I wish I know how to read Greek, speak it, listen to it, understand; and understand how the ancient Greeks communicate with their language and literature. There are walls that separates the poet, the poetry, and the audience and I find this case to be apparent with the contemporary translation of Sappho's poems. There are various translation of her poetry and various interpretation, this brings me to the first point that I made; I wish I know greek (or at least, know know it better). Nonetheless as far as they go, her poems are beautiful, to me they seem delicate, honest, and bold. I wonder if she writes them for the sake of writing them or for the sake of getting them across to her intended audiences (could be both). I think that it's interesting how a lot of her poems have something to do with excusing herself to feel the way she feels, a lot of them about romance and love. Her words are as beautiful as her approach and the ingredient that she brings to the table. She also composed and structured her poems beautifully.
Here's one that I really like
Tonight I've watched
the moon and then
the Pleiades
go down
The night is now
half-gone; youth
goes; I am
in bed alone
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Sappho Reading
Sappho has always been a large influence in how I come to form a lot of my own poetry. I wish more original pieces existed. As I was reading I couldn't stop myself from thinking about how Sappho would have actually physically put the words on the page. How, if when she was painting images with words, were the words also an image...(?) themselves? Was there punctuation? The relationship to the words and the physical space of the page is a crucial element to understanding any poetry, but especially in this instance would have greatly heightened the experience. I am also curious to know about the translations of Sappho's work.
In any case, Sappho makes me incredibly sad. The poem that has resonated with me the most over the past week was #4 on the website "It Seems To Me." She is so soft, and seemingly powerless in this situation of seeing a woman she has feelings for with a man. She feels so deeply for this woman that she says in her first line "It seems to me he is equal to the Gods," that this woman depicted is so unobtainable that only a mythical being could capture her. It seems also strange to me that a man is the subject of a whole entire stanza. How he entirely captures the attention and love of the girl Sappho refers to. This stanza seems entirely out of place in this poem and a lot of her poems. The scene she is seeing, describing almost has no meaning. In the next stanza it seems that maybe for a moment Sappho is fine with watching from a distance, that seeing her happy "stops the sighs within me." Following this statement are many lines of almost.. despair. She is frozen in this moment, unable to talk she describes her skin burning "a fire rages" depicting anger, maybe in herself that she feels so helpless. She is clearly showing jealousy, she loves a girl who does not, could not lover her back and is now in the company of a man, and envy of the man for having what she would give up her life to have (penis). Her language is incredibly real, it is very to the point which is an element of her work that i enjoy because it is not coated in 50 layers of literary traditions. But in this poem Sappho plays a lot with the passage of time, or not at all. Her use of the phrase "he/she seems" makes time seem indefinite, that possibly there is no physical scene actually unfolding infront of Sappho but that maybe it is an illusion. Possibly Sappho has seen this scenario before but now continues to replay the moment in seeming tourment. Maybe fair to say that this poem is a dedication to Sappho's feelings.
In any case, Sappho makes me incredibly sad. The poem that has resonated with me the most over the past week was #4 on the website "It Seems To Me." She is so soft, and seemingly powerless in this situation of seeing a woman she has feelings for with a man. She feels so deeply for this woman that she says in her first line "It seems to me he is equal to the Gods," that this woman depicted is so unobtainable that only a mythical being could capture her. It seems also strange to me that a man is the subject of a whole entire stanza. How he entirely captures the attention and love of the girl Sappho refers to. This stanza seems entirely out of place in this poem and a lot of her poems. The scene she is seeing, describing almost has no meaning. In the next stanza it seems that maybe for a moment Sappho is fine with watching from a distance, that seeing her happy "stops the sighs within me." Following this statement are many lines of almost.. despair. She is frozen in this moment, unable to talk she describes her skin burning "a fire rages" depicting anger, maybe in herself that she feels so helpless. She is clearly showing jealousy, she loves a girl who does not, could not lover her back and is now in the company of a man, and envy of the man for having what she would give up her life to have (penis). Her language is incredibly real, it is very to the point which is an element of her work that i enjoy because it is not coated in 50 layers of literary traditions. But in this poem Sappho plays a lot with the passage of time, or not at all. Her use of the phrase "he/she seems" makes time seem indefinite, that possibly there is no physical scene actually unfolding infront of Sappho but that maybe it is an illusion. Possibly Sappho has seen this scenario before but now continues to replay the moment in seeming tourment. Maybe fair to say that this poem is a dedication to Sappho's feelings.
Austin Schermerhorn, On Fragment 16 by Sappho (trans. Mary Barnard)
"You are the herdsmen of evening
Hesperus, you herd
homeward whatever
Dawn's light dispersed
You herd sheep--herd
goats--herd children
home to their mothers"
In Sappho’s hymnic fragment, she
invokes Hesperus, Greek god who acts as the personification of the ‘Evening
Star’, which we now know as the planet Venus. Hesperus is the son of Eos, the
personification of the dawn, and half-brother to the Morning Star, Phosphorus.
