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| Image from: Dial Books for Young Readers |
Singer created a form of poetry called "reverso." It's the same poem, but written backward. Singer basically writes one poem, then flips it upside down. It drastically changes the tone, which allows Singer to show two sides of a story. For example, the last poem in the book, "Gods and Mortals," goes a little something like this:
These myths
make sense of
the world.
We --
tellers and listeners alike --
enter these portals to
gods and mortals.
They can never again be closed,
once our imaginations are opened.
Once our imaginations are opened,
they can never again be closed.
Gods and mortals
enter these portals to
tellers and listeners alike.
We,
the world,
make sense of
these myths (Singer 24).
It's quite amazing to see how something as simple as changing a punctuation mark can subtly change the entire tone of the poem. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work Singer put into these poems. Superficially, they look simple. Then you read them. Each word, each line, is crafted with exquisite care to ensure that the poem makes sense both directions. It really does make you consider just how much work it takes to write just one of these poems.
Singer doesn't go for a consistent rhyme scheme in her poems, but when she does choose to utilize one, it draws attention to a specific set of lines. In "Pandora and the Box" the few lines that do rhyme give the lines an extra bit of weight. The first/last three lines, "Oh, how humans are weak! / 'Don't peek,' / when a god speaks" come crashing down like a thunderclap from Zeus himself due the rhyming final words in each line (Singer 3). She also rhymes the lines that point to Zeus' role in Pandora's story, but yet he escapes unscathed, while poor Pandora lives in infamy. In "King Midas and His Daughter," Singer chooses to write, "so needy / so greedy" as a way to shine the spotlight on what was both Midas' triumph and downfall, as well as his daughter's longing for a loving touch, when he inadvertently turned her into gold (7).
Singer also structures her poems so that a line is made up of a single word. In "Pandora and the Box" the word "alone" appears by itself, just after/before the line, "holding on to hope." (Singer 3). In the first iteration of the poem, having "alone" come hard on the heels of "hope" illustrates the concept that the only thing left in the box was hope. In the second version of the poem, "alone" precedes the phrase "holding on to hope," giving a powerful image of Pandora standing all by herself in the face of contempt, but still hanging on to hope. Again, the structure demonstrates just how Singer is able to switch tones just by changing the order of the lines. It's a concept illustrated well in "Icarus and Daedalus" where the switch from elation (Icarus) to sorrow (Daedalus) leaps off the page. In "Narcissus and Echo" Singer's use of single word lines evokes an echo reverberating off the pages.
Singer doesn't employ flights of figurative language fancy in Echo Echo and generally stays away from metaphor and simile. She does use her language well, choosing adjectives with care. It creates wry turns of phrase in "Perseus and Medusa" when she muses that anyone would be "scared stiff. / Petrified indeed" to face Medusa (Singer 9). The mirroring of phrasing between the idea of being petrified with fear and being actually petrified into stone makes a reader who catches such things smile. The classification on the verso title page might say juvenile poetry, but there's plenty of layers for adult readers to appreciate.
Josee Masse's illustrations are simply gorgeous. Done with acrylic paints, the saturated blues and greens can take you away from a dreary grey day to a sun-drenched Grecian shore. Often the drawings show both sides of the story, to great effect. I really enjoyed the illustration that accompanied "Demeter and Persephone." Masse divides the page into four panels, the top half representing earth, while the bottom half -- naturally -- represents the Underworld. The top left shows Demeter with Persephone, while the top right shows Demeter during winter. The bottom left shows Hades, bereft of the company of Persephone, and in the bottom right, his obvious joy at having his wife with him. Masse also draws Persephone with careful attention to detail. She's obviously happy to see her mother, but she doesn't seem to be overjoyed about it. Conversely, Persephone seems positively miserable with Hades. It's a complicated illustration. Masse also draws Persephone as the source of light and warmth in both the earth and the Underworld. The illustration for "Narcissus and Echo" features not only Narcissus, but the flower named for him, but also a ghostly outline of the girl who loved him, Echo, that fades into ripples of sound that expand through the entire drawing.
There's no table of contents because this is a pretty short book. There are also no page numbers, which would have been helpful. Singer does include a brief summary of the myth that inspired the poem at the bottom of the page that contains the poems. She also suggests a few of the usual mythology sources: Mythology by Edith Hamilton and Bullfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable. Those would be great sources if you want to read the myths Singer used for inspiration. Rick Riodan, of Percy Jackson fame, has also published a book in which Percy Jackson offers his take on the Greek myths from Aphrodite to Zeus, which would be a better option for kids who have been lead to Greek myths through Rick Riordan's books.
I would highly recommend this book, not just for the poetry, although the poetry is really well done. The book as a whole is terrific. It's a great way to further examine the Greek myths or use to introduce them in a classroom setting.
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Works Cited
