LITERARY ARCHETYPES

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS valleys rivers mountains mountain tops fertility life look out for references to biblical rivers (Jordan) or rivers that could lead to a type of promised land mountains obstacles or conflicts mountain tops triumph/victory

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS What other geographical elements represent fertility? fields of grain harvests and times of harvest

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON What seasons suggest fertility? FALL is the time of the harvest. The Greeks and the Romans had a fertility festival in fall during the month that they harvested their grains. Dionysus (Roman Name: Bacchus) – god of the vine, god of wine Demeter (Roman Name: Ceres – think cereal!) – goddess of corn In the fall the Greeks and Romans had week long festivals during which they celebrated these two gods and gave thanks for the bountiful harvest that the gods provided. There was much celebration, drinking of wine, contests, etc.

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON Fall is also representative of aging or getting older and being wiser.

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON SPRING usually represents a time of birth, rebirth, resurrection, or renewal. However, it can also represent death. Religious Holidays of the Spring Season Easter (White is the color for this religious holiday.) Lent (Purple is the color for this religious holiday.)

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON Animals, flowers/plants, and Religious Imagery Associated with the Spring Season lambs (representative of innocence and purity) hyacinths/lilies These flowers die at the end of spring and bloom again each spring. Lilies usually bloom in white. Hyacinths bloom in white, bluish purple, pink, yellow. These flowers can represent death, rebirth, immortality, resurrection.

GEOGRAPHY MATTERS Well, what represents infertility? Authors can use the landscape/setting to represent a characters’ or society’s infertility, inability to be productive, inability to be constructive, inability to progress forward, or inability to create. Authors will use words such as barren, desolate, wasteland, bare, impotent, etc. Infertile landscapes: brown, dry soil, devoid of plant life, devoid of water, devoid of animal life

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON What seasons suggest infertility? Since infertility can in some cases also mean death, WINTER can suggest infertility. However, the winter season is also representative of death.

SUNRISE AND THE EAST Sunrise typically represents birth. The sun rises in the east, so the east can sometimes represent this as well.

SUNSET AND THE WEST Sunset typically represents death. The sun sets in the west, so the west can typically represent this as well.

IMAGERY PATTERNS light and dark imagery dark imagery includes: COLORS: black, crimson (dark shade of red), dark purple, WORDS: shade/shadow (death), dark/darkness/night (ignorance/lack of knowledge) REFERENCES TO NATURE: ravens/crows/vultures (death), twilight/night (death), WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH DARK COLORS: ash, light imagery includes: COLORS: white, silver WORDS: bright, brightness, fair, pale, [flame/fire(passion/anger/lust), burn, candle], light (truth/knowledge), glow REFERENCES TO NATURE: sun/eye of heaven (beauty, happiness), sunlight/daylight, lightning, sunrise/dawn (birth), moon/moonlight, stars/starlight, doves (peace), snow, clouds (confusion) WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH LIGHT COLORS: milk-white, opaque, cloudy (confusion), corpse-white (death)

IMAGERY PATTERNS fire imagery water imagery warfare imagery phoenix (resurrection) flame, fire, flint, inferno water imagery baptism (rebirth) – rain and being submerged in water warfare imagery the use of war terminology animal imagery comparisons (similes/metaphors) to animals food imagery disease/sickness imagery death imagery mausoleum, tomb, corpse

IMAGERY PATTERNS ship imagery farm/agriculture imagery helm, sailors, captain, sea, harbor, port farm/agriculture imagery plow (plough), till, field(s), fertile, fertility, crop(s), furrow

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES The Devil Archetype fiend/fiendish, snake, devilish, A character may sell his soul, figuratively speaking, to or make a deal with the character that is the devil archetype.