...made sense of love 3 3. Girl, boy and society 4 4. 3 Themes of love prevalent in Love Songs 5 5. Conclusion 6 6. Work cited 7 1. Introduction During the time of ancient Egypt's New Kingdom, love songs were recorded and later discovered by excavators. The importances of these songs are that they contradicted the perception which Egyptologists had of the ancient Egyptians. No longer were the ancient Egyptians viewed as being a dull society, focused on death and the afterlife, but rather a society with a love for living through loving love itself (Fowler 1994:xiv). Thus, in this essay, through analyzing the Ramesside love songs, I shall explore this different view of the ancient Egyptians and attempt to understand what the concept of love truly meant to them. In going about this, I shall firstly look at how sense was made of the concept love and then look at love from the perspective of girls, boys and society. Furthermore, I shall address three themes regarding the concept of love, prevalent in the love songs and finally, conclude through drawing on my findings throughout my essay. 2. How they made sense of love When looking at ancient Egyptian religion, art and practices, two themes is consistent, this is the use of metaphors and similes. These were the methods used by the ancient Egyptians to not only explain their experiences, but also to validate them (Kaplan 2004:9). Similarly, metaphors and similes are regularly used in love songs to explain...
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...indescribable by me. I say the stupidity they possessed because in those days the punishments passed and the reasoning for determining guilt was/is insulting to the brilliance of mankind. I don't really have a favorite poem, but if I had to choose one, it would be "I wish I were a Nubian girl." I say that because of the way he described his desires and the mistress. He was intuned to how the Nubian girl and the mistress interacted. However, if he were the Nubian girl I dont believe he would be as enthusiastic because then he would be a girl and the scene itself would feel inappropriate. If he were to ask the Nubian girl how she felt about being that, she may have a difference of opinion. Having to bathe the mistress, having to cater to the mistress, having to feed the mistress, having to clothe the mistress without having the choice of doing so may not be as pleasant as it seems. And if she did enjoy it would that mean she was a man in a previous life only to have come back as a Nubian girl to acheive the purpose he had in mind? Who knows... Anyhow, the poem shows that even though the men showed the greatest of respect for women, in secret they kept a dirty mind. I wish I were her Nubian girl” is actually pretty disturbing. Basically, this short poem is about the poet wanting to be the slave of his beloved (when the...
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...Ancient Egypt Love Poems Ancient Egypt literature and poetry foundation and growth were religious basses and beliefs. In a short amount of time, poetry evolved to deal with people ordinary lives and had a great place among Ancient Egyptian civilization. They wrote religious hymns, plays, dramatic poetry, songs, and in particular love poetry. Ancient Egyptians started and utilized strong literature in order to efficiently communicate their feeling that it affected other cultures, yet these master pieces lack names and titles. These master pieces are originally written inside tomb walls, papyrus and limestone which celebrates the pleasures of food, music, dance, and love. Ancient Egypt Love Poems are significant in our literature because they are one of the first recordings of human literary works and sure enough the earliest example of love poetry. It took them a long time to create these magnificent pieces of literature in writing, but before that oral poetry was part of their tradition; composition of Hymns, stories, and prayers that were passed down from a generation to another orally. The reason was that only a few could read and write in a city and they were more likely royals and merchandisers. Egyptian invented hieroglyphic writing to help their trade system for recording their merchants; later on, they used this writing in tombs in order to compose biographies, narrative poems, and songs. Soon after, Egyptian came up with a new system of writing, hieratic script, which...
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...Comparative Essay Classical Chinese and Ancient Egyptian cultures reveal the complexities of love through their works of literature, which involves the feminine chastity in a romantic plot. Throughout history, women set the role model for the appropriate engagement in premarital sexual behavior with men. In the Classical Chinese poem, “Zhongzi, Please,” we uncover a conservative female character who is afraid of society's criticisms if she is seen with a male figure. On the other hand, in the Ancient Egyptian poem, "The Beginning of the Song that Diverts the Heart," we encounter a rebellious female character who embarks on a mission to persuade her lover to indulge in a sexual relationship. Both poems in Ancient Egypt and Classical China share similarities because the character’s response to love reflects their cultural beliefs. Confucius’ teachings about respect and obedience are reinforced several times in the Classical Chinese poem, “Zhongzi, Please,” through a female character’s reaction to her lover. The respectful manner to say “please” is used several times by the female to kindly ask her lover to pull back on his amorous advances. Also, we can infer the female’s usage of the word “please” as a strategy to attract her lover. The word “please” (1, 9, 17) conflicts with Confucius’ ideals of a women to restrain from romantic exposure, but his teachings are again reinforced with the repetition of line breaks of sentence for example, “Zhongzi, please / don’t cross my...
