Dear Diary:

I am so worried that I don’t know what I’m going to do. This morning I was out picking flowers with some of my friends when I heard a terrific galloping and clashing behind me. I hardly had time to turn around when I saw a shadowy figure of a man in a chariot. He stooped to pick me up, and even though I was screaming for help, he took me down to the underworld. I soon figured out that it was Hades who had abducted me and taken me down to his palace…

Assignment: Select one of the myths we have worked with in class and write a diary entry in which you explain the thoughts of one of the main characters. You may try to explain his or her actions, or add some details not included in the original story.

Suggested myths/characters:

Persephone/Demeter
Dionysus
Prometheus/Epimetheus
Io
Europa
Uranus/Cronus
Hera
Pentheus
Metaneira

Length: This should be a page in length.

Remember, this should be written in either semi-formal, or informal voice and written in the past tense. If you'd like to review those notes, here they are:

Voice

Formal: Formal voice avoids slang and casual sounding words. It also avoids using all personal pronouns like “I, me, you, your, we, and our” in order to appeal to all readers. This corresponds to third-person point of view.

 There are many examples of betrayal that occur in Greek Mythology.

Semi-Formal: Like formal voice, this avoids slang, but can include the pronouns “I” and “me”. However, it still avoids the use of “you” and “your” so that it does not “talk” to the reader. This corresponds to first person point of view.

 I can find many examples of betrayal in the stories of Greek Mythology.

Informal: Informal voice allows all pronouns and all school appropriate words. You may sometimes find this in dialog also.

 I am going to tell you a about many example of betrayal in Greek Mythology.

Tense

Verbs can present information in either present or past tense.

Present: Uranus imprisons the fifty-headed 100-handed monsters.
Past: Uranus imprisoned the fifty-headed 100-handed monsters.

In a structured paragraph discussing myths, you can use either as long as you stay consistent throughout the entire paragraph or paper.

In other assignments, the tense may be determined by the logic of the assignment.