Women Versed in Myth: Essays on Modern Poets

by Colleen S. Harris (Editor), Valerie Estelle Frankel (Editor)

Overview

Throughout history, men have prayed to gods and poets have interpreted ancient myths for new audiences. But what about women? With sections on teaching and modern writing, this collection of new essays examines how modern female poets--including H.D., Louise Gluck, Ruth Fainlight, Rita Dove, Sylvia Plath and others--have subverted classical expectations in interpreting such legends as Persephone, Helen and Eurydice. Other mythological figures are also explored and rewritten, including Buddhism's Kwan Yin, Celtic Macha, the Aztecs' Coatlicue, Pele of Hawaii, India's Sita, Sumer's Inanna, Yemonja of the Yoruba and many more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786471928
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	09/23/2016
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Colleen S. Harris serves as a librarian on the faculty of California State University Channel Islands. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee for her fiction and poetry, she is the author of three poetry collections and lives in Camarillo, California. Valerie Estelle Frankel teaches English at Mission College and San Jose City College. The author of more than 90 popular culture books and more than 100 stories and essays, she lives in Sunnyvale, California.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Classical Myth Subverted

Sap Rising: Bodies Figured as Trees in H.D., Atwood and Glück Wendy Whelan-Stewart 5

Mythotropism: A Psychology of Writing (to) Myth Coco Owen 14

Burying Helen: H.D.'s Anthropoetics Lisa D. Simon 25

The Needed Underworld: Modern Reactions to Symbolic Death Rachel McCoppin 34

From Persephone's Lips: Three Retellings by Louise Glück Valerie Estelle Frankel 43

Reimagining Myth and the Maternal with Ruth Fainlight, Margaret Atwood and Katie Donovan Charlotte Beyer 50

"Out of the Ash I Rise": Sylvia Plath and the Rebirth of the Woman Poet Kate Williams 59

Part II Outside the Greek Tradition-Front the Near East to the Aztecs

Coatlicue and Chicana Grrl Power Sarah R. Wakefield 67

Conduits and Conjurers: Heroic Characters, Sacred Nature and Social Order in Kelly Norman Ellis, Nikky Finney and Patricia Smith Janine Harrison 73

When Pele Blows: Trask's Repositioning of the Hawaiian Creation Epic James A. Wren 83

Mythic Reenactment from Sandra Alcosser and Pattiann Rogers Tami Haaland 91

Utilizing and Disrupting Legends in Indian Poetry Pramila Venkateswaran 97

The Mything Link: The Feminine Voice in the Shifting Australian National Myth Phil Fitzsimmons 106

Sister of Life, Sister of Death: Fluid Roles in Catherynne M. Valente's The Descent of Inanna Valerie Estelle Frankel 114

Part III Within the Classroom

Female Icons in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Approach to Teaching Elizabeth Johnston 121

La Llorona and La Malinche in Re-Vision: Chicana Poets Countering Traditions and Claiming Voice Leigh C. Johnson 140

Ancient Voices: Bringing the Greeks to Life for Students K-12 Kate Hovey 148

Taking Pomegranates from Strangers: Contemporary Female Poets on Persephone Sarah R. Wakefield 160

Part IV Ancestry, the Personal and Self-Writing Women

Family Lore, Suffragist Ancestors and the Scrapbook of a 19th Century Poetess; or, How to Find a Topic for the Dissertation Laura Madeline Wiseman 169

Creating Light: Myth-making of Lucille Clifton Glenis Redmond 179

Penelope at the Loom: Mythology and the Modern Workplace in the Poetry of 21st Century Women Kristin Berkey-Abbott 187

In My Own Image: Crafting Poetry About the Sacred Feminine Paula J. Vaughan 194

Telling a Truth versus Telling the Truth: On Writing from Personal History Jenny Sadre-Orafai 203

They're Not Mermaids, Really: Shame and Re-visioning the Mermaid Mythos Jennifer Jean 209

Calling the Goddess Janine Canan 218

About the Contributors 229

Index 233