Mythopoeia

In my last post I mentioned a little-known genre of literature called mythopoeia. Since I doubt many of you have ever heard of mythopoeia, I thought I would educate you. We'll start with the definition: mythopoeia is when an author creates his own mythology using elements and archetypes found in traditional mythology.

So what does that mean? Everyone has heard of the Greek gods (Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite) and most people know that there were Egyptian, Norse, and Hindu gods, along with many others. The stories about these gods and the mortals whose lives were influenced by them are traditional mythology. In ancient times, myths were used to explain things that people could not understand or rationalize, such as why the seasons changed or where people went after they died. With the Scientific Revolution, a rational, reasonable, scientific answer was discovered for many of the questions that mythology tried to answer. Because of this, mythology lost most of its importance.

But it did not die out completely. Some authors began taking the elements found in traditional mythology and adapting them to create their own form of mythology. This became known as mythopoeia. And now we get to my favorite part about mythopoeia. Guess who popularized the term? J. R. R. Tolkien. He was part of a marvelous little group called the Inklings. The group was comprised of mainly Oxford professors, and they met on a regular basis to discuss literature. One of the places they frequently met was the pub The Eagle and Child, which has a section dedicated to the Inklings. The other notable member who is directly involved in mythopoeia was C. S. Lewis.

The topic of myth-making was first brought up in a discussion between Lewis and Tolkien. In order to defend his stance on myth-making, Tolkien wrote a poem, titled Mythopoeia, and gave it to Lewis. This poem is what started everything.

The poem was written in 1931. In 1937, The Hobbit was first published and shortly after Tolkien began writing the sequel, The Lord of the Rings. Lewis began writing The Chronicles of Narnia in 1949. And Tolkien's greatest mythopoeic work, The Silmarillion, was published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien in 1977. These are some of the greatest and most popular mythopoeic works. Other works include Star Wars, some comic book characters such as Superman, parts of Harry Potter, and parts of the TV show Battlestar Galactica. As I mentioned previously, the series Rose of the Prophet is mythopoeic as well. Other authors who commonly write mythopoeic works are Neil Gaiman and Robin McKinley.

These authors and works all have noticeable aspects of traditional mythology. Lewis' series is clearly heavily based on Christianity. Tolkien uses Christianity as well as Irish, German, and some Finnish mythology. Not every mythopoeic work has to have a pantheon of gods but many of them do; the gods are a big part of mythology and very easy to transfer. Some mythopoeic works reuse mythological creatures. while others focus more on the important hero's journey. Several mythopoeic works follow the model of the creation myth and depict the creation of the mythopoeic world. One of the most important parts of mythopoeia is the feeling you get when you read one of the works. It's supposed to be fantastical and amazing, and create a sense of wonder. Traditional mythology often had a hidden or obvious message, and mythopoeia is the same way. Think about the things that Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have taught people, the values and lessons that so many have learned from those stories. That is just as big a part of mythopoeia as the world that the author creates.

Those created worlds are what first drew me to mythopoeia. I love Lord of the Rings, and I am torn between love and hate when it comes to Tolkien. He created such a beautiful world in Middle-Earth, with its own people, history and languages. But it kind of sickens me that he did all that. He's such an over-achiever. Who writes two and a half complete languages and creates an entire history for a world that isn't even real? Tolkien, that's who, and I hate him for it. But I love him for it just as much. I love him so much that I based my entire Senior presentation on mythopoeia just so that I could talk about Tolkien and how brilliant he is (I'm an English Lit major).

There is even a whole society dedicated to mythopoeia. It's called the Mythopoeic Society and is based at Michigan State University. They have Mythopoeic Awards for books and authors that are considered outstanding works of fantasy and myth. There is a scholarly journal as well as a monthly bulletin that talk about different mythopoeic works. I'm kind of in love and would seriously consider becoming a lifetime member if I had an extra $500 laying around.

What I've said here is only a brief overview of what mythopoeia is. And I really can't even begin to describe what the genre means to me. It's such a beautiful thing and so creative. To end, I'll leave you with this excerpt from Tolkien's poem Mythopoeia:

Though all the crannies of the world we filled

with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build

Gods and their houses out of dark and light,

and sowed the seeds of dragons, 'twas our right

(used or misused). The right has not decayed.

We make still by the law in which we're made.