You are here

  1. Home
  2. Poems with Classical referents
  3. Derek Mahon: A Quiet Orgy

Derek Mahon: A Quiet Orgy

Poem Title

Original Publication

CP Page no

A Quiet Orgy

Raw Material, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, 2011

Not included in CP

Length / Form Eight-line stanzas, laid out on the page in imitation of the elegiac meter (with alternate lines indented). Scattered use of rhyme (strategy/orgy, lover/over, scalp/Help!) adds to the comic effect.

Allusion to Classical figure Teia, Cynthia

Allusion to Classical place Tarpeian Rock, Rome

Relationship to Classical text As in Mahon's other adaptation of Propertius, many of the specifically classical references (for instance, to the Forum, Esquiline, Appian Way and Methymnian wine) are omitted and Mahon plays down the strong allusions to war/epic poetry and sacred ritual made in the source text. Instead, he gives contemporary cultural references to "strip poker", "party gear" and "stage doors".

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts The poem is based on Propertius' Elegies IV, 8.

Comment The Sextus and Cynthia poems were first published in a limited edition (Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, 2009).

Derek Mahon