Greek_Mythology_Culture_Research

=** Assignment 2.2: Culture Research Project **= =** Greek Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography created by Emilie Buske-Ferman **=

I chose to research Greek mythology. I have always had a fascination with this culture because of my background in theatre, and after reading //"The Pomegranate Seeds"// by Laura Geringer and illustrated by Leonid Gore, the exploration began. I read numerous variations of this story and of other myths in a number of Greek mythology collection books. I am also intrigued with how different cultures explain the mysteries of the world, which is why I focused my study on the myth of Persephone and Demeter. The reviews of the specific tales are below. There are few children's and picture books that I could locate which focused just on the story of Persephone and Demeter.


 * SUMMARY OF THE STORY OF DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE -

A classic Greek myth, the story of Demeter and Persephone explains the seasons in ancient Greek culture. Hades, god of the underworld, kidnaps Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Through bargaining and threats, Persephone is returned to Demeter, but because the child has eaten some seeds of a pomegranate, she is fated to spend that many months of the year on earth and half with Hades. During that time, Demeter and the earth moun during winter. When Persephone returns, everything blooms and grows in spring. || The Pomegranate Seeds: A Classic Greek Myth Book Jacket || **The Pomegranate Seeds: A Classic Greek Myth Retold Laura Geringer Illustrated by Leonid Gore ** SUMMARY - A tale of a classic Greek myth, "The Pomegranate Seeds" traces the unbreakable bond between a mother and her daughter. Persephone convinces her overprotective mother, Demeter, to allow her to stay home alone while Demeter tends to the earth's crops. Not paying attention, Persephone wanders off and is captured by her greedy, selfish uncle King Hades, the king of the underworld. Searching frantically for her daughter, Demeter turns a rude boy into a lizard, attempts to recruit Hecate, queen of the night, to help in the search, and tries to convince Phoebus to light the way to the underworld. In desperation, she makes the drastic decision to not allow anything to grow until her daughter returns home. King of the gods, Zeus, finally intervenes and sends Hermes to take Persephone back home. Persephone's punishment for eating three pomegranate seeds while in the underworld is that every year she must spend three months a year with her Uncle Hades. During this winter time, the earth suffers and nothing grows.
 * [[image:Geringer_PomegrantateSeeds.jpg width="252" height="275"]]

REVIEW / CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY - Author Laura Geringer was inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Pomegranate Seeds," a retelling of the classic Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter. She was drawn to it because it showcases the strength and resourcefulness of a mother and her child. Geringer has brought the Greek myth and Hawthorne's story into the present day. Persephone is much more strong-willed than the older retellilings, and takes her fate into her own hands. Her justification that Hawthorne would approve is clearly outlined in the preface. She creatively provides background information about the connections of the gods and goddesses in the exposition, and provides environmental information as Persephone and King Hades travel to the underworld. According to my research, the relationships and locations are accurate. The one glaring inaccuracy is the number of pomegranate seeds Persephone ingests -- most of the research states four seeds with some sources saying six. Nowhere did I find three. The pictures beautifully illustrate both the whimsy and turbulence of the story. In her retelling, Geringer uses vivid descriptions, incredible adjectives, and active verbs to give vision and excitement to the story.This version picks up on classic Greek myth themes: right and wrong, coming of age, evil and greed, and parent/child relationships. This specific myth explains the creation of the seasons and winter. By utilizing storytelling, it makes this complicated myth much more accessible to children. One review says the story and illustration put "emphasis on the characters rather than their surroundings... This will make a good choice for introducing the genre to younger children " (Weisman., 1996). Another review describes the test as "contemporarily relevant and solidly classic" ( Fleming, 1996 ).

BIBLIOGRAPHY - D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths Book Jacket || **D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths By Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire "Persophone and Demeter" ** SUMMARY - This version has Persephone straying into a meadow. Persephone is miserable at the underground palace and longs for the sunshine. The only food is a pomegranate tree, but Persephone refuses to touch the food of the dead. The sun has not seen what happened. Only Triptolemus, a young boy, hears a scream from under the ground. REVIEW / CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY - This collection is stamped as "most highly recommended in the H. W. Wilson Children's Catalog by experiences librarians and specialists in children's literature." The book jacket provides background information to the story, but there is no introduction or afterword. The index is detailed and very helpful with the description listed next to the name, such as "Demeter, goddess of the harvest." The illustrations are poignant, thought-provoking, plentiful, and full of emotions. I especially appreciated the family tree-like portrait of the characters at the beginning. In the story of "Persephone and Demeter," the pictures show carefree dancing, horrified kidnapping, dreary underworld, and joyful reuniting. This author chooses not to determine exactly how many pomegranate seeds Persephone ate, saying "a few of the kernels were missing." The plot flow is exciting and interesting. The theme of a mother's love and the proverb of teaching a man to fish are both present. Persephone is portrayed as helpless and a victim, while Demeter is strong and willful.
 * Geringer, Laura. //The pomegranate seeds: A classic Greek myth//. Ill. by Leonid Gore. 1995. 48p. Houghton Mifflin. $14.95 (0395681928) ** ||
 * [[image:D'AulairesBookofGreekMyths.jpg width="210" height="290"]]

