RRhetoric
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Metaphor & Figuration

Mythopoesis

mith-oh-poh-EE-sis

Creating or developing myths. Origin stories, recurring figures, and ritual language can connect individual events to a larger account of the world.

"Many years later… his father took him to discover ice." — García Márquez founding a world

Don't confuse it with Allusion. Allusion borrows an existing myth; mythopoesis manufactures the mythic register itself.

Drill its family — Metaphor & Figuration

Examples

Before there were seasons, the first woman hid a coal beneath the earth. Each spring her daughters uncover it, and the world grows warm again.
Practice example · written for this exercise

The invented origin story explains the seasons through foundational characters and recurring actions.

The rest of the family

Metaphor Simile Catachresis Metonymy Synecdoche Personification Prosopopoeia Pathetic Fallacy Transferred Epithet / Hypallage Metalepsis Symbol Allusion