Stephenie Meyer's 'classical inspirations' for 'Twilight' saga

May 24, 10:00 PMBooks on Film ExaminerConnie Ann Kirk

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When the novel Breaking Dawn was released in 2008, its publisher, Little, Brown, released a video interview with the author, Stephenie Meyer (see video below). In the interview, Ms. Meyer talked about what she called the “classical inspiration” behind each of the four installments in her popular Twilight saga.

The first novel, Twilight, she said, was “loosely related” to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She said there is an “element of Mr. Darcy in Edward and Elizabeth Bennett in Bella.” New Moon, the second novel in the quartet, “was much more closely tied to Romeo and Juliet. It’s really the theme of the novel.”

The third novel, Eclipse, Ms. Meyer revealed, was “my homage to Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte. Finally, Breaking Dawn “loosely worked with Midsummer Night’s Dream” and one other literary work she did not identify in the interview.

Epigraphs in novels often give clues to their thematic elements as well. The epigraph of Twilight comes from the Book of Genesis in the Bible, 2:17: “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

For New Moon, Ms. Meyer selected lines from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI: “These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, / Which, as they kiss, consume.”

Eclipse reproduces the complete poem, “Fire and Ice” by Robert Frost. You can read the poem here.

Finally, in Breaking Dawn, Ms. Meyer chose a quote from the American poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay as her epigraph: “Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age. / The child is grown, and puts away childish things. / Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” Interestingly, she chose to leave off the final line of this quote: “Nobody that matters, that is.”

What do you think of Ms. Meyer’s “classical inspirations” for her Twilight series? Were you aware of them? Are you able to trace their meanings through each respective novel? Will you be looking for them in each of the films?