ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The significance in Ovid is, however, contested. Persephone ingests seven pomegranate seeds, a departure from the single seed in the Homeric Hymn and the three seeds in Fasti (4.607–8), where, as Fantham observes (1998: 207), the number of seeds is equivalent to the months spent in Hades.

Detailed explanation-2: -Interpretation of the myth Since Persephone had consumed pomegranate seeds in the underworld, she was forced to spend four months, or in other versions six months for six seeds, with Hades.

Detailed explanation-3: -By eating a few pomegranate seeds, Persephone tied herself to Hades-the pomegranate being a symbol of the indissolubility of marriage. Inconsolable at the loss of her daughter, the corn goddess Demeter prevented the earth from bearing fruit unless she saw her daughter again.

Detailed explanation-4: -But, because Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds, it was decided that for six months of each year, she must return to the underworld with Hades, on Mabon, and winter would come to the world. In spring she would once again return to her mother, allowing the earth to bloom.

Detailed explanation-5: -In Percy’s dream, Nico is seen trapped in a bronze jar by Otis and Ephialtes. Percy sees five pomegranate seeds by Nico’s feet which Nico’s half sister, Hazel Levesque, confirms are from the garden of their step-mother Persephone.