...Odysseus and Dante Dawn Anderson September 24, 2013 World Literature Professor O’Neil South University Online Abstract The travels of Odysseus and Dante are plagued with many trials and tribulations. Odysseus is trying to return home to his wife Penelope, but Odysseus has angered the God and they make it extremely difficult for him to achieve his goals. Dante and Virgil travel through the circles of hell in order for Dante to search for his humanity. The plot of these two stories are evident when comparing the epic characteristics, epic conventions, and comparing the different religious backgrounds of the time period in which these novels were written. Both the Odyssey by Homer and Dante’s Inferno were written to reveal culture and tradition of life and values that each epic portrays. In the Odyssey by Homer the main character Odysseus is a man struggling with multiple obstacles while trying to return home after twenty years fighting in the Trojan War. In the Inferno, Dante is on a journey between good and evil, with references to heaven and hell. The Gods or angels are used in both books by helping Odysseus and Dante to grow in faith and attain their own potential dream. Odysseus faces challenges on his journey home are plagued by the wrath of the Gods. Dante is challenged by going through hell in search of his humanity. Throughout the Odyssey by Homer Odysseus must face obstacles and struggle to be able to overcome these obstacles by using his mind and...
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...Aligheri’s Inferno and Homer’s The Odyssey respectively have two characters that fulfill what is like to be recognized as a brave and noble character. Throughout both poems, we can see how each character has unique qualities that make them outstand and set them up as a leader, but at the same time, they have the flaws of any human being. It is clear when a character overcomes the status of any human being and sets the lead as a hero. An important trait of an epic hero is the fact that starts a journey; it may be of a personal matter, such as Dante, or of societal matter, like Odysseus. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is a war hero travelling home after a period of twenty years. In this epic, Odysseus is brought out as a hero with superhuman courage. In most cases, he has been shown fighting with supernatural forces. One characteristic of this journey that is different from Dante is that the hero in this epic fights against external forces. Odysseus faces many challenges while traveling home. To begin with, he is cast on an island that is surrounded by waters. Some situations appear to have no immediate solution as one is surrounded by problems. Secondly, he is strongly opposed by the god Poseidon and the seas. The reason for this is a past grudge he had with god Poseidon. As he approaches his home,...
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...having such a wide spectrum, it seems fairly easy to fall into the hero category. That range leaves no doubt why Odysseus and Dante are epic heroes; with what they went through, traveling through sea and passing straight through hell, they have also earned the title of being respectable heroes. According to The Odyssey, it is shown that a hero has a quality of being a risk taker; a trait Odysseus demonstrates throughout his journey. When Odysseus stabbed the Cyclopes in the eye, it is considered a huge, bold risk “Straight forward they sprinted, lifting it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye” (book IX. 380-381). Odysseus knew if he didn’t act quick, him and his men would live out their last days waiting to be lunch for the Cyclops. However, Odysseus is considered a god among men because of his quick thinking, he knew he had to succeed in order to avoid that fate. Not only were they inspired by the fact that they had to act on the situation to save their lives, but it also seems like they had some external motivation. As Odysseus’ men stood around him, “some god inspired us”, Odysseus said (book IX. 379). Which is weird because that was just moments before an attack was launched to a son of a god. Odysseus, a witty yet normal human, was able to defeat the giant Cyclops Polyphemus, son of a god. Not only was the Cyclops defeated and his men were now safe, but Odysseus was smart enough not to leave a trail behind his work. When prompted for his name,...
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...sources…symbolized by the garden.” Lyric represents both the pre-Fall condition of man and the redemptive state. Tragedy is the loss of the garden; comedy is man enduring in the fallen world. Epic, however, restores man to his pre-Fall state. The epic “struggles to build or cleanse,” attempting to complete the journey to the new Eden, one which is “redeemed and made new.” Dante projects his redemptive journey in the Divine Comedy upon the conversation between Statius and Virgil. In Statius and Virgil’s conversation, Dante reveals the necessity of epic, its shortcomings, and lyrics role in redemption. The epic is the journey to redemption and Love lyric is the end. Dante, throughout the divine comedy, reveals the epic struggle. Virgil, the epic poet, does what the saint cannot,...
