person
Elis
also: Elis
A figure invented by Trakl — a dead boy of mythic purity, addressed in a direct apostrophe in section 12 of Gedichte and present again in Sebastian im Traum. His body is described as a hyacinth; he is associated with moonlight, blue, and long-past death. Elis is Trakl's most enigmatic invented figure.
Reading notes
- Poems §12 Elis
Elis is one of Trakl's invented mythic figures — a boy of ambiguous identity who is simultaneously dead, dreamed, and eternally young. The name may derive loosely from the Greek region Elis, but Trakl uses it as a pure symbol of lost innocence and early death.
- Sebastian in Dream §5 Elis
A mythic dying boy-figure Trakl invented, perhaps drawing on a historical miner named Elis Fröbom from E. T. A. Hoffmann; he embodies innocent youth, death, and crystalline beauty across the two Elis poems and 'Occident.'