysium
After the Renaissance, as popular poets became less influenced by reading Greek and Latin literature, and images of Valhalla entered the popular European imagination, an even cheerier Elysium evolved for some poets. Sometimes it is imagined as a place where heroes have continued their interests from their lives. Others suppose it is a location filled with feasting, sport, song, and all kinds of amusement. (Examples of this other picture of Elysium are needed here, if available)
