Modern Mythology: Poems about gods, mortals, and monsters

by Nadia McGhee

"You were born golden"

Come take a look at one of the most beautiful time periods in history, Ancient Greece. Nadia McGhee begins an adventure through five ancient ages, full of poems about Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, Mortals, and Monsters. Modern Mythology brings the lost majesty of Greek Mythology back to life through beautiful poetic prose.

Genres: Poetry, Mythology, Greek Mythology

224 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2021

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I start my review, I want to mention that I am no poetry expert. I am merely going off of my own opinions and enjoyment of the collection.

Positives first, I was very impressed with McGhee's ability to incorporate these ancient myths and characters into modern problems and emotions. Greek Myths were able to stay alive throughout all these years because they are packed full of character, flavor, and relativity. I thought McGhee had some great inspiration for several myths, and you could really tell by reading some of these poems. I tabbed all of the poems I felt were fresh and inspired, bringing something new to the classic tales. I totaled with 27 tabs at the end, which is a good number, but I still would've liked to see more in a 200+ poem collection.

I also really enjoyed McGhee's use of characters to express traditionally feminist ideas and values. In the end, there were some overarching poems about the power that women hold and have always held, even if society doesn't acknowledge it. These were all SUPER interesting to read; they felt passionate and true. You could tell when she cared about the ideas her poems were expressing.

That being said, the majority of the poems felt as if McGee was writing strictly to write about a myth. In other words, they felt uninspired and kind of forced. At times, I was thinking that I had somehow logged back into my 2015 inspirational Pintrest account. For example, a quote in this Heracles poem is: "you can die a hero, or live long enough to become a monster." This might be true, but I have seen this sentence too many times for it to be worth anything anymore. While this sort of thing is typical for a collection of this size, I liked the fresh ones and wished there were more of those! I wish McGhee had cut out the filler poems and had just written about what she wanted (even if it meant we lost some pages). In poetry, I'd rather have quality over quantity.

Despite that, you should still pick up this collection. It is worth it. McGhee writing about stars and constellations and scars is something everyone should experience (and almost everytimes galaxies were mentioned, it was beautiful). I'm excited to read more McGhee work in the future - I hope I'm able to pick up her other collection sometime soon - and I hope she keeps writing! Despite some smaller inspiration issues in this novel I experienced, it is clear she is a very talented writer and will take the world by storm.

P.S. - The illustrations in this book were OUTSTANDING. They were everything I would ever want in a modern poetry collection.

[Charley Melton · Rating 1 out of 5]

it's pretty clear to me that no editorial procedures were followed in the making of this book. there were several typos and ill phrasing that made me shudder to think about. examples include:

"he frees his sibling from their cage" (60).

"why i was her undoing" (69).

"i've seen saw the destruction that fire causes" (119).

"for the is the plight of dreamers" (173)

other parts are straight up plagiarized ideas that i probably saw plastered on tumblr and whisper half a decade before this was even published.

after heracles kills megara, he remarks about how "you can die a hero or live long enough to become a monster" which astounds me. it's not even clever. this existed as a meme format before the author even tried to pin it off as her own idea.

when persephone teaches melinoë about death, she straight up says the whole spiel about how "when you go into a field of flowers which ones do you pick?" and melinoë replies with "the most beautiful ones." this is not original in the slightest, and i was really expecting better out of this collection of poetry.

the sheer force of my cringe was enough to bring a tear to my eye. i don't recommend this book, but i do want to see better work produced by this author.

[Sophie Maria Wojna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really fricking loved this book. I can’t wait to read it again and again whenever I decide to come back to it. As a lover of all things Greek Mythology, this is such a beautifully written perspective of those myths. Whenever I’ll crave a bit of a Greek myth, I’ll just pick this book of poetry up now. I loved the way it was sectioned/categorised and how all the stories flowed into the other, relating to another in a thematic sense. I especially loved Nadia’s interpretation of Icarus and Apollo as it’s not one I’ve personally thought of prior to reading this. Gosh, if I could list all the poems that stuck out for me in this read, I’d end up listening the majority of the anthology. I highly recommend this to any mythology lover with an interest in viewing the myths you know true & well from a new perspective☺️

[Mr. R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was surprised by the number of glowing reviews for this collection. While the topic of Greek mythology initially drew me in, the poems themselves didn't quite live up to my expectations. Many felt flat and lacked depth, lyricism, or the strong imagery and diction that I look for in poetry. There were also noticeable typos and moments of confusion in pronoun use and speaker perspective, which disrupted the flow. The rhymes were also inconsistent at times within the same poem. That said, I do appreciate the ambition behind the project and the sheer number of poems included. I just found that my enthusiasm for the concept wasn't matched by the overall execution.

Grade: D-

[Dariela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful. I like to start my day off with reading a couple of poems, as I find that poetry pours directly into my heart. This did just that, Nadia’s writing and voice is so raw. My love for Greek mythology is vast and these poems deepened that love in the most beautiful way. I am looking forward to reading and buying more of Nadia’s work.

[Giorgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alcune poesie sono davvero meravigliose, sia per concetti che per versificazione (melodia e rime comprese), altre invece sono purtroppo molto dimenticabili: McGhee cerca di creare un corpus coeso e somigliante alla teogonia nel suo sviluppo, intento nobile ma che finisce per creare alcuni componimenti mediocri o talvolta brutti.

[Emma Holubowich · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love mythology and poetry and a lot of it was from the perceptive of teh author being told these poems for the gods which is something i’ve always enjoyed also this idea that very women in all of time comes for these goddesses rage and more is an incredibly impactful thing to read

[Summer Seeds · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, and that is generous.

Some of these poems were beautiful and I adore.

Others flowed so poorly that reading this collection made me angry. If you are following a rhyme scheme, stick to it. Don’t abandon it when convenient. It looks sloppy and disrupts the flow of the verse.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone needs to read this!!!

[coffeebooksnao3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely beautiful. It was amazing and inspiring and heartbreaking and heartwarming. It was amazing!!

[Kristina U · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!!

[Taryn Cline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

👍

[Ela Rotariu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me he enamorado de la mitología de nuevo esta vez gracias a los poemas que Nadia nos ha dado, son increíbles.

[Rosaceae · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I was initially excited when I discovered this book, actually reading it involved several disappointments. There were a couple original-sounding poems, but the book overall adds nothing substantially new or thought-provoking to its interpretations of Greek myths. More than once it felt like reading a poor copy of Nikita Gill’s Great Goddesses. The typos scattered throughout the text further detracted from the enjoyability of the poems. For those looking for more meaningful retellings of Greek myths through poetry, I would recommend Orpheus & Company: Contemporary Poems of Greek Mythology edited by Deborah DeNicola or Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths edited by Nina Kossman.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing spin on Greek Mythology including monsters and mortals. I read this book in one day, I could not put it down.

[Skarllet · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most amazing poetry books I’ve ever read