Mythology Ch.1

Myths have been around for centuries and people have viewed them differently depending on the era and the society. Mythology has even been used as propaganda, like the Nazi’s, which truly underlines the significance that myths could play in a community. In the 20th Century Joseph Campbell, who was influenced by Freud and Jung, created his own theory about mythology. He states that “ mythology is ultimately and always the vehicle through which the individual finds a sense of identity and place in the world” (17). Campbell underlines that myths hold “universal human truths” (17) which can guide individuals to learn morals and virtues. No society is perfect; therefore we need to have myths that model an individual’s struggle to change for the better in the face of danger and temptations. Myths underline that people can change regardless of age and it is never too late to venture on a personal journey to create a better version of you. Myths typically focus on an average individual, who in the end comes back to the place they started but as a changed person, which makes it easier for the common citizen to identify with the main character. Myths are stories that are meant to inspire people to change and should not be used for propaganda, but instead should be viewed as life lessons that model positive changes.

"Death"

Death is something that is never wanted
Somepeople even think that that word is haunted
When a close person to you dies your life is a mess
Many people go to religious places and confess.

They don't know what to do now that they're gone
They are trying to figure out how to move on.
For some relief never comes and their lives go to hell
It makes them so mad they just want to yell.

Soon they start blaming themselves for that terrible event,
It's like that's the reason they were sent.
They really go crazy and lose their mind,
But they are not one of a kind.

Sadly, that happens more than we think
Your life could change like that in one single blink.
To prevent these terrble fates to happen to you.
Somehow you have to learnn how to deal with death too.

It will never be a pleasant event in your life,
But you can get through with hep from your husband or wife.
The wounds death made will take time to heal,
Though if you don't go crazy think how much better you will feel.

Death is something that is apart of living on this earth today,
You can't make it ever go away,
Don't love it but learn to accept it
Because then when it happens the road ahead to your bright future will still be lite.

"Internal Turmoil"

Secret skeletons consuming the vicinity of your closet
Bones of deceit covering your bedroom floor.
Your true identity hides behind numerous masks
These faces hang on your walls, slowly closing in on you with their hollow stares
They become the mirrors to your broken soul
Trapped by your mind, you become dizzy and collapse on your bed
Happiness, sadness, fear, and excitement are emotions you are incapable of feeling
The mechanics of putting on a front have entirely drained you dry
The core of your being is just like the center of the earth;
People can only speculate about its substance but never reach it
Hot lava flows through your veins instead of human blood,
Preparing your heart for the explosive eruption that is to come
The hourglass of your existence is running out of sand
The difference between day and night means nothing to you,
Since you’re just withering away motionless in your room.
Friends and family don’t exist, because they are all strangers to your being
Alienation encompasses your inner state even among a crowd of people
Breaking free from the cell you confined yourself to is impossible
Too many days, weeks, and years have past of the masquerade
Your lips can only utter lies, because they don’t know truth
Your eyes are glazed over with a decade of blindness to reality
The window to your soul is shattered in a million pieces
You believe your wasting oxygen that another deserving individual could use
The entity of your being is like a black hole, from which not even a glimpse of you can escape
There is no purpose for the life you chose to lead
You never meant for this play to have so many acts
But transforming into an actress comes too naturally and easily to stop
Being the director, writer and producer of your own life gives you the illusion of control
The need for that power became an obsession and swallowed your true personality
Attempting to shred the script is futile, its too encrypted in your brain
The wiring of channel information has been ripped out of your hands
Chained to the fate of living as an automaton in a world of individuality
Creativity, spontaneity, originality, and freedom are extinct in your realm
You unconsciously made yourself a slave of your own mind
The strength to fight flew away with gusts of the Santa Ana winds,
Leaving behind a mere, weak and feeble body of what once was a strong, intelligent woman
Outspoken, exciting, and revolutionary days are dead and buried
If only you could recapture even a tiny spec of your previous character,
The world is truly distraught for the loss of such an amazing persona.
The breaking point has approached and the only plausible solution to beat your disease is death
Rational reasoning is trampled over with the need for escape
The empty looks of the eyes on the wall suddenly flared up from your suicidal thought
Their overwhelming intensity of pure joy just pushes you over the edge
Searching desperately around your forsaken room for the final solution
No gun, rope, or poison available at hand conveniently
No heroic death plausible in your near future,
But finally the feeling of ultimate control flows through you,
And you heighten the search for something to kill with,
All of a sudden for the first time in months a light shines on in your mind,
And the glistening sparkle of the long forgotten kitchen knife catches your sight
The realization of your choice makes your heart experience real ecstasy
The blade is your key to another place where you can truly start over,
Create the identity of who you are inside and not the skin you wear for the outside world
With raging determination the sharpest point of your savior reaches the veins
Piercing through the years of numbing agony with one clean cut
Tears of relief trickle down your cheeks in perfect rhythm with the rushing blood,
Droplets of both hit the linoleum floor simultaneously creating a tiny red river
You feel your broken soul mending as it leaves your earthy remains for a better realm
Your eye lids requiring supernatural strength to remain open
Every limb shutters as it relaxes and a sense of ultimate bliss fills your dying heart
The last image you witness before unconsciousness is the formulated grins on the wall
The masks brought you initial disaster and are the greatest fans of your demise
But something goes wrong, another failure added to your never-ending list,
The realization that your still stuck on planet earth surfaces as the hospital lights awake you
The doctors surrounding the soul-less body that still breathes
Even the simple act of committing suicide was beyond your capabilities
You thought escape was possible, but reality got cruelly thrown in your face
Now instead of being trapped in your room you just find more restraints
An entire padded white room, a straitjacket, and an infinite supply of pills.
From being an automaton on your own account, you downgraded to a vegetable of the system
But no medication, lack of mirrors or educated people can take away the voices
The masquerade isn’t complete and the masks transformed into sound waves
They are apart of your recent past, present, and eternal future
There is no such thing as a clean break from your problems
Escape is an illusion and confrontation is the only possible survival method

