![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Part 1:
The myth of Persephone is that she was the goddess of springtime who, after being abducted by Hades, became the queen of the underworld. After being persuaded by Demeter, Hades agreed to allow Persephone to leave the underworld during the spring and summer of each year, and to live in the underworld with him for the remaining six months of the year. This myth relates to the mother-daughter relationship. The myth and both poems speak to the feelings of loss and protection of a daughter from a mother’s point of view.
In the first stanza of Rita Dove’s poem “Persephone, Falling”, Persephone is in a field, her attention drawn to picking the most beautiful flower when suddenly she is abducted, she had “strayed from the herd” meaning she had strayed from the safety of being by her mother’s side (8). The second stanza uses the myth as a warning to “go straight to school” and “stick with your playmates” or else you may have a fate not unlike Persephone (9, 11, 12). The poem is a warning and an example of how quickly something terrible can happen to a daughter, especially with the added fear that accompanies a mother’s perspective.
In Boland’s poem “The Pomegranate” initially she is Persephone in the underworld, “at first I was/ an exiled child in the crackling dusk of/ the underworld,” (10, 11, 12). And then she is the mother, Demeter, trying to bargain for her daughters rescue “When she came running I was ready /to make any bargain to keep her” (15, 16). These lines are to illustrate that she knows the experience of growing up and what to expect for her daughter, the continuity of the female experience is also seen in the line “The legend will be hers as well as mine” (50).
Boland and Dove both present their version of the myth of Persephone as a cautionary tale, focusing on Persephone as a daughter figure who needs protecting from the threats of the world.
Part 2:
The myth of Icarus is of a father and son who, in order to escape a labyrinth of their own making build wings from wax and feathers. The warnings of Icarus’ father, to not fly to close to the sun for fear of the wax melting thereby damaging the wings are not heeded, and Icarus plummets to his death in the sea below.
In the poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts” Auden is making a point about suffering and joy, the ordinary and extraordinary. He is speaking about how suffering is an inescapable part of life and is not separate but is the counterpart to joy. That even though a tragedy may be occurring life continues to go on, and it is only “The Old Masters” who have a true understanding of it (2).
He alludes to the myth of Icarus to illustrate how tragedy coeixts with the mundane tasks of daily life when he says “In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away/ Quite leisurely from the disaster;” (14, 15). He presents the image that ordinary and extraordinary events coexist, one not overpowering or even interrupting the other.
A popular saying is “don’t fly too close to the sun”, which may be said to someone who displays overconfidence with their ambitions. So in regard to “Icarus” being a popular myth used to describe the male experience, men may feel the need to break away from their father’s expectations or shadow, the lesson being that however one must separate themselves from their parents and make their own decisions, parental wisdom and advice should still be valued.
The myth of Persephone is that she was the goddess of springtime who, after being abducted by Hades, became the queen of the underworld. After being persuaded by Demeter, Hades agreed to allow Persephone to leave the underworld during the spring and summer of each year, and to live in the underworld with him for the remaining six months of the year. This myth relates to the mother-daughter relationship. The myth and both poems speak to the feelings of loss and protection of a daughter from a mother’s point of view.
In the first stanza of Rita Dove’s poem “Persephone, Falling”, Persephone is in a field, her attention drawn to picking the most beautiful flower when suddenly she is abducted, she had “strayed from the herd” meaning she had strayed from the safety of being by her mother’s side (8). The second stanza uses the myth as a warning to “go straight to school” and “stick with your playmates” or else you may have a fate not unlike Persephone (9, 11, 12). The poem is a warning and an example of how quickly something terrible can happen to a daughter, especially with the added fear that accompanies a mother’s perspective.
In Boland’s poem “The Pomegranate” initially she is Persephone in the underworld, “at first I was/ an exiled child in the crackling dusk of/ the underworld,” (10, 11, 12). And then she is the mother, Demeter, trying to bargain for her daughters rescue “When she came running I was ready /to make any bargain to keep her” (15, 16). These lines are to illustrate that she knows the experience of growing up and what to expect for her daughter, the continuity of the female experience is also seen in the line “The legend will be hers as well as mine” (50).
Boland and Dove both present their version of the myth of Persephone as a cautionary tale, focusing on Persephone as a daughter figure who needs protecting from the threats of the world.
Part 2:
The myth of Icarus is of a father and son who, in order to escape a labyrinth of their own making build wings from wax and feathers. The warnings of Icarus’ father, to not fly to close to the sun for fear of the wax melting thereby damaging the wings are not heeded, and Icarus plummets to his death in the sea below.
In the poem, “Musée des Beaux Arts” Auden is making a point about suffering and joy, the ordinary and extraordinary. He is speaking about how suffering is an inescapable part of life and is not separate but is the counterpart to joy. That even though a tragedy may be occurring life continues to go on, and it is only “The Old Masters” who have a true understanding of it (2).
He alludes to the myth of Icarus to illustrate how tragedy coeixts with the mundane tasks of daily life when he says “In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away/ Quite leisurely from the disaster;” (14, 15). He presents the image that ordinary and extraordinary events coexist, one not overpowering or even interrupting the other.
A popular saying is “don’t fly too close to the sun”, which may be said to someone who displays overconfidence with their ambitions. So in regard to “Icarus” being a popular myth used to describe the male experience, men may feel the need to break away from their father’s expectations or shadow, the lesson being that however one must separate themselves from their parents and make their own decisions, parental wisdom and advice should still be valued.
