Phaethon's Story

Now I'm not as far as I probably should be in reading Metamorphoses but it is just so hard to read too quickly through this book. Each and every story brings to mind so many wonderful references and ideas that I never want to move onto a new tale. Now there is one that has completely caught my fancy. Phaethon and Phoebus and the bond between them is so magnificently enthralling. It truly shows the bond that there is always between father and son, even when the relationship is newly acknowledged

I am not by any means an expert in Greek mythology but it has interested me for a long time and I have thus studied it quite a bit. I have read both older texts and texts that analyze those same older texts. One relationship that I have spent the most time studying is the mother daughter bond between Demeter and Persephone. Within this bond is a wide range of emotions that spoken about and displayed. It is quite beautiful to read about. But I had never seen such love and devotion shown between a father and son...until now.

The speeches that Phoebus (Apollo) gives to his son is some of the most beautiful pieces of literature that I have ever read! And trust me as a lit major I have read a lot of great pieces in the past four years at MSU, especially in Dr. Sexson's classes. I absolutely love the wide expanse of emotions that are displayed in just a few short pages. Apollo is able to express hope, love, despair, anger, anguish, and so much more with very little. Sometimes it is easy to forget how much we have lost in our current forms of literature. If someone was to speak like Apollo with such elegance in a piece of work today it would not be all that well received. We have replaced flowing speech about love with short, concise messages about what is useful. Apollo's anger and anguish at his son's fate was so touching that it made me want to cry with him. It is rare that I will be so touched that tears threaten to fall. The fact that they did signify  that this is truly a great work that has been able to withstand the test of time.