Episode 14: The Courtesan

“The Courtesan” is the second poem in the section “Poems of Ate”. It narrates the tragic story of a Greek hetaira named Myrrhine (pron. myr-RHI-ne) . When Myrrhine dies, her soul wanders aimlessly on its way to the Underworld, meets one of her former lovers, Evanus (pron. E-va-nus, or e-VA-nus), until she encounters the souls of the children she had been forced to abort. With this poem, Pascoli takes a stance in the 19th-century debate over abortion and infanticide, while framing the story as a Greek tragedy.

In this episode, Elena Borelli discusses “The Courtesan” with Giovanni Barberi Squarotti. The poem starts at minute 22.55.

From Giovanni Pascoli. Last Voyage: Selected Poems. Translated by Deborah Brown, Richard Jackson, and Susan Thomas. Pasadena: Red Hen Press, 2010. Copyright 2010 by Deborah Brown, Richard Jackson, and Susan Thomas.