Gods and Monsters: Mythological Poems

by Ana Sampson, Chris Riddell (Illustrator), Natalie Haynes (Foreword)

A stunning gift book drawing together mythological poems – classic and brand-new – from around the world, illustrated throughout in black and white by award-winning former children's laureate Chris Riddell. Compiled by bestselling anthologist Ana Sampson, with an introduction by Natalie Haynes, author of Stone Blind .

People all over the world have always told each other stories. And from the very earliest times, many of these stories were told in verse. This collection of poems includes retellings and reimaginings of Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Aztec, Japanese and Inuit mythology.

You will meet gods, monsters, tricksters, heroes, magical creatures and objects, magicians and spirits including Medusa, Icarus, Loki, Osiris, the Minotaur, Pegasus, Bunyip, Kukulcan, Cerberus, Beowolf and Mjolnir and there are footnotes to shine a light on stories themselves.

Includes poems from Neil Gaiman, W B Yeats, Kae Tempest, Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare, Benjamin Zephaniah, Joseph Coelho and many more. . .

Genres: Poetry, Mythology, Greek Mythology, Fiction, Classics, Retellings, Fantasy

312 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2023

About the author

Ana grew up in Kent. She studied English Literature at the University of Sheffield and gained a BA and MA before starting a career in publishing PR. Ana has contributed articles to various publications including Writers’ Market UK, The Book Club Bible (Michael O’Mara, 2007), Cringe and The Bookseller. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud: And Other Poems You Half-Remember From School, her first anthology of well-loved poems, was the third bestselling poetry book of 2009. This was followed by Tyger Tyger Burning Bright: Much-Loved Poems You Half-Remember, Poems to Learn by Heart, Green and Pleasant Land: Best-Loved Poems of the British Countryside and Best-Loved Poems: A Treasury of Verse. She has appeared on television and radio discussing books, book clubs, teenage diaries and poetry. Ana lives in Surrey with her husband, two daughters and two demanding cats.

Reviews

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I saw this book was on Twitter (it will never be anything else for me).
One of my favourite authors and history buff - Natalie Haynes - was the first to tweet about it since it is all about mythology and the characters we know and love from those old tales (she seems to know Ana Sampson who put this collection together).
Then, Chris Riddell, who did the illustrations throughout, showed a few more details from inside the book. Of course I was hooked.

I love both Chris Riddell's illustrations (though I do think they don't go perfectly with every type of story or writing) and history / mythology so this was right up my alley.

We get 10 sections, or chapters if you will, that tell of different aspects from creation to death and everything in between. Within those sections, we get poems telling stories (or variations of the myths we are familiar with) of all kinds of mythologies - I was very pleased to discover that it wasn't just Greek and/or Norse mythology but works on many lesser known ones being represented as well!

For a closer look, the quotes from every section's introduction and some of my favorite poems, see my various status updates. Those will also give you a pretty good idea of the cool black-and-white illustrations that sometimes dominated a page and sometimes simply gently underlined certain aspects.

Really, I loooved how versatile Riddell's illustrations were depending on the poems they accompanied and am always delighted by how detailed his work is, and how "rich" despite the illustrations "only" being black-and-white.

So yes, absolutely loved this although not all poems were to my liking (one even made me stark raving mad) and wholeheartedly recommend the collection - even to those not knowing much or even anything about mythology as there are explanations under most poems (nice feature!).

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 🌟

I never thought that this collection of mythological poems could be so funny, but some of these authors actually made me giggle.

Having illustrations on every single page elevated the entertainment on a whole different level. The anthology includes a broad variety of authors, from Ancient authors like Homer to Shakespeare, Poe, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and a bunch of poets I never even heard of before. I also liked how the collection was structured. It is divided into different parts that collect poems with similar themes, such as learning about underwater creatures, exploring the underworld and afterlife, hearing from heroes and their adventures, or reading about beasts and monsters. Every new part starts with a short sentence describing what it will be about, which I appreciated. Even within these chapters, the individual poems are structured so that stories about the same topic are all in one place, for example everything about Persephone or Pan or Loch Ness, which in turn makes it seem like they are connected to each other. Some poems are traditional classics, while others have a modern or original twist. Some poems only fill half a page, while others span multiple pages.

However, some poems could have benefitted from more in-depth footnotes, or any footnotes at all, to explain the inspiration and the myth. Similarly, I would have loved to see an even wider range of mythologies. That is not to say that some poems should have been replaced by others, since I liked or loved all of them. The book could have been even longer is what I am trying to say. Or been marketed differently, since a lot of the poetry inside focuses on Greek and Roman myths. Which is not a bad thing at all, just not what I was expecting.