Flying Japan

Flying, trapped in a plane
Looking out through the tiny dirty window
Attempting to see the beauty of Japan,
But instead dark, gray clouds surround you.
The weather mimics your tortured emotions,
And you are beginning to become clastrophobic.
The people around you make your head spin,
And the yelling in your head picks up in volume.
The voices of your past haunt you to the soul,
And you grip the cramming airline seat out of desperation.

A Prehistoric Bliss

Innovation and technological advances are supposed to improve the lifestyle of the common individual. However, are there draw-backs to materialistic advancements? Does humanity lose its ability to appreciate beauty or forget the concept of chivalry? Edwin Arlington Robinson comments on the change in society after the Industrial Revolution in his poem “Miniver Cheevy.” Miniver is a man that desperately longs for the idolized past and looks with contempt on the innovations of his civilization. Robinson uses Miniver’s persona to identify the flaws and shortcomings of modern society. Through the thoughts of Miniver Cheevy society is depicted as being alienating, ignorant, and materialistic.

Robinson immediately within the first two lines of the poem establishes a dismal tone. His subject, Miniver Cheevy, is described as being a “child of scorn / [and that he] Grew lean while he assailed the seasons” (Robinson 1-2). The harsh diction underlines the unhappiness and stress that surrounds the existence of this individual. Being a pupil of contempt and having to vigorously fight through the changing seasons does not elicit a benevolent life purpose. Miniver’s life is depicted as miserable and almost pointless because he constantly “wept that he was ever born, / and he had reasons” (Robinson 3-4). Cheevy’s disdain stems not from a personal tragedy, but rather a shift in the values and traditions of society as a whole. The present day civilization leaves his soul emotionally drained and his mind in a constant state of dreaming. Miniver “loved the days of old” (Robinson 5) and “sighed for what was not”(Robinson 9). Cheevy glorifies for himself the historical decades long past dead, but that is his reaction to the utter dissatisfaction that he feels towards the world that he lives in. Miniver Cheevy’s life can be considered a failure, but he “fails because his sentimental attachment to an imaginary past and his preference for illusion above reality leave him spiritually dead” (Stovall 6). Rejecting the purity of the modern mindset can make an individual feel alienated and causes Miniver to withdraw into himself surrounded by loneliness.

Miniver Cheevy desired to live among the Knights of the Roundtable or bask in the presence of the artists of the Italian Renaissance. He believed that Camelot, warriors, and famous families, like the Medici, held strong passionate beliefs. They represent “romance,” honor, and beauty, which to him are extinct ideals. Cheevy’s longing runs so deep that he “would have sinned incessantly / Could he have been” (Robinson 15-16) a Medici. For a person which such aspirations and apparent interest in art, a society where “Art, [is] a vagrant” (Robinson 12) is not only unnerving but completely unbearable. Cheevy’s eyes want to appreciate his environment and adore beauty, however, all he looks upon is a “khaki suit with loathing” (Robinson 18). When referring to Cheevy’s feelings on reality powerful and unsettling words, such as: “assailed,” “mourned,” “vagrant,” “cursed,” “loathing,” “scorned,” and “annoyed.” Using such harsh, direct, and uninviting diction is an intentional mechanism to represent the discontent and unacceptance Miniver harbors for the modern society he finds himself trapped in. With no appreciation for beauty, civilization can be described as being ignorant and self-absorbed. When mentioning the past lighter and more positive words are used to create a contrasting impression. Cheevy thought about “when swords were bright and steeds were prancing / The vision of a warrior bold / Would set him dancing” (Robinson 6-8). These lines scream joy and passion and even warriors, who could be associated with blood and death, make Miniver’s heart gain an upbeat rhythm. “Steeds were prancing,” represents freedom and nature, which is apparently omitted from the reality Cheevy seeks so desperately to ignore. Miniver paints an ideal world of the past, which means he is not very well educated in the reality, but his present day life is so overbearing that he seeks a fantasy society.

