Ancient Myth in Modern Poetry

For millennia, the myths of ancient Greece and Rome have been objects of fascination and tools for exploring humanity's most abiding concerns: self, society, birth, death and the afterlife, the cosmos and the divine. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the power and beauty of these archaic narratives have inspired scores of poets, including such well-known figures as Yeats, Heaney, Eliot, Pound, H.D., Seferis, Rilke, Auden, Mandelshtam and Tsvetaeva. We will delve into this rich poetic heritage, savoring the full range of modern responses, while paying attention to the many meanings of the old stories that they echo or challenge. All readings in English; no prior experience of any sort assumed. Aspiring writers and lovers of mythology welcomed.