All in all, a quick and funny read that is also beautiful to look at. Would highly recommend!

[Amy Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poems (some meh ones too) and great illustrations!

[Steff Mother of Sphynx · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars for the poems, they weren’t all to my taste, but 5 stars for the illustrations from my childhood favourite Chris Riddle, so I met in the middle with my rating.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much of a poetry reader, but with the insanely stunning illustrations, I just couldn't resist.

[Hannah Priestman · Rating 3 out of 5]

First foray into poetry, but using a subject a love kept me invested. I probably should have dipped in and out rather than read it cover to cover though.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

these illustrations were, of course, beautiful, but the poetry selection itself felt very dry to me. the vast majority of the poetry used rhyme, which i feel can only be appreciated when it appears (very) infrequently. more diversity in the poetry forms would have definitely made me enjoy this more.

[Prince Mendax]

säkert ett bra urval dikter, men teckningarna är så otroligt fula? :)

okej. fula/inte min smak/är en kvinna som föredrar diktsamling utan rit?

[Vivi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice poems nice illustrations

[Louka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently decided I should give poetry another chance. It's not that I think it's bad, on the contrary, I wish I could write it. But it's so layered, with different meanings and I'm not very good at getting those (it was the one component of my English literature exams I did not succeed at). So I've been avoiding it, but now I've decided to give it another try. Because I won't get graded for this and there are so many different kinds of poetry that there must be some I like. And I've found a couple of those already. One of them is this beautiful collection of mythological poems.
I tend to follow authors on Instagram after reading and enjoying at least one of their books. This is how I found out about this collection: Natalie Haynes - who wrote the foreword for this - posted about it. Then I got a book token for my birthday and when I came across a copy in the bookshop, I just couldn't leave it there. I flipped through it and was amazed by the many beautiful drawings. That's one part of this book, the drawings of mythological figures are just so well done, so incredibly beautiful. The other part is, of course, the poetry itself. As with all collections, you can't like each one of them equally. But I did really like the majority of these poems and it was a great reading experience.
There were a couple of different themes, which was nice. It divided the poems more or less per genre and made it easier to have stopping points, as there are no real chapters in poetry. The mix of contemporary and classical authors, famous or unknown was great. I was glad to see another beautiful piece of writing of authors like Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman, but I could also discover many others who also wrote amazing poems.
Most of the poems were based on Greek mythology, but there were a couple of others too, like Norse or Asian mythology. I appreciated the little notes at the end of each poem, informing the reader about the myth. As I love Greek mythology, I am familiar with most of these stories, but this wasn't the case for those from other countries. In December, I read Carol Ann Duffy's 'The World's Wife' and though I liked this collection too, my main point of critique was how the reader was expected to know all of the characters. Most of them I knew, but some I didn't and being aware of the story was essential to understanding the poem. So I was glad to have these small pieces of information now.
It's a great collection, both for the drawings and the poetry itself. I'm glad I gave it a chance because this was an amazing read to start the year.

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality Rating: Four Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Four Stars

A beautifully curated collection of poetry inspired by myth from across the globe, all stunningly illustrated by Chris Riddell. It offers a vibrant reimagining of well-known tales both in the writing but also the accompanying visuals and snippets of background for readers that might not be so familiar with the original stories. I did wish there had been more variety in cultures poetry had been selected from (it’s primarily a collection of Greek and Roman-inspired pieces, with a handful of other tales scattered through), but I did appreciate it reached further than just the most well-known Western classics.

[Gina Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poems is as informative as it is beautiful.

What more could you want from a group of poems about mythology than to have them accompanied by some of the most delicious illustrations I’ve ever seen?

Honestly, if you buy this for the illustrations alone, you’d be happy. Although you’d severely miss out on some gorgeous writing.

Some poems are funny, some thought-provoking, and others incredibly clever. Even Neil Gaiman has one in there - which is fantastic by the way.

If you’re a mythology fan, you need to get your hands on this!

For more reviews and book recommendations, check out my YouTube channel

[May Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

Who would have thought myths had inspired so many poets? It's a splendid choice of stories, myths and folklore from all around the world. There's a bigger number of poems inspired by European mythologies, but I was happily surprised to find references to Mexican or Japanese myths.

The illustrations make this book all the more engaging and a joy to read.