I was not able to find a full text review on Wilson Web; however, I found excerpts from Amazon.com from Horn Book and the New York Times. Both reviews rave about the illustrations. BIBLIOGRAPHY - **D'Aulaire., Ingri and Edgar Parin. //D'aulaire's book of Greek myths.// 1962. 192p. Doubleday Books for Young Readers. $19.77 (0385015836)** || Persephone Book Jacket || ** Persephone Retold and Illustrated by Warwick Hutton **
 * [[image:Hutton_Persephone.jpg width="202" height="270"]]

SUMMARY - This retelling is a straight-forward version. Persephone eats six seeds of a pomegranate, she is fated to spend half of the year on earth and half with Hades. It is "the story of summer and winter, and how they came about."

REVIEW / CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY - Author and illustrator Warwick Hutton has provided a simplified version of this complex myth. The story is easy and straight-forward. This version has Persephone eating six pomegranate seeds. Some of the illustrations are too simplistic, while others capture a human element. Other reviewers have described the retelling as "still and static" ( Fargnoli, 1994 ). It would be a good introductory story into Greek mythology, but the verse lacks oral appeal. The tale focuses on the bond between Persephone and Demeter. BIBLIOGRAPHY - **Hutton, Warwick. //Persephone//. 1994. 32p. Margaret K. McElderry Bks. $14.95 (0-689-50600-7)** || Greek Myths Book Jacket || **Greek Myths Retold by Geraldine McCaughrean Illustrated by Emma Chickester Clark "Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds" **
 * [[image:McCaughrean_GreekMyths.jpg width="209" height="266"]]

SUMMARY - The goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone live in the green woods of Sicily. Pluto, the ruler of the Kingdom of the Dead, wants Persephone for his wife, so he kidnaps her and takes her to the Underworld. Throwing her belt of flowers into the River Styx, she tries to send word to her mother. Dememter searches the earth trying to find her daughter while the flowers wilts and the trees weep their leaves, also. The river delivers the message of where Persephone had been taken, and Demeter pleads with Zeus threatening to stop growing things on Earth if she is not returned. Persephone had been able to resist eating, but when Pluto offers her a pomegranate with 12 seeds, she eats six just before Hermes came to deliver the news that Zeus has demanded her release. The rules state that if she ate anything while in the Underworld, she could not come back to Earth. Persephone was not aware of this rule, and Pluto tricked her. Zeus judges that she should spend six months in the Kingdom of the Dead and six months on earth with her mother, Demeter. While Persephone is away, the Earth is missing her and mourns. When she returns, the Earth celebrates with blooms in the summertime.

REVIEW / CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY - The Forward of "//Greek Myths"// provides the background information that not only are these oral stories, they were the Greek's beliefs, "a way of making sense of the world." Author Geraldine McCaughrean gives credit to the originating culture. Emma Chickester Clark's illustrations are colorful, plentiful, and insightful. They create emotion and whimsy. McCaughrean gives a brief background at the beginning of "Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds" to set the scene nicely. The conclusion explains why the seasons happen how they happen because of Persephone's actions. The plot has been simplified for children, and portrays Persephone as helpless and somewhat whiny. There are numerous opportunities for voices while telling the story because of the ample amount of dialogue. It could easily be adapted into a reader's theatre script. This telling of the myth explains fully how the seasons are divided and why according to Greek culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY - **McCaughrean, Geraldine. G//reek myths.// Ill. by Emma Chichester-Clark. 1993. 96p. Margaret K. McElderry Bks. $19.58 (1852133732)** || The Random House Book of Greek Myths Book Jacket || **The Random House Book of Greek Myths By John D. Vinge Illustrated by Oren Sherman "Demeter" ** SUMMARY - Demeter, in this story, simply neglects the land insteat of threatening Zeus. It supports the theory that the gods cared for the humans. Helios, the sun god, tells Demeter what happened. Persephone eats four pomegranate seeds when she was desperately hungry. To save Persephone from her fate of spending eternity in Hades, Demeter then threatens to never bring life back to the world, so Zeus compromises with Hades and Demeter by agreeing that Persephone will spend most of the year with her mother and four months with Hades in the underworld.
 * [[image:Vinge_GreekMyths.jpg width="192" height="278"]]

