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Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths
For centuries, poets have looked into the mirror of classical myth to show us the many ways our emotional lives are still reflected in the ancient stories of heroism, hubris, transformation, and loss that myths so eloquently tell. Now, in Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths, we have the first anthology to gather the great 20th century myth-inspired poems from around the world.
"Perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them a source of inspiration and self-recognition," says Nina Kossman in her introduction to this marvelous collection. Indeed, from Valery, Yeats, Lawrence, Rilke, Akhmatova, and Auden writing in the first half of the century to such contemporary poets as Lucille Clifton, Derek Walcott, Rita Dove, Wislawa Szymborska, and Mark Strand, the material of Greek myth has elicited a poetry of remarkably high achievement. And by organizing the poems first into broad categories such as "Heroes," "Lovers," "Trespassers," and secondly around particular mythological figures such as Persephone, Orpheus, or Narcissus, readers are treated to a fascinating spectrum of poems on the same subject. For example, the section on Odysseus includes poems by Cavafy, W. S. Merwin, Gregory Corso, Gabriel Zaid, Louise Gluck, Wallace Stevens, and many others. Thus we are allowed to see the familiar Greek hero refracted through the eyes, and sharply varying stylistic approaches, of a wide range of poets from around the world.
Here, then, is a collection of extraordinary poems that testifies to--and amply rewards--our ongoing fascination with classical myth.
"Perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them a source of inspiration and self-recognition," says Nina Kossman in her introduction to this marvelous collection. Indeed, from Valery, Yeats, Lawrence, Rilke, Akhmatova, and Auden writing in the first half of the century to such contemporary poets as Lucille Clifton, Derek Walcott, Rita Dove, Wislawa Szymborska, and Mark Strand, the material of Greek myth has elicited a poetry of remarkably high achievement. And by organizing the poems first into broad categories such as "Heroes," "Lovers," "Trespassers," and secondly around particular mythological figures such as Persephone, Orpheus, or Narcissus, readers are treated to a fascinating spectrum of poems on the same subject. For example, the section on Odysseus includes poems by Cavafy, W. S. Merwin, Gregory Corso, Gabriel Zaid, Louise Gluck, Wallace Stevens, and many others. Thus we are allowed to see the familiar Greek hero refracted through the eyes, and sharply varying stylistic approaches, of a wide range of poets from around the world.
Here, then, is a collection of extraordinary poems that testifies to--and amply rewards--our ongoing fascination with classical myth.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
8 people are currently reading
553 people want to read
About the author
Nina Kossman
18 books10 followersThe recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a UNESCO/PEN Short Story Award, grants from Foundation for Hellenic Culture and Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, Nina Kossman is the author of "Behind the Border" (HarperCollins,1994, 1996),"Queen of the Jews" (published under a pen name NL Herzenberg, Philistine Press, 2016) and the editor of "Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths" (Oxford University Press, 2001). Her poems in Russian were collected in two books, "Pereboi" (Khudozhestvennaya Literatura, Moscow) and "Po Pravuyu Ruku Sna (Philadelphia). She is the translator of two volumes of Marina Tsvetaevas's poetry, "In the Inmost Hour of the Soul" and "Poem of the End". Her translations of Russian poetry have been anthologized in Twentieth Century Russian Poetry (Doubleday), The Gospels in Our Image (Harcourt Brace), The World Treasury of Poetry (Norton), and Divine Inspiration (Oxford University Press). Her short stories and poems were published in many literary magazines, such as Tin House, The Threepenny Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Columbia, Confrontation, etc.
"Story of Little Ai" is a translation, from Russian, of a classic novel for young readers (8-13), about the adventures of a little girl in thirteenth-century China.
"Other Shepherds", Kossman's book of original poems with her translations of Marina Tsvetaeva, was published by Poets & Traitors Press (New York, 2021).
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Nina-Kossman/e... .
"Story of Little Ai" is a translation, from Russian, of a classic novel for young readers (8-13), about the adventures of a little girl in thirteenth-century China.
"Other Shepherds", Kossman's book of original poems with her translations of Marina Tsvetaeva, was published by Poets & Traitors Press (New York, 2021).
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Nina-Kossman/e... .
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 1, 2016
Gathering all these poems together? Herculean task. But my gosh, what a great idea! I loved it – all the different responses to the familiar (and some not so familiar) characters – proof of what Nina Grossman says in her introduction, “Myths belong to us as much or as little as the imagery of our own unconscious: the deeper we dig into our own psyches the more likely we are to stumble upon an ancient myth...And perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them an inexhaustible source of inspiration and self-recognition.” Every aspect of life is covered in the stories – love, jealousy, bad parenting, sibling rivalry, unrequited love, accident, fate, war, murder, dissent, ambition, etc. etc. – all the stuff poetry is made of, and some poets come back to the myths repeatedly, as to a well, it seems. The variety of outpourings is astounding and encouraging. Every generation, all around the world, has found in these stories a touchstone and commonality. And this is only one very limited collection of the results.