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...Biography of Homer (?-? BC) Beyond a few fragments of information, historians and classicists can only speculate about the life of the man who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey. The details are few. We do not even know the century in which he lived, and it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that the same poet composed both works. The Greeks attributed both of the epics to the same man, and we have little hard evidence that would make us doubt the ancient authorities, but uncertainty is a constant feature of scholarly work dealing with Homer's era of Greek history. The Greeks hailed him as their greatest poet, as well as their first. Although the Greeks recognized other poets who composed in Greek before Homer, no texts from these earlier poets survived. Perhaps they were lost, or perhaps they were never written down‹Homer himself was probably on the cusp between the tradition of oral poetry and the new invention of written language. Texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey existed from at least the sixth century BC, and probably for a considerable span of time before that. These two great epic poems also had a life in performance: through the centuries, professional artists made their living by reciting Homer, performing the great epics for audiences that often know great parts of the poem by heart. It is impossible to pin down with any certainty when Homer lived. Eratosthenes gives the traditional date of 1184 BC for the end of the Trojan War, the semi-mythical...
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...James Joyce: Ulysses James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, better known as James Joyce, was born on February 2, 1882 in Dublin, Ireland. Joyce soon grew to have quite a large family. He was the first of ten surviving children to be born to John Stanislaus Joyce and Mary Murray Joyce. Two of his siblings died of Typhoid. Due to the large number children the Joyces had and his father’s drinking, the Joyce’s gradually sank deeper into poverty throughout Joyce’s young life. As a child, Joyce displayed impressive writing skills and a love for literature and poetry. Dante, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and many other great writers and philosophers were among the literary giants that Joyce would occupy himself with. Joyce also showed linguistic talent...
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...White Man’s Burden (Handout) Summary & Annotation: A straightforward analysis of the poem may conclude that Kipling presents a"Euro-centric" view of the world, in which people view society from only a European cultures point of view. This view proposes that white people consequently have an obligation to rule over, and encourage the cultural development of people from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds until they can take their place in the world by fully adopting Western ways. The term "the white man's burden" can be interpreted simply as racist, or taken as a metaphor for a condescending view of non-Western national culture and economic traditions, identified as a sense of European ascendancy which has been called "cultural imperialism". A parallel can also be drawn with the charitable view, common in Kipling's formative years, that the rich have a moral duty and obligation to help the poor "better" themselves whether the poor want the help or not until according to Europeans, "they can take their place in the world socially and economically." The term "white man's burden" is a phrase that became current in the controversy about the United States acquisition of the Philippines after the Spanish-American war of 1898. It was a concept that was the responsibility of white Europeans to bring "proper" European civilization to the nations (mostly brown, black, red or yellow) that did not have it. The underlying thought was that Europeans were correct in their beliefs and...
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...Tennyson (Ulysses and Crossing the Bar) Presented by: Fatima Tawfiq ********************************************************** Tennyson Biography Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is one of the most famous poets in English literature. Many of his poems are standard of 19th-century literature and are critical and popular favorites. The body of critical work on him is immense, and although some of his work is seen as too sentimental today, his intellectual contributions to poetry and metaphysics are undeniable. Alfred Tennyson was born on August 5, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, where his father George was a clergyman. Young Alfred began writing poetry at a very early age, and published his first work "Poems by Two Brothers" at the tender age of sixteen. In that same year of 1827 Tennyson entered Cambridge University, where he befriended Thackery and produced his second collection, "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical". He also met Emily Selwood, to whom he became engaged in 1839. The Selwood family objected to the engagement, partly because of Tennyson's lack of money, and partly because his brother Charles was unhappily married to Emily's sister Louisa. Tennyson poured his energy into writing, and his "Poems" of 1842 made him extremely popular. He let his doctors convince him to give up writing for a time because of his poor health, but the respite was temporary. In 1847 "The Princess" was another success, and two years later Tennyson married Emily in a secret ceremony. When William Wordsworth...