In a beautiful,
evocative manner, Sappho is detailing the effects of twilight; rather than
describing the dwindling light itself, she is detailing its consequences, brought
through the personification of the Evening Star. Whatever the day had brought,
whatever tribulations or exaltations dawn had shown to man, twilight is now
herding, collecting the vestiges of the day and ultimately sinking them into
darkness once more. With light humans become active in the world, and for better
or for worse they live and grow in the light: they venture away from home when
Dawn’s light is dispersed. With the cursory, non-descript “whatever” in line 4,
Sappho seems less interested in the different spectra of lives and days that
humans have, and more interested in the preparation for the after, that which
makes us all alike in our end. The arrival of the Evening Star in the
half-light seems then to be the beckoning call for a return home (for the
children), and a return to safety and enclosure (for the sheep), a signal for
sleep and an awaiting of the first hint of morning, for Hesperus’s half-brother
Phosphorus (which is also incidentally the planet Venus). This recurrent nature
of the planet Venus, which was thought to the Ancient Greeks to be two separate
celestial bodies, shows the repetition of the day and also for life in general,
that for a while something is shown--gradually light is thrown on the day or on
the life of a human, and then soon enough, sometimes too soon, the light
dwindles again and the herdsman of evening quietly escorts us home and ushers
in the still night. But after the Evening Star, the Morning Star always rises
to signal a nearing dawn, so perhaps, if Sappho is suggesting death as well as
twilight in this poem, we must only wait to view Hesperus’ half-brother, and
thus a new dawn.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Reid Fowler, Sappho Poem Close Reading
Many of Sappho’s poems struck me, and they are noticeably different than many other poems I have read, such
as the fact that in some of her poems, she includes her own name, which I found unusual. This is exemplified in
Abandoned, when she recreates a conversation between her and others who have abandoned her,
Well, I was told all sorts of things –
things such as,
“Oh, dear, dear Sappho, what awful things we must
endure!
Believe me,
I’m leaving you against my will!”
and appears again in her
Ode to Aphrodite, when she calls upon the goddess of love (and
persuasion) to help her catch the attention of another woman. In the
poem, Aphrodite addresses her by name:
You asked,
“Who is it this time, Sappho? Whom do you want me
to bring to you?** Who, Sappho is hurting you now?”
Most
poets I have read choose not to use their names explicitly in their
poems, and when speaking in first person generally stick to only first
person pronouns. Perhaps
Sappho chooses to include her own name as these are her personal
experiences; Where most poems the reader might choose to place oneself
in the poet’s point of view, we are not given this option with many of
Sappho’s poems, and instead invited by Sappho to
listen to her story. The story is not our own.
One of my favorites of the group, and is the poem that I have chosen to do my true close reading of, is her
poem The stars around the moon:
And again when
the moon
casts her brilliance all over the earth
The stars
soften the blaze of their
beauty
Unlike
the majority of her poems, which seem to lean towards romance and
relationships, this poem instead shines her attention on the moon and
stars, something universal
to all of us on earth. An interesting choice, Sappho begins this poem
with the word “And.” Somewhat odd, as this is usually a word used to
connect thoughts, not begin them, yet nevertheless seems to be an
acceptable start for some in the poetry realm. It is
paired with the word “again,” so the beginning phrase “And again”
suggests that this is something she has noticed before, and is choosing
to acknowledge after she has witnessed this happening multiple times. In
this case, night after night the stars “soften
the blaze of their beauty” under the moon’s cast of “brilliance.”
“When,” as in “And again when,” adds to this implication of time, as it
is not only something she has experienced on more than one occasion, but
is an event that is reoccurring, and expected
to happen again. Here the poet chooses to break to the next line, and
“the moon” is given its own line, before going onto the third line. In
choosing to do this, Sappho gives the moon its own space, and causes the
reader to pause on the moon’s significance.
The poem is titled The stars around the moon, and is therefore
technically about the stars, but the moon is given just as much, if not
more, priority than the stars. This is evident by Sappho’s description
of the night sky scene. Though Sappho acknowledges
the stars’ brilliance alongside the moon, they are dimmed in
comparison, both literally and figuratively, as under the moon’s
brilliant cast the stars “soften their blaze.” The imagery of this
description is also effective, as we can imagine the stars, already
bright as they are, dimmed in comparison to the moon’s brilliance,
which in turn elevates the moon’s grandness.
Another
interesting word decision is Sappho’s choice to give the moon a gender,
as Sappho explains that the
moon “casts her brilliance […]” implying with the pronoun “her” that
the moon is female. This both humanizes and feminizes the moon, making
the moon more relatable to humans, as well as paints the moon in a
rather motherly fashion. The stars are also humanized
in a way, as the last lines of the poem read, “the stars / soften the
blaze of their / beauty.” The way this is phrased implies that the stars
are in charge of the action of softening their blaze (at least to a
degree), as “stars” is the subject here and “soften”
is the verb, rather than the moon being the one directly doing the
softening, even though the moon is alluded to as the cause. Once again,
like the moon, the stars stand alone given their own line, pausing on
the significance of the stars as well as this time
drawing a parallel between the moon and stars. In addition, the rhythm
is kept fairly consistent in the poem, and the three main focus lines,
“the moon,” “the stars,” and “beauty” each produce two syllables,
maintaining a balanced flow embedded in the poem.
There
is no punctuation in this poem, instead using only the breaks for each
of the lines as a form of punctuation
which invites the reader to momentarily pause to digest the previous
line. The only capitalized words in the poem are the first word “And,”
capitalized probably simply because it is the opening word, and the word
“The” when the stars are introduced. The second
capitalization marks the transition from focusing on the moon to
talking about the stars, and in its own way takes the place of any
punctuation that would otherwise be present.
Overall
the poem has a very peaceful yet powerful sense. It is short, yet is
packed with implications, imagery,
and narrative. Where most of Sappho’s poems are specific to either her
personal experiences or specific events, this poem is more removed,
stepping away from personal attachments, and focusing on the splendor of
the moon and stars. A simple, lovely, and also
humbling read.
