Home is not as sweet as licking water lilies.
Homer flavors myth with Ziziphus to lengthen the trials of Odysseus.
Wading in psychedelic bliss, we wonder why one might wander from worldly ignorance.
Once forbidden to seek such succulence, the humans served their consequence.
In case we know too much, this is the place to get stuck.
29.2.08
Odyssey Poem
Here's my poem from the last class.
Whatever was Tied to the Mast
“Whatever was tied to the mast
the waves have come— here they are:”
- Mary Ruefle
When they were finished they looked up and tried to remember what they had tied to the mast. A bottle of opalescent wings? A jaunt through the haunted forest by lamplight slash stagecoach? It could have been any number of mistakes. It could have been the baker who made the delicious bread. Or was it the stick above the well? They remembered trying to “do the right thing”. They remembered wrapping slabs of fat around the femur and eating handfuls of flowers in the moonlight. They were about to question what they’d done, but then the music started. If they had known what a waiting room was they would have picked up a magazine.
Whatever was Tied to the Mast
“Whatever was tied to the mast
the waves have come— here they are:”
- Mary Ruefle
When they were finished they looked up and tried to remember what they had tied to the mast. A bottle of opalescent wings? A jaunt through the haunted forest by lamplight slash stagecoach? It could have been any number of mistakes. It could have been the baker who made the delicious bread. Or was it the stick above the well? They remembered trying to “do the right thing”. They remembered wrapping slabs of fat around the femur and eating handfuls of flowers in the moonlight. They were about to question what they’d done, but then the music started. If they had known what a waiting room was they would have picked up a magazine.
Notes From Class
Notes From Class
[Differences Between the Odyssey and the Hebrew Bible]
Odyssey
-Sensual environment
-Feasts: eating meat, drinking wine
-A people defined by what they love: (feasting, drinking, hospitality, sex, sleeping, fertility, courage)
-Upper-class
-The way to understand Greek universe
-Not a sacred book, but sometimes used like one
-A value system is derived
-Not a moral universe
-They are sad when they lose their friends – but there is no retribution from gods - the gods don't seem to care
-Aesthetic universe - They play games
Bible
-Domestic lives (more understandable)
-Considered a Holy book
-Moral universe - When Jacob's brothers kill the rapists, this is not something the Bible likes - they get the last word but are not counted as heroes
[Similarities]
Odyssey/ Bible
1. Curiosity:
-Odysseus is curious about the sirens and wants to be the first man to hear their song and not be consumed by them
-Bible - Adam and Eve are curious
[Differences of morality in two books]
[Different representations of the hero]
Differences between Joseph and Odysseus
Bible:
-Joseph changes and is unrecognizable by his brothers
-He forgives brothers (although they are doubtful and afraid, they soon are convinced and change)
-Physical strength is not especially valued in Old Testament
-We don't know if Joseph is strong or weak
-It's not the physical strength that will get him by; it's his mind and the ability he has to interpret dreams
Odyssey:
-Odysseus and all the characters remain the same throughout - no development
-Physical abilities: strong, fast, athletic, warrior
-Corporeal universe
Similarities between Joseph and Odysseus
-Clever and good with words
-Intellectual
-Good with strategies and plots
_______________
Western movies with shoot outs in the end - that's the Odyssey (See: No Country For Old Men)
1. Why do you think Athena has such a crush on Odysseus?
-They are very similar
-There's one point when Odysseus doesn't even trust Athena
-Athena is Odysseus - in a way
____
-No suspense in Odyssey - Athena will take care of everything
-Deus ex Machina - Latin, literally meaning "a god out of a machine"
(OED definition: A power, event, person, or thing that comes in the nick of time to solve a difficulty; providential interposition, esp. in a novel or play)
-In Media Res - Latin for "in the middle of things"
-The Odyssey starts from the middle of the story
-Virtue of the flashback
-Storytelling is strong in Odyssey
_____
2. Why does Poseidon hate Odysseus?
-Odysseus kills his son (the Cyclops)
