Have you ever?

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you went against your parent's wishes and did it anyway? The need was just too great. Their cautionary words never even penetrated your reckless thoughts. Maybe it was a dare or a purchase that was really out of your price range. And so, with a last look at the parent's worried face, Phaeton sets out to ride his father's sun chariot. Oh, wait, did you think I was really talking about you? But it doesn't matter because the old mantra of class is 'all that is past possesses the present.' This is a story that you can find in any newspaper in the country. Headline: teenager crashes car, 1 fatality. It is tragedy. An entire family is shaken. Now in Phaeton's case, his actions affect more than his immediate family, but the sorrow and grief are still there. His sisters turn into popular trees out of their grief. No word on how the parents take it. But we know the earth cries out as Phaeton's burning cargo scorches her face. She pleads to let her death end quickly. That's in today's headlines as well - Global Warming. Okay that was a stretch, but you get the picture. Story is everywhere. In last semester's class with Prof. Sexson our theme was all 'literature is displaced myth.' I see it in all of life. Equally beautiful, equally tragic.

Notes for April 6th Test

From Ovid...
Acteon - stag
Arachne - spider
Tiresias - man to woman to man
Atalanta - lion
Myrrha - tree (which gave birth to Adonis)
Pentheus - boar
Adonis - windflower
Narcissus - narcissus flower
Midos - ass's ears
Niobe - weeping stone
Calisto - bear constellation
4 Ages - Gold, Silver, Brass, Iron

1. flyting? - colorful verbal argument
2. Tally? broken coin from Plato's symposium and Aristophanes
3. Know story of Echo
4. What two characters models for Romeo & Juliet? - Pyramus & Thisbe
5. Name three symposium characters and their speeches on love.
6. Tragedy - goat song, comedy - revel song
7. metempsychosis? - transmigration of souls
8. catharsis? - purging of emotions (specifically pity and fear)
9. According to Trojan Women what is the worst? - sacrifice of a child
10. obscene? off stage
11. New comedy vs. Old comedy - marriage, feast, dancing
12. Animnesis? - Plato's theory of forgotten knowledge
13. According to Prof. Sexson reincarnation thought of as metaphor or