The nature of mythology is examined and its place in the English curriculum determined in a study that includes a review of the literature since the early twentieth century. Findings indicate that mythology has been used as a symbolic form--a mythical mode of thought--or a way of forming reality. Fundamental to the mythical mode of thought are a logic of associative relations, a reality appearance relationship, a technique of substitution, a basic concern with the process of metamorphosis as seen in a cyclic progression, and concern with the tension of opposites. A study of the relationship of mythology and literature revealed the fundamental relationship to be the quality of cyclic metamorphosis, which in its transformations reveals certain recurrent paradigms that can be called archetypal. Suggestions are made for application of these findings in the English curriculum for mythology to play a major role in the education of the imagination. (LH)