Gordon, 2/2/2016
I read these poems and picked my favorites to write about and here is the ones that i liked the most.
Abandoned
This poem from what i could tell is saying someone named Sappho is abandoning someone else. By saying “Oh, dear, dear Sappho, what awful things we must endure! Believe me, I’m leaving you against my will!” Means that the person leaving is dieing? or else what would make Sappho leave against his will? “Remember the many garlands of violets and roses I placed next to you” is that the funeral? I am not sure.
Sweet Apple
This poem looks like a love poem to me, the “sweet apple” that are reddening at the highest branch is a women so unattainable that is “missed by the apple pickers But no, They did not miss you! They just couldn’t reach so high.” The second part of this poem is just reinforcing how unattainable that person is.
Virginity!
This Poem is saying that someone have been abandoned by their virginity, but to me it looks like the real thing that they have lost is their innocents. Maybe even child innocents how they don't know where it has gone and how they are never getting it back.
The sky
This poem is short so i will copy it here. “I don’t think I can touch the sky with my hands.” I can imagine what's going on in his head during the creation of this poem. When you see something that you feel like you could never obtain or you could never achieve, you compare it to the sky and by saying you don't see your hands touching the sky he is hinting that something is really hard to achieve and he doesn't think he can personally do it.
Posted for Yiwei Song
Yiwei Song
HUMN 224 -01
Jan 25th, 2016
The Punctum - Close Reading
The reason why Sappho’s poems can be spread and prolonged for centuries without fading
or losing its specialty, is because she did not pay attention to words and phrases with
characteristics of such era. Instead, she concentrated only on expressing intense and sincere
emotions, the “over-labeled” words to sappho’s work has showed its maximum value in her
poems. When poem has not undertaken so much humanistic, academic, technical and
expressive missions, emotion is more widely used in writers’ self-consolation.
The ancient Greek when Sappho lived was famous for respecting humanity and advocating
freedom. However it was also an indisputable fact that women were under repression by
then. The sexual inequality has appeared in time Sappho lived and women’s voices have
been constrained and deprived. But Sappho could describe female-typical life experiences
and emotions based on her own life field to express female feelings through her sincere love
and thematic chanting.
The poet firstly affirmed the objective reality and genuine beauty of love.
Here she gave great prominence to admitting love and celebrating love by endowing love
with proudly saying “ for a boy!”. This seemed as the writer’s declaration of love. There is a
girlish sentimental love. Useless, Sweet mother,
Sweet mother
How can I weave my web now?
Dazzling Aphrodite tamed my desire
For a boy!
She wrote that the girl in her first awakening of affection was fettered and troubled by love,
the coquetry in front of mother, asking for help, anxiety and happiness of the stirrings of
love. There was the love for her pupils. Because of Sappho’s talent and her influence, many
young girls gathered in her school receiving her education. They fell into company with
each other reciting poetry, dancing, and singing, playing music, and wandering intimately.
Besides, the poet has extolled love in different fields. Such as Sweet Apple and Abandoned
illustrates the love to her students.
The dedicated instruction to her pupil was an example to show the poet’s tireless and
unselfish love, even her love for female virginity. In Virginity (230,109B,131 D)
Virginity you have abandoned me!
Virginity
Where have you gone?
Virginity
I will never return to you, no,
I shall never return
to you!
The poet did not avoid describing some bashful topics by then like the virginity. She
depicted that the virginity was away and gone forever, which implied the critical moment of
women’s life but also reminded women to treasure themselves and cherish their life.
Various emotions displayed in poems which are surrounded with “love”. It has been usually
described with strong senses of depth, touching sadness and great fineness. The poem has
fully showed the female poet’s exquisite feelings for the life, and the smooth depiction of
her own emotions. It is also a reflection of female feelings in the level of composition.
Personally I like But I Sleep Alone (Edm. 62) most of the most,
Midnight!
And like the hour
The Moon and the Pleiades have gone
And I,
I sleep alone.
It is a very short and sad little song, yes I would rather call it a song than a poem. I have
visualized the scene so well as I read through every sentence. As a female myself, and
sometimes a sentimental one, the repeated word “I” to me, in the poem, is my punctum.
That is basically what I mostly feel when I read her poems. A lot, a lot of punctum.
In Greece, the winter comes whenever seven stars falls to the horizon line. Sappho
mentioned about seven stars and also she implied that it was in the winter. It is the
implication of the seven stars’ artistic image in the mythology, as well as her solitary and
weary mood.
There is hidden desolation and loneliness when the moon has set away and stars have faded
out. In the quiet still-night, how solitude and lonely the poet is,when staying alone in the
room with the approaching of winter coldness! The poet’ helplessness and sadness at this
moment can be imagined. Definitely the lonely poet tossed and turned and could not fall
asleep. What was she expecting and waiting for? It seemed embarrassed and hard to say, but
she still could not help looking forward, waiting and suffering. The simple sentence
presented the poet’s subtle feelings of twisting in her mind.
Female sentiment in Sappho’s poems is an important signal of human awakening and
culture. The praise of love and expression of affection to some degrees are the essential
characteristic of how literature is called literature, and is the literature descriptions which
people has taken granted in current society. But if we see from the source of literature, it is
such easily to find how valuable that Sappho,who lived in two thousand and six hundred
years ago, had this kind of emotional experience and expressions. It has presented human
beings’ initial experience and confirmation for their own emotions and feelings, and it is the
revival and wisdom of human beings.
