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Derek Mahon: X: St. Mark’s Place

Poem Title

Original Publication

CP Page no

X: St. Mark’s Place

 

The Hudson Letter, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, 1995

203=204

Allusion to Classical figure Eros, Aphrodite, Gaia, Clio, Euphrosyne

Allusion to classical place Bath-houses and catacombs

Classical/post-Classical intertexts In this, his tribute to W.H. Auden, Mahon imitates the style of Auden’s own letter-poems, such as ‘New Years Letter’ (addressed to Elizabeth Mayer), and ‘Letter to Lord Byron’. Like Mahon’s poem. ‘New Years Letter’ is strewn with references to Eros, Aphrodite, Plato, agape etc. (W. H. Auden. Collected Poems (London: Faber & Faber, 1994), p.199-244 and 82-114).

Derek Mahon