Myth

Natasha Trethewey is a contemporary poet with a diverse racial background. Her poem “Myth” was first published in 2004 by The New England Review. It was then collected into Trethewey’s third collection of poems, Native Guard, in 2006. This collection won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007. The book was considered notable for its discussion of the forgotten history of African American guardsmen and soldiers, particularly in the South as well as the legacy of the Civil War. Trethewey uses this history to illuminate her own personal experience in other poems within the collection. “Myth” is placed within the first section of Native Guard, among other poems about Trethewey’s mother, Gwendolyn Turnbough, who was fatally shot in 1985 by her estranged ex-husband. Native Guard is dedicated to her mother’s memory. Trethewey has discussed “Myth” as a poem which attempted to deal with her grief over the loss of her mother while incorporating mythic elements (See: Further Readings & Resources). It shows Trethewey’s command of form, in this case the palindrome, as well as her common concern regarding the interplay of memory and loss. Trethewey went on to write about her mother further in her 2020