Morpheus
Morpheus is a figure in Greek mythology who serves as the personification of dreams. He is known for his role in the myth of Cupid and Psyche, where he acts as an intermediary between humans and gods. As the god of sleep, Morpheus has been used throughout literature to represent dream-like states or fantastical events that transcend reality.
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, one of the earliest surviving works in Greco-Roman mythology, Morpheus appears to Zephyr when he falls asleep while trying to bring Psyche back from Hades after she was tricked by Aphrodite into visiting him there. In this story, Morpheus takes different forms to deceive people; he can appear as anyone they wish—including their own relatives—in order to help them realize their desires or fulfill a prophecy. This portrayal reflects how dreams are often seen as portals into other realms or alternate realities where anything can happen regardless of physical limitations or societal rules.
The concept of dreaming has also been explored extensively in poetry over the centuries since then, with many authors drawing upon traditional motifs associated with Morpheus, such as transformation and escape from reality through imagination. Examples include John Keats’ poem “Ode on Melancholy,” which uses imagery related to sleep and nighttime visions in order to create a sense of melancholy longing; William Blake’s “To Sleep,” which portrays sleeping not only as restorative but also transformative; and T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” which references classical myths about deathly figures like Charon ushering souls across rivers leading out from life itself—allusions likely inspired by stories featuring mythical beings like Morpheus himself helping mortals boundaries between worlds, both living and dead alike.