Friday, November 28, 2014

Augustine

http://www.transpositions.co.uk/2013/08/the-senses-are-not-content-to-take-second-place-body-art-and-temptation-in-augustines-confessions/


Augustine's Confessions

Augustine’s Confessions is an autobiography of Augustine’s life.  He wrote it in the years of 397 to 430.  It consisted of him retelling many parts and specific stories of his life.  He was a highly religious Christian towards the end of his time and confessed many of his sins and negative thoughts in the work. 
The genre of the confessions is non-fiction and one of the main themes is God and Augustine tells of his conversion to Christianity.  The first book accounting his childhood begins focusing on God.  “What have I to say to Thee, God, save that I know not where I came from, when I came into this life-in-death—or should I call it death-in-life? I do not know, I only know that the gifts Your mercy has provided sustained me from the first moment: not that I remember it but so I have heard from the parents of my flesh, the father from whom, and the mother in whom, You fashioned me in time.”  This first section in his work illustrates his focus on God and Christianity. 
Throughout the text he views himself as a sinner, specifically the pear tree incident where him and some friends stole pears off a tree and threw them to hogs.  He states, “Our only pleasure in doing it was that it was forbidden.”  The whole work is a confession of his wrongdoings in an apologetic standpoint.  Augustine refers to God in his work closely and intimately.  I found the pear tree incident comparable to that of current times.  I argue similar situations are present today among both children and adults.  He states, “For once I had gathered them I threw them away, tasting only my own sin and savoring that with delight; for if I took so much as a bite of any of those pears, it was the sin that sweetened it.” People often act out of impulse and do something or disobey authority “just to do it”.    
I found Augustine’s Confessions very interesting in the reality of it and coming straight from the source of one man’s account of his own life and personal experiences and feelings.  Augustine says, “I came to Carthage where a cauldron of illicit loves leapt and boiled about me. I was not yet in love, but I was in love with love, and from the very depth of my need hated myself for not more keenly feeling the need.”  While reading the text, I appreciated his honesty and the detailed description of his feelings.  His honesty and trueness in his work makes it relatable to today despite how long ago Augustine lived and when the confessions were written.
Question for the class:
·        List some comparisons of the work to modern culture. How Augustine acted? How he felt? Are there any types of work that closely compare to the his confessions?
·        List some differences to modern culture.
·        List some recurring themes
·        Do some research and find more information about Augustine. What was the culture like? Was he ever persecuted for his religion? 

Work Cited
Puchner, Martin. "Augustine’s Confessions" The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third Ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 832-858. Print.


Mawangdui Silk Manuscripts of the Daodejing

 http://www.daoistcenter.org/daodejing.html


Laozi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi


Daodejing by Laozi

The Daodejing is an old Chinese text that was produced during the sixth through the third centuries.  The author is not entirely known but is said to be Laozi, a master.  The work is an instruction manual to the people on how to rule and gain power and success.  It is based on “nonaction” and passiveness.  The chapters are in rhythmic verses and it is of a philosophical genre.  The genre of the text evokes that of mysterious instruction and deep thinking. 
I found the text very interesting in the way of the unknown.  The first time I read through it, I found it strangely complicated and confusing but then once I read the introduction and learned some of the background on it, I found it easier and more enjoyable to read.  As I went on, I appreciated the simplicity and language of the text.  For example, in the XXXVIII chapter it states, “A man of the highest virtue does not keep to virtue and that is why he has virtue. A man of the lowest virtue never strays from virtue and that is why he is without virtue.”  The way I interpreted this section was relating to being humble and not searching and constantly striving for virtue and esteem.  I argue, instruction similar to this text exists today.  Words of wisdom continue to be passed down through word of mouth and in religious texts.
One thing I found odd in the text was the reference to “The Way” and “The Virtue”.  I found the text interesting due to how different it was.  I have little background in ancient literature and the Daodejing was unlike anything I have read before.  As I studied the text, I found the text artful and beautiful in its language and simplicity. 
One term that came up several times in the text was myriad, linked with creatures.  I have seen this word before; however, I did not know the meaning.  I looked it up and it is defined as great, many or infinite in number.  One place myriad is used in one of the chapters is, “The way is empty, yet use will not drain it. Deep, it is like the ancestor of the myriad creatures.”  In this section, I considered it to be referring to the predecessor of innumerable creatures.    
Question for the class:
·         How does this text compare to current works of literature of our culture?
·         Lists some symbolism within the work?
·         How do you view the instruction and behavior the text suggests? Do you agree or disagree with teachings?
·         List some differences to modern culture.
·         How does Chinese literature that is produced today compare to the Daodejing?  
·         Do some research and find more information about the authors of the text? Who? Why? When?

