Jennifer Clarke

Missives from Periclean Athens: Poems on Classical Themes Jennifer Clarke

Publisher Marketing: Missives from Periclean Athens is a collection of poetry which uses classical myth as its source. The stories of Penthesilea, Danae, Iphigenia, Electra, Clytemnestra and Eurydice are seen in a new light and from a different angle. The fate of Penthesilea is found seriously wanting in likelihood and Danae's story is seen as one long misunderstanding. Meanwhile, Clytemnestra is not only tangled with the Furies but the Ancient Mariner, Electra is quite mad and Iphigenia annoyed to be in Aulis with nothing to do except worship Artemis. Eurydice is lost in King's Cross and Opheus is hunting for her with his dog and his guitar - and his dog likes sticks. Helen hasn't gone to Troy at all, but found herself in Egypt listening to a pharoah's stories, and from somewhere Ozymandius has turned up deposited in the British Museum - or at least in some museum! Not that he is Greek, but it's all Greek to him anyway! Semele is incandescent and Diana is absolutely sure she is Delia in an English wood, or Artemis about to kill Actaeon - or maybe she's just the moon and infecting everyone else with madness. There are original photographs and artwork by Jennifer Clarke and James W. Clarke accompanying the poems. Contributor Bio:  Clarke, Jennifer Jenny Clarke lives in Leicester and has been a teacher, a civil servant, a dog breeder and worked with antiques. She shares her home with her husband, several juke boxes and two cats. She has written for the stage, mainly for competitions in Leicestershire and surrounding counties, has degrees in history, philosphy and linguistics and hopes to publish a novel within the next 12 months.