Josh Hinson Mr. Maguiness ENG-L202 17 April 2024 Essay 2: Comparative Analysis Persona poetry is a subgenre defined by the ability of the author to create a character independent of themselves to become the speaker/narrator of a poem (Norton A70). While this speaker becomes the focal point of the entire poem, the author may also include other characters, known as auditor(s) in the poem. A.E. Stallings uses this genre of poetry in her poem, “Hades Welcomes His Bride”, by creating the character of Hades and defining his distinct personality of being calm and respectful, but also sinister and evil at the same time throughout the poem. We can use another poem by Alicia Ostricker, “Letter: Demeter to Persephone”, to help us understand how both authors …show more content…
Stallings focuses on the entirety of the poem. Interestingly, this poem can be described as a dramatic monologue. The Norton Introduction to Literature describes a dramatic monologue: "...the following poem has no narrator. Rather, it consists entirely of the words a single fictional speaker speaks to a fictional auditor in a specific time, place, and dramatic situation” (Mays, 794). Hades’ dialogue takes up the entirety of the poem, from start to end in a single time, and also a single place, perfectly conforming to the genre conventions of the dramatic monologue step by step. Throughout the poem, Hades is speaking to an auditor, Persephone, whom he has seemingly taken from her world above and taken allotted to become the queen of the underworld. When we think of Hades as a character, the first character traits that come to mind are respect, kindness, and care. Most likely, the character traits that come to mind would look more like hatred, anger, or …show more content…
Both of these are activities that could be expected of the underworld. These images that we see from Persephone’s eyes, though they are not in the form of dialogue, create a much more vivid representation of Hades and what may have taken place in the underworld when the reader is not able to know. This move Persephone makes goes hand in hand with other moves she has made in the other poem, such as her lack of a response to her new throne above all men born, or her hand starting to tremble when she is introduced to her new bed with Hades. These moves all go against the genre conventions of the dramatic monologue by directly focusing on Persephone and what she is doing in the poem to say more about Hades. In conclusion, Stallings and Ostricker both conform to the genre conventions of a dramatic monologue by continuing to utilize a single speaker with a listening auditor. But, Persephone as an auditor makes many moves throughout both poems to go against the typical genre conventions of the auditor of a dramatic monologue while remaining almost completely absent throughout both
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Demeter’s grief is demonstrated through the concepts of divinity and humanity being symbolically contrasted with a woman’s purpose and social status as a mother or daughter. While “terrible” is a word we would expect to describe grief, “brutal” is interesting due to its violent connotations (Hymn to Demeter, 90). As a “brutal grief that seized the heart” it lends itself to a comparison with the violent seizing of Persephone, echoed here in Demeter’s emotions about her daughters’ capture, and perhaps denoting that the nature of what causes grief may be reflected in how it is felt (Hymn to Demeter, 90). The words “brutal” and “seized” also portrays grief itself as uncontrollable and forceful, even to the non-human Being described as “like four goddesses” while Demeter herself is divine and yet, unrecognisable as such seems to hark back to their youth and beauty as a divine gift, while Demeter, in her grief, appears to lose divine status (Hymn to Demeter,108, 94-95, 108).
Has there ever been a time where you have experienced true love, but everything was not what you expected? You thought everything was at the forefront but there was a deeper meaning to things. Well in the poem “First Love: A Quiz”, A.E. Stallings introduces you to the deeper side of things. This poem doesn’t consist of many literary devices, but Stallings uses her choice of words to make the reader give thought to the text, and to the story being told of Persephone and Hades. The structure of the poem also helps to better understand the actual meaning of the poem. As you read this “quiz” everything gets very abstract and your options become harder and harder to choose from.
