Emma Keith

Far in the East, in Babylon, there lived two youths surely destined for one another. Pyramus, the pride of his city, and Thisbe, a woman of great beauty, had dwelt in adjacent homes since infancy, growing in stature and love for one another.  The two fell in love through hours of conversation and shared secrets, but as their bond strengthened, so did their parents' resolve to keep them apart. Soon, they were forbidden from speaking, kept from marriage by a will not their own.        "Thisbe." By John  William  Waterhouse. Source: Wikipedia Commons . Between them there was but one remaining avenue of communication: a tiny crack in the wall between their homes, a fissure where they could meet each morning and night to whisper to one another. They lamented that they could not kiss, or even see one another in full, but rejoiced that they could feel each other's presences. One morning as they met in their spot, tired of being apart, the two f...

My second reading in Ovid's Metamorphoses took me a little deeper into  some common Greek myths. Here are some twists to some of those stories that I considered as I read:   Narcissus I've heard Narcissus' story many times before and it's always interesting to me. Since the figure of Narcissus is so central to the story and it's a strong figure, I think he should have endured longer. He goes on to fade into a flower at the pool's edge, but in my ending, I might have him eternally lie on the grass looking at himself, with flowers growing up around him.  Pyramus and Thisbe I really like this version of the story, especially with the unique details like the lion and the veil. This story is almost overly dramatic, which I think makes it perfect for retelling (like the later story of Romeo and Juliet, it's a lot of teenage angst gone wrong). But I think a nice retelling of the story might mean a less dramatic ending in which Thisbe mourns Pyramus' los...

For this week's reading, I'm exploring classic Greek tales through Ovid's Metamorphoses. If there's anything I really got from each of these stories, it's that Zeus is a far worse figure than the mythology books of my childhood made him out to be. Below are some of my takes on the stories that stood out to me this week: Io Argus, Hermes, Jupiter and Io. By Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Source: Wikipedia Commons . I've always really enjoyed the story about how the peacock got its spots, and the tale about Argus' fate, but this backstory is interesting, and quite sad, as well. I've never heard the bit about Io's father and his grief at her fate.  I think this one could be interesting to retell from Io or Hera's perspective, since they are both at the center of the plot and are both subject to great injustice at Jupiter's hands. I'd also want to extend the story to include the bit from the beginning of the next story, Phaethon's...