Margaret Atwood is one of those who keeps returning to the well - this collection has several of her poems. One of my favorites:
Orpheus (2)
Whether he will go on singing
or not, knowing what he knows
of the horror of this world:
He was not wandering among meadows
all this time. He was down there
among the mouthless ones, among
those with no fingers, those
whose names are forbidden,
those washed up eaten into
among the gray stones
of the shore where nobody goes
through fear. Those with silence.
He has been trying to sing
love into existence again
and he has failed.
Yet he will continue
to sing, in the stadium
crowded with the already dead
who raise their eyeless faces
to listen to him; while the red flowers
grow up and splatter open
against the walls.
They have cut off both his hands
and soon they will tear
his head from his body in one burst
of furious refusal.
He foresees this. Yet he will go on
singing, and in praise.
To sing is either praise
or defiance. Praise is defiance.”
Margaret Atwood
42) Apollo to Daphne – Michael Graves
65) Once and For All – Delmore Schwartz
69) Hymn to Eros – Denise Levertov
91) Lethe – H.D.
102) Euridice – Margaret Atwood
106) Orpheus – Rod Wooden
106) Orpheus in the Underworld – Louis Simpson
111) A Tree Telling of Orpheus – Denise Levertov *
119) Orpheus (2) – Margaret Atwood*
122) The Sonnets to Orpheus – Rainer Maria Rilke*
123) Philemon and Baucis – Thom Gunn
134) Narcissus – Stephen Mitchell*
134) Narcissus – May Sarton
148) Musee des Beaux Arts – W.H. Auden
174) The Muse as Medusa – May Sarton
218) Helen – Odysseus Elytis
241) Electra, Waiting – Laurie Sheck
247) The Mediterranean – Allen Tate
255) Ithaka – Constantine P. Cavafy
265) Siren Song – Margaret Atwood
266) The Sirens – Richard Wilbur
Margaret Atwood is one of those who keeps returning to the well - this collection has several of her poems. One of my favorites:
Orpheus (2)
Whether he will go on singing
or not, knowing what he knows
of the horror of this world:
He was not wandering among meadows
all this time. He was down there
among the mouthless ones, among
those with no fingers, those
whose names are forbidden,
those washed up eaten into
among the gray stones
of the shore where nobody goes
through fear. Those with silence.
He has been trying to sing
love into existence again
and he has failed.
Yet he will continue
to sing, in the stadium
crowded with the already dead
who raise their eyeless faces
to listen to him; while the red flowers
grow up and splatter open
against the walls.
They have cut off both his hands
and soon they will tear
his head from his body in one burst
of furious refusal.
He foresees this. Yet he will go on
singing, and in praise.
To sing is either praise
or defiance. Praise is defiance.”
Margaret Atwood
42) Apollo to Daphne – Michael Graves
65) Once and For All – Delmore Schwartz
69) Hymn to Eros – Denise Levertov
91) Lethe – H.D.
102) Euridice – Margaret Atwood
106) Orpheus – Rod Wooden
106) Orpheus in the Underworld – Louis Simpson
111) A Tree Telling of Orpheus – Denise Levertov *
119) Orpheus (2) – Margaret Atwood*
122) The Sonnets to Orpheus – Rainer Maria Rilke*
123) Philemon and Baucis – Thom Gunn
134) Narcissus – Stephen Mitchell*
134) Narcissus – May Sarton
148) Musee des Beaux Arts – W.H. Auden
174) The Muse as Medusa – May Sarton
218) Helen – Odysseus Elytis
241) Electra, Waiting – Laurie Sheck
247) The Mediterranean – Allen Tate
255) Ithaka – Constantine P. Cavafy
265) Siren Song – Margaret Atwood
266) The Sirens – Richard Wilbur
July 31, 2022
Great book that takes a modern look at classical greek mythology. A great reference to making the mythic relevant in this troubling time. Why Myths? -from the Introduction the editor Nina Kossman explains why myths resonate with our 21st century lives.
"The venerable tradition of doing a Greek mask is often used by poets in order to speak of things they would have found difficult to approach otherwise."xix Kossman believes that truth is found in the pure expression of the arts, "If we think we know the answers, it is because the questions were first posed in antiquity... And perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them inexhaustible source of inspiration and self-recognition."xx
One example of a poem I really dig is Zbigniew Hebert's Old Prometheus:
He writes his memoirs. He is trying to explain the place of the hero in a system of necessities, to reconcile the notion of existence and fate that contradict each other.
