Epigraphs are like little appetizers to the great entrée of a story. They illuminate important aspects of the story, and they get us headed in the right direction.
"Merlin," by Edwin Muir
Poet Edwin Muir asks the legendary Merlin a series of truly tough questions. The first half of the poem asks if there will ever be a "singer" (a poet or creative type) who can turn back the clock to the days before everything went to the dogs (like before the whole Adam and Eve disaster).
In the second half of the poem, Muir asks if Merlin's magic can show us some impossible things, including "Time locked in his Tower." But Merlin himself is already imprisoned in the crystal cave, so the odds are not on Muir's side.
Stewart knows that she can be the singer who hits the rewind button and tells the story from another perspective. She can make Merlin speak again, even if it is from his eternal prison, to shed light on the past. Pretty cool, Mary.