Introduction to Text Set:

I chose mythology as the overarching theme for my text set. I took a mythologies class in
high school as a senior english elective. I have always enjoyed mythologies and would
really like to teach a similar class to the one I took in high school. Most of the books I
picked are extremely long and I would most likely use them not as full texts, but instead
take small sections out for the students to each read and then offer the full texts if they
would like to read further. The first unit will cover Greek and Roman mythology. The
texts utilized for this portion of the class will be The Greek Myths, The Golden Fleece,
The Iliad, and some of Bulfinch's Mythology. The Greek Myths is a very extensive text
that covers a majority of all the Greek myths. As a back up to this text there will be
Bulfinch's Mythology. These are much more simplified versions of those myths. In case
students are struggling understanding the material Bulfinch will be a back up text. Part of
the unit will also be heroes of Greece. This is where the Iliad and the golden fleece come
in. The Iliad will be used as an example of an epic and give them an introduction into the
heroes of Greece. The Iliad solely focuses on Achilles and the story of the Trojan war.
The golden fleece is a much more broad encompassing compilation of Greek heroes. It
tells the tale of Theseus, Heracles, and Perseus in relative detail. This will help the
students get a more encompassing view of the heroes. We will then transfer to Norse
mythology and utilize the texts Gods of Ancient Northmen and Gods and Myths of
Northern Europe. The key difference between these two texts is that Gods and Myths is
more of an encyclopedia, while Gods of Ancient Northmen tells tales about their gods. To
introduce the gods we will use Gods of Ancient Northmen so that the students can get an
understanding of Norse myth and then we can go more in depth. For more in depth we
will refer to Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. This encyclopedia style has in depth
descriptions of some of the key sagas and gods of the Norse mythology. We will then us
the Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun and Beowulf to introduce the Arthurian unit. Sigurd
was originally a Norse myth but later translated over and used during the Arthurian times.
Beowulf is not Norse at all but shares many common characteristics of Norse mythology
even though it was written around the time of Arthur. For this unit I will use The death of
King Arthur, King Arthur hero and legend, and Bulfinch's mythology. The key difference
between the two texts on king Arthur is that the death of king Arthur is very broad and
covers the whole timeline of king Arthur, but not in great detail. Meanwhile, king Arthur
hero and legend does not encompass the full timeline of king Arthur but, the time that it
does cover is significantly more in depth than the other. In this unit once again Bulfinch's
mythology will be used as back up to help with understanding the more difficult sections
of king Arthur.