Acintya Shenoy, Week #16: [The forest is alive and watching you.]
This poem is inspired by the Roman myth of Diana and Actaeon. While hunting, Actaeon witnesses Diana, a virgin goddess, naked as she bathes in the river with her maids. As punishment, she turns him into a stag, and he is eaten alive by his hunting dogs. In this poem, Diana has been reverted to her Greek counterpart, Artemis.
Enter Artemis and a Maiden.
Art. [to maiden] Don’t listen to the wind, little girl—
and cover up, I can see your chest.
Maid. [places hand on breast] Yes, I am
a virgin. why do you ask?
Art. Little girl, don’t let the wind fool you—take
one more step into the mud child, your head
is almost bent. I have decided for all of us
that we cannot let this stand—must
not give in to the whims of man.
Tch, no, don’t act like you know better. See
these walls? They are meant to protect us. See
the canopy of these pines that scrape
your skin? They are meant to correct us. This
is the place of a woman, my dear. Please do not
leave me, dear, don’t give yourself to
them.
Enter Actaeon. He is proud with a lame leg.
Art. If a man branched into
your bedroom corridor, little girl,
and told you he would take
an olive tree from your bed
what will you say?
Maid. I don’t know, madam.
Actaeon speaks.
Act. [to maiden] I want you to know
that I am here
for you.
Maid. why?
Act. I want you to know
that you are
wanted.
Art. Don’t let him fool you, little
one.
Maid. are you a fool?
Actaeon shows compassion.
Act. I know you are trapped
here, little girl, you are not free.
Your body is confined to these threads
of false fears the goddess feeds you. I want you
to slip them off I want you
to know that you cannot exist in this world
without us. You cannot breathe
with these silken chains around you,
be free, little one be free of
the great Artemis—
Art. Speak no longer.
But Actaeon loves her. Actaeon knows what she needs.
Act. [to maiden] Little girl, I beseech you
come with me. I want to show you
what it’s like. Relax, little girl, I only
need you to join with me, I want us
to be one You
have never seen this world, darling, you’ve been
cooped up inside your home for so long, come
with me and you can be free of this—
Art. [to maiden] Little girl,
if a man branched
into your bedroom corridor and asked
for an olive tree from your bed
what will I have taught you by then?
A pause.
Maid. Kill
this man.
Poor Actaeon is transformed into a stag.
The trees pick him up by
his lame leg and he joins the wind
over the marble walls.
Acintya, I always love reading your blogs. You have such a way with words that I always walk away from reading your blogs still reeling about what you wrote. This blog is no different.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me start by saying I love mythology. I think it is so interesting how stories can be changed but still have the same central moral and how it doesn’t change, except the names, throughout cultures. Your poem does a good job of conveying all these things by changing the form of the story into a poem and combining both Greek and Roman names for characters highlighting the unity of these two cultures through stories.
While I know that the poem was about innocence, to me your poem made me think of the faith you put into religion. With the madin representing yourself, Artemis representing your religion, and Actaeon representing temptations that pull you away from your religion. This was highlighted by the Actaeon’s line “your body is confined to these threads of false fears the goddess feeds you.” As someone who has grown up in a church I sometimes feel like I was “confined” to the religion because that is all I have known. But then I remember that these fears are just things that are trying to break my relationship with my religion and I too “Kill this man.”
Anyways, I am so happy I was in your blogging cohort and I hope you continue to write after this class!
Hi Acintya! What an interesting story! The first thing that stood out to me was the spacing. I was really interested in why there are double spaces and even after thinking about it, I am still unsure. Another thing I was really fascinated about was why Diana turned to Artemis. From my Percy Jackson knowledge (so not that much mythology), I learned that both of their interpretations are pretty similar and do not affect the meaning? I am just so interested in your writing choices for this passage. This story shows how Artemis is problematic for the maid. Hearing how Artemis tells that this is “the place of a woman” reinforces stereotypes and traditional gender roles. It brings into question how much is Artemis actually doing it for the safety of the women or trapping them? Then we see Actaeon who clearly is objectifying women with words like “little” and “cannot exist in this world without us.” I think overall this story emphasizes how the Ancient World (Greece/Rome) was not very forward thinking. It is really weird to see how Artemis, a goddess that is seen as good, is equally trying to control the maid to Acteon, a person who is stereotypically evil. The overall message of the story is to describe how women were treated poorly with different expectations. Thanks Acintya for this final work! See you next year in school!
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