This essay analyzes Louise Bogan's poem "Cassandra" through the literary devices of allusion, tone, and duality. Drawing on the Greek myth of Cassandra and Apollo's curse, the paper explores how Bogan portrays powerlessness, frustration, and sexual betrayal in the poem's central figure. The essay also connects the poem to Bogan's personal biography, particularly her mother's infidelity, and reads "Cassandra" as an early feminist text that critiques male dominance and social inequality between men and women in the years surrounding the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Louise Bogan was an American poet whose work "Cassandra" analyzes the impact that a curse has on the titular character. Born in Maine in 1897, Bogan led a tumultuous life that was often shrouded in secrecy — one in which she frequently battled personal demons. Through her poetry, Bogan analyzed and deconstructed the issues that haunted her. "Cassandra" is based on the Greek myth of Cassandra and the curse Apollo placed on her when she rejected his advances and maintained her desire to remain a virgin. As a result, Apollo transformed the gift of foresight he had bestowed upon her — granted because of her beauty — into a curse: her predictions would be dismissed by anyone who heard them. Through the use of allusion, tone, and duality, Bogan not only illustrates Cassandra's curse and personal struggle, but simultaneously comments on the prevailing social inequalities between men and women.
In "Cassandra," the narrator is Cassandra, the mythological figure who has been cursed by the sun god Apollo. Bogan relies on allusion to demonstrate the psychological harm Cassandra experiences at the hand of her tormentor. Although there is no specified audience, Bogan uses the poem to convey the frustrations Cassandra must have felt to anyone willing to listen — which is itself a paradox, since Cassandra was cursed to have people not listen to her. In order for the audience to fully understand Cassandra's dilemma, they must first understand the allusion Bogan employs in the poem.
Cassandra becomes the unwilling victim of a god who seeks only to satisfy his own desire. This trope appears in other mythological tales as well, including the rape of Alcmene by Zeus, who tricked her into having sex with him by disguising himself as her husband, Amphitryon — with whom she also slept that same night. Alcmene would later give birth to Heracles, whose father was Zeus, and Iphicles, whose father was Amphitryon ("Alcmene [Alcmena]"). The unbalanced dynamic between gods and mortals in Greek mythology helps to emphasize the helplessness felt by women, including Cassandra, and how little they could do to remedy their situations.
In the poem, a tone of powerlessness permeates Cassandra's lament as she vents her frustrations about her inability to act on her predictions of the future. Cassandra notes the futility of her actions and states, "To me, one silly task is like another." She is establishing that she cannot differentiate between anything she does, because everything results in the same outcome: being ignored by others. While Bogan uses allusion and assumes the reader knows Cassandra's story, she also has Cassandra detail why she is cursed. Cassandra claims, "I bare the shambling tricks of lust and pride," a reference to Apollo's curse that she regards as a trick (Bogan).
Bogan intends the word "bare" to be interpreted in two ways. Taken as written, to "bare the shambling tricks of lust and pride" means that Cassandra is the embodiment of Apollo's tricks. Read as "bear," however, it can be interpreted to mean that Cassandra is burdened by Apollo's tricks. Duality also emerges when Cassandra stands by her initial resolve to remain a virgin by stating, "This flesh will never give a child its mother" (Bogan). This line carries two readings: the first upholds Cassandra's vow of chastity, while the second suggests that because of her curse and implied banishment, no man looks upon her at all.
It is at this point that the poem's tone shifts. Powerlessness transforms into anger, which, like her predictions, cannot be contained. Cassandra states that her predictions "[tear] through [her] breast, [her] side / And madness chooses out [her] voice again" (Bogan). Instead of heeding her words, people automatically disregard her, dismissing her as a madwoman. Cassandra reinforces the idea that no one looks upon her or pays attention to her because of the visions she cannot control.
Cassandra's abandonment is also echoed in her lament. She cries, "I am the chosen no hand saves: / The shrieking heaven lifted over men, / Not the dumb earth, wherein they set their graves" (Bogan). Cassandra asserts that she is alone, yet however far society pushes her away, she still has the power to save them. The "shrieking heaven" is a reference to the prophecies she receives, made all the more deafening by the fact that no one will listen. A sense of frustration is thus coupled with her powerlessness: having accepted that her cries fall on deaf ears and her predictions are dismissed as madness, Cassandra becomes increasingly frustrated at their continued dismissal.
"Mother's infidelity and Bogan's view of sex"
"Poem as critique of male dominance and gender disparity"
By putting Cassandra's dilemma onto paper, Bogan finally allows Cassandra to speak without being ignored. At the same time, "Cassandra" serves as a vehicle for Bogan to voice her own discontents about love. Bogan highlights the disparity between men and women and how unfairly women were treated — by gods and by society alike. Coincidentally, the women's rights movement and the continued battle for equality between the sexes was a defining issue in the years leading up to the poem's publication.
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