Work Cited
"Myriad." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/myriad>.
Puchner, Martin. "Daodejing/ Laozi." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third Ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 780-790. Print.


The Trojan Women

http://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/e-newsletter/140919


The Trojan Women - Modern Take of the Play - Movie Released 1971

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067881/


The Trojan Women By Euripides

The Trojan Women by Euripides is an ancient masterpiece that shamelessly depicts the tragedy of war.  The play was released in the year 415 B.C and it is based on the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and focuses on the suffering of the Trojan women and children held captive by the Greeks following the fall of their city.  Euripides proves to be an artist in his writing by the way he describes the situations and illustrates the emotions of the characters.  Based on the play, Euripides views war negatively and holds the women as outstanding and just. 

Work Cited
Grene, David. "The Trojan Women." Euripides III; Hecuba, Andromache, the Trojan Woman, Ion,. Vol. VI. New York: Random House, 1958. 206-264. Print.    
Puchner, Martin. "Euripides: Medea." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 525-528. Print. 

Metamorphoses by Ovid: Apollo and Daphne

http://www.ovid-metamorphoses.net/node/42


Reader Response: Metamorphoses by Ovid

             Metamorphoses by Ovid is a beautifully written piece of literature that is both interesting and thought provoking.  Metamorphoses is a collection of physical transformations.  It first begins with a description of the creation of the earth and then includes several stories of accounts of love and passion gone wrong.  I found this text quite enjoyable and entertaining due to the detailed descriptions, the beautiful language and the fascinating tales.  Most of all I really appreciated the language of this poem.  One particular quote from the text I found beautifully explained was in the description of the creation of the earth, “Now when that god (whichever one it was) had given chaos form, dividing it in parts which he arranged, he molded earth into the shape of an enormous globe, so that it would be uniform throughout.”  All through the text, Ovid tells the stories artfully.  He is very descriptive in his writings and evokes the feelings of the characters well.
            Overall, I found the reading understandable and reasonably easy to follow.  One thing that was interesting to me was the focus on the rape of women.  It made me wonder if that was a common occurrence in that time.  The introduction of the text tells of the hypocrisy of the Roman sexual customs and etiquette.  It states that the main way Rome was supplied with offspring was through the rape of Sabine women.  I found this text relatable in the description of love, feelings and desires.  People in modern culture still have the same feelings of love towards others.  One things that particularly relates to today is the taboo of incest.  The incestuous relationship between Myrrha and her father Cinyras was referred to as evil and breaking Nature’s law.  This social rule of abstaining from incest still remains in most cultures today. 
            Metamorphoses is made up of fifteen books and was written around 8 C.E.  Ovid was a Roman poet who lived from 43 B.C.E. to 17 C.E.  The genre of his writings was epic poetry and the main topics he wrote about were relationships, sex and retelling of myths.  Ovid’s poetry is well known and influenced many in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance.      
            I thought the reading was very interesting and different compared to other things I have read.  The main focus of Metamorphoses is “change” with there being a collection of stories rather than having one main character.  I enjoyed reading the poems because they had an interesting story line and the dramatic change of the characters.  There were no particular terms I had to look up or was confused by; however, the footnotes were very helpful. 
Questions for the class
·         List some similarities or reoccurrences of characters from other readings we have done in class.
·         Did you find any symbolism within the story?
·         List some comparisons of the story to modern culture.
·         List some differences to modern culture.
·         What was the significance of the metamorphoses associated with love gone badly?

