A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Mythic Poetry Portfolio
Pilgrims,
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man contains myriad references to myths.
The story itself is in many ways a heroic quest, broken into five distinct
aspects of the hero’s journey.
Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces outlines some of the
basic stages of the heroic journey:
1. The Call to Adventure
a. Our old, familiar lives are interrupted to change direction.
2. Refusal of the Call
a. Fear and resistance keep the hero from emerging.
3. Acceptance
a. Our inner self and outer self align for the higher good.
4. Crossing the Threshold
a. Beginning the crossing of the old into the new. Our heroic
character is challenged.
5. Meeting Allies
a. We begin to realize that we are not alone on the journey and
learn from mentors and friends.
6. Trials
a. Trials continue to test the hero’s journey. The hero uses insight
from allies to help endure these tests.
7. The Respite
a. Information, circumstance, insight, etc. cause a period of rest
after the trials.
8. Magic Flight
a. End to “struggling against the odds”. Lightness in being occurs
and we begin to wonder if we can be this new self in our daily
lives.
9. Triumphant Return
a. Reentry into the world as this new self. Others may respond
differently to this new being.
10. Master of Two Worlds
a. A sense of completion and wholeness of our internal and external
worlds. The hero returns and becomes the mentor and teacher,
as she was aided in her own heroic quest, continuing the cycle.
Assignment:
I would like you to choose at least five aspects of the hero’s journey and
create a poem using the perspective of that stage. You can either choose to
outline the 5 mythic stages of Daedalus’ journey and create poems conveying
the essence of these stages or be more personal and look into how your own
life embodies some of these stages, or write from your own perspective.
I know that this assignment may terrify some of you, but some of the best
poems I have received have been from students who promised me they “could
not write poetry.”
Tips:
Read more poetry. Often, the poetry we write mirrors some of our
favorite poets. For some reason, my poetry always has a bit of Mary
Oliver in it
Relax and take a deep breath. Meditate on various stages of your life.
Perhaps you never realized that you are, in fact, on a heroic quest!!
Don’t forget some of the techniques we’ve studied this year to help you
begin (syntax, diction, imagery, structure, tone, tone, tone.)
Be as creative as possible. You are poets, and you are about to know
it!
“One of the main functions of myth [is]...to carry a person
through the inevitable stages of a lifetime."
--Joseph Campbell
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to
be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small
does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t
feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the [spirit] that is within us. It is not just
in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give
permission to other people to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.”
Nelson Mandela
Some heroes……
Joyce Lincoln You Mandela