The Creation of Myth

I have to begin by saying that I've always liked myths and mythology. I find it fascinating to explore the attempts humans make to explain what is often unexplainable. It also interests me to see in what ways myths shape beliefs and the resulting culture. Often, myths seem to be so deeply embedded in our subconscious that they cannot be shaken loose by the most rigorous scientific findings. Perhaps we need our myths more than we need the truth......

In writing my own myth, I realized just how malleable this literary form is - there are endless possibilities, not only of stories to tell, but the ways in which to tell them. It made me appreciate the liveliness of what was once a purely oral form - the immediacy of story-telling, the synergy between orator and listener. In fact, I told the story of my myth to my husband over dinner, and he sat as quiet and enraptured as a child at story time. As a story-teller, I can embellish on the spot, and my own emotion and performance bring the imaginary elements to a new level of enjoyment.

Once a myth is written down, it becomes more static. I begin to expect it to be linear, a little more believable, or at least analyzable from an academic viewpoint. I realize that some of the sheer joy of story-telling is lost in simply reading words on a page. This doesn't mean I don't still enjoy reading mythology, but I will definitely be aware of what is missing.

As a teacher, this was a key insight for me. I don't think I would ever assign my students to read a myth and then write a paper about it; I may not even do that much class discussion. I would instead do something like what we did in class - I would have the kids get up on their feet and do some sort of presentation, let them ham it up even, as long as they got the key points of the story. Then we could talk about the cultural influences of myths and why we study them etc. etc. The academics would come after the fun.

I thoroughly enjoy creating my own myth, and I would definitely assign my students to do so. Creating a class website with everyone's myth would be a great group project, or even a book with each person's myth and illustrations included. And of course, having students willing to tell the class the story of the myth they wrote would be the best part. Perhaps we could even collaborate with the Drama Club....

Analyzing and writing about poetry, and then writing some myself, has given me a profound respect for the craft of the poet. To be able to worry meaningful thoughts and images out of the chaos of one's own brain, to sum them up within the space of a few lines, and to do it all using gorgeous language seems to me much harder than prose. Interestingly, however, writing about and writing poetry has strengthened my ability to catch so-called "poetic" elements within the works of many prose writers, so I suppose it isn't fair to think one type of writing more difficult, and therefore somehow more "special," than another.

I am grateful that I avoided writing much poetry before I had learned to analyze and comment on the good stuff. I would probably have been far less game to give writing poetry a whirl in the present had I already embaressed myself in the past. Having some experience identifying and discussing the elements that make good poetry work, I had some guidelines to follow in crafting my own. And, as all good writers know, being a voracious and careful reader always informs one's own work for the better, as we seem to subconsciously absorb the influence and style of the writers who move us.

I found my attempts at poetry a challenge, definitely, and by no means do I consider myself an outstanding poet. I was, however, pleasantly surprised at some of the results, and found it an even greater emotional touchstone than prose writing. The imperative of getting the feelings and images down within a limited form forced me to cut to the chase and try to choose the strongest and most meaningful language I could to express what I wanted. A good workout for any writer, whether a poet or not.

As a teacher, I see the value in asking my students to approach poetry from the multiple angles of reader, interpreter, and writer. This aproach will help them better grasp the elements of the form and a stronger ability to understand what they read. Having them write poetry themselves will not only give them a form of self-expression they may not have explored, but may also heighten their interest in what moved the poets they study in class to write what they did, thus engaging students more deeply in the texts. Of course, I can't ask my students to do what I am not willing to do myself, so I must share some of my own poetry with them. This gives me an opportunity to model self-expression and creative exploration, and will build a sense of community within the classroom.