Editing Philomela (section)

===In modern works===
The Philomela myth is perpetuated largely through its appearance as a powerful device in poetry. In the 20th century, American-British poet [[T. S. Eliot]] (1888–1965) directly referenced the myth in his most famous poem, ''[[The Waste Land]]'' (1922), where he describes,
<blockquote><poem>
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
"Jug Jug" to dirty ears.<ref>Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns). "The Waste Land" (New York: Horace Liveright, 1922), lines 98–103. See also lines 203–206, 428.</ref>
</poem></blockquote>
Eliot employs the myth to depict themes of sorrow, pain, and that the only recovery or regeneration possible is through revenge.<ref>Donnell, Sean M. [http://www.elcamino.edu/faculty/sdonnell/waste_land.htm Notes on T. S. Eliot's ''The Waste Land''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226202111/http://www.elcamino.edu/Faculty/sdonnell/waste_land.htm |date=26 December 2019 }} (retrieved 24 November 2012).</ref> Several of these mentions reference other poets' renderings of the myth, including those of Ovid and Gascoigne. Eliot's references to the nightingales singing by the convent in "Sweeney and the Nightingales" (1919–1920) is a direct reference to the murder of [[Agamemnon]] in the tragedy by Aeschylus—wherein the Greek dramatist directly evoked the Philomela myth. The poem describes Sweeney as a brute and that two women in the poem are conspiring against him for his mistreatment of them. This mirrors not only the elements of Agamemnon's death in Aeschylus' play but the sister's revenge against Tereus in the myth.

In the poem "To the Nightingale", Argentine poet and fabulist, [[Jorge Luis Borges]] (1899–1986), compares his efforts as a poet to the bird's lament though never having heard it. He describes its song as "encrusted with mythology" and that the evolution of the myth has distorted it—that the opinions of other poets and writers have kept both poet and reader from actually hearing the original sound and knowing the essence of the song.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Several artists have applied Ovid's account to new translations or reworkings, or adapted the story for the stage. Leonard Quirino notes that the plot of [[Tennessee Williams]]'s play ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' "is modeled on the legend of Tereus".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Quirino|first=Leonard|title=The Cards Indicate a Voyage on ''A Streetcar Named Desire''|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100001571/LitRC|journal=Contemporary Literary Criticism|volume=30|year=1984|publisher=Gale}}, originally published in {{cite book|title=Tennessee Williams: A Tribute|editor=Jac Tharpe|year=1977|publisher=University Press of Mississippi}}</ref>

British poet [[Ted Hughes]] (1930–1998) used the myth in his 1997 work ''[[Tales from Ovid]]'' (1997) which was a loose translation and retelling of twenty-four tales from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. Both Israeli dramatist [[Hanoch Levin]] (in ''The Great Whore of Babylon'') and English playwright [[Joanna Laurens]] (in ''The Three Birds'') wrote plays based on the story. The story was adapted into an opera by Scottish composer [[James Dillon (composer)|James Dillon]] in 2004,<ref>Stating that it was adapted from Sophocles, Thales, Eva Hesse, R. Buckminster Fuller, see [http://composers21.com/compdocs/dillonj.htm The Living Composers Project: James Dillon]. (Retrieved 22 December 2012).</ref> and a 1964 [[Philomel (Babbitt)|vocal composition]] by American composer [[Milton Babbitt]]<ref>Hair, Graham, and Stephen Arnold. "Some Works of Milton Babbitt, Reviewed", ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' new series, no. 90 (1969): 33–34.</ref> with text by [[John Hollander]].<ref>Hollander, John. "A Poem for Music: Remarks on the Composition of ''Philomel''", pp. 289–306 in ''Vision and Resonance: Two Senses of Poetic Form'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975)</ref>

The reference to Philomela also exists in the name of a Bengali music troupe in Calcutta, India, called ''Nagar Philomel''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-05-22 |title=How Bengal woke up to 'band' culture in the 1970s, paving the way for a bona fide rock movement in Bangla|url=https://www.firstpost.com/art-and-culture/how-bengal-woke-up-to-band-culture-in-the-1970s-paving-the-way-for-a-bona-fide-rock-movement-in-bangla-9639501.html |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Firstpost |language=en}}</ref> (The city that loves song), formed in 1983.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sarkar |first=Roushni |title=I try my best to use live music, within the limitations of budget and time: Prabuddha Banerjee |url=https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2019/jun/22/21057/i-try-my-best-to-use-live-music-within-the-limitations-of-budget-and-time-prabuddha-banerjee |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120231238/https://www.cinestaan.com/articles/2019/jun/22/21057/i-try-my-best-to-use-live-music-within-the-limitations-of-budget-and-time-prabuddha-banerjee |url-status=live |archive-date=20 January 2021 |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=Cinestaan}}</ref>

Several female writers have used the Philomela myth in exploring the subject of rape, women and power ([[Empowerment#Empowerment of women|empowerment]]) and [[Feminism|feminist]] themes, {{citation needed span|date=January 2020|text=including novelist [[Margaret Atwood]] in her novella "Nightingale" published in ''[[The Tent (Atwood book)|The Tent]]'' (2006), [[Emma Tennant]] in her story "Philomela", [[Jeannine Hall Gailey]] who uses the myth in several poems published in ''[[Becoming the Villainess]]'' (2006)}}, and [[Timberlake Wertenbaker]] in her play ''[[The Love of the Nightingale]]'' (1989) (later adapted into an [[The Love of the Nightingale (opera)|opera of the same name]] composed by [[Richard Mills (composer)|Richard Mills]]). {{citation needed span|date=January 2020|text=Canadian playwright [[Erin Shields]] adapted the myth in her play ''If We Were Birds'' (2011), which won the [[2011 Governor General's Awards|2011 Governor General's Award for Drama]].}} More recently, poet and author [[Melissa Studdard]] brought new life to the myth in her poem "Philomela's tongue says" (2019), published in ''[[Poetry (magazine)|Poetry]]'' magazine's May 2019 edition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/149724/philomelas-tongue-says|title=Philomela's tongue says|last=Studdard|first=Melissa|author-link=Melissa Studdard|date=May 2019|work=[[Poetry (magazine)|Poetry]]}}</ref>