Prologue

Creating Context

Cluster One: What Are the Qualities of the Gods and Goddesses?

• Zeus and Hera (myth)Bernard Evslin, Dorothy Evslin, Ned Hoopes
• The Firebringer (myth)Louis Untermeyer
• Pandora (myth)Barbara McBride-Smith
• The Wise Goddess: Athena (essay)Betty Bonham Lies
• Apollo and Artemis: The Twins (myth)Ellen Switzer and Costas
• Big Baby Hermes (myth)Geraldine McCaughrean

Cluster Two: How Does Myth Explain Nature?

• Arachne (myth)Olivia E. Coolidge
• Artemis, Orion, and the Seven Sisters (myth)Kathleen Lines
• Demeter and Persephone (Homeric hymn)Penelope Proddow, translator
• Persephone, Falling (poem)Rita Dove
• Echo and Narcissus (myth)Anne Terry White
• Narcissus at 60 (poem)Linda Pastan

Cluster Three: How Does Myth Explain Human Nature?

• Homer: The Blind Poet (essay)Alisoun Witting
• Odysseus (epic)W. H. D. Rouse
• Siren Song (poem)Margaret Atwood
• Cupid and Psyche (myth)Barbara McBride-Smith
• Perseus and Medusa (myth)Richard Woff
• Look, Medusa! (poem)Suniti Namjoshi

Cluster Four: Thinking on Your Own

• Antaeus (short story)Borden Deal
• Pegasus for a Summer (personal narrative)Michael J. Rosen
• Phoenix Farm (short story)Jane Yolen
• I, Icarus (poem)Alden Nowlan
• A Whole Nation and a People (short story)Harry Mark Petrakis