My favourite poem was "Pegasus" by Eleanor Farjean.

[Amy (The July Rose Reads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars.

I think it’s safe to say that poetry isn’t for me. I did enjoy several of these but overall it’s just not my thing. I loved the illustrations though and these really added value to the poems. I would have liked more footnotes to explain the mythology as a lot of these I didn’t know. It’s worth a try if you like mythology and even more so if you enjoy poetry.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of poems that look at several regions myths and legends from all over the world. While the big three of Greek, Norse and Egyptian are well represented it was a surprise to see several other folkloric stories from cultures such Irish, Welsh and Mayan touched upon.

Pleasant read and if I had the time could have easily have been read in a day or two.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of poems inspired by world mythology is wonderfully illustrated by Chris Riddell. The poems themselves are written by a variety of people from various countries and epochs. Like all collections, I enjoyed some of the poems more than others.

[James Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant!!! Combining two of my favourite things (mythology and poetry) into a hefty book full of wildly different poems covering a wide range of gods, monsters, heroes and emotions, this book will entertain you from start to finish. Loved it!!

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry collection is perfection itself, I don’t think I have ever loved an anthology more!

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gods & Monsters is a glittering, exciting and outstanding collection and triumph.

[Ben Chandler]

An excellent collection, and of course Riddell's illustrations are, as always, so, so good.

[Cat S · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 🌟 (and also such beautiful illustrations!)

[Tom Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great selection of poems and beautifully illustrated.

[Sra · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

They should let Chris Riddell illustrate all the poetry collections ever.

[Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really good poems in here, and some that didn't flow as well for me.
the illustrations throughout were stunning.

[Heidi’s Zee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time you could always find unicorns, but there are no unicorns now.

[Linda Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of illustrated poems for older children.

Wow! What a cracker of a poetry book. Gods and Monsters is just the book parents, carers and teachers need to interest even the most reluctant young reader of poetry. It’s fabulous.

The collection is organised into sections and can be dipped into at random, or the poems can be read in the progression from The First Rays of the Sun: Beginnings to The Dark World: Underworlds and Afterlives as they are presented. Readers might like to access the poetry through the alphabetical index of first lines or through the author and translator index too, so that the anthology can surprise and engage in so many ways. The potential for further research (particularly through the occasional footnotes) into cultural monsters, the different myths and legends and the poets themselves is immeasurable, making this a collection valid far beyond the covers and contents.

Gods and Monsters would be wonderful for schools. I can imagine young readers sharing their own cultural monsters in oral projects perhaps or young writers creating poems to fit into the overarching section titles, with entries like Cream of Fool Iva: A Recipe by Randi Anderson being read alongside the witches brew in Macbeth for example, or any number of the poems being used as a stimulus for longer writing, drama or art. There’s such a range of poetic techniques such as free verse and many kinds of rhyme and structure that young readers could be taught them as a natural part of the enjoyment in reading the poems.

And that’s the greatest success for me of Gods and Monsters. Whilst I find it hard not to think about how I might have used the book when I was an English teacher, that’s not the point. Here we have an eclectic, fascinating selection of poetry to engage, entertain, inspire, revolt, scare – indeed every emotion or response you can think of with something for every reader regardless of age or ability. Add in the fact that these poems are fabulously illustrated by Chris Riddell to bring them alive and uncover and enhance their meaning and Gods and Monsters becomes a fabulous giftbook, or something to retain and dip into at any time for readers of any age from 10 and above.

And for those who still say they don’t read or like poetry? Point them to the introduction by Natalie Haynes so that they realise poetry is another form of story just waiting for them to dive in.

I thought Gods and Monsters was a cracking anthology and really recommend it.

[Leyla Demirel · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)

a fab poetry anthology. Some fun ones, some darker & more emotive ones. With a poetry collection, there's bound to be some you like & some you don't!

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gods and Monsters is a fun collection of poetry focused on the myths and legends of old from writers across time. Sampson has collated a glorious collection of poetry, which feels heavily weighted to greek and European mythology but has snippets of ancient Egypt, Celtic and old English legends, Nordic gods, a couple of African and Indian references.

It made me want to pick up works like the Mabinogion, the Elder Edda and the Odyssey to read the original poetry of old and I liked that. It reminded me how much I love myths and legends.

I also have to say the illustrations were absolutely beautiful and really added to the reading experience. This is definitely a book to sink in and enjoy over multiple readings and one I'll definitely return to.

[Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these poems were written beautifully but it’s the illustrations that made it even better!