Tony Harrison: Cypress and Cedar

Allusion to Classical figure Phèdre, Hippolyte (Phaedre and Hippolytus, via Racine)

Allusion to Classical place Styx, Phlegethon

Relationship to Classical text Mentions Virgil’s advice on deterring snakes in Georgics III. Describes himself as ‘an avid reader / of the Odyssey and Iliad in Greek.’

Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts ‘chelydrus.... / construed as the diamondback or cottonmouth’

Classical/post-Classical intertexts Racine’s Phèdre