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Mythopoeic literature is literature that involves the creation of fictional myths. Notable mythopoeic authors are J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, H.P. Lovecraft, and George MacDonald.

The term Mythopoeia (virtually Greek μυθο-ποιία "myth-making") was coined by Tolkien as a title of one of his poems , which was written following a discussion on the night of 19 September 1931 at Magdalen with C. S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson. At this time, Lewis had already become a theist, but was sceptical of Christian mythology and the mythological aspects of Christ, arguing that myths were "lies breathed through silver".

The poem is addressed by one "Philomythos" to one "Misomythos" and takes a position opposed to rationalism and materialism. Tolkien chose to compose the poem in heroic couplets, the preferred metre of British Enlightenment poets, as it were attacking the proponents of materialist progress on their own turf. The poem refers to the creative human author as "the little maker" wielding his "own small golden sceptre" ruling his Subcreation (understood as genuine Creation within God's primary Creation)

I will not treat your dusty path and flat,

denoting this and that by this and that,

your world immutable wherein no part

the little maker has with maker's art.

I bow not yet before the Iron Crown,

nor cast my own small golden sceptre down.

The Mythopoeic Society exists to promote mythopoeic literature, partly by way of the Mythopoeic Awards.

See also

• Artificial mythology
• Legendarium
• Religion and mythology

References

1. Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien

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