What's your favorite mythological poem or story?

[MythandLore]

The Illiad (thought it's been a very long time) oh wait, 1001 Arabian Nights.
Arabian Nights is probably my fav.

 

[grodog]

My favorites myths, myth cycles, and reintretations of such include:

• The 1001 Arabian Nights
• Russian myths and folklore
• classical Greek mythology, especially the more obscure stuff about the gigantes and other pre-Zues-era gods stuff
• Sandman (by Neil Gaiman)
• the Holy Grail as told by Michael Moorcock in The Warhound and the World's Pain (my favorite of his fantasy stories, along with Blood)
• the Cthulhu mythos, especially the ancient pre-human histories of the earth and its inhabitants (a la "The Shadow Out of Time")
• Howard's Hyborean Age
• Keats' Hyperion cycle
• Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
• Borges' and Eco's warped worlds

I could go on, but I'm sure you don't want the list of all of my favorite authors and books, which is what this would eventually become

 

[xjp]

You better know your Eddas. I scored with an Icelandic chick once(in Iceland), because I knew who Snorri was. Stick to the Heimskringla.

 

[Tonguez]

Kumulipo - Hawaiian Creation Chant
NZ Maori Creation Chant

these are both great in their conception of a universe which develops biologically and geneologically

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner -

the very sea did rot oh christ that ever this shoul be and slimey things did crawl with legs upon a slimey sea

Kalevala

The Song of Solomon

 

[Marion Poliquin]

I really like Perceval le Gallois by Chrétien de Troyes.

Our Brit Lit teacher had us read The Canterbury Tales' General prologue, especially the part about the Somnour and The Pardoner's prologue and Tale. I found it funny that those two Chaucer characters made an appearance in A Knight's Tale . Allusion in an Hollywood Summer movie, who knew ? I loved that movie because the wild anachronisms are tacked on what is possibly the most historically accurate medieval movie Hollywood gave us in a long time. But I digress... I really loved reading Chaucer and the following description of the Somnour is still one of my faves :

Of his visage children were aferd.
Ther nas quyk-silver, lytarge, ne brymstoon,
Boras, ceruce, ne oille of tartre noon;
Ne oynement that wolde clense and byte,
That hym myghte helpen of his whelkes white,
Nor of the knobbes sittynge on his chekes.

I also have a soft side for québécois folk tales like La chasse-galerie.

 

[Skarp Hedin]

You better know your Eddas. I scored with an Icelandic chick once(in Iceland), because I knew who Snorri was. Stick to the Heimskringla.

Heh! But which Snorri? There were so many. I'd assume you meant either Sturluson or maybe even Snorri Godi, though. Heimskringla is great, though strongly historical.. of course, the author had an Agenda (to impress the king of Norway), so ...

 

[Falcon]

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Beowulf, and the Illiad.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

My vote is for The Faerie Queene by Spenser. The imagery is fantastic, and the sound of the stanzas flows beautifully.

From The Faerie Queene, Canto 1:

A Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Y cladd in mightie armes and siluer shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruell markes of many' a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he neuer wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

A complete text can be found online at: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/fqintro.html

 

[sepulchrave]

Your right though, I was stretching the definition of myth quite a bit. I second your recommendation for the reading of the sagas.

Not at all. In the phenomenology of religion, a myth is defined simply as "A significant story" - which is pretty vague.

Beowulf is awesome.
The Descent of Ishtar.
Lemminkainen's runos in the Kalevala also hold a special power for me.
Paradise Lost, by Milton. I love Lucifer, and Eve is pretty cool, too. Adam is a wimp.
The Silmarillion.

 

[el-remmen]

I would say the story of Orpheus & Eurydice.

I relate to it.