Cheat Code Week: Mythology and Religion
Added 2024-11-15 10:32:47 +0000 UTCNot too long ago we spoke about the symbolic value of colour. We said red could symbolise love and green, nature. But colour’s symbolism is relatively limited when you compare it to the symbolic potential of an entire story. T.S. Eliot packed meaning into his work by writing allusions to legends and Bible stories. Ash Wednesday is, perhaps, the most famous of these. He references Lazarus here:
And God said
Shall these bones live? shall these
Bones live? And that which had been contained
In the bones (which were already dry)
And he references the Virgin Mary here:
Lady of silences
Calm and distressed
Torn and most whole.
This means that you absorb the poem on its face, as you read it, but then you can absorb it even more by exploring the meaning that symbolism brings to the work. You can study Ash Wednesday for years and still find new meaning there. It’s all buried in the mythology he mentions in the work.
I love this kind of extended metaphor, so I keep religious texts and a dictionary of phrase and fable on my bookshelf. Sometimes when I feel blocked, I pick a legend and turn it into a poem. I’ve found that there are few experiences that cannot be deepened by a myth or legend. It’s a neat little trick. Not only does it give you the skeleton of a new piece. It also gives you something original to work with.
If you’re one of the many who finds cliches irresistible, mythology might be the perfect cure. You must find your own metaphors and imagery, not use those others have written out a thousand times before. Do you know what’s not a cliché? The Furies... Nyx... Hypnos.
If you’re feeling ambitious, I have a prompt for you, and you already know what it is. Write a piece of mythology as symbolism in a new piece.