HUMN 224 -01
Jan 25th, 2016
The Punctum - Close Reading
The reason why Sappho’s poems can be spread and prolonged for centuries without fading
or losing its specialty, is because she did not pay attention to words and phrases with
characteristics of such era. Instead, she concentrated only on expressing intense and sincere
emotions, the “over-labeled” words to sappho’s work has showed its maximum value in her
poems. When poem has not undertaken so much humanistic, academic, technical and
expressive missions, emotion is more widely used in writers’ self-consolation.
The ancient Greek when Sappho lived was famous for respecting humanity and advocating
freedom. However it was also an indisputable fact that women were under repression by
then. The sexual inequality has appeared in time Sappho lived and women’s voices have
been constrained and deprived. But Sappho could describe female-typical life experiences
and emotions based on her own life field to express female feelings through her sincere love
and thematic chanting.
The poet firstly affirmed the objective reality and genuine beauty of love.
Here she gave great prominence to admitting love and celebrating love by endowing love
with proudly saying “ for a boy!”. This seemed as the writer’s declaration of love. There is a
girlish sentimental love. Useless, Sweet mother,
Sweet mother
How can I weave my web now?
Dazzling Aphrodite tamed my desire
For a boy!
She wrote that the girl in her first awakening of affection was fettered and troubled by love,
the coquetry in front of mother, asking for help, anxiety and happiness of the stirrings of
love. There was the love for her pupils. Because of Sappho’s talent and her influence, many
young girls gathered in her school receiving her education. They fell into company with
each other reciting poetry, dancing, and singing, playing music, and wandering intimately.
Besides, the poet has extolled love in different fields. Such as Sweet Apple and Abandoned
illustrates the love to her students.
The dedicated instruction to her pupil was an example to show the poet’s tireless and
unselfish love, even her love for female virginity. In Virginity (230,109B,131 D)
Virginity you have abandoned me!
Virginity
Where have you gone?
Virginity
I will never return to you, no,
I shall never return
to you!
The poet did not avoid describing some bashful topics by then like the virginity. She
depicted that the virginity was away and gone forever, which implied the critical moment of
women’s life but also reminded women to treasure themselves and cherish their life.
Various emotions displayed in poems which are surrounded with “love”. It has been usually
described with strong senses of depth, touching sadness and great fineness. The poem has
fully showed the female poet’s exquisite feelings for the life, and the smooth depiction of
her own emotions. It is also a reflection of female feelings in the level of composition.
Personally I like But I Sleep Alone (Edm. 62) most of the most,
Midnight!
And like the hour
The Moon and the Pleiades have gone
And I,
I sleep alone.
It is a very short and sad little song, yes I would rather call it a song than a poem. I have
visualized the scene so well as I read through every sentence. As a female myself, and
sometimes a sentimental one, the repeated word “I” to me, in the poem, is my punctum.
That is basically what I mostly feel when I read her poems. A lot, a lot of punctum.
In Greece, the winter comes whenever seven stars falls to the horizon line. Sappho
mentioned about seven stars and also she implied that it was in the winter. It is the
implication of the seven stars’ artistic image in the mythology, as well as her solitary and
weary mood.
There is hidden desolation and loneliness when the moon has set away and stars have faded
out. In the quiet still-night, how solitude and lonely the poet is,when staying alone in the
room with the approaching of winter coldness! The poet’ helplessness and sadness at this
moment can be imagined. Definitely the lonely poet tossed and turned and could not fall
asleep. What was she expecting and waiting for? It seemed embarrassed and hard to say, but
she still could not help looking forward, waiting and suffering. The simple sentence
presented the poet’s subtle feelings of twisting in her mind.
Female sentiment in Sappho’s poems is an important signal of human awakening and
culture. The praise of love and expression of affection to some degrees are the essential
characteristic of how literature is called literature, and is the literature descriptions which
people has taken granted in current society. But if we see from the source of literature, it is
such easily to find how valuable that Sappho,who lived in two thousand and six hundred
years ago, had this kind of emotional experience and expressions. It has presented human
beings’ initial experience and confirmation for their own emotions and feelings, and it is the
revival and wisdom of human beings.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
tap tap tap .......Is This Thing On?
So y'all know that posting your 2pp. readings of your chosen Sappho poem is not, like, optional, right? C'mon, be brave. Jump on in, the water's fine. Remember, if anyone has trouble posting, e-mail me: dcarrico@sfai.edu If you paste your reading in the e-mail or give me a .docx attachment I can post it here for you and also re-invite you so you can try to get on again if there is trouble. Hope everybody is having a lovely weekend.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Please Read This Excerpt from the Iliad in Addition to the First and Last Chapters:
From the Iliad, Chapter IX:
"My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive but my name will live for ever: whereas if I go home my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me. To the rest of you, then, I say, 'Go home, for you will not take Ilius.' Jove has held his hand over her to protect her, and her people have taken heart. Go, therefore, as in duty bound, and tell the princes of the Achaeans the message that I have sent them; tell them to find some other plan for the saving of their ships and people, for so long as my displeasure lasts the one that they have now hit upon may not be. As for Phoenix, let him sleep here that he may sail with me in the morning if he so will. But I will not take him by force."
