Tales Of Ovid By Ted Hughes And Pomegranate By D. M. Thomas

Family can be both a weakness and a strength. Sometimes it can push you to do your best and other times it can cause you to fall. The bonds between parent and child can be considered the strongest bond in the world and there is nothing a parent would not do if that means the child can be safe and happy. In the original myth of Persephone, when her mother Demeter finds out her daughter was kidnapped she torn the world apart. She shows that nothing can keep a parent away from their child if they can stop it. The intense determination to get her daughter back is a great example to how a parent and child hold a special bond. In the two works Tales of Ovid by Ted Hughes and Pomegranate by D.M. Thomas, the story of Persephone is told in two different …show more content…
The main event that occurs in both pieces is the fact that a daughter is shared between two other people, staying six months with each person. In the poem, Thomas describes the situation as, “the statutory six-months with her mother” suggesting the father sees her staying with her mother as more of an requirement than a want (Thomas). The idea of a divided family is reflected from the myth to the poem and Thomas is able to capture the emotions of a parent who does not wish to part with their child. The father mentioned in the poem is very reluctant in letting his daughter leave him for half a year to stay with her mother, someone he knows. However because of some issues the father no longer sees the mother as someone who can make their daughter happy, which probably why he is so passive towards the mother. Similarly in the myth adaption, “He parted the year’s round into two halves the goddess who shares both kingdoms, divides her year” implying the separation of daughter between two people (Ovid 62). Just like in the poem, a daughter is shared between two people and it was someone else who decided this for her. She did not get a say in what she wanted to do and who she wanted to stay with. There will always be a block between the daughter and two others that creates a rift between the three. In both passages the way that the division is described as an obligatory condition for Persephone. The …show more content…
Losing your child is never a pleasant thought however being able to express those emotions is a step closer to being able to accept the idea of sharing your child with someone else. Thomas changed what he did to relate more to his own experiences but kept the main event of the myth as a base. Because he made the reason why Persephone was separated from her parent more modern and relatable, it allows more readers to connect to the poem. The poem gives a more realistic feel and makes the reader feel sympathy for the father and daughter while in the original myth we feel more sympathy for Persephone for what happened to her. The changes Thomas made were effective and allowed a more personal connection to his