Work Cited
Puchner, Martin. "Euripides: Medea." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 525-564. Print.


Catullus at Lesbia's by Sir Laurence Alma Tadema

http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/tadema/paintings/5.html


Catullus

http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/backgrounds/catullus.html


Catullus (84-54 B.C.E)

Catullus was an ancient poet who was born into an aristocratic family in Italy. His poems refer to his lovers, enemies and mention the great female Greek poet, Sappho. He talks about his uninterest towards Caesar and is known to be an anti political writer.

Work Cited
Puchner, Martin. "Catullus." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 565-572. Print.

Medea Sculpture

http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/medeabg.html


Medea

http://www.preraphaelites.org/the-collection/1925p105/medea/


Reader Response: Medea by Euripides

             Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy that depicts the pain and passion of love and relationships in this case the horrific consequences of a scorned woman.  Medea was written by Euripides and was first performed in the year 431 B.C.E.  One thing that made me want to keep reading was the transformation of Medea’s feelings and character.  In the beginning Medea is feeling completely helpless and wishes death upon herself but as the story continues her feelings morph into anger and desperation.  Throughout the play my feelings shift from pity to anger and disgust as she begins unmercifully murdering others to get back at Jason.  Medea proved to be a horrific yet entertaining piece of literature that kept me interested throughout the whole story.
One thing I found odd in the text was Medea’s ability to convince Pelias’ daughters to boil him alive in order to make him immortal.  I thought about this and considered the several references to magic and witchcraft.  One reason why I think the daughters might have believed Medea was because she very persuasive and was skilled in magic so it made a little sense to me that the daughters believed her considering the circumstances.  On the other hand, I found the quarrel between Medea and Jason was easily comparable to our culture.  Their responses to each other were typical to many current breakups.  Medea was listing all the things she did for Jason and then Jason brushed it off and tried to justify his behavior by making excuses and offering her money.  At one point he responds with, “I won’t discuss this with you any further. If you’d like me to help you and the children with money for your exile, then just say so.”  I found the whole breakup situation and their arguing quite comparable and prevalent in many current relationships.
            The introduction in the text tells us some information about the author.  Euripides was well known in his time being one of the three famous Athenian tragedians whose work still survives from that time period.  He lived from 480-406 B.C.E. and wrote many plays but only won first prize for four of them.  Euripides wrote how things were and often questioned the gods and Greek myths resulting in him being quite controversial during his time. We know from the culture that it was a time for wealth and success for Athens at that time due to the defeat of the Persians.  The genre of Medea can be categorized as a Greek tragedy.
            Overall, I found the text as a disastrous love story in the ancient Greek culture.  I considered it a fairly easy read; however, I did look up the meaning of the terms strophe and antistrophe.  Strophe is defined as “the part of an ancient Greek choral ode sung by the chorus when moving from right to left.”  Antistrophe is the response to the previous strophe by the chorus.  These two terms related to the chorus of the story.  Throughout the plot, the chorus comes in and out stating their opinions on the current situations.  In some parts of the story, they sympathize with Medea and in others they strongly disagree with her actions.   
One thing I found interesting in the story of Medea was how relatable it is to our current culture.  The story begins in a state of distress with the nurse wishing things would not have happened the way they did and describing Medea’s internal turmoil.  Medea is in major suffering due to Jason leaving her for the princess of Corinth.  The nurse describes Medea’s current state, “She won’t touch food; surrendering to pain, she melts away her days in tears, ever since she learned of this injustice. She won’t raise her face; her eyes are glued to the ground. Friends talk to her, try to give her good advice; she listens the way a rock does, or an ocean wave.”  This statement describes the utter defeat and worthlessness Medea is feeling.  She is so broken by the loss and betrayal of her husband that in the end she ends up doing awful things just to get back at him.  I found this story and the description of Medea’s feelings quite comparable to modern times.  Even though this text was written so long ago I would argue little has changed in the feelings and behavior of people concerning love and relationships.  You often hear of the people doing terrible things to spouses and family members even today.  It reminded me that people are people and the play of Medea depicts that the current generation still shares very similar experiences and feelings to those in history.
Question for the class:
·         If the story went on what do you think would happen to Medea? Would the gods punish her?
·         Did you find any symbolism within the story?
·         List some comparisons of the story to modern culture.
·         List some differences to modern culture.
·         Do some research and how did divorce work in that culture? What was the process and what were the social and financial consequences for the man and the woman?    