They all held their peace, dismayed at the sternness with which he had denied them, till presently the old knight Phoenix in his great fear for the ships of the Achaeans, burst into tears and said, "Noble Achilles, if you are now minded to return, and in the fierceness of your anger will do nothing to save the ships from burning, how, my son, can I remain here without you? Your father Peleus bade me go with you when he sent you as a mere lad from Phthia to Agamemnon. You knew nothing neither of war nor of the arts whereby men make their mark in council, and he sent me with you to train you in all excellence of speech and action. Therefore, my son, I will not stay here without you- no, not though heaven itself vouchsafe to strip my years from off me, and make me young as I was when I first left Hellas the land of fair women. I was then flying the anger of father Amyntor, son of Ormenus, who was furious with me in the matter of his concubine, of whom he was enamoured to the wronging of his wife my mother. My mother, therefore, prayed me without ceasing to lie with the woman myself, that so she hate my father, and in the course of time I yielded. But my father soon came to know, and cursed me bitterly, calling the dread Erinyes to witness. He prayed that no son of mine might ever sit upon knees- and the gods, Jove of the world below and awful Proserpine, fulfilled his curse. I took counsel to kill him, but some god stayed my rashness and bade me think on men's evil tongues and how I should be branded as the murderer of my father: nevertheless I could not bear to stay in my father's house with him so bitter a against me. My cousins and clansmen came about me, and pressed me sorely to remain; many a sheep and many an ox did they slaughter, and many a fat hog did they set down to roast before the fire; many a jar, too, did they broach of my father's wine. Nine whole nights did they set a guard over me taking it in turns to watch, and they kept a fire always burning, both in the cloister of the outer court and in the inner court at the doors of the room wherein I lay; but when the darkness of the tenth night came, I broke through the closed doors of my room, and climbed the wall of the outer court after passing quickly and unperceived through the men on guard and the women servants. I then fled through Hellas till I came to fertile Phthia, mother of sheep, and to King Peleus, who made me welcome and treated me as a father treats an only son who will be heir to all his wealth. He made me rich and set me over much people, establishing me on the borders of Phthia where I was chief ruler over the Dolopians.
"It was I, Achilles, who had the making of you; I loved you with all my heart: for you would eat neither at home nor when you had gone out elsewhere, till I had first set you upon my knees, cut up the dainty morsel that you were to eat, and held the wine-cup to your lips. Many a time have you slobbered your wine in baby helplessness over my shirt; I had infinite trouble with you, but I knew that heaven had vouchsafed me no offspring of my own, and I made a son of you, Achilles, that in my hour of need you might protect me. Now, therefore, I say battle with your pride and beat it; cherish not your anger for ever; the might and majesty of heaven are more than ours, but even heaven may be appeased; and if a man has sinned he prays the gods, and reconciles them to himself by his piteous cries and by frankincense, with drink-offerings and the savour of burnt sacrifice. For prayers are as daughters to great Jove; halt, wrinkled, with eyes askance, they follow in the footsteps of sin, who, being fierce and fleet of foot, leaves them far behind him, and ever baneful to mankind outstrips them even to the ends of the world; but nevertheless the prayers come hobbling and healing after. If a man has pity upon these daughters of Jove when they draw near him, they will bless him and hear him too when he is praying; but if he deny them and will not listen to them, they go to Jove the son of Saturn and pray that he may presently fall into sin- to his ruing bitterly hereafter. Therefore, Achilles, give these daughters of Jove due reverence, and bow before them as all good men will bow. Were not the son of Atreus offering you gifts and promising others later- if he were still furious and implacable- I am not he that would bid you throw off your anger and help the Achaeans, no matter how great their need; but he is giving much now, and more hereafter; he has sent his captains to urge his suit, and has chosen those who of all the Argives are most acceptable to you; make not then their words and their coming to be of none effect. Your anger has been righteous so far. We have heard in song how heroes of old time quarrelled when they were roused to fury, but still they could be won by gifts, and fair words could soothe them.
"I have an old story in my mind- a very old one- but you are all friends and I will tell it. The Curetes and the Aetolians were fighting and killing one another round Calydon- the Aetolians defending the city and the Curetes trying to destroy it. For Diana of the golden throne was angry and did them hurt because Oeneus had not offered her his harvest first-fruits. The other gods had all been feasted with hecatombs, but to the daughter of great Jove alone he had made no sacrifice. He had forgotten her, or somehow or other it had escaped him, and this was a grievous sin. Thereon the archer goddess in her displeasure sent a prodigious creature against him- a savage wild boar with great white tusks that did much harm to his orchard lands, uprooting apple-trees in full bloom and throwing them to the ground. But Meleager son of Oeneus got huntsmen and hounds from many cities and killed it- for it was so monstrous that not a few were needed, and many a man did it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the goddess set the Curetes and the Aetolians fighting furiously about the head and skin of the boar.
"So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the Curetes, and for all their numbers they could not hold their ground under the city walls; but in the course of time Meleager was angered as even a wise man will sometimes be. He was incensed with his mother Althaea, and therefore stayed at home with his wedded wife fair Cleopatra, who was daughter of Marpessa daughter of Euenus, and of Ides the man then living. He it was who took his bow and faced King Apollo himself for fair Marpessa's sake; her father and mother then named her Alcyone, because her mother had mourned with the plaintive strains of the halcyon-bird when Phoebus Apollo had carried her off. Meleager, then, stayed at home with Cleopatra, nursing the anger which he felt by reason of his mother's curses. His mother, grieving for the death of her brother, prayed the gods, and beat the earth with her hands, calling upon Hades and on awful Proserpine; she went down upon her knees and her bosom was wet with tears as she prayed that they would kill her son- and Erinys that walks in darkness and knows no ruth heard her from Erebus.
"Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and the dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the elders of the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest of their priests, and begged him to come out and help them, promising him a great reward. They bade him choose fifty plough-gates, the most fertile in the plain of Calydon, the one-half vineyard and the other open plough-land. The old warrior Oeneus implored him, standing at the threshold of his room and beating the doors in supplication. His sisters and his mother herself besought him sore, but he the more refused them; those of his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him also prayed him, but they could not move him till the foe was battering at the very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing wife detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she reminded him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the flames, while the women and children are carried into captivity; when he heard all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to go forth. Thus of his own inward motion he saved the city of the Aetolians; but they now gave him nothing of those rich rewards that they had offered earlier, and though he saved the city he took nothing by it. Be not then, my son, thus minded; let not heaven lure you into any such course. When the ships are burning it will be a harder matter to save them. Take the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour you as a god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat the battle back, but you will not be held in like honour."
And Achilles answered, "Phoenix, old friend and father, I have no need of such honour. I have honour from Jove himself, which will abide with me at my ships while I have breath in my body, and my limbs are strong. I say further- and lay my saying to your heart- vex me no more with this weeping and lamentation, all in the cause of the son of Atreus. Love him so well, and you may lose the love I bear you. You ought to help me rather in troubling those that trouble me; be king as much as I am, and share like honour with myself; the others shall take my answer; stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in your bed; at daybreak we will consider whether to remain or go."
On this she nodded quietly to Patroclus as a sign that he was to prepare a bed for Phoenix, and that the others should take their leave. Ajax son of Telamon then said, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, let us be gone, for I see that our journey is vain. We must now take our answer, unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans who are waiting to receive it. Achilles is savage and remorseless; he is cruel, and cares nothing for the love his comrades lavished upon him more than on all the others. He is implacable- and yet if a man's brother or son has been slain he will accept a fine by way of amends from him that killed him, and the wrong-doer having paid in full remains in peace among his own people; but as for you, Achilles, the gods have put a wicked unforgiving spirit in your heart, and this, all about one single girl, whereas we now offer you the seven best we have, and much else into the bargain. Be then of a more gracious mind, respect the hospitality of your own roof. We are with you as messengers from the host of the Danaans, and would fain he held nearest and dearest to yourself of all the Achaeans."
"Ajax," replied Achilles, "noble son of Telamon, you have spoken much to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it all over, and remember how the son of Atreus treated me with contumely as though I were some vile tramp, and that too in the presence of the Argives. Go, then, and deliver your message; say that I will have no concern with fighting till Hector, son of noble Priam, reaches the tents of the Myrmidons in his murderous course, and flings fire upon their ships. For all his lust of battle, I take it he will be held in check when he is at my own tent and ship."
"My mother Thetis tells me that there are two ways in which I may meet my end. If I stay here and fight, I shall not return alive but my name will live for ever: whereas if I go home my name will die, but it will be long ere death shall take me. To the rest of you, then, I say, 'Go home, for you will not take Ilius.' Jove has held his hand over her to protect her, and her people have taken heart. Go, therefore, as in duty bound, and tell the princes of the Achaeans the message that I have sent them; tell them to find some other plan for the saving of their ships and people, for so long as my displeasure lasts the one that they have now hit upon may not be. As for Phoenix, let him sleep here that he may sail with me in the morning if he so will. But I will not take him by force."
They all held their peace, dismayed at the sternness with which he had denied them, till presently the old knight Phoenix in his great fear for the ships of the Achaeans, burst into tears and said, "Noble Achilles, if you are now minded to return, and in the fierceness of your anger will do nothing to save the ships from burning, how, my son, can I remain here without you? Your father Peleus bade me go with you when he sent you as a mere lad from Phthia to Agamemnon. You knew nothing neither of war nor of the arts whereby men make their mark in council, and he sent me with you to train you in all excellence of speech and action. Therefore, my son, I will not stay here without you- no, not though heaven itself vouchsafe to strip my years from off me, and make me young as I was when I first left Hellas the land of fair women. I was then flying the anger of father Amyntor, son of Ormenus, who was furious with me in the matter of his concubine, of whom he was enamoured to the wronging of his wife my mother. My mother, therefore, prayed me without ceasing to lie with the woman myself, that so she hate my father, and in the course of time I yielded. But my father soon came to know, and cursed me bitterly, calling the dread Erinyes to witness. He prayed that no son of mine might ever sit upon knees- and the gods, Jove of the world below and awful Proserpine, fulfilled his curse. I took counsel to kill him, but some god stayed my rashness and bade me think on men's evil tongues and how I should be branded as the murderer of my father: nevertheless I could not bear to stay in my father's house with him so bitter a against me. My cousins and clansmen came about me, and pressed me sorely to remain; many a sheep and many an ox did they slaughter, and many a fat hog did they set down to roast before the fire; many a jar, too, did they broach of my father's wine. Nine whole nights did they set a guard over me taking it in turns to watch, and they kept a fire always burning, both in the cloister of the outer court and in the inner court at the doors of the room wherein I lay; but when the darkness of the tenth night came, I broke through the closed doors of my room, and climbed the wall of the outer court after passing quickly and unperceived through the men on guard and the women servants. I then fled through Hellas till I came to fertile Phthia, mother of sheep, and to King Peleus, who made me welcome and treated me as a father treats an only son who will be heir to all his wealth. He made me rich and set me over much people, establishing me on the borders of Phthia where I was chief ruler over the Dolopians.
