Comparison Studies Lesson 1: Informational Mythology

Lesson One: Informational Mythology

Materials needed: With Rough Gods and access to Wikipedia.

Read and paraphrase the poems "Semele & Zeus" (13), "Ariadne & Dionysus" (28), and "Tiresias & Oedipus" (37) from With Rough Gods.

Read and paraphrase the Dramatis Personae (glossary) entries for Zeus (79), Dionysus (67), and Tiresias (78) from With Rough Gods.

Read and briefly summarize the Wikipedia entries for Zeus, Dionysus, and Tiresias.

Answer the following questions:

1: What aspects of the mythological characters are focused on in Palmer's Dramatis Personae (glossary) entries? How do these aspects relate to the encyclopedic Wikipedia entries?

2: How do these specific aspects work to enhance the meaning of the poems in which these characters appear?

3: If you were writing the Dramatis Personae (glossary) section of With Rough Gods, what information would you include about these three mythological characters that Palmer did not include? What would be your justification?