Throughout history, men have prayed to the gods and poets have interpreted the ancient myths for new audiences. But what of the women? Here, scholars examine how modern female poets take on the legends of Persephone, Helen, and Eurydice, subverting and flipping classical expectations.

Table of Contents Introduction Part I: Classical Myth Subverted Sap Rising: Bodies Figured as Trees in H.D., Atwood and Glück (Wendy ­Whelan-Stewart) Mythotropism: A Psychology of Writing (to) Myth (Coco Owen) Burying Helen: H.D.’s Anthropoetics (Lisa D. Simon) The Needed Underworld: Modern Reactions to Symbolic Death (Rachel McCoppin) From Persephone’s Lips: Three Retellings by Louise Glück (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Reimagining Myth and the Maternal with Ruth Fainlight, Margaret Atwood and Katie Donovan (Charlotte Beyer) “Out of the Ash I Rise”: Sylvia Plath and the Rebirth of the Woman Poet (Kate Williams) Part II: Outside the Greek Tradition—From the Near East to the Aztecs Coatlicue and Chicana Grrl Power (Sarah R. Wakefield) Conduits and Conjurers: Heroic Characters, Sacred Nature and Social Order in Kelly Norman Ellis, Nikky Finney and Patricia Smith (Janine Harrison) When Pele Blows: Trask’s Repositioning of the Hawaiian Creation Epic (James A. Wren) Mythic Reenactment from Sandra Alcosser and Pattiann Rogers (Tami Haaland) Utilizing and Disrupting Legends in Indian Poetry (Pramila Venkateswaran) The Mything Link: The Feminine Voice in the Shifting Australian National Myth (Phil Fitzsimmons) Sister of Life, Sister of Death: Fluid Roles in Catherynne M. Valente’s The Descent of Inanna (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Part III: Within the Classroom Female Icons in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Approach to Teaching (Elizabeth Johnston) La Llorona and La Malinche in ­Re-Vision: Chicana Poets Countering Traditions and Claiming Voice (Leigh C. Johnson) Ancient Voices: Bringing the Greeks to Life for Students K–12 (Kate Hovey) Taking Pomegranates from Strangers: Contemporary Female Poets on Persephone (Sarah R. Wakefield) Part IV: Ancestry, the Personal and ­Self-Writing Women Family Lore, Suffragist Ancestors and the Scrapbook of a 19th Century Poetess; or, How to Find a Topic for the Dissertation (Laura Madeline Wiseman) Creating Light: ­Myth-making of Lucille Clifton (Glenis Redmond) Penelope at the Loom: Mythology and the Modern Workplace in the Poetry of ­21st Century Women (Kristin ­Berkey-Abbott) In My Own Image: Crafting Poetry About the Sacred Feminine (Paula J. Vaughan) Telling a Truth versus Telling the Truth: On Writing from Personal History (Jenny ­Sadre-Orafai) They’re Not Mermaids, Really: Shame and ­Re-visioning the Mermaid Mythos (Jennifer Jean) Calling the Goddess (Janine Canan) About the Contributors Index