MYTH IN POETRY

Myths: Systems of Symbolic Allusion Mythology = stories and beliefs of a society

Greek, Roman, Norse, Native American, others

Mythological motifs and themes are common to many cultures.

Carl Jung identified recurring images, characters, events inhis patients as archetypes (i.e., all humans share a universalor collective unconscious) Joseph Campbell, academic expert on myths (The Power ofMyth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces)

Joseph Campbell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM10A

vJ3bsM&feature=relmfu

Archetypes A set of images that are symbolic references to universal types, such as

warrior, priest, mother, and king. When a poet uses an archetype, he or she can assume that the reader will make the association between that archetype and the characteristics commonly assigned to it.

These images have particular emotional resonance and power. Archetypes recur in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, fairy tales, dreams, artwork, and religious rituals.

Some examples: the orphaned prince or the lost chieftain's son raised ignorant of his heritage until he is rediscovered by his parents, or the damsel in distress rescued from a hideous monster by a handsome young man who later marries the girl. Also, the long journey, the difficult quest or search, the catalog of difficult tasks, the pursuit of revenge, the descent into the underworld, redemptive rituals, fertility rites, the great flood, the End of the World.

Retelling a myth--Leda Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressedBy his dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

(This is not the entire poem, see poem on pg 781)

(Note: Leda – mother of Helen of Troy)

Landscape with Icarus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruegel,_

Pieter_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg

LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUSby William Carlos Williams

According to Brueghelwhen Icarus fellit was springa farmer was ploughinghis fieldthe whole pageantry of the year wasawake tinglingnear

the edge of the seaconcernedwith itself

sweating in the sunthat meltedthe wings' wax

insignificantlyoff the coastthere was

a splash quite unnoticedit wasIcarus drowning.

ICARUS by Edward Field Only the feathers floating around the hat

Showed that anything more spectacular had occurredThan the usual drowning. The police preferred to ignoreThe confusing aspects of the case,And the witnesses ran off to a gang war.So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simplyDrowned, but it was wrong: IcarusHad swum away, coming at last to the cityWhere he rented a house and tended the garden.That nice Mr. Hicks the neighbors called him,Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suitConcealed arms that had controlled huge wings

Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had onceCompelled the sun. And had he told themThey would have answered with a shocked, uncomprehending stare.

In class writing activity Read Cinderella by Anne Sexton on pgs

878-880. Answer the questions that follow.

Haiku and computers Chaos reigns within Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.

With searching comes loss And the presence of absence: “My Novel” not found

More haiku Windows has crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your scream.

Your file was big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.

Poetry Paper Assignment DUE 04/04/11

The paper must be 800-1000 words. Choose FOUR poems from our book or any other resource. Draw a picture (or clip pictures from a magazine) that

represents the poem. Analyze the poem.

What is the subject of the poem? Scansion at least one stanza of the poem. What type of rhyme scheme is used? Is it consistent? Is there end rhyme? Internal rhyme? What type of meter is used? Show a line from the poem

marked in metered feet. What other devices are being used? (alliteration,

personification, monotony?) Give examples and explain. What else do you want to say about the poem?