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...JAMES JOYCE -AN IRISH MODERNIST MODERN FICTION GROUP NUMBER 4 GROUP MEMBERS : HAFSA SHAHID R CONTENTS: Introduction to James Joyce Modernism and James Joyce A portrait of an Artist as aYoung Man Ulysses Themes and Style of Joyce's two Works a) Mythological Allusions b) Kunslerroman c)Stream of conciousness c)Focus on inner time rather than outer time d)Search for identity e)Treatment of religion f)Treatment of sexuality Conclusion James Joyce (from February 2, 1882 to January 13, 1941) was one of the most preeminent Irish authors of the 20th century. He is known for his literary innovation strictly focused narrative and indirect style. James Joyce matriculated from University College of Dublin in 1903. After moving to Paris, Joyce planned on studying medicine. The lectures were conducted in a technical French but Joyce’s education had not prepared him for it. Despite his mother’s attempts to get him to return to Catholic Church, Joyce remained unmoved even after her death. Joyce studied at Clongowes Wood College from 1888 until 1892. When the family’s financial state devolved, Joyce had to leave the school. After a brief time at Christian Brothers School, Joyce was enrolled at Belvedere College in 1893. In 1898, Joyce began studying Italian, English and French at University College Dublin. At this time, Joyce also began his entry into the artistic...
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...ARALIN I BATAYANG KAALAMAN SA PAG-AARAL NG PANITIKAN Panitikan * Isang mabisang ekspreyon ng isang lipunan. * Isa ito sa mga pangunahing institusyon ng pagsasalin ng kultura sa mga henerasyon na bumubuo ng bawat lipuna Apperception Theory- ang mga ideyang lumilitaw sa ganitong uri ng pag-iisp ay hindi galing sa pandama o pakiramdam kundi mula sa pagmumuni-muni o paglilimi ng isang tao sa kanyang isipan. Dalawang antas ng “Apperception Theory”: 1. Percept- ipinapakita ang mga huwaran na nasa anyo ng akdang pasulat. 2. Concept-pinagyayaman ang kahulugan at ang nilalaman ng wikang ginagamit. KATUTURAN NG PANITIKAN: *Ayon sa Bagong Pangkolehiyong Diksyunaryo ni Webster-ang panitkan ay ang kabuuan o kalipunan ng mga pinagyamang sinulat o nilimbag sa iasng tanging wika ng mga tao; ang mga naisatitik na pagpapahayag na may kaugnayan sa iba’t-ibang paksa; o anumang bungang-isip na naisatitik. *Ayon kay Bro. Azarias sa kanyang Pilosopiya ng Literatura-ito ay ang pagpapahayag ng mga damdamin tungkol sa ibat’t ibang bagay sa daigdig, sa pamumuhay,sa pamahalaan, sa lipunan at kaugnayan ng kaluluwa sa Dakilang Limikha. *Ayon naman kina Paz Nicasio at Federico Sebastian- ang panitikan ay kabuuan ng mga karansan ng isang bansa, mga kaugalian, paniniwala, pamahiin,kaisipan at pangnarap ng isang lahi na ipinahahyag sa mga piling salita; sa isang maganda at makasining na paraan, nakasulat man o hindi. Mga layunin sa Pag-aaral ng Panitikan 1. Maipakilala sa mga mag-aaral...
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...Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag "Content is a glimpse of something, an encounter like a flash. It's very tiny very tiny, content." - Willem De Kooning, in an interview "It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible." - Oscar Wilde, in a letter The earliest experience of art must have been that it was incantatory, magical; art was an instrument of ritual. (Cf. the paintings in the caves at Lascaux, Altamira, Niaux, La Pasiega, etc.) The earliest theory of art, that of the Greek philosophers, proposed that art was mimesis, imitation of reality. It is at this point that the peculiar question of the value of art arose. For the mimetic theory, by its very terms, challenges art to justify itself. Plato, who proposed the theory, seems to have done so in order to rule that the value of art is dubious. Since he considered ordinary material things as themselves mimetic objects, imitations of transcendent forms or structures, even the best painting of a bed would be only an "imitation of an imitation." For Plato, art is neither particularly useful (the painting of a bed is no good to sleep on), nor, in the strict sense, true. And Aristotle's arguments in defense of art do not really challenge Plato's view that all art is an elaborate trompe l'oeil, and therefore a lie. But he does dispute Plato's idea that art is useless. Lie or no, art has a certain value according to Aristotle because it is a form of therapy...
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...THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES JOSEPH CAMPBELL BO I. L I N G EN SERIES XVII PRINCETON UNIVERSITY AND PRESS P R I N C E T O N OXFORD Copyright © 2004 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton Unhxmt^Pms, U WiffiaM SUrtt, Pnnceton, New Jersey 08540; im^inii!-. •:-..• punght i 1-49 by Botiingen e d i t i o n l n ' i l h Foundation, rc't.'itii.yi •: • andpttt t*j''!' !_•"' . !.,.: b% :''ohi: •• Bough, one-volume edition, p. 386. Copyright, 1922 by The MacmiUan Company and used with their permission). Compare Sigmund Freud: "I recognized the presence of symbolism in dreams from the very beginning. But it was only by degTees and as my experience increased that I arrived at a full appreciation of its extent and significance, and I did so under the influence of . . . Wilhelm Stekel. . . . Stekel arrived at his interpretations of symbols by way of intuition, thanks to a peculiar gift for the direct understanding of them. . . . Advances in psycho-analytic experience have brought to our notice patients who have shown a direct understanding of dream-symbolism of this kind to a surprising extent. . . . This symbolism is not peculiar to dreams, hut is characteristic of unconscious ideation, in particular among the people, and it is to be found in folklore, and in popular myths, legends, linguistic idioms,, proverbial wisdom and current jokes, to a more complete extent than in dreams." {The Interpretation of Dreams, translated by...
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...Introduction The familiarity with the love tradition makes it easily mistakable for a natural and universal phenomenon and even brings a laxity of enquiring into its origins. However, it is difficult of not impossible to show love to be anything more than an artistic phenomenon or construct- a literary per formative innovation of Middle Ages. Courtly love was a medieval European formation of nobly, and politely expressing love and admiration. Courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. (Simpson). The term "courtly love" was first popularized by Gaston Paris in 1883. It has since come under a wide variety of definitions and uses, even being brushed off as nineteenth-century romantic fiction. Its understanding, beginning, and weight persist as an issue of significant question. Origin of the term ‘courtly love’ The term courtly love was given its original definition by Gaston Paris in 1883 in the journal Romania in the article "Études sur les romans de la Table Ronde: Lancelot du Lac, II: Le conte de la charrette" a treatise inspecting Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (1177). The term courtly was derived from the term ‘amour courtis’ which according to Paris was an admiration and an ennobling discipline. The lover accepts the autonomy of his mistress and tries to make himself worthy of her attention by trying to act bravely and doing whatever deed she desires. In order to prove to her his passion and his unwavering commitment and, he...
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...The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phaedo, by Plato This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Phaedo The Last Hours Of Socrates Author: Plato Translator: Benjamin Jowett Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #1658] Last Updated: January 15, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHAEDO *** Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger PHAEDO By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Contents INTRODUCTION.PHAEDO | INTRODUCTION. After an interval of some months or years, and at Phlius, a town of Peloponnesus, the tale of the last hours of Socrates is narrated to Echecrates and other Phliasians by Phaedo the 'beloved disciple.' The Dialogue necessarily takes the form of a narrative, because Socrates...
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...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
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