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...Three impressive civilizations, from different time periods, have managed to influence each others cultures through the literature works of poetry; from Ancient Egyptian song: “I Am Your Best Girl”, to the glorious Greek love poems of the beautiful Sappho, and the monotheistic Hebrews Song: “I Am the Rose of Sharon.” Over the course of thousands of years, each of these great civilizations had countless views on poetry; all represented inspiration to their own citizens to become successful in life’s endeavors. All forms of literature, art, scripts and artifacts had a wide effect on these societies. By comparing these key examples of poetry, matters of passion for personal integrity, search for eternal love, admiration for greater quality of life and powerful affection towards dear ones, can give us a better understanding towards the emotional and dignifying experiences each culture portrayed. In the first Love Song: “I Am Your Best Girl,” there are many contrasts between the authors theme of powerful affection towards a beloved and the authors self-definition of ones own society. To start, the author sets a personal tone of desire and devotion to ones beloved. She shows ones worth in the first few lines of a simile “I belong to you like an acre of land which I have planted,” here the poet doesn’t mind becoming a part of mans property, she is deeply devoted to him. Nevertheless, it can also bring meaning into a hard days work of maintaining the land and applying that to her...
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...ENG 202: Brandel Of Prisoners & Superheroes Shalin Patel Poem Title: Prisoner No. 786 Drama Title: Love is Bl(ow)ind Creative Non-Fiction Title: v/s The Biased Media of the 21st Century Fiction Title: Sub-Urban Superhero Reflection Essay Included Total Word Count: 5095 Prisoner No. 786 I, prisoner number 786, stick my head out through these iron bars. I watch as days, months and years turn into eons. The smell of the warm moist mud reminds me of all those carefree afternoons I spent on my mama’s porch watching the rain pass by. The scorching sun on my face reminds me of the sweetest iced tea my sister used to so carefully prepare. The unflinching rain at times takes me back to the fields where I would play soccer for hours at end with my cousins. The bitter cold within my bones reminds me of the steaming hot barbecue my father would make so passionately, never failing to impress. This man standing outside my cell tells me this is not my country, then why does it feel like I’m right at home? He says I’m not like him, then why do I feel like he’s like me? I, prisoner number 786, stick my head out through these iron bars. I stare towards the heavens as a white fairy descends from the village of dreams. I don’t know who she is, but she talks like she’s all mine. When I listen to her, it feels like I want to go out there and live again. When she makes all those fake promises, she makes me want to believe in myself again. I, prisoner number 786, stick my head out through these...
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...Sonnet 55 and Ozymandias Comparison Sonnet 55 is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. It is one of a 154 series of sonnets written by Shakespeare. Though it is not confirmed who it is exactly the sonnet is directed at, we know that it is most likely a love interest or his best friend at the time. Ozymandias is another sonnet, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This poems name, Ozymandias, was a Greek name for the Egyptian Pharaoh, Rameses II. Sonnet 55 is a poem about a great love, or best friend of Shakespeare’s. According to many critics and readers, it is about time and immortalization. The poem directly begins with some words of assurance to his lover; no other memorials, however beautiful or permanent, can outdo this sonnet, which will live longer and shine brighter. He’s saying that that the rest of the world has to deal with war and other tragedies but this sonnet will escape both these. The purpose of his writings were to express his emotions and compassion for the person he loves (“But you shall shine more bright in these contents than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time” Lines 3-4). He also wanted to show how immortality can be obtained through stories or poetry (“The living record of your memory. ‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity” Lines 8-9). This poem is 14 lines long, and follows the rhyme scheme; abab, cdcd, efef. It also has an iambic parameter; “So till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this,...
