Blue-eyed Maid

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, is so called by Homer. Now Prudence gently pulled the poet's ear, And thus the daughter of the Blue-eyed Maid, In flattery's soothing sounds, divinely said, " O Peter, eldest-born of Phoebus, hear.

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Common questions

What does “Blue-eyed Maid” mean?

Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, is so called by Homer. Now Prudence gently pulled the poet's ear, And thus the daughter of the Blue-eyed Maid, In flattery's soothing sounds, divinely said, " O Peter, eldest-born of Phoebus, hear.

Is “Blue-eyed Maid” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.