This was a really enjoyable read. I have heard this myth before but never quite this elegantly.

Discussion questions are in the comments, check back next week for the Hymn To Apollo!

Summary

We start with a prayer to the goddess of agriculture Demeter asking her to bless the song. The first section centers around Demeter’s daughter, Persephone. She was abducted by Hades, prompting a worldwide search by Demeter to find her.

Disguised as an old woman, she arrives at Eleusis. Although welcomed by the royal family, she refuses to eat or drink out of grief and continues her mourning. After briefly caring for the king and queen’s infant son, she bullies them into building her a shrine and performing a ritual to appease her. She settles into the shrine for years, neglecting the world and leaving it cold and barren.

Zeus notices the decline in the world and grows concerned that humanity may die out since they have no crops. He sends Hermes to the underworld to negotiate with Hades.

Hades agrees to let her go, but not before tricking her into eating pomegranate seeds from the underworld. When she returns to her mother, they are both overjoyed, but it does not live long.

Because she ate the cursed seeds she must now spend ⅓ of the year in the underworld with Hades. This created the seasons as we know them, with Demeter celebrating with her daughter for 8 months, then mourning for 4 months.

Homer (or whoever wrote it) ends with another quick prayer to Demeter and Persephone.