Persephone, Falling by Rita Dove

[dragonyphoenix]

It is finished. No one heard her.
No one! She had strayed from the herd.

Comments

[maramcreates]

I've always read the Persephone myth that way, myself. I'm glad to see that it's getting that treatment here.

Thank you for sharing it.

[dragonyphoenix]

You're welcome. I'd been surprised by this reading of the myth the first time I'd read the poem. It works quite well, but I'd never thought of it that way.

[maramcreates]

Rape, abduction, and other power plays over women are pretty normalized in a lot of mythology (and Greek myths are no exception), so I think folks don't really read them that way.

I can give many examples of this, but here just a few:
- Daphne
- Helen of Troy
- Leda
- Europa
- Philomela
- Caeneus
- Demeter