Author’s statement: Celia Gilbert

“Persephone Ascending” reflects the interest I have had in Greek myths since childhood. It is the paradigm of a woman’s life. Represented in the story of the mother, Demeter, and the daughter Persephone, her rape and resurrection is one of the oldest life cycle myths. The rites of the two goddesses were the most powerful and sacred in the ancient Greek world until supplanted by the Christian mythology of the Father and Son. It is a myth of the maturation of the body and soul. In my poem the daughter must become her own person and death, sexual death, which is knowledge is the emblem of that growth. My work derives from my life as an artist and a woman.