Persephone, Falling by Rita Dove Poem detail explanation, Women's Writing, English Literature

 Persephone, Falling

-Rita Dove

 

About Poet :

Rita Dove was born in Akron, Ohio in 1952.She has published the poetry collections The Yellow House on the Corner (1980), Museum (1983), Thomas and Beulah (1986), Grace Notes (1989),  Mother Love (1995), On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), American Smooth (2004), short stories - Fifth Sunday(1985), novel  - Through the Ivory Gate (1992), essays under the title - The Poet's World (1995), play - The Darker Face of the Earth (1996). 

Rita Dove served as the US Poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995 and as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2005 to 2011.

Background of the Poem:

‘Persephone, Falling’ was published in the collections of poem Mother Love in 1995. The poem takes its title and some of the content from the story of Persephone and her mother Demeter. This Greek mythology describes, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus (the head of all gods) and Demeter (the harvest/earth goddess). Persephone was a beautiful child and many gods asked for her hand in marriage. All were unsuccessful.  Hades (god of the underworld) on a trip above ground, saw Persephone and subsequently kidnapped her. Demeter was distraught, understandably and she stopped tending the earth.  Well, people and animals began to starve; a great famine descended on the earth.

Zeus, stressed out by all the prayers coming from earth and by Demeter’s grief, negotiated for the release of Persephone. Hades refused and Zeus cursed the “marriage” between Hades and Persephone. It’s myth, so no ordinary curse would do; the curse works as long as Persephone does not eat any food from the underworld. Hades, subsequently releases Persephone but after he has tricked her into eating a pomegranate. It had to be a fruit! Demeter is overjoyed when she is reunited with her daughter. But because of the pomegranate, Persephone has to spend half of the year with Hades. The beginning of Spring marks the return of Persephone, Demeter is happy and the harvest begins. Persephone leaves at the end of Spring and the slow chilling, winter, begins.

 

Theme of the Poem:

In her poem, Rita Dove connects the kidnapping of Persephone to modern parental advice about the danger of strangers to their Children.

Dove is also talking about the nature of mother-daughter relationships. That which exists between the two characters in this poem is difficult. The daughter is clearly seeking the freedom that her mother is uncomfortable with. This is seen through her desire to find that “one” perfect flower and to “pull” it out of the ground. Dove uses repetition to emphasize these two words. 

There are two ways to interpret this poem, first to explore the Greek Mythology interpretation and then the modern interpretation.

 

Persephone, Falling (Poem)

 

One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful
flowers, one unlike all the others! She pulled,
stooped to pull harder—
when, sprung out of the earth
on his glittering terrible
carriage, he claimed his due.
It is finished. No one heard her.-

No one! She had strayed from the herd.

 

(Remember: go straight to school.
This is important, stop fooling around!
Don’t answer to strangers. Stick
with your playmates. Keep your eyes down.)
This is how easily the pit opens.

This is how one foot sinks into the ground.

 

Explanation for the Poem

Stanza One:

In the first stanza, the speaker describes what happened to the young girl while she was pulling flowers, and in the second Demeter relays the advice that Persephone did not follow. 

The first half of the sonnet is composed of eight lines. These lines introduce the reader to Persephone who is alone picking flowers. She spots one, in particular, a narcissus, or daffodil, that she wants. Persephone reaches down to pull it out of the ground and this results in “he,” Hades, jumping out of the ground and grabbing her. 

Unfortunately for Persephone, she was alone when this happened to her. No one saw that she was kidnapped nor who kidnapped her. This alludes to the next part of the story in which Demeter, her mother, searches for her but is unable to find her.

Stanza Two:

In the second stanza of ‘Persephone, Falling’ the poem case, the speaker, within parentheses, is Demeter. These lines relay the various things that Demeter has told her caught Persephone. She sought to keep her safe and if she’d followed these rules then she would’ve been. 

There are several examples of caesura in these lines as the speaker, Demeter, tells her daughter what to do. She has to “stop fooling around” and stop talking to ‘“strangers”. Most importantly in this situation, she was supposed to stick with her playmates. It was only because she was alone that Hades was able to grab her. 

Demeter refers to the “pit” which is a very common euphemism for Hell. But, in this case, it also works as a metaphor for any terrible thing that might befall a young girl alone. The “pit” is what is to be avoided. It is everything dark and dangerous. If she slips up for even a minute her “foot” will “sink…into the ground” and she’ll be lost. Just like the previous line, this one alludes to what actually happened to Persephone as well as a more general loss. 

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