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...the ways of storytelling, poems and song. * We think good story telling is neatly organized and original. Clichés are a make of bad writing. * But per literature societies tend to love stock phrase, tradition sayings and proverbs. Helped them to remember the story. * Per literature societies didn’t have an author instead they have poets, singers and storytellers to echo old tales. * Of course most oral stories were lost due to not having been written down or recoded in some fashion there for can’t be collected in any anthology records. * As one can expert written literature didn’t take hold all at ones, it was used for inventory, commercial, admin., political and legal form mostly at first. * Plato s Phaedrus gives us some induction of Athenians enormous cultural change with the invention of writing. * By the time of early Roman Empire poets started to emulate oral literature. * Mesopotamia was where writing was first developed around 3300 to 2990 b.c.e. * Writings at this time where done with clay tablets left in the sun to dry. Pictographic used list livestock, food etc * By 2800 b.c.e began to use wedged -shape end sticks to make marks rather than shape ended sticks to draw pictographic. * Known as cuneiform from the Latin word cuneus meaning wedge. * By 2500 b.c.e cuneiform was started being used the record historical events. And then storytelling. * The writing system invented by the Egyptians called hieroglyphic from...
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...girl dreams of having a Prince charming. The story of Cinderella is a fairy tale that is told and read to children of very young ages (ALA American Library Association) Research shows that many versions have been found first in Europe and the story tale origins appear to date back to a Chinese story from the ninth century. (ALA American Library Association) The book Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah is a story portrayed by a very young girl who mother died giving birth to her. Cinderella lived with her family who thought she was bad luck to them, therefore she was discriminated against and treated very bad. In the Chinese culture many Chinese people prefer sons then daughters. In many cultures children look for the love of their parents. The book emphasizes that quote “how you should do your best in the face of hopelessness; to have faith in the end your spirit will prevail; to transcend your abuse and transform it into a source of courage, creativity and compassion.” (by Adeline Yeh Man) In the African culture they interpret Cinderella differently for example Cinderella was written differently and the name was changed to Rhodopis a Greek slave girl living in Egygt and was teased by the servants about her coloring and she loses her rosy-gold slipper and Pharoah Amasis finds the girls slipper and searches for her and then marries her. It is detailed if life in ancient Egypt...
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...part”, “give understanding to the heart” (Leeming, 1990, p. 131). Yahweh has the ability to part the light, change seasons, and changes the weather. How did the Supreme Being create humanity? According to Hebrew myth the Supreme Being created humanity from the ground, in his image, from the breath of Yahweh, and no other creature is created with his likeness (Bergant, & Karris, 1992, p. 41). Great Mother Myth |Myth: |Religion or culture of origin: | |Nut |Egypt | What are the characteristics of the Great Mother? Egyptian myth names Nut as the Great Mother. She is the night sky goddess and has been depicted as a blue female figure that stretches over the universe (Tara, 2011, para. 1). How did the Great Mother protect or look after humanity? The Great Mother Nut, watched over those who passed away, as well as the goddess of death . She has also been known to...
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...Countee Cullen * May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946 * American poet * Leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance * In 1923, he won second prize in the Witter Bynner undergraduate poetry contest, which was sponsored by the Poetry Society of America, with a poem entitled ‘The Ballad of the Brown Girl’ * By 1929 Cullen had published four volumes of poetry. The title poem of ‘The Black Christ and Other Poems’ (1929) was criticized for the use of Christian religious imagery - Cullen compared the lynching of a black man to the crucifixion of Jesus. * It was rumoured that he was in a relationship with Harold Jackson. I chose these two poems as it really illustrates the suffering that black people suffered in America during this era, also the fact that black people were incredibly talented and have perhaps chosen to not pursue their dream or utilise their talent as they were not supposed to be superior to whites. I chose these two poems as it really illustrates the suffering that black people suffered in America during this era, also the fact that black people were incredibly talented and have perhaps chosen to not pursue their dream or utilise their talent as they were not supposed to be superior to whites. For a Poet I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth, And laid them away in a box of gold; Where long will cling the lips of the moth, I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth; I hide no hate; I am not even wroth Who found earth's breath so keen and...
