Epilogue

Abstract

During the heyday of twentieth-century mythic thinking, the novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch observed, “The mythical is not something ‘extra’; we live in myth and symbol all the time.”¹ To live in modern Britain was to be surrounded by myth. The British path to modernity was winding, uncertain, and took travelers into unmarked territory. The modern problem was perforce to tread this path into the unknown, as well-worn structures of meaning were left behind. Along this path the British people constructed fencerows, planted hedges, established way stations, and erected signposts in the form of myth. These eased the journey and gave it meaning. This study has sought to illuminate some of those attempts to make meaning through myth.