- This is an additional Reading Text for the Animation degree programme at QUST/Bradford
- It is uncontroversial to say that reading is probably the best way to extend your vocabulary and the more you read, the greater your vocabulary will be
- The reading material and exercises on this page will help you prepare for your Writing Coursework
We have been reading about mythological places in the course textbook. Now, let’s look at some information about other locations from the worlds of mythology. These extracts were copied from the Children’s Book of Mythological Beasts & Magical Monsters (DK, 2011), which I highly recommend to anybody interested in a wide ranging introduction to the mythology of various cultures around the world.
The first mythical location comes from ancient English legend:
The next mythical location is from Russia:
The Spanish conquistadors believed in this next legendary place as they plundered Latin America:
The next mythical location is probably the most famous of all. We revisit this location at the end of this article.
Since you are art students, how about we look specifically at some art?
The two paintings below are by Casper David Friedrich who is a 19th century artist famous for his German Romantic paintings. These places may or may not be real but are given a mystical quality through the painting techniques the artist used. You can also notice how small the people are compared to the sheer size of the surrounding environment showing how small we are compared to the power of nature.
Task for students: try to write a few sentences describing the places shown in these paintings.
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Mystical and mythological places are not only the preserve of legends and 19th century Romantic paintings. Modern entertainment often includes strange and other worldly locations. Think about the Death Star or Jabba the Hutt’s palace from George Lucas’ Star Wars, or perhaps Atlantis as shown in the very recent blockbuster movie version of DC Comic’s Aquaman.