‘Demeter’ is a poem about the story of Demeter. "Demeter was the goddess of harvest and Persephone was the goddess of springtime. Hades, the lord of the underworld, kidnapped Persephone. Hades fell in love with Persephone and asked Zeus to help him kidnap her so she could become his bride. The crops started to wilt and humans couldn't grow crops anymore. However Zeus told Hermes to bring back Persephone and to make sure she didn't eat any food from the Underworld. Hermes fetched Persephone. But before she left, Hades convinced her to eat 6 pomegranate seeds. Hermes made a compromise and said Persephone had to stay in the Underworld as Hades wife for six months. That's why there are seasons. In the fall and winter, Persephone goes down into the Underworld and Demeter mourns. In the summer and spring, she comes back and Demeter rejoices. " (1)
In the Hymn to Demeter, the rape of Persephone starts with her picking flowers and she comes across the hundred headed narcissus which "Gaia made grow as a trick for the blushing maiden" (HHDem. 8-9). This trick is set into motion by Zeus, but since Gaia plays the role of protecting the youngest generation, this is a foreshadowing that Persephone's ordeal will be for a good cause. Hades moves in to take Persephone when the grounds gapes open and she begins to cry aloud. Demeter hears her daughters screams but she is powerless against Hades, hence the separation of distance between them. The grief stricken Demeter goes through an experience which plays out the role of a symbolic death. this is because the relationship between the mother and daughter ends at a wedding.
There has long been a fashion among critics and historians, including Sir James Frazier and Graham Hancock, to insist upon taking the account of Odysseus' voyage to Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey at near face-value as a description of people and places familiar to a Greek audience of Homer's day. Both linguistics and comparative history have been employed to discover exactly how accurately this originally oral epic conveys this gritty realism. Something, however, is not right with this purely empiric approach. What is missing is an examination through the lens of ancient religious practices. Surely a literary work so teeming with deities-wise Athena, spiteful Poseidon, impish Hermes, omnipotent Zeus-deserves such study.
When she discovers Persephone’s fate from Helios, Demeter is bereaved. “But a more terrible and savage grief came into Demeter’s heart. Then, angered at the dark-clouded son of Cronos, she avoided the assembly of the gods and lofty Olympus.” (H. Dem. Demeter’s loss of Persephone and her subsequent grief directly parallel Penelope’s loss and sorrow for Odysseus.
In two amazing poems, both poets make allusions to the myth of Persephone. The myth of Persephone tells of her kidnap by Hades, the God of the Underworld. She is then fated to spend one-third of the year in the underworld as Hades’ bride because she consumed pomegranate seeds. This myth appears frequently as a metaphor not only in “The Pomegranate” and “The Bistro Styx,” but in many others as well. In both poems, the myth of Persephone is used to symbolize the mother-daughter relationships.
The parallels between the protagonists, Laura and Persephone, are quite evident. First and foremost, Laura’s mother, Mrs. Sheridan, stands as a counterpart for Demeter, Persephone’s mother. Mrs. Sheridan chose to pass down her black hat to Laura, the youngest of all of her children (Masfield 251). Laura and her mother share an intimate relationship that mirrors that of Persephone and Demeter. This display of affection expresses how comfortable mother and daughter are around each other. Mrs. Sheridan thinks highly of Laura, she sees her as a mature young lady. In comparison, when Persephone is whisked away to the Underworld without her consent, Demeter is overcome with grief and depression. Demeter’s life was centered on Persephone; she had the sensation that something was the matter. When he daughter vanished, Demeter lost her sense of direction. In addition, bot...
