Double Persephone

Double Persephone
Cover of a copy of Double Persephone
Author(s)	Margaret Atwood
Cover artist	Margaret Atwood
Country	Canadian
Language	English
Genre(s)	Poetry
Publication date	1961
ISBN	NA

Double Persephone is a self-published poetry collection written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1961. ^[1]Atwood handset the book herself with a flat bed press, designed the cover with linoblocks, and only made 220 copies.^[2] It was the first publication ever released by Atwood, and comprises seven poems: "Formal Garden", "Pastoral", "Iconic Landscape", "Persephone Departing", "Chthonic Love", "Her Song", "and "Double Persephone".

The opening poem of Double Persephone, "Formal Garden," a "girl with the gorgon touch" walks through the title location searching for "a living wrist and arm", but all she finds is a "a line of statues" with "marble flesh. ^[3] The girl apparently has traits similar to Medusa, who could turn men to stone by glancing upon them. ^[3]

Atwood followed up the collection with another book of poetry released in 1964, The Circle Game. ^[2]

References

1. ^ Atwood, Margaret (20 February 2011). "Tools of Change: The Publishing Pie, February 15, 2011". Wordpress. http://marg09.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/tools-of-change-the-publishing-pie-february-15-2011/. Retrieved October 08, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Atwood, Margaret (February 2011). "The Publishing Pie: An Author's View". Tools of Change for Publishing Conference. New York: O'Reilly Media. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-6iMBf6Ddjk#t=784s. Retrieved October 08, 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Davey, Frank (1997). "Atwood's Gorgon Touch". Studies in Canadian Literature 2 (2). http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/7863/8920.