____
-The gods take sides
-A god cannot undo anything done by another god
-A god can compensate but not override another god's decision
____
3. What do you think is Penelope's finest moment?
-The unraveling of the yarn
-The testing of the bed (she really is the right one for him)
4. And what is Odysseus' finest moment?
-Shooting arrows at the end
[Differences Between the Odyssey and the Hebrew Bible]
Odyssey
-Sensual environment
-Feasts: eating meat, drinking wine
-A people defined by what they love: (feasting, drinking, hospitality, sex, sleeping, fertility, courage)
-Upper-class
-The way to understand Greek universe
-Not a sacred book, but sometimes used like one
-A value system is derived
-Not a moral universe
-They are sad when they lose their friends – but there is no retribution from gods - the gods don't seem to care
-Aesthetic universe - They play games
Bible
-Domestic lives (more understandable)
-Considered a Holy book
-Moral universe - When Jacob's brothers kill the rapists, this is not something the Bible likes - they get the last word but are not counted as heroes
[Similarities]
Odyssey/ Bible
1. Curiosity:
-Odysseus is curious about the sirens and wants to be the first man to hear their song and not be consumed by them
-Bible - Adam and Eve are curious
[Differences of morality in two books]
[Different representations of the hero]
Differences between Joseph and Odysseus
Bible:
-Joseph changes and is unrecognizable by his brothers
-He forgives brothers (although they are doubtful and afraid, they soon are convinced and change)
-Physical strength is not especially valued in Old Testament
-We don't know if Joseph is strong or weak
-It's not the physical strength that will get him by; it's his mind and the ability he has to interpret dreams
Odyssey:
-Odysseus and all the characters remain the same throughout - no development
-Physical abilities: strong, fast, athletic, warrior
-Corporeal universe
Similarities between Joseph and Odysseus
-Clever and good with words
-Intellectual
-Good with strategies and plots
_______________
Western movies with shoot outs in the end - that's the Odyssey (See: No Country For Old Men)
1. Why do you think Athena has such a crush on Odysseus?
-They are very similar
-There's one point when Odysseus doesn't even trust Athena
-Athena is Odysseus - in a way
____
-No suspense in Odyssey - Athena will take care of everything
-Deus ex Machina - Latin, literally meaning "a god out of a machine"
(OED definition: A power, event, person, or thing that comes in the nick of time to solve a difficulty; providential interposition, esp. in a novel or play)
-In Media Res - Latin for "in the middle of things"
-The Odyssey starts from the middle of the story
-Virtue of the flashback
-Storytelling is strong in Odyssey
_____
2. Why does Poseidon hate Odysseus?
-Odysseus kills his son (the Cyclops)
____
-The gods take sides
-A god cannot undo anything done by another god
-A god can compensate but not override another god's decision
____
3. What do you think is Penelope's finest moment?
-The unraveling of the yarn
-The testing of the bed (she really is the right one for him)
4. And what is Odysseus' finest moment?
-Shooting arrows at the end
"Compensation" variation in the New Yorker
He's no Emerson, but in his Shouts and Murmurs piece, "How things even out," Jack Handy seems to be espousing a similar view of the universe... it's silly...
-Kate M
-Kate M
27.2.08
Mark of Biblical Beasts
Here's an image that Alina pointed out. Thanks Alina! Hope no one was offended by Jesus riding the dinosaur.~Lia
After the Test
Hey Everyone. I'm a fiction writer, so this was my first poem like- ever. Probably,it's not even a poem, it's a prose-thing. It is written from the perspective of Sara.
-Justin
After the Test
Abe came down from the mountain and dumped the child in my lap.
What's this? I asked, tearing at the binding cords--but Abe, he just brushed past me, swatting the flies around his ahead. He fell into a chair in his little sanctuary and closed the door with his foot. I poked the swollen flesh of Isaac's tiny wrist, there was even some blood, where the cords were drawn too tight. I rubbed circulation into his cotton-white toes. He refused food or milk, and stayed silent and still so long that I pinched the nape of his thigh, just to get a rise out of him--he turned his hollow eyes up at me, as if to say,
You too?
When he is older, I will tell him how hunger once drove us to Egypt. I will describe to him rooms of treasure, glinting silver bracelets. I will tell him how I marveled at my luck.
And how Egypt marveled back.
Now, I tickle and tease him.
