Cassandra in Modern Lit

The term "Cassandra" is now commonly used by people to describe someone who has predicted a certain outcome but was ignored. Economists who predicted the recession have donnd the term, as have scientists who predicted mass global warming. Robinson Jeffers, an American poet, is someone who has incorporated this idea into one of his poems. In it, he deems himself a "Cassandra" and condemns many poets and religious figures for speaking and promoting lies. I came upon it in my American Literature II class and thought I would share it with the rest of the class. I just thought that the poem, and the way in which it applied an old story to a present situation, was really interesting. As Dr. Sexon continualy reminds us, the past truly does posses the present.

Cassandra
by Robinson Jeffers

The mad girl with the staring eyes and long white fingers
Hooked in the stones of the wall,
The storm-wrack hair and screeching mouth: does it matter,
Cassandra,
Whether the people believe
Your bitter fountain? Truly men hate the truth, they'd liefer
Meet a tiger on the road.
Therefore the poets honey their truth with lying; but religion—
Vendors and political men
Pour from the barrel, new lies on the old, and are praised for
kindly
Wisdom. Poor bitch be wise.
No: you'll still mumble in a corner a crust of truth, to men
And gods disgusting—You and I, Cassandra.