"It was I, Achilles, who had the making of you; I loved you with all my heart: for you would eat neither at home nor when you had gone out elsewhere, till I had first set you upon my knees, cut up the dainty morsel that you were to eat, and held the wine-cup to your lips. Many a time have you slobbered your wine in baby helplessness over my shirt; I had infinite trouble with you, but I knew that heaven had vouchsafed me no offspring of my own, and I made a son of you, Achilles, that in my hour of need you might protect me. Now, therefore, I say battle with your pride and beat it; cherish not your anger for ever; the might and majesty of heaven are more than ours, but even heaven may be appeased; and if a man has sinned he prays the gods, and reconciles them to himself by his piteous cries and by frankincense, with drink-offerings and the savour of burnt sacrifice. For prayers are as daughters to great Jove; halt, wrinkled, with eyes askance, they follow in the footsteps of sin, who, being fierce and fleet of foot, leaves them far behind him, and ever baneful to mankind outstrips them even to the ends of the world; but nevertheless the prayers come hobbling and healing after. If a man has pity upon these daughters of Jove when they draw near him, they will bless him and hear him too when he is praying; but if he deny them and will not listen to them, they go to Jove the son of Saturn and pray that he may presently fall into sin- to his ruing bitterly hereafter. Therefore, Achilles, give these daughters of Jove due reverence, and bow before them as all good men will bow. Were not the son of Atreus offering you gifts and promising others later- if he were still furious and implacable- I am not he that would bid you throw off your anger and help the Achaeans, no matter how great their need; but he is giving much now, and more hereafter; he has sent his captains to urge his suit, and has chosen those who of all the Argives are most acceptable to you; make not then their words and their coming to be of none effect. Your anger has been righteous so far. We have heard in song how heroes of old time quarrelled when they were roused to fury, but still they could be won by gifts, and fair words could soothe them.
"I have an old story in my mind- a very old one- but you are all friends and I will tell it. The Curetes and the Aetolians were fighting and killing one another round Calydon- the Aetolians defending the city and the Curetes trying to destroy it. For Diana of the golden throne was angry and did them hurt because Oeneus had not offered her his harvest first-fruits. The other gods had all been feasted with hecatombs, but to the daughter of great Jove alone he had made no sacrifice. He had forgotten her, or somehow or other it had escaped him, and this was a grievous sin. Thereon the archer goddess in her displeasure sent a prodigious creature against him- a savage wild boar with great white tusks that did much harm to his orchard lands, uprooting apple-trees in full bloom and throwing them to the ground. But Meleager son of Oeneus got huntsmen and hounds from many cities and killed it- for it was so monstrous that not a few were needed, and many a man did it stretch upon his funeral pyre. On this the goddess set the Curetes and the Aetolians fighting furiously about the head and skin of the boar.
"So long as Meleager was in the field things went badly with the Curetes, and for all their numbers they could not hold their ground under the city walls; but in the course of time Meleager was angered as even a wise man will sometimes be. He was incensed with his mother Althaea, and therefore stayed at home with his wedded wife fair Cleopatra, who was daughter of Marpessa daughter of Euenus, and of Ides the man then living. He it was who took his bow and faced King Apollo himself for fair Marpessa's sake; her father and mother then named her Alcyone, because her mother had mourned with the plaintive strains of the halcyon-bird when Phoebus Apollo had carried her off. Meleager, then, stayed at home with Cleopatra, nursing the anger which he felt by reason of his mother's curses. His mother, grieving for the death of her brother, prayed the gods, and beat the earth with her hands, calling upon Hades and on awful Proserpine; she went down upon her knees and her bosom was wet with tears as she prayed that they would kill her son- and Erinys that walks in darkness and knows no ruth heard her from Erebus.
"Then was heard the din of battle about the gates of Calydon, and the dull thump of the battering against their walls. Thereon the elders of the Aetolians besought Meleager; they sent the chiefest of their priests, and begged him to come out and help them, promising him a great reward. They bade him choose fifty plough-gates, the most fertile in the plain of Calydon, the one-half vineyard and the other open plough-land. The old warrior Oeneus implored him, standing at the threshold of his room and beating the doors in supplication. His sisters and his mother herself besought him sore, but he the more refused them; those of his comrades who were nearest and dearest to him also prayed him, but they could not move him till the foe was battering at the very doors of his chamber, and the Curetes had scaled the walls and were setting fire to the city. Then at last his sorrowing wife detailed the horrors that befall those whose city is taken; she reminded him how the men are slain, and the city is given over to the flames, while the women and children are carried into captivity; when he heard all this, his heart was touched, and he donned his armour to go forth. Thus of his own inward motion he saved the city of the Aetolians; but they now gave him nothing of those rich rewards that they had offered earlier, and though he saved the city he took nothing by it. Be not then, my son, thus minded; let not heaven lure you into any such course. When the ships are burning it will be a harder matter to save them. Take the gifts, and go, for the Achaeans will then honour you as a god; whereas if you fight without taking them, you may beat the battle back, but you will not be held in like honour."
And Achilles answered, "Phoenix, old friend and father, I have no need of such honour. I have honour from Jove himself, which will abide with me at my ships while I have breath in my body, and my limbs are strong. I say further- and lay my saying to your heart- vex me no more with this weeping and lamentation, all in the cause of the son of Atreus. Love him so well, and you may lose the love I bear you. You ought to help me rather in troubling those that trouble me; be king as much as I am, and share like honour with myself; the others shall take my answer; stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in your bed; at daybreak we will consider whether to remain or go."
