Comments | literarytattoos: tl;dr intro, and also a plea for advice

cult_classic_ in literarytattoos

tl;dr intro, and also a plea for advice

Mar 20, 2009 14:34

I'm pretty excited to find this community. I only have 2 tattoos, and the most visible one is on my chest. It's a phrase from D. H. Lawrence's stories, "St. Mawr" and "The Man Who Died" and it is latin for 'touch me not'. People get freaked out when I tell them what it means, but when I try to explain the books and what they mean to me, their ( Read more... )

advice, d. h. lawrence, chest piece, aesthetics

Comments 27

(The comment has been removed)

primary_sources March 20 2009, 19:43:17 UTC

this. what a beauty!!

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 01:57:28 UTC

ty :) your icon is distracting, what's it from?

primary_sources March 21 2009, 02:04:53 UTC

( ... )

Thread 11

ohstopthat March 20 2009, 19:45:46 UTC

I agree that you look stunning in the second picture. Your haircut suits you so well, and the tattoo is phenomenal!

charl33t March 20 2009, 22:00:14 UTC

Agreed-- your hair's gorgeous! I wish I could pull off that style.

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 01:56:20 UTC

haha thanks! my mom's always like "YOU SHOW GROW IT AGAIN" but having really short hair is way too fun.

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 02:01:10 UTC

I think it's because I'm not wearing a shirt and it bamboozles people ;)

sweet_coercion March 20 2009, 22:02:22 UTC

i love love love your hair and i think you are so gorgeous!

as for the tattoo, i think it would be pretty if you got small lotus flowers on either side of the quote, but up above it a tiny bit. kind of how people are doing the swallows nowadays...

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 00:59:34 UTC

thanks! :D the lotus idea is a good one, and I think if I were to put something on either side that's exactly the placement I'd want. definitely worth pondering.

enzorukin March 20 2009, 22:56:01 UTC

i don't know. i don't think it's too plain. of course you should do whatever you think looks best, but i really like the simplicity of it. and the lettering is beautiful!

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 00:58:32 UTC

I know, the lettering was totally unplanned but the tattoo artist did an amazing job. and thanks. I go back and forth between thinking it's too bare and wanting to add stuff to it, and liking it just as it is.

midnight_moon March 20 2009, 23:12:52 UTC

The tattoo is great. I haven't read the books you're talking about (yet!). However, you might be interested to know (maybe you already do!) that the phrase has a rich literary history...if you look at Thomas Wyatt's 'Whoso List to Hunt' (his tribute to Anne Boleyn from the Renaissance era), it crops up there too:

And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
There is written her fair neck round about ;
' Noli me tangere ; for Cæsar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.

Maybe, if you like any of the imagery from that poem, you could pick up on it to add to your tattoo and give it another (still literary) dimension - the diamonds, perhaps? If you didn't already know Wyatt's piece, I reckon it's an amazing coincidence that you have those words written around your fair neck!

cult_classic_ March 21 2009, 00:56:26 UTC

that's so awesome! I know D. H. Lawrence quoted it as being from the Bible (John 20:17, though it varies with each translation) but I'm wondering now if he knew this poem, because it seems to fit the characters who used it in his novel.
I didn't know that poem, and I was struck by the coincidence, hehehe. I am going to track down a copy and see if any of it resonates with me. awesome suggestion!
an acquaintance who is a Medieval Studies major said that the phrase was used in warfare back in the day -- if someone was 'noli me tangere', it meant they were a badass and not to be messed with. though I didn't find that out till I'd already had the tattoo a few years.