Greek Poetry and Prose - Essay Example

1. Greek Poetry and Prose 2. 3 Words to Describe Achiles. Cocky You wine sack, with a dog's eyes, with a deer's heart. Never once have you taken courage in your heart to arm with your people for battle, or go into ambuscade with the best of the Achaians. No, for in such things you see death. He is not just a man of violent actions but also a man of violent words. This is not entirely common among men but he is surely an exception. He is not content to violently act, he needs to thrash talk and he had to do this in that in a seemingly witty way so much so that his insults are poetry. Egotist No more entreating of me, you dog, by knees or parents. I wish only that my spirit and fury would drive me to hack your meat away and eat it raw for the things that you have done to me. It is expected for a leader to be prideful but Achilleus is so consumed with an astounding sense of greatness. It is it this high self-regard that motivates him to do harsh actions against enemies and implement aggressive plans during war. Spiteful 'And now my prize you threaten in person to strip from me, for whom I labored much, the gift of the sons of the Achaians. Never, when the Achaians sack some well-founded citadel of the Trojans, do I have a prize that is equal to your prize. […] The quote was directed at Agamemnon because he is taking the credit from what Achilleus has done. It is natural for people to expect a reaction for their every action and in this situation, Achilleus had reason to be angry. However, that concept is far too exaggerated for Achilleus. His reaction is vastly more violent and far more destructive relative to the action that ignited it. 3. Passage that suggests Gods control the lives of the characters “Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters’ souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs and birds and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end..” “Thus did he pray, and Apollo heard his prayer. He came down furious from the summits of Olympus.” The first line already provides the context of the whole story. It is about human emotions and the choices that man makes as motivated by their emotions. Homer announces clearly that the story is about rage and the consequences of being unable to control it. Both passages were about the consequences of the actions that man makes as motivated by the emotions. Gods are projected as spectators with an emotional involvement that is passive in nature rather than active. They cannot prevent actions, they can discourage but they can make man do anything unless man does so. Greek Poetry and Prose Lesson 2 Journal Entry # 2 of 5 : Lesson 2, Journal Activity 2 4. Both You Are the Herdsman of Evening and Tonight I’ve Watched It is interesting how both poems used natural imagery as the personification two very basic but different human needs. You Are The Herdsman painted a picture of a pastoral setting and how the darkness naturally dictates the need to bring animals home. This is a metaphor for man’s need find a home after a chaotic day. On the other hand, Tonight I’ve Watched used the image of a setting sun and the coming of darkness as a metaphor to growing old. 5. Lyric poems you will never be an old house with cracked walls and empty halls you will never be old garden with nothing but dead leaves and hallow winds you will never be an old guitar with rusty strings and untouched body you will never be a memory tucked in some corner of history 6. Funeral Speech of Pericles from History of the Peloponnesian War. Appeal to Emotion: We have a form of government not fetched by imitation from the laws of our neighbouring states (nay, we are rather a pattern to others, than they to us) which, because in the administration it hath respect not to a few but to the multitude, is called a democracy.” On the onset, the passage may feel like it is an appeal to reason because it talked of government. However, the passage does not contain any objective substantiation why their government is better. Just because something is organic to a country doesn’t make it superior over other matter from other countries. It counted on having a government that was conceived purely for and by their people. It was an appeal to their sense of nationalism. Appeal to Reason: When we invade our neighbors, though we fight in hostile ground against such as in their own ground fight in defense of their own substance, yet for the most part we get the victory. This is one claim that was clearly substantiated by fact. He mentioned that when they only fight to defend themselves which clearly implies they don’t quest for violence. Yet, they win which proves their supremacy. Both tactics could work today. The modern world affords everyone the ability to research for facts. Any claim that is fully substantiated becomes credible. Reason makes concepts tangible. However, no one can deny that there is no greater motivation than personal emotion such as pride. It is necessary that a person be hooked through reason and emotion to be persuaded to do something and take a specific path. 7. Thucydides and Socrates Speech Theucydides’ speech is more effective because of three things: it is more contemporary in tone, it is more realistic in its poetry and it appeals to both reason and emotion. His tone is more conversational compared to that of Socrates. Old English was not used which makes it easier to the ear. Naturally, the one that you will hear is the one that has greater chances of influencing