Go ahead, I say, what else can we do but laugh?
-Justin
After the Test
Abe came down from the mountain and dumped the child in my lap.
What's this? I asked, tearing at the binding cords--but Abe, he just brushed past me, swatting the flies around his ahead. He fell into a chair in his little sanctuary and closed the door with his foot. I poked the swollen flesh of Isaac's tiny wrist, there was even some blood, where the cords were drawn too tight. I rubbed circulation into his cotton-white toes. He refused food or milk, and stayed silent and still so long that I pinched the nape of his thigh, just to get a rise out of him--he turned his hollow eyes up at me, as if to say,
You too?
When he is older, I will tell him how hunger once drove us to Egypt. I will describe to him rooms of treasure, glinting silver bracelets. I will tell him how I marveled at my luck.
And how Egypt marveled back.
Now, I tickle and tease him.
Go ahead, I say, what else can we do but laugh?
24.2.08
Dragons, Unicorns, Behemoths, and Leviathans
Was anyone else unfamiliar with the cameo of these fantastical beasts in Job? If it's common knowledge, I must have been sleeping. I felt that the language and description throughout Job, although verbally taxing, was enjoyable poetry. It was as though I were yawning from Job's woes and then woke to find everyone in the midst of some creatures created on which day? Were they made on Friday and Saturday with the rest of the beasts?
If you search these words (no Bible necessary) in Google, you will see that many others find their biblical mention quite fascinating. Some suggest that behemoths refer to dinosaurs, leviathans are equivalent to sea monsters or whales, unicorn as simply the silhouette vision of an ox, and perhaps the dragon was on holiday from China.
It makes me want to reframe my mind to really imagine the world of Homer and Odysseus' entourage of beasts, gods, goddesses, kings, queens, and the supernatural as natural. It also brings excitement to reading biblical text with a new set of eyes, which were previously disenchanted by a decade and a half of Catholic education. Perhaps I am pining after a childhood saturated in eighties fantasy and adventure films.
Thoughts?
(Lia)
21.2.08
Poetry
Meghan suggested that we post our poetry that we write for the assignments. There are currently 3 poems which were added as comments to her post "Poetry, anyone?"
If you have a poem to share, feel free to write out a new post for it. I'd be excited to read it.
-Alina
16.2.08
Why is monotheism an advancement? Here's one take:
American physical anthropologist, Eugenie Scott, provides an explanation for this question in, Evolution vs. Creationism. According to Scott, the creation story in Genesis derives from other "Middle Eastern traditions from Babylonia and Persia" (54). As the ancient Hebrews were often conquered by various polytheistic/pagan tribes, they avoided acculturation through their distinct belief in one god.
Theologian Conrad Hyers purports "the religious meaning of Genesis." He says that it signals to the Hebrew people and surrounding tribes that "one God of Abraham was superior to the false gods of their neighbors: sky gods [...], earth gods, nature gods, light and darkness, rivers and animals." In the seven days of God's creation he declares superiority over these pagan deities. "Each day [God] dismisses an additional cluster of deities, arranged in a cosmological and symmetrical order" (with regards to chapter one especially). For example, when God says "Let there be light," he is in effect overriding any clout that the "pagan gods of light and darkness" might have.
At the same time, the careful phrasing of the creation serves to show that the Hebrew God is "ever present." Hence, "[I]n the beginning," when "God created heaven and earth," one could say he was not born of a "preexisting force." Also, the story establishes God as separate from nature and when he creates human beings "in his image," he endows human beings with dominion over his creation. But they must first answer to him at all costs. Thus, Scott explains, "Genesis reflects the character of a classic origin myth: it presents in symbolic form the values ancient Hebrew felt were most important: the nature of God, the nature of human beings, and the relationship of God to humankind." They "distinguished their God from those of their neighbors and presented His deeds in their oral traditions and, eventually, in written form" (55).
Is monotheism an advancement? Yes or no answers are clearly relative to what an individual considers an advancement or improvement. At least for the sake of Hebrew tradition, only one God can yoke one people.
