pythoness

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py·tho·ness

(pī′thə-nĭs, pĭth′ə-)

1. Greek Mythology A priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

2. A prophetess.

[Middle English phitonesse, from Old French phitonise, from Late Latin pȳthonissa, from Greek Pūthōn, Python; see Python¹.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pythoness

(ˈpaɪθəˌnɛs)

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) a woman, such as Apollo's priestess at Delphi, believed to be possessed by an oracular spirit

2. (Classical Myth & Legend) a female soothsayer

[C14 phitonesse, ultimately from Greek Puthōn Python]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

py•tho•ness

(ˈpaɪ θə nɪs, ˈpɪθ ə-)

n.

a woman believed to be possessed by a soothsaying spirit.

[1350–1400; Middle English phytonesse (< Middle French phitonise) < Medieval Latin phitōnissa, Late Latin (Vulgate) pȳthōnissa, feminine derivative of pȳthōn < Greek pneûma pýthōna spirit of divination (NT), Pýthōnes ventriloquists (Plutarch), obscurely akin to Pȳthṓ(n) Delphi (compare Pythian)]

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Noun	1.	pythoness - a witch with powers of divination witch - a being (usually female) imagined to have special powers derived from the devil
	2.	Pythoness - (Greek mythology) the priestess of Apollo at Delphi who transmitted the oracles Pythia Greek mythology - the mythology of the ancient Greeks

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Whether surreal or not, "new Chaldeans, pythonesses, Cassandras" are ironic personifications--old-fashioned pathetic fallacies--unable or willing to see the pathos of the young girl with the red toe nail and a death secret because of "their many blind windows." Something about the prose-poem permits Simic to "eschew" his common allegorical configuration in favor of a simpler, more direct evocative encounter.

Narrative values, lyric imperatives

"For this was a time," Byatt notes, "when women were privileged, when female narratologists had skills greatly revered, when there were pythonesses, abbesses and sibyls in the world of narratology, who revealed mysteries and kept watch at the boundaries of correctness."