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This examination of myths from around the world focuses on the role nature plays within mythology. Creation myths from myriad cultures recognized that life arose from natural elements, inextricably connecting human life to the natural world. Nature as portrayed in myth is unpredictable and destructive but also redemptive, providing solace and wisdom. Mythology relates the human life cycle to the seasons, with spring, summer, fall and winter as metaphors for birth, adulthood, old age and death.The author identifies divinities who were direct representations of natural phenomena. The transition of mythic representations from the Paleolithic to Neolithic period is discussed.
Rachel S. McCoppin is a professor of literature at the University of Minnesota Crookston. She has published in the areas of mythology, comparative literature, and multicultural pedagogy in scholarly books and journals.
Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: The Land Is the Myth1. Emerging from the Earth2. The Earth Goddess, the Male Seed and the Harvest3. Divine Nature4. Untamed Nature and the Unfettered Human5. Trees of Knowledge and Botanical Metamorphosis6. The Seasonal Life Cycle and Myths of DestructionConclusionChapter NotesBibliographyIndex
“McCoppin has written a lucid and accessible examination of the role of nature in the overt and implied contexts of world mythologies...an admirable job of comparing and contrasting themes across a wide range of mythologies...recomended”—Choice.
