Description
Book SynopsisMore than perhaps any other folkloric tradition, whether oral or written, the myths of classical Greece and Rome have survived and pervaded the consciousness of lands far-flung from their source. The mythic world of the ancients, peopled by glamorous gods and unstoppable heroes, in which the mortal and immortal commingled, is even now a living presence in 21st century culture, rather than a literary relic. Whether we know them by their Roman or their Greek names - Artemis or Minerva, Poseidon or Neptune - the figures of these ancietn myths captured the imagination of culture after culture across the globe, inspiring writers, artists, musicians and those of us who comprise the audience for their works. Can it be a coincidence that the greatest poets of the western world have each at one point tried their hand at retellings?Kossman''s anthology assembles some of the best of these poems inspired by ancient myths, organizing them by themse, and allowing the reader to compare one against th
Trade Review"Gods And Mortals is a fascinating collection of poems that brings together the classic and the contemporary, the 'old' and the 'new,' in unexpected and startling ways. Nina Kossman has brought together a richly imaginative gathering of memorable work."--Joyce Carol Oates "This is an appealing collection for students of poetry and myth, and a must for anyone who teaches a course dealing with classical myth."--Choice "Gods And Mortals is a fascinating collection of poems that brings together the classic and the contemporary, the 'old' and the 'new,' in unexpected and startling ways. Nina Kossman has brought together a richly imaginative gathering of memorable work."--Joyce Carol Oates "An appealing collection for students of poetry and myth, and a must for anyone who teaches a course dealing with classical myth." Choice
Table of ContentsPreface ; Introduction ; Titans ; Zeus ; Demeter ; Apollo ; Aphrodite ; Other Olympians ; Lesser Immortals and Near-Immortals ; The Way to the Underworld ; Lovers ; Transformations ; Trespassers ; The Condemned ; Heroes ; Crete ; Thebes ; After Troy ; The Wanderings and the Homecoming of Odysseus ; Index of Poets ; Glossary ; Acknowledgments
