The study of mythology, as I shall show, is based squarely on tree-lore and seasonal observation of life in the fields. (Robert Graves, The White Goddess)
I'm doing research on the Muse and reading Graves' Chapter 22,
The Triple Muse. A few pages into the chapter I decide I need to backtrack to pick up some foundational information, so I flip back to the Foreword and come across the above quote.
The power of that statement has momentarily stopped my research. I'm busy gnawing on his thesis, asking myself questions (like
fields, huh? sounds agricultural -- what about the roots of mythology in pastoralism, nomadism? and
tree-lore? what about animal lore?). Intellectual stimulation aside, I'm awed by the self-confidence evident in that declaration. I find the study of mythology puzzling, confusing, vexing even. What does a myth really
mean? Which mythologers do you trust? What are their biases? And what about history? What's the connection between history and mythology? Religion and mythology? Spirituality and mythology? And what does a myth from a culture distant in time and space have to do with me today? Everything? Nothing? I'm always comforted somehow by myths and symbols and deities whose roots are grounded in the "physical" universe, like the
pentacle's connection to the eight-year cycle of the planet Venus, or Goddess Tara,
patron matron deity of travelers, who anciently
shared her name with the Pole Star.
I don't often read non-fiction from cover-to-cover, but sometimes a book grabs me and begs to be read in its entirety. I think this has just happened with
The White Goddess. I've dipped into this book many times, but my current dance with the Muse seems to be enticing me to explore deeply this "historical grammar for the language of poetic myth."
Haloscan:
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Blogger:
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