Work Cited
"Antistrophe." Dictionary.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/antistrophe>.
Puchner, Martin. "Euripides: Medea." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 525-564. Print.

"Strophe." Dictionary.com. Web. 23 Oct. 2014. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/strophe>.

Sappho

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/10607569/A-new-Sappho-poem-is-more-exciting-than-a-new-David-Bowie-album.html


Sappho: Incomplete Poems

http://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/Fragment-of-a-Lyric-by-Sappho

Many of Sappho's poems are incomplete and are only fragments due to the deterioration of materials and the length of time ago they were produced.


Sappho

http://www.livius.org/person/sappho/


Sappho (630 B.C.E)

Sappho is an ancient Greek poet who is was born on the island of Lesbos, off the Asia Minor. She referred to same-sex relationships in her work and her poems inspired the development of the modern term lesbian. We know little of that time period concerning of the attitudes towards Sappho and how she was viewed in a very male dominated society. Sappho's poems were meant to be acted out in plays, not meant to be read in a book. Her poems are intense and very emotional, often referring to strong feelings of love, hate and desire. 

Work Cited
Puchner, Martin. "Sappho" The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 467-474. Print.  

The Illiad

http://genius.com/albums/Homer/The-iliad


The Mask of Agamemnon?

An archaeologist named Heinrich Schliemann discovered this mask and claims it is the death mask of Agamemnon and dates it back to the time of The Illiad.

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~johnsorh/Myth/not.mycmask.html


The Illiad: The Wooden Horse

A depiction of the wooden horse that lead to the fall of Troy.
http://fantasy-faction.com/2013/foundations-of-fantasy-the-iliad

The Illiad by Homer

 Class Notes


  • We don't really know who Homer was. He was possibly a foreigner. The style of the writing indicates one author.  
  • In Medias Res - meaning in the middle of things. Book I of The Illiad begins in the middle of war after ten years of battle. Many things are assumed to be known of that culture. 
  • Kleos - honor/reputation, street credentials, spiritual 
  • Xenia - quest, friendship, reciprocation 
  • Chryse - place 
  • Chryses - priest 
  • Chrseis - daughter      

Other Names for the Greeks 

- Achaens
- Danaans
- Myrmidons
- Argives

Other References for the Characters 


  • Achilles - fleet footed, the runner 
  • Hera - white-armed
  • Athena - grey eyed 
  • Hector - horse breaker 

Work Cited

Puchner, Martin. "Homer: The Illiad." The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 121-177. Print.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Gilgamesh and Enkidu

http://www.learner.org/courses/worldlit/gilgamesh/explore/slideshow.html#slideshow_2

Gilgemesh and Enkidu Slay the Great Giant Humbaba

http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/mideast/mi-wtst.htm

Tablet XI of Gilgamesh Located at the British Museum


<http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/t/the_flood_tablet.aspx>.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (1900-250 B.C.E)

               The epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient Mesopotamia piece of literature and is one of the earliest known works of the world. The author is unknown and records show the story was passed along gradually over time. The tale consists of king Gilgamesh of Uruk and his search for immortality. He is defined as "two-thirds divine and one-third human". The epic tracks Gilgamesh's transformation from a abominable and cruel king in the beginning to a thoughtful and esteemed ruler.  Along the way he meets a wild man named Enkidu and they grow to be close friends. The two men, battle beasts and face many trials along their adventure. Some themes of the story include power, love, sex, gods and death. The story of Gilgamesh is a gripping ancient masterpiece that is a must read!

Work Cited 

Puchner, Martin. "The Epic of Gilgamesh" The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Shorter Third                    
               Ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 33-88. Print.