jug jug

Jug jug...tereu is the song of Philomela as a nightingale, according to Elizabethan dramatist John Lyly. She warns of Tereus' pursuit:

Jug, jug, jug, jug, tereu, she cries
And still her woes at midnight rise.  (Lyly, Campaspe Act V)

The word jug has multiple resonances in the poem: it can mean a prison, as in the place of Philomela's rape and mutilation; it can refer to a beer glass, as in the pub we are about to visit; or it could be a 17th Century term of abuse for a woman, for those with dirty ears or minds.

The birdsong reappears in part three of the poem:

Twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
so rudely forc'd
Tereu

where it provides a callback to the theme of destructive lust, and also suggests a breakdown in human language and communication.

Other examples of ononomatopoeic transliteration of birdsong occur in part five:

drip drop drip drop...

co co rico...

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