Cheevy’s modern society places a lot of emphasis on materialistic possessions and just money in general. Cheevy expresses that he “scorned the gold he sought, / But sore annoyed was he without it” (Robinson 25-26). Despising the monetary hunger his fellow peers, Miniver still cant not escape that mindset because he is a product of his surroundings and not his idealistic past. He spent so much time pondering this internal contradiction that his “thought” process is repeated four times consecutively in the poem. Repetition is a powerful tool and it brings emphasis to the heartache his materialistic inclinations bring him. However, that creates an irony since his idealistic heroes of “Thebes, Camelot, and Troy were upper class people with plenty of wealth, who killed each other for love, not money” (Perrine 70-71). That irony creates a juxtaposition of his thoughts because is it really modern society that is so unbearable or just his poverty? But at the same time even this irony underlines his overall greater interest for love and beauty, over the materialistic demand for money. He places on a pedestal wars fought for love instead of monetary gain, and did not the Industrial Revolution place more emphasis on personal possessions and climbing the ladder of financial success.

Miniver Cheevy is so alienated from his society that he entraps himself in a illusional dream world of the past. A lot of one-sided visions could be attributed to the fact that he accepted his reality as “fate / And kept on drinking” (Robinson 31-32). An alcoholic is not a credible source on any topic, but he was driven to alcoholism by the shortcomings of his society. No specific individual tragedy was ever mentioned, only the cold, ruthless facts about his world are revealed. Robinson through his use of repetition, juxtaposition, comparison, irony, and diction presents a social commentary on society long into the Industrial Revolution through the disheartened eyes of Miniver Cheevy. Even the name, Miniver Cheevy, is ironic in the sense that it “links him to the Middle Ages” (Perrine 72) because Cheevy “is not too distant from “chevalier” and “chivalry”- knights and knighthood” (Perrine 72). Basically, Miniver was doomed from the start to be miserable in his own skin because everything about him belongs to an age that is long past gone.



Works Cited


Perrine, Laurence. "A Reading of Miniver Cheevy." Colby Quarterly 6.2 (1962): 65-74. Digital Commons. Berkley Electronic Press. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. .

Robinson, Edwin A. ""Miniver Cheevy"" 100 Best-Loved Poems. Ed. Philip Smith. New York:Dover Publications, 1995. 82-83. Print.

Stovall, Floyd. "The Optimism Behind Robinson's Tragedies." American Literature 10.1 (1938): 1-23. JSTOR. Web. 5 Feb. 2010. &Search=yes&term=rob
nsons&term=behind&term=tragedies&term=optimism&list=hide&searchUri=/action/d AdvancedSearch?q0%3Dthe%2Boptimism%2Bbehind%2Brobinsons%2Btragedies%26 0%3 Dall%26c0%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q2%3D%26
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A Few Poems Unlocked (Week Two)

Walt Whitman, Matthew Arnold, William Butler Yeats, and Robert Frost are all poets who anybody could speak about for hours. Their greatness has made a mark on the literary world and that is why their poems constantly appear in textbooks and poetry books. Their poems are a joy to read and for a second take you away from the world that surrounds you into the realm of their words.

In the poem “When You Are Old” by William Butler Yeats you get a glimpse of what the future will bring. He depicts an individual who is will hopefully look back on the past with joy, but presently only has “this book” to remind them of those times. It depicts old age as being “gray and full of sleep,” which is not an existence filled with excitement, but instead a sense of tranquility. Evenings are not spent out on the town by instead with dreaming, “nodding by the fire,” and life in slow motion. It is a life of living vicariously through the past and enjoying the fact that you experienced love and lust. This individual was lucky because they experience true love, the kind of ideal love that Shakespeare wrote about because they had “a man [who] loved the pilgrim soul… / and loved the sorrows of your changing face.” That love is dead and in the heavens, so the only thing that remains to fill your heart with joy is memories. This poem sends the message that live your life to the fullest when you are young, love with your whole heart, experience the world, because when you are “old and gray” those memories are going to keep your heart alive. Yeats also uses a rhyme scheme in this poem, which adds to the calm soothing feel to this poem. The endings words of line one and four and the endings words in line two and three rhyme in each of the three stanzas. It is like the words themselves are holding each other in and keeping the memories alive inside to be enjoyed and treasured.

Robert Frost in the poem “The Road Not Taken” depicts a feeling that everyone experiences numerous times in their lives. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” represents the fork in the road that we all come to in our lives. A decision must be made, a life altering decision, with no clear distinctive reason to choose either path. “And both that morning equally lay / In leaves no step had trodden black,” both roads are equally appealing and there is no clue as to what other people chose to do in that situation. It is the individual alone with themselves choosing their fate without the opinion or experiences of others weighing the decision. Frost shows how there is now way back from certain life choices, but how that is alright and one must be satisfied with looking forward. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back,” people do not always have the opportunity to remake an important decision. Traveling back in time or turning back the clock are only occurrences we see in the fantasy realm of the cinema. A person needs to be content with the choices they make in life and live with no regrets. Frost depicts that message when he ends his poem with “I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.” Previously in the poem the two paths were shown as being equal, but because the individual chose one it has become the right path and the one that has shaped his world. You have to make your own decisions without the weight of the worlds opinion on your shoulders, which makes the path you choose “less traveled” on.