Derek Mahon: Research

Allusion to Classical figure Hesiod

Relationship to Classical text Mahon includes a subtle reference to the title of Hesiod's Works and Days in his verse. Gently echoing the didactic tone of the ancient poet, he suggests that that the tangible world, with its "archaic face" and "air of myth" is a more fitting subject for both research and poetry than the outer reaches of space.

Classical/post-Classical intertexts The Hesiodic reference is combined with the phrase "of [many] mice and men", the latter originating from Robert Burns poem 'To a Mouse' (The Kilmarnock Volume, 1785) as well as being the title of John Steinbeck's 1937 novel (New York: Covice-Friede).

Note Also collected in New Collected Poems, Gallery Press, 2011, p. 308