A whole new way of seeing things!!

I had a strange experience today. Ever since the first day of class, Sexson informed us that we were going to start looking at other classes differently and seeing how the information in literary criticism bleeds into other areas of study. Well........no surprise, he was right! I have not been able to help listening to what I am being taught in my other classes and seeing how it applies to Frye's modes, DQ, and discussion that we have had in ENG 300. As I sat in my History of Yellowstone class today I began to write some very unusual notes on the sheet of paper in front of me which had very little to do with Yellowstone, and much more to do with the modes as well as Sir Philip Sydney's defense of the poet.

My history teacher, Mr. Lee Whittlesey, began his lecture today by discussing the book that we have just recently finished reading called Myth and History in the Creation of Yellowstone. He wanted to define for us the difference between myth and legend and these are the definitions that he used:

Legend-- an unverified popular story with sufficient entertainment value to survive through generations

Myth--A real or fictional story/reoccurring theme (with more weight and antiquity than a legend) that appeals to a society by embodying its cultural ideas or by giving expression to deep commonly felt emotions

As we began to discuss these words, my mind strayed to where I have heard them used most recently and that is obviously to Frye and Literary Criticism. What will follow now is where my thoughts went from there as they began connecting the dots from one class to another.....

The main topic in the book (Myth and History...) is about the "myth" surrounding the establishment of Yellowstone. For many years it was thought the the Washburn-Langford party (a group of explorers) had a discussion around a campfire one night about how amazing the Yellowstone area was and how it needed to be set aside as a "National Park" and not allowed to be settled. This would mean that credit for the idea of Yellowstone would belong to these men, as well as credit for coming up with the idea for the first national park. People reached out and firmly grasped this story and began to hold it very close to their hearts. A shrine was even set up at the location of the famous discussion and everyone heard about (and believed) the great "campfire story." The huge problem ensued when a historian began to debunk the credibility of the story and eventually enough evidence was brought forward to prove that the story was not credible and was, in fact, a lie. No one wanted to believe that the story that they had latched so firmly onto was untrue and, as a result, they forced the historian into early retirement and people to this day believe the story.
I was having so much trouble understanding why people would refuse to accept the reality that the campfire story was not true even when presented with so much evidence....that is until I realized what was happening. As we have discussed in class and seen in Don Quixote, people don't want to live in the low mimetic, they want to live in the age of myths and romance, when wonderful romantic stories come to life and men are above the levels of greed-- acting in a heroic way (like not taking the land for themselves but deciding to turn it into a national park for all to enjoy)! It makes so much more sense now thanks to Frye.


I also began writing notes when thinking about Sir Philip Sydney and his defense of the poet. In literary criticism on Friday, we talked about his idea that the poet is above the historian and the philosopher because he/she delights as well as teaches. While I was in class that made sense...yet sitting and listening to my history teacher today made me question the notion.....we are reading 6 books in our class and many of them have been written by my teacher Mr. Whittlesey. The book that we are reading right now is called Storytelling in Yellowstone and it is full of myths, legends, and other stories about Yellowstone. So....my thought is that historians can also be poets. When I read Whittlesey's books, they are full of facts, history, and important information, YET they are told in a way that teaches AND delights me because the stories in them are amazing, exciting, and (just as the definition of myth describes) they give expression to some of my emotions.