English 2: Notes for 9/10-9/21

Mythology: stories told to help people understand the rules of the universe and our place in it.

The Norse: warrior people who raided and conquered any groups touching the Atlantic ocean; their myths were strongly their religion until the rise of Christianity. 

• Major Gods and Goddesses
• Odin: King; Poetry, battle, and death
• Erda: earth, fertility; mother of Thor
• Frigga: seer, mother of seven children w/Odin; Queen of the realm
• Thor: God of sky; Associated with law (sort of sheriff)
• Sif: Wife of Thor
• Balder: Wisdom & Knowledge; Son of Odin and Frigg; killed by Hod (thanks to Loki)
• Freya: fertility, love, lust;; Goddess of the Vanir
• Hel/Hela: Helheim; God/Goddess of the Dead
• Loki: Trickster; At least half giant; becomes increasingly evil over the course of the mythic stories
• Realms
• Asgard: Where the gods live
• Vanaheim : the Vanir home; connected to Asgard
• Alfheim: the light elves home; connected to Asgard
• Midgard: Land of Humans (Earth)
• Nidavellir: Land of dwarves; connected to Midgard
• Jotunheim: Land of giants; connected to Midgard
• Svartalfheim: Land of dark elves; connected to Midgard
• Hel/Helheim: Realm of the dead
• Niflheim: World of the dead
• Valhalla: Where dead heroes are taken by the Valkeryie to feast and train until Ragnarok
• Ragnarok: the end of the world; all creatures fight on the side of light or dark, no one survives from Elder Edda

The Celts: early people who lived in Ireland and parts of Greater Britain
Choose one of the cycles to look up. Write a paragraph about it. Turn in the paragraph (7-10 sentences).

• The Cycles
• Mythological Cycle: the stories of The Dagda, The Morrigan, and the other gods of Ireland
• The Book of Invasions: records the five waves of "invaders" to Ireland; the Tuatha (children of Danu) became The Fae
• Finean Cycle: records the adventures of Finn Mac Cool and his warriors, the Fianna
• Ulster Cycle: records the adventures of Cuchulainn, The Cattle Raid of Cooley (The Tain) and the hero's misadventures with Queen Meave and The Morrigan
• The Cycle of Kings: records the major events of various Irish kings and nobles; each set of stories focus on a different clan
• A Few Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes
• The Dagda, god of earth and treaties; ruler over life and death; leader of the Tuatha; master of magic, fearsome warrior, artisan; married to The Morrigan; the never-empty cauldron, harp, club of life and death
• Lugh of the Long-Spear; sun god, warrior, full of energy; son of Clan and Ethlinn; a classic hero and High King of Tara
• The Morrigan, battle goddess; shapeshifter including crow, wolf, and cow; also goddess of strife and self-rule (sovereignty) 
• The Brigid, three-faced goddess; healing, poetry, technology; fertility, home and hearth; daughter of Dagda; wife of Bres of the Fomorians; the three-faced goddess (crone, mother, maiden); mother of Ruadan; sometimes she is mixed in with Saint Brigid, the only woman to ever become a Bishop in Catholic Church
• Epona, horse goddess; fertility and earth; farmers will often name their best horses after her; shapeshifter; takes the dead to The Summerlands; one of the only Celtic gods/goddesses to have her own feast in ancient Rome

The Hero's Journey

• Leaves Home/Recieves Quest
• Meets Company
• Faces Trials
• Separates from Company
• Final Trial: Win, Lose, or Die

The Screw-up's Journey
The Anti-hero's Journey
The Interior Journey


Folk Tales: oral stories to teach teenagers in the Middle Ages how to live in the world, how society worked and how to get along in life.

Fairy Tales: stories written by the literate for the literate to examine "modern society" and how to best survive in it. Connected to much folklore in that it was meant to help young people navigate a dangerous world