Numerous lively heroes ventured into Persephone’s clutches with the hopes of beating death, yet she explains that despite their god-like strength they too will die. Two such heroes were Theseus and Pirithous. When Theseus and Pirithous attempted to kidnap the Queen of the Underworld she enticed them to sit in the chair of forgetfulness where their flesh fused to the cushions and refused to relinquish them (Taylor 268). Persephone appears many times to offer food, drink, or rest to weary heroes in the underworld in order to trap them there forever in the same manner that Hades tricked her (Taylor, 268). Because of Persephone and Hades’ antics many people hated them as gods, but Persephone’s cruelty serves as a reminder that while death is necessary it is not always kind. In the same manner that Persephone accepted her fate, mortals must also accept their own imminent
The primary ruling god of the underworld is Hades whose brother is Zeus, king of the gods, and whose parents are Cronus and Rhea. Hades is a greedy god with his greatest concern being to increase the number of his subjects. He is very stubborn about letting people out of the underworld. Hades himself, rarely leaves the underworld. In one myth, however, we know of a time when he did leave his soulful domain. Hades became very lonely in the underworld, and went above and kidnapped Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, for his wife.Persephone, nonetheless, was not Hades’ only significant other. Hades had a mistress called Minthe whom Persephone later transformed into a plant. Hades is also known as the god of wealth due to the precious metals mined from the earth. He has been said to possess a helmet that was given to him by the Cyclops. This helmet has been said to make him invisible. Hades lent it to gods and mortal men. Perseus used the helmet on his quest for Medusa’s head and Athena, goddess of battle skills, put to use the helmet so the god of war, Ares, could not notice her.
Perseus is later found by soldiers who take him to the city of Argos, where he is brought before King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia during their celebration of the war against the gods. King Cepheus makes arrogant statements towards the gods, and the Queen Cassiopeia compares their daughter Andromeda to Aphrodite. When Zeus finds out about the destruction of a statue of him and the celebration of war by Cepheus and Cassiopeia, he becomes furious. Hades then appears before his Zeus on Mount Olympus and argues that the gods must retaliate against the revolt, and convinces Zeus that he be allowed to destroy Argos. Hades appears in a courtroom in Argos, kills the so...
The ineffaceable impression which Sophocles makes on us today and his imperishable position in the literature of the world are both due to his character-drawing. If we ask which of the men and women of Greek tragedy have an independent life in the imagination apart from the stage and from the actual plot in which they appear, we must answer, ‘those created by Sophocles, above all others’ (36).
According to “Persephone, Demeter, and Hades” It starts off with “Persephone who is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of agriculture (farming). Hades who is her uncle, abducts Persephone while she was picking flowers with her companions in a meadow.” According to “Classical Mythology” it states “Hades had other plans for Persephone: he would steal her innocence and virginity and turn her into the dreaded goddess of the Underworld.” It also states how “Persephone was gathering flowers one day on a plain in Sicily. Hades appeared, thundering across the plain in his four-horse chariot. The god then jumped down upon Persephone, and scooped her up with one arm. After abducting her, he carries her off to the Underworld. Demeter who is Persephone’s mother soon came to retrieve her daughter, but was unable to find a trace of Persephone. She traveled to the corners of the earth, searching for nine full days and nights without ever stopping to eat, drink, bathe, or rest. Demeter was in a fury so in retaliation she destroyed lands, crops, and livestock as she complained to the loss of her daughter. She threatened to make the earth unproductive forever and thus destroy all of humankind if she did not find her
The ineffaceable impression which Sophocles makes on us today and his imperishable position in the literature of the world are both due to his character-drawing. If we ask which of the men and women ofGreek tragedy have an independent life in the imagination apart from the stage and from the actual plot in which they appear, we must answer, ‘those created by Sophocles, above all others’ (36).
Yulavia Gordon-Armstrong June 8, 2018 HU1110, A: Snyder Week 5 Research Essay Introduction In “The Argonautica,” was not used for religious purposes, but it was for to gain an understanding and knowledge of the gods and goddesses mythology from ancient literature. Apollonius had an idea to write his poem for creativity, but in a different perspective to where his poem becomes one of the most epic poems in a decade. The reason he wanted to write poems is so the readers can learn to understand the origins of the poems, and use their life story to write an epic poem for memories from which poetry is usually presented going through experiences in lifetime. The poems were also written for a purpose to gain audience and create various sources for