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...other topics these experiences make up the most amazing journey of “life” that we all make from birth to death. And many of the journeys in life can be a struggle. Eudora Welty’s short story “A Worn Path” is the story of an old woman experiencing a journey in her life with countless struggles along the way. Eudora Welty’s short story “A Warn Path” gives us the journey that an old woman makes out of love for her family and the strong will and determination she has to complete the journey. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is a poem about having to make a hard decision during his journey of life. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” gives us the journey on a man who has to make a decision and choose what path he wants to spend the rest of his life down. Both “A Warn Path” and “The Road Not Taken” have one particular theme which is “Journey,” but both pieces of literature have different content, form and style. While the journey is the theme of each of these pieces of literature, each author gives a different perspective of the journey through different meaning. In the poem “The Road Not Taken,” Robert Frost portrays the journey as the choices people take in their life and the impact of these choices to their future. Frost shows how a choice today has long term effects on what they will become tomorrow. Frost gives the reader the scenario of choosing the path that many others choose, or choosing the path that few choose to solve their choice. One path has to be chosen...
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...Literature Compare and Contrast Introduction to Literature Instructor: Corey King March 9, 2013 Short stories and poems are constructed differently but always each having their own meaning behind them. A number of the short stories of writers we know as novelists--in this country say Cheever, Paul Bowles, Helprin, Oates--are works of art finer than any of their novels. Sometimes a born short story writer tries to write novels and finally succeeds, as Katherine Anne Porter and Eudora Welty did. Every author puts their own underlying message behind them which they attempt to transport to the reader using their own style, characterization and rhythm which is essentially used for the purposes of the narrative. Every poem and short story is created to form ones imagination or personal experience. It is through their imagination that we are able to apply our own, in a way that all it takes is a few words from the poem or the story to allow us to see what the author was seeing at the moment of writing his/her work and even feel his/her emotion, creating a personal connection with the literature. We use our imagination to visualize what the author is portraying in his writing, but at the same time we apply our own imagination to look deeper into the symbolization and the descriptive language that is being used. “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty and “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost, are two literary pieces that share the same theme, in which each...
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...U3_FT1.3: ‘Ozymandias!’ ‘Ozymandias’ is a poem written by famed romantic era poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. As a poet, Shelley’s works were never truly recognized during his lifetime due to the extreme discomfort the generation had with his political radicalism, or his revolutionary ideology. It was only after his death that his works were further examined for the masterpieces they are and the way Shelley thought about revolutionary movements was finally revealed. The Romantic Era in England was a reaction to the stuffy, undemocratic, narrow-minded Enlightenment Era of the 1700s. Towards the end of the 1700s, people began to question the belief that their century was a ‘perfect era’ (as those intellectuals of the time called it) and the Romantic Era grew out of this backlash. Pioneers of the Romantic period, like Shelley, wanted to break away from the conventions of the Age of Enlightenment and make way for individuality and experimentation, an imperative ideology of the Romantic Era. Shelley magnified the importance and beauty of nature and love. This was mainly because of the industrial revolution, which had shifted life from the peaceful, serene countryside towards the chaotic cities, transforming man's natural order. Nature was not only appreciated for its visual beauty, but also revered for its ability to help the urban man find his true identity. While the poetry of the time is typified by lyrical ballads reflecting nature and beauty, revolutionary ideas are an underlying theme...
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...a manifesto in which Langston Hughes “skillfully argues the need for both race pride and artistic independence.” (Rampersad, 2013) Countee Cullen is somewhat viewed as a mystery. Facts about his location of birth, and early childhood life cannot be exactly pinpointed. Originally it was claimed by Cullen on a New York transcript that he was born in Louisville, Kentucky but later claimed New York City as his official place of birth. The way that Countee Cullen contributed to the Harlem Renaissance was through the many talents he displayed as a poet, children’s writer, novelist, translator, playwright, and anthologist; which allow him to become a major African American literary figure able to cross over into many different genres. With the poem known as “I Have a Rendezvous with Life”, Cullen’s reputation began to rise, and the concept of “racial self awareness” began to rise as well, and at an alarming rate. (Early, 2013) Double consciousness was a term originally created by W.E.B. Du Bois and...
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