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Derek Mahon: Homage to Malcolm Lowry

(Page numbers given refer to Collected Poems: Derek Mahon [CP]: The Gallery Press, 1999)

Poem Title

Original Publication

Homage to Malcolm Lowry

The Snow Party, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975

CP Page no

61

Length / Form

 

Allusion to Classical figure

Odysseus, the Muse

Allusion to Classical place

The gates of horn and ivory

Relationship to Classical text

The depiction of Lowry making a ‘round-the-cosmos trip’ and his depiction as ‘tempest torn’ suggests that Mahon has the Odyssey in mind and, therefore, Penelope’s depiction of the gates of horn and ivory (Odyssey 19, l.560-569).

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts

 

Classical/post-Classical intertexts

 

Further Comment

 

Further Analysis

 

 

Derek Mahon