REVIEW / CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY - Author John D. Vinge includes an introduction, a beginning section, an afterword, and an index. The introduction explains how ancient Greeks told stories to try to give meaning and make sense of happenings out of human control. In the afterword, Vinge provides a short history of the culture and traces the conversion of Greek mythology to Roman. There are no citations, and both of the reviewers even make comment of this in the published reviews. This adds to the credibility and authenticity. The collection traces 31 legends in a well-organized way. The story of Demeter holds one full page illustration by Oren Sherman, which is both ominous and engaging. The desperation of Persephone upon entering the black hole juxtaposes beautifully against the lush mountainous earth. Out of all of the Demeter tales I have read, this one is the most simple and straight forward. While it omits several details from the original story, the plot drives and the descriptions are ample. In this version.Phoebus is Helios, and compromise is a big theme. BIBLIOGRAPHY - **Vinge, Joan D. //The Random House book of Greek myths.// Ill by Oren Sherman. 1999. 152p. Random House.$3.25 (0679823778)** ||


 * Additional Support for Studying Greek Culture**
 * [[image:EyewitnessBooks_Mythology.jpg width="121" height="165"]] || **Eyewitness Mythology**

Philip, Neil. //Eyewitness mythology.// 2005. 72p. DK Publishing. (075661080X) || || **The Everything Classical Mythology Book: Greek and Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters from Ares to Zeus** Bolton, Lesley. //The everything classical mythology book: Greek and Roman gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters from Ares to Zeus.// 2002. 291p. Adams Media Corp. (158062653X) ||
 * [[image:Green_AncientGreece.jpg width="124" height="172"]] || **Myths of Ancient Greece**

Green, Jen. //Myths of ancient Greece.// 2001. 48p. Raintree Steck-Vaughn. || || **Greece**

Sioras, Efstathia. //Greece//. 1998. 32p. Gareth Stevens Publishing. (0836820142) || Full transcript can be found at [|http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/tt06.html.] ||
 * [[image:Hawthorne_Tanglewood-Tales.jpg align="right"]] |||| === //"The Pomegranate Seeds"// By Nathaniel Hawthorne From Tanglewood Tales, 1853 ===

**BOOK REVIEW SOURCES**

Amazon.com
 * TWU Databases**: Wilson Web - Book Review Digest Plus

All book jackets were scanned and uploaded from the original books from various libraries. Persephone: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0689506007/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
 * Image Sources:**

Amazon.com. "D'aulaire's book of Greek myths." Accessed 7 July 2010 from []. Amazon.com. "Greek myths." Accessed 7 July 2010 from []. Burns, Mary M.. "Persephone (Book Review)." //The Horn Book// 70 (1994): 326. Article Citation. Web. 5 July 2010. Estes, Cheri. "The Random House book of Greek myths (Book Review)." //School Library Journal// 46.4 (2000): 156. Article Citation. Web. 7 July 2010. Dooley, Patricia. "Greek myths (Book Review)." //School Library Journal// 39 (1993): 136. Article Citation. Web. 7 July 2010. Fargnoli, Harriett. "Persephone (Book Review)." //School Library Journal// 40 (1994): 120. Article Citation. Web. 5 July 2010. Fleming, Jennifer. " The pomegranate seeds (Book Review)." //School Library Journal// 42 (1996): 208. Article Citation. Web. 1 July 2010. Peters, John. "The Random House book of Greek myths (Book Review)." //Booklist// 96.13 (2000): 1241. Article Citation. Web. 7 July 2010. Rochman, Hazel. "Greek myths (Book Review)." //Booklist// 89 (1993): 982. Article Citation. Web. 7 July 2010. Weisman, Kay. "The pomegranate seeds (Book Review)." //Booklist// 92 (1996): 934. Article Citation. Web. 1 July 2010.
 * Works Consulted**

=== For more information, see my Cultural Research. ===