you. In the era of a highly dynamic language, it is important to use a method that the current generation can relate to. Socartes’ is overly poetic and digging the meanings behind the text will require time and effort. It also uses more realistic imagery. Socrates talked about divine power and surrendering himself to a higher being. Though not an entirely flawed concept, it could prove to be cold and distant. Divine power is such a vague concept and could prove hard to relate to. Thucydides also used both rhyme and reason, emotion and logic which allows it to be a more balanced speech. The emotional part serves as the ignition while the logic is what sustains the fire. Greek Drama: Oedipus Rex Parts 1 and 2 Lesson 2 Journal Entry # 3 of 5 : Lesson 2, Journal Activity 3 8. Two situations from your own life parallel the actions taken by Oedipus. Oedipus left Corinth because of what the prophesy said, that he will marry his mother and bear children with her. Not knowing he was adopted, he left to avoid it. It was an act of protection. In the end, he killed his biological father and married his mother. Several times in the past, I found myself wanting to protect my siblings only ended up hurting them more. I once learned that a guy that my younger sister liked was a drug user. To get my sister away from the guy, I told my parents about it. My parents asked my sister stop seeing the guy but it only provoked her to rebel. She ended up trying drugs and constantly fighting with my parents to see the other guy. Oedipus also ended up sacrificing and punishing himself in the end when he learned he ended up exactly as prophesied. I also ended up sacrificing myself once. I learned that I was causing the friction between my immediate supervisor and our manager at work. My supervisor was being forced to fire me by our manager but my supervisor refused. As a result, they got into a lot of misunderstanding. Not wanting to cause further problems for my supervisor because he is a nice guy, I decided to resign. 9. Dramatic irony from Part 1 and two from Part 2 of Oedipus Rex. First, he ran away from his parents because he thought he would kill his father. Not knowing he was adopted, he ended up running towards his parents and killing his biological father. He did the one thing he was avoiding. Since the audience knew what the character was doing, the anticipation was more for the effect of the action. The audience was allowed to see darkness slowly creep above everyone instead of being caught by surprise by an unexpected twist. Next, Oedipus promises to get rid of whoever killed King Laius. However, he was the one who unknowingly did it. At this point, the audience is allowed to view Oedipus as a victim of his own ignorance rather than a proud stupid leader. His intentions were always well but his execution was not. 10. Decision that could have avoided the tragedy. If Polybus and Merope told Oedipus the truth from the beginning, Oedipus would not have ran away. All he needed was the truth. Had he known that what was prophesied could have involved someone else, he could have decided to stay and not allow a prophesy to change his life. Oedipus could have also opted to be more open to his adoptive parents and told them of his desire to leave because of the prophesy. This could have motivated his parents to tell him the truth. Truth and openness are the two simple things that could have avoided the tragedy altogether. 11. Jocasta behaves more like Oedipus’ mother than his wife. Explain. Jocasta speaks of "empty nonsense," of prophecies never fulfilled she tries to sway Oedipus away from listening to the prophesy knowing it was driving him mad and upon learning Oedipus’ real identity, she chose to punish herself than subject Oedipus to the suffering from knowing the truth Jocasta is always protective of Oeidipus to the point of choosing to punish herself rather than let him suffer. Much like a mother whose instinct is to always protect her child from anything even if it meant she will have to suffer in silence. She is always the voice of reason, an advisor, rather than a partner. She knew that prophesies were driving him mad so she encouraged him to stop listening to prophesies. She can stand seeing him get hurt as oppose to allowing him to go through the pain knowing it will make him stronger. Wives can also do all those things but the expectation is to allow their husbands to grow and even distance herself from his profession. Jocasta can’t stand doing that. She needed to always protect him even if it meant protecting Oedipus against himself. Jocasta was also never a female ruler, as a queen should be. She was the nurturer of the king, Oedipus. She was there to attend to his needs and was never concerned about the kingdom and other people that much. There is also a noticeable absence of sensuality from Jocasts to Oedipus. Her love was tender not passionate. In the entire story, their relationship has always been driven by Oedipus’ needs and Jocasta simply provided. 