Myths & Archetypes

The following are selections from An Introduction to Poetry (12th edition), by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia (2007:253, 254, 257, 258).

About Myth

Poets have long been fond of retelling myths, narrowly defined as traditional stories about the exploits of immortal beings. Such stories taken collectively may also be called myth or mythology.

Traditional myths tell us stories of gods or heroes—their battles, their lives, their loves, and often their suffering—all on a scale of magnificence larger that our life. These exciting stories usually reveal part of a culture’s worldview. Myths often try to explain universal natural phenomena, like the phases of the moon or the turning of the seasons. But some myths tell the stories of purely local phenomena; one Greek legend, for example, recounts how grief-stricken King Aegeus threw himself into the sea when he mistakenly believed his son, Theseus, had been killed; consequently, the body of water between Greece and Turkey was called the Aegean Sea.

About Archetype

An important concept in understanding myth is the archetype, a basic image, character, situation, or symbol that appears so often in literature and legend that it evokes a deep universal response. (The Greek root of archetype is “original pattern.”)

Whatever their origin, archetypal images do seem verbally coded in most myths, legends, and traditional tales. One sees enough recurring patterns and figures from Greek myth to Star Wars, from Hindu epic to Marvel superhero comics, to strongly suggest there is some common psychic force at work. Typical archetypal figures include the trickster, the cruel stepmother, the rebellious young man, the beautiful but destructive woman [femme fatale], and the stupid youngest son who succeeds through simple goodness. Any of these figures can be traced from culture to culture.

Examples:

Visit this website for a list of many common archetypes. Many of these archetypes are found in literature and are known as "literary archetypes".

For fun:

Try this quiz and see which literary archetype you are.