In which time period is Louise Gluck’s
It seems like this is set in a fairly current time, maybe WWII. (see pg. 28)
What is the tone of this book?
The tone is melancholic and solemn.
Describe the narrator(s) and what is of value to them?
The narrator is a melancholic female looking back at her childhood, love life and ancient mythology. They value expression of self, nature, the reality of love, souls, recalling memories, and personal identity.
What kind of relationship does the Persephone narrator have with the earth in Gluck’s work? Cite at least one passage to back up your argument.
Their relationship is a little strained. Instead of it all being sweetness and light, there is the bitterness and jealousness on the part of the earth while Persephone is in hell and a bit of obliviousness on Persephone’s part. This relationship is exemplified in the passage that says:
“It is snowing on earth; the cold wind says
Persephone is having sex in hell.
Unlike the rest of us, she doesn’t know
what winter is, only that
she is what causes it.”
To what does the final verse on page 16 refer?
It refers to her eating of the pomegranate and possibly blood from her rape.
Cite a passage in the text where the narrator second guesses her own voice by reconsidering the way in which to describe something. Why would an author show such a thing?
She second guesses herself when she says, “Did I say ‘suffered’? That was my parents’ way of explaining
tastes that seemed to them
inexplicable: better ‘suffered’ than ‘preferred to live with the dog.’”
She might choose to show this as a way of showing her thought process. At first she just accepted what her parents told her, but after thinking about it, she realizes their word was not her word. Instead it served as a way to disguise a truth they didn’t like.
What are some key differences between Part I and II of the book; how is Persephone the Wanderer figured differently in each?
In part one, Persephone is pictured as a slightly bewildered girl on the cusp of womanhood who was abducted and now is not sure if she’s a child or a woman. The poems themselves are full of doubt, confusion and forgetfulness. In part two, Persephone is a young woman who feels she offered herself to her lover. She is not a child and wishes to remember the child she once was to understand how her offering could be twisted into an abduction. The poems are about the journey through memory to find one’s self, Persephone’s actual experiences and the realities of aging and death.
How do you understand the ancient myth differently after reading Gluck’s interpretation?
I don’t think I understand the myth differently after this interpretation. Gluck gave two or three different takes on the Persephone myth, but I really prefer the original, ancient (Greek) version, and I’m choosing to use that as my basis for understanding the myth. Gluck was trying to make it have more connections to modern times, but I don’t think the myth needs that. I think it works just fine as a stand alone story, and I like the connections the original gives to the ancient world.
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