12. Similarities with you and Oedipus Rex There are several fundamental differences between my situation and that of Oedipus. For one, my decision was not motivated by a prophesy or any kind of supernatural influence. My decision was grounded on a fact that I can fully support. I wanted my sister to avoid the guy because the guy was a drug user. I also was not concerned about myself. I had nothing at stake except the pain I was bound to experience if my sister decided to start seeing the guy. Oedipus was scared to be the person to kill his father and scared to marry his mother. It was a question of morality. I had none of those concerns. I was purely concerned about my sister. I also turned to my parents, unlike Oedipus who turned away from his parents. My instinct was to go to the two people I trusted the most and tell them the truth and how I felt. I trusted their judgment over mine. There are also striking similarities. Oedipus and I ended up having the one thing we were trying to avoid. I risked my relationship with my sister all because I knew that she was going to head down a path that will put her in danger and yet, that is exactly what I got. We also have a hanging question that will most likely never be answered. What if I didn’t do anything about it? Would my sister end up not going out with the guy? What if Oedipus didn’t act on the prophesy, would it still have come true? Roman Literature and the Aeneid Lesson 2 Journal Entry # 4 of 5 : Lesson 2, Journal Activity 4 13. Greatest Conflict of Aeneas When Aeneas reached Italy, he was welcomed by king Latinus who immediately offered his daughter Lavinia. By Book 8, he found himself needing to fight his host and he didn’t want to until Evander, a Greek whose capital is on the future site of Rome, promised to help him. He was prophesied to be a future king but having to fight in a time when he was down and out with men and morally is easily his greatest conflict. The odds were against him and the only thing holding him up to it was the prophesy that he was to rule a kingdom. In a modern setting, he certainly had neither a tactical nor a strategic advantage and being offered assistance by a relative stranger is not exactly an advantage. 14. If you were a Trojan refugee, would you accept Aeneas as your leader. Yes, by virtue of default. I would, in no way, be led by anyone who is not my own. Given that Aeneas is the only one who was willing to step to the role of a leader willing to take us out of the land and find a new settlement. It is a far more attractive option to me than being a slave in my own home. I do not believe in prophesies so I don’t think I will take it to heart that he is destined to build a new kingdom. However, it will be a matter of logic for me to try and look for a new settlement. If that meant supporting Aeneas, I would have done it. 15. “Aeneas is a great hero whose best actions are influenced by a woman.” Many would say that the biggest female influence is Juno. Her hatred of the Trojans prompted her to do things to keep Aeneas from being able to fulfill his destiny. However, it is also to be noted that she is only able to delay it but not able to stop it. There is one character that seems weak but is actually more powerful, Dido. From the beginning, we knew Dido’s sufferings because of the death of her husband killed by her brother. Yet she was able to rule her land and get people to rebuild it. She rose to the challenge. She was compassionate and generous and Aeneas felt this. It was Dido who made Aeneas come out of his shell and recall the horrors of Troy. Dido’s love was what gave Aeneas the faith he needed on himself. In the underworld, it was still Dido who left the greatest pain in his heart. He knew Dido won’t be able to forgive him and he deeply regretted it. It remained his biggest regret. Looking back at his actions, all his apprehensions to take a wife would have been because of Dido. Roman Poetry Lesson 2 Journal Entry # 5 of 5 : Lesson 2, Journal Activity 5 16. Metamorphoses and Genesis. Both sources states that a supreme being created heaven and earth. In Ovid and Genesis, God or a god was supposed to be the powerful entity that was and is able to begin and end things. It was this ability that allowed them to start life and everything that comes with it. The two were also common description of life being formless and shapeless. There was only nothingness. It was God or a supreme being that created light so that something becomes visible to the naked eye. Genesis said that there was nothing in the beginning but a word and Ovid said that life was shapeless, chaotic and a complete mess. Forms began when the gods started separating the different elements. Both stories also gave a detailed description of the creation. Ovid detailed how elements were separated while Genesis told what was created on specific days. Ovid separated the islands and the sea, the light and darkness. These were also the first elements that were created as told in Genesis. 17. Horace’s advice in Carpe Diem and an athlete training for the upcoming Olympic games and a person with a terminal illness might regard the poem Most pitfalls happen when an athlete thinks of the end more than he thinks of the process. Games are won in inches, in milliseconds because it is the effort that you put in every inch and in every second that comes together to form your game winning performance. It’s about giving your best in every stage. You should compete with yourself, be a better version of yourself than you were yesterday. Only through that will you be able to finish first. It is also this same motivation that should be used by those with terminal illness. Make sure they are able to make the most out of what they have. The poem talked about whether Jupiter will give them one more day or not is not important for as long as they make good with today. When one is ill, there really is no telling when it is time to go so it’s useless to dwell on it. You can, however, do something about what you have now. Read More