On this she nodded quietly to Patroclus as a sign that he was to prepare a bed for Phoenix, and that the others should take their leave. Ajax son of Telamon then said, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, let us be gone, for I see that our journey is vain. We must now take our answer, unwelcome though it be, to the Danaans who are waiting to receive it. Achilles is savage and remorseless; he is cruel, and cares nothing for the love his comrades lavished upon him more than on all the others. He is implacable- and yet if a man's brother or son has been slain he will accept a fine by way of amends from him that killed him, and the wrong-doer having paid in full remains in peace among his own people; but as for you, Achilles, the gods have put a wicked unforgiving spirit in your heart, and this, all about one single girl, whereas we now offer you the seven best we have, and much else into the bargain. Be then of a more gracious mind, respect the hospitality of your own roof. We are with you as messengers from the host of the Danaans, and would fain he held nearest and dearest to yourself of all the Achaeans."
"Ajax," replied Achilles, "noble son of Telamon, you have spoken much to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it all over, and remember how the son of Atreus treated me with contumely as though I were some vile tramp, and that too in the presence of the Argives. Go, then, and deliver your message; say that I will have no concern with fighting till Hector, son of noble Priam, reaches the tents of the Myrmidons in his murderous course, and flings fire upon their ships. For all his lust of battle, I take it he will be held in check when he is at my own tent and ship."
Monday, January 18, 2016
Syllabus SFAI 2016
HUMN 224-01 Are We
Not Men? Patriarchy in Greek and Roman Antiquity
Spring 2016
Wednesdays,
1-3.45, Chestnut 20B
Course Blog:
http://arewenotmenrhetforreal.blogspot.com
Instructor:
Dale Carrico, dcarrico@sfai.edu
Office Hours: Before and after class, and by appointment.
Course Description:
The
societies of Greek, Roman, and Christian antiquity were conspicuously
patriarchal. Homeric heroes made history and conquered death with great words
and deeds in an aspirational fantasy of masculine agency. The Roman
paterfamilias, perhaps patriarchy's most quintessential expression, centered
around the authoritarian male head of the household who held an unquestionable
power of life and death over his children, female relatives, and household
slaves. But in philosophy and in poetry, in Greek tragedies and in Roman
comedies, we find glimpses of a considerably richer and more complicated world
of gendered relations, erotic imagination, and human possibility, we encounter
profound anxieties, ambivalences, and resistances to patriarchal practices and
prejudices. This course will examine these tensions. We will be reading from
Sappho, Homer, Thucydides, Gorgias, Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, Euripides,
Cicero, Terence, Juvenal, Quintilian, Petronius as well as contemporary
feminist and queer theorists and historians.
Course Requirements: Reading Notebook, Five Weekly Questions/Comments,
Short Reading (2-3pp.), Workshop Worksheet, Midterm Paper (4-5pp.), Course
Narrative (2pp.), Final Paper (6-7pp.)
Attendance Policy: Attendance and punctuality are expected.
Necessary absences should be discussed in advance whenever possible.
Provisional Schedule of Meetings
January
Week
One | 20 Introductions
Week
Two | 27 Homer -- First and Last Chapters of the Iliad and an excerpt from Chapter IX posted on the blog.
February
Week
Three | 3 Poems of Sappho (Post Close Reading before class)
Week Six | 24 Workshop
March
Week
Seven | 2 Plato -- Symposium (Hand in first paper)
Week
Nine | Spring Break
Week
Ten | 23 Aristophanes -- Wasps
Week
Eleven |30 Thucydides -- Book II (Preferably all of it, but at least read Pericles' Funeral Oration in Book II) from Thucydides History of the
Peloponnesian War
April
Week
Twelve | 6 Terence -- Eunuchus; Cicero -- Philippics;
Hortensia -- in the Forum
Supplement: Cicero, Against Cataline
Supplement: Cicero, Against Cataline
Week
Thirteen | 13 Marcus Cicero -- Commentariolum Petitionis; Suetonius -- Caligula; and Juvenal -- Satires
Week
Fourteen | 20 Petronius -- Trimalchio's Feast from Satyricon (The link takes you to Chapter Six -- keep reading through Chapter Ten.)
Week
Fifteen | 27 Workshop for the Final Paper
May
Week
Sixteen | 4 Concluding Remarks Final Papers Due
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Grades:
Grades
will be determined by the following numerical breakdown:
97-100: A+
94-96: A
90-93: A-
|
87-89: B+
84-86: B
80-83: B-
|
77-79: C+
74-76: C
60-73: D / Failure
|
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Misunderstanding of the appropriate academic conduct will not be accepted as an
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Forms of Academic
Misconduct
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another’s words,
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documentation and citation (6.1; MLA Handbook, Joseph Gibaldi ch.2). Students
are advised to seek out this guideline in the
Academic Support Center, to ask faculty when they are in
doubt about standards, and to recognize they are ultimately responsible for
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challenging convention complicate attempts to
codify forms of acknowledgment and are often defined by
disciplinary histories and practices and are best examined, with the faculty,
in relationship to the specific studio course.
Cheating
Cheating is the use or attempted use of unauthorized
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Falsification and
Fabrication
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or substantially the same assignment from a previously completed course to
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Unfair Academic
Advantage
Unfair academic advantage is interference—including theft,
concealment, defacement or destruction of other students’ works, resources, or
material—for the purpose of gaining an academic advantage.
Noncompliance with
Course Rules
The violation of specific course rules as outlined in the
syllabus by the faculty or otherwise provided to the student.
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