Lia
Theologian Conrad Hyers purports "the religious meaning of Genesis." He says that it signals to the Hebrew people and surrounding tribes that "one God of Abraham was superior to the false gods of their neighbors: sky gods [...], earth gods, nature gods, light and darkness, rivers and animals." In the seven days of God's creation he declares superiority over these pagan deities. "Each day [God] dismisses an additional cluster of deities, arranged in a cosmological and symmetrical order" (with regards to chapter one especially). For example, when God says "Let there be light," he is in effect overriding any clout that the "pagan gods of light and darkness" might have.
At the same time, the careful phrasing of the creation serves to show that the Hebrew God is "ever present." Hence, "[I]n the beginning," when "God created heaven and earth," one could say he was not born of a "preexisting force." Also, the story establishes God as separate from nature and when he creates human beings "in his image," he endows human beings with dominion over his creation. But they must first answer to him at all costs. Thus, Scott explains, "Genesis reflects the character of a classic origin myth: it presents in symbolic form the values ancient Hebrew felt were most important: the nature of God, the nature of human beings, and the relationship of God to humankind." They "distinguished their God from those of their neighbors and presented His deeds in their oral traditions and, eventually, in written form" (55).
Is monotheism an advancement? Yes or no answers are clearly relative to what an individual considers an advancement or improvement. At least for the sake of Hebrew tradition, only one God can yoke one people.
Lia
15.2.08
poetry, anyone?
Is anyone interested in posting poems written for DL's class? This nonfiction student sure would like to read some non nonfiction...
meghan
meghan
14.2.08
Substitutes for God
Thank you, Lia, for setting up the blog. I hope all will contribute as and when the inspiration strikes.
I propose that we sign our posts. . .
Mark Van Doren has an essay entitled "Substitutes for God" in which he quotes Henshaw Ward to the effect that God has been made to disappear "beneath a heap of definitions, a universe of words." There follows this arresting sentence:"Scientists, sociologists, professors of divinity and liberal clergymen had conspired, no doubt unwillingly, to convert god into a theory, and so to remove him forever from our modst, since theories are neither true nor untrue but merely everlastingly discussable."
From The Mark Van Doren Reader (1942), pp. 29-30.
Please check out the Best American Poetry web site - and blog. From February 7 through the 15th (and possibly longer), a different guest blogger is at it every day. See http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
-- DL
I propose that we sign our posts. . .
Mark Van Doren has an essay entitled "Substitutes for God" in which he quotes Henshaw Ward to the effect that God has been made to disappear "beneath a heap of definitions, a universe of words." There follows this arresting sentence:"Scientists, sociologists, professors of divinity and liberal clergymen had conspired, no doubt unwillingly, to convert god into a theory, and so to remove him forever from our modst, since theories are neither true nor untrue but merely everlastingly discussable."
From The Mark Van Doren Reader (1942), pp. 29-30.
Please check out the Best American Poetry web site - and blog. From February 7 through the 15th (and possibly longer), a different guest blogger is at it every day. See http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/
-- DL
9.2.08
Source of Inspiration
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7, KJV).
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the literal (physical) senses of inspiration are:
the action of blowing on or into;
the action, or an act, of breathing in or inhaling; the drawing in of the breath into the lungs in respiration (Opp. to expiration);
a drawing in of air; the absorption of air in the 'respiration' of plants.
The figurative sense are:
a breathing in or infusion of some idea, purpose, etc. into the mind; the suggestion, awakening, or creation of some feeling or impulse, esp. of an exalted kind;
the suggestion or prompting(from some influential quarter) of the utterance or publication of particular views of information on some public matter;
something inspired or infused into the mind; an inspired utterance of product.
I think this relevant piece of the literal definition adds yet another layer to our understanding:
the action of inspiring; the fact or condition of being inspired; a breathing or infusion into the mind or soul. (Theol. etc.) A special immediate action or influence of the Spirit of God (or of some divinity or supernatural being) upon the human mind or soul; said esp. of that divine influence under which the books of Scripture are held to have been written.
(The last entry is the oldest dating back to 1303 AD.)
*There are similar concepts regarding breath, life energy, and inspiration in many other belief systems. A couple that cross my mind are prana in Hinduism and qi in Taoism.
Feel free to investigate. (Click on the title for the O.E.D)
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