The Niobe Poems

by Kate Daniels and Kate Daniels

Book Overview

Kate Daniels's central myth is that of Niobe, the mother in Greek mythology whose children were killed by the gods because of her great pride in them. She taps the lasting power of the ancient story in poems about personal loss and political insanity. Though the subjects are frequently grim, the final effect of the book is not, since Daniels's central theme is endurance, the discovery of what we need to survive.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822954117
• ISBN13: 9780822954118
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.1" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A striking, passionate collection of poems.

For her second collection of poems, Kate Daniels drew upon personal experience and Greek myth. Writing about the drowning of a friend's son, she used the myth of Niobe as a leaping-off point for the imagination. In the book's conclusion, Daniels changes the myth to provide both her contemporary heroine and Niobe a redemption they deserve, and that we, the readers, need. Loss, motherhood, grief--these are popular themes in poetry, but it's a tribute to Daniels that she uses them in new and interesting ways.