You need to be careful. Here / be monsters.
-- Speaker (Lines 4-5)

Importance: This line references the archaic phrase “Here be dragons”, which was used by cartographers to denote unexplored or potentially dangerous areas. The word “monster” is used both literally and figuratively; the library contains books about and featuring monsters, but there are also books with monstrous people and unexplored ideas.

each is a Pandora’s box, so why / would you want to open one
-- Speaker (Lines 13-14)

Importance: This line references a figure from Greek myth. Pandora was a young woman trusted with a box of terrors. When she opened it, she released a pantheon of illnesses and depravations into the world, as well as the element of hope as a counterpoint. This story falls into a canon that includes the biblical story of Eden and the fairy tale Bluebeard, all of which deride the inherent curiosity of women. The speaker suggests that both hope and horror...