ENG 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Bill Moyers, Cyparissus, Roman Mythology
20 Oct 2016
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Chapter 1 reading: interpretation and definition of classical mythology. Myth: greek word mythos which means word , speech , tale or story . It was originally oral, then written down around 1000 bc: no single theory of myth can cover all kinds of myths. True myth of myth proper and saga or legend. True myth/myth proper: stories concerned with the gods and the humankind"s relations with them. Saga/legend: distinctive relationship to history, it is imaginative but also has roots to factual history: example: legend of troy. Folktales: stories of adventure: fantastic beings (monsters, witches), heroes/heroines who win in the end, world with magic, begins with once upon a time and ends with happily ever after . Fairytales: a kind of folktale, short, imaginative, traditional tales with a high moral and magical content . These definitions often become blurred: note that herodotus (first historian), blurred history with myth, good examples of works that mythographers are still determining are odysseus and.
