Myth

In “Myth,” Trethewey does not shy away from the relentlessness of her grief, using the cyclical format of the palindrome to emphasize it. The poem tries to capture the emotional aftermath of the violent death of her mother and particularly engages in the surrealism of the unexpected removal of a key person in one’s life. Expecting the dead loved one to be there when one wakes up, or to stand there when one turns around, is a common experience, as is the discovery of renewed loss as the truth sinks in. The visitation of the living mother in “dreams” (Lines 6, 13)—only to repeatedly not be able to take the loved one “back into morning” (Line 7)—is both comforting and cruel. On the one hand the mother “live[s]” (Lines 6, 13), but only in the ephemeral landscape of fantasy. There is “again and again, [a] constant forsaking” (Lines 9, 10), that stinging realization that the dead “do not follow” (Lines 8, 11). They cannot return. This realization, if the death is sudden or violent, may be exacerbated by self-blame. The mourner may question why someone was taken from them, and if they could have done anything to prevent it.