After intending to write a post about souls and guides, I was somewhat deterred when asked to open a page in Frye's book and write about what I found. After reading some blogs, I have been overwhelmed at the level of academic writing and somewhat intimidated at how to dissect a passage from Frye. However, to my delight, my hands, once again, led me to the right page, the right paragraph, and the right sentence.
"What confronts the teacher of literature is the student's whole verbal experience, including this subliterary nine-tenths of it. One of the things that the study of literature should do is help the student become aware of his own mythological conditioning, especially on the more passive and critically examined levels" (Frye 167). And then I realized how truly lucky I was to have landed here, in Oceans of Stories, for once again the world was providing me with exactly what I needed.
My heart was open and humbled when I learned about The Hymn of the Pearl and realizing that however alone I feel sometimes on my journey, I am by no means the only one feeling this way, nor are my actions as unique as I think they are. For someone has already written of my soul's journey, and done it far more beautifully than me!
The Hymn of the Pearl, and stories without morals, and souls that are scratching at the door has got me wondering and loving at every twist and curve of the day, of a doorframe, at the sight and sound of love. It has me swerving.
This quote from Frye has reminded me how important literature can be, and how important teachers acting as guides are. How alone and miserable I would be, never knowing what has been felt by other people. Never quite desperate as Hamlet, or even as passionate as Juliet, these stories let me know that the way I am feeling is OK. Even these blogs speak as an insight to someone that I would never talk to.
What is my mythological conditioning? I'm not certain of the answer yet, but I feel that the answer will unpack itself in my writings, as long as I keep them true.
This class is the letter reminding our souls to look for the pearl. How beautiful those words are! Soul, pearl, letter, hymn, swerve...Don't they make you just want to dance? Don't you just want to laugh about love, and lilies, and the kiss of a dewdrop on a morning glory?
The letter has come and I am beginning to read it. Come in the shape of this class and with Professor Sexton as the guide, but really, my soul wrote this a long time ago. For me, this letter has come again and again, and perhaps one of these swerving days I will remember it, but for now... My soul reminds me that shapes and words come out of the most surprising places and linger in your heart to write your own story of love.
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