For a full appreciation of literature or visual art, knowledge of the Greek myths is crucial. In this much-loved collection, poet and scholar Robert Graves retells the immortal stories of the Greek myths. Demeter mourning her daughter Persephone, Icarus flying too close to the sun, Theseus and the Minotaur … all are captured here with the author’s characteristic erudition and flair.The Greek Myths is the culmination of years of research and careful observation, however what makes this collection extraordinary is the imaginative and poetic style of the retelling. Drawing on his experience as a novelist and poet, Graves tells the fantastic stories of Ancient Greece in a style that is both absorbing and easy for the general reader to understand. Each story is accompanied by Graves’ interpretation of the origins and deeper meaning of the story, giving a reader an unparalleled insight into the customs and development of the Greek world.

    Each entry provides a full commentary which examines problems of interpretation in both historical and anthropological terms, and in light of contemporary research.

    

    But the book is still of great value for the study of Lesbian poetry since it contains not only texts of most of the longer and more informative pieces, but also translations, commentaries, and explanatory essays. The primary purpose is to determine what may be said with reasonable certainty about the lives and literary achievements of the two poets, and to show how much they contribute to our understanding of the social and political conditions of the time.