The Demonization of Women
Right from the first line the concept of women being associated with wickedness and deception, mostly present in religion, is confirmed. "All saints" and "all sober men" revile the white goddess and the first stanza ends with her being called a sister of mirage and echo. Mirage can be seen as representing deception and echo can be interpreted as representation of unreliability. Our heroic speaker goes to search for the poem's alluring, wicked goddess. She would have to, of course, be in the most dangerous and ominous places: at a volcano's head, among pack of ice, in a cavern, followed with her having an alluring and tempting, but also fear-inducing appearance. In the last stanza the speaker talks about how, blinded by the Goddess's magnificent appearance, her past cruelty shall be forgotten because, of course, the appearance is all that matters on a female character, be it a Goddess or a regular woman.
Myth
The poem was inspired by mythical teachings from various cultures. In the first stanza the poet draws connection to the Roman and Greek mythology with the mention of God Apollo. In the second stanza the poem talks about the seven sleepers, a story which appears in both Christian and Islamic tradition, and in Roman mythology as well. In the last stanza the poet connects the myth of White Goddess to Mother, which stems from pagan beliefs of Mother Earth.