Fire is crackling gaily in the fireplace, in the kitchen his wife bustles about- an exalted girl who did not bear him a son, but is convinced she will pass into history anyway. Preparations for supper: the local parson is coming, and the pharmacist, now the closest friends of Prometheus.
The fire blazes up. On the wall, a stuffed eagle and a letter of gratitude from the tyrant of the Caucasus, who successfully burned down a town in revolt because of Prometheus's discovery.
Prometheus laughs quietly. Now it is the only way of expressing his disagreement with the the world.
Translated from the Polish by John and Bogdana Carpenter. Gods and Mortals Modern Poems on Classical Myths ed. Nina Kossman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).
"The venerable tradition of doing a Greek mask is often used by poets in order to speak of things they would have found difficult to approach otherwise."xix Kossman believes that truth is found in the pure expression of the arts, "If we think we know the answers, it is because the questions were first posed in antiquity... And perhaps it is because the myths echo the structure of our unconscious that every new generation of poets finds them inexhaustible source of inspiration and self-recognition."xx
One example of a poem I really dig is Zbigniew Hebert's Old Prometheus:
He writes his memoirs. He is trying to explain the place of the hero in a system of necessities, to reconcile the notion of existence and fate that contradict each other.
Fire is crackling gaily in the fireplace, in the kitchen his wife bustles about- an exalted girl who did not bear him a son, but is convinced she will pass into history anyway. Preparations for supper: the local parson is coming, and the pharmacist, now the closest friends of Prometheus.
The fire blazes up. On the wall, a stuffed eagle and a letter of gratitude from the tyrant of the Caucasus, who successfully burned down a town in revolt because of Prometheus's discovery.
Prometheus laughs quietly. Now it is the only way of expressing his disagreement with the the world.
Translated from the Polish by John and Bogdana Carpenter. Gods and Mortals Modern Poems on Classical Myths ed. Nina Kossman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).
August 12, 2014
As always with anthologies a somewhat mixed bag and my biggest disappointment was that the amazing pieces that jumped out and bit me wee those I already knew by Cavafy (esp. Ithaca), Longley, and Attwood (esp. Sirens). That of course need not detract if they are new to you and this does contain many good pieces.
I would have appreciated a date for the poems and perhaps a short potted biography (a paragraph or two) for each as an introduction. Ceasefire for instance meant much more after a poetry website gave a bit of context.
The best for my money are the ones that use the myths to illustrate aspects of personality and psychology rather than retelling a myth - Homer, Virgil, and Ovid have that pretty well covered.
I would have appreciated a date for the poems and perhaps a short potted biography (a paragraph or two) for each as an introduction. Ceasefire for instance meant much more after a poetry website gave a bit of context.
The best for my money are the ones that use the myths to illustrate aspects of personality and psychology rather than retelling a myth - Homer, Virgil, and Ovid have that pretty well covered.
to_finish_reading_someday
August 31, 2007I've avoided reading this because I didn't want my own myth poems to be influenced by these, but I just can't resist! (Check out the table of contents on Amazon.)
December 29, 2025
Pripremate se za putovanje u Atinu ili još gore za čitanje velikog "Uliksa" Jamesa Joysa a pritom nemate dovoljnu količinu znanja o grčkim mitovima i epovima?
Izgleda da sam našla pravu stvar za Vas!
Nina je u ovoj knjizi zbrojila jedno 30-ak različitih autora, koji su u svom lirskom stilu opisali na najlepši mogući način svako previranje Grčkih božanstava na planini Olimp, celokupno Odisejevo putovanje, Trojanski rat kao i dešavanja na Kritu.
Ovo je knjiga koja oplemenjuje a u isto vreme kroz nju dobijate sa lakoćom skoro kvizaško znanje na već spomenutu tematiku.
Svaka čast autorici na trudu, znanju, uloženom vremenu i detaljnosti kako se svaki od tih faktora uočava u bilo kojem poglavlju ove zbirke pesama.
Izgleda da sam našla pravu stvar za Vas!
Nina je u ovoj knjizi zbrojila jedno 30-ak različitih autora, koji su u svom lirskom stilu opisali na najlepši mogući način svako previranje Grčkih božanstava na planini Olimp, celokupno Odisejevo putovanje, Trojanski rat kao i dešavanja na Kritu.
Ovo je knjiga koja oplemenjuje a u isto vreme kroz nju dobijate sa lakoćom skoro kvizaško znanje na već spomenutu tematiku.
Svaka čast autorici na trudu, znanju, uloženom vremenu i detaljnosti kako se svaki od tih faktora uočava u bilo kojem poglavlju ove zbirke pesama.
May 14, 2021
Nina Kossman has truly gathered voices across centuries of some of our best poets. From fragments of Ovid to the overtures of Rita Dove, there's something for every myth lover.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews