Comparison Studies Lesson 4: A Study of Philomela

Lesson Four: A Study of Philomela

Materials needed: With Rough Gods and access to linked documents.
Optional materials: Metamorphoses by Ovid. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot.

Read and paraphrase the story of Procne, Tereus, and Philomela in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI, lines 422-674.

Read and paraphrase "Philomela & Tereus" (57) and the Dramatis Personae (glossary) entries on Philomela (74) and Tereus (77) from With Rough Gods.

Answer the following questions:

1: Do you prefer Palmer or Ovid's version of the Philomela story? For what reasons?

2: What information about Philomela or Tereus would you have included from Ovid that Palmer did not include and why would you include it?

3: Can you tell the story better than either Palmer or Ovid? Prove it. Write your own version of the story, either in verse or prose. You may choose to include any or all of the characters mentioned by Ovid.

Optional additions to Lesson Four for advanced classes: 

Tie this lesson into a study of "A Game of Chess" from T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, focusing on how Philomela and Tereus are presented.

Additional questions:

4: Compare and contrast the presentations of Philomela and Tereus in Metamorphoses, The Waste Land, and With Rough Gods.

5: The characters of Philomela and Tereus in The Waste Land are often compared to the lady on the burnished throne in "A Game of Chess" and the typist home at teatime and the young man carbuncular in "The Fire Sermon." Question 5a: How does Palmer's representation of Philomela and Tereus work with these characters in The Waste Land? Question 5b: Can Palmer's depiction of Philomela and Tereus be used to inform the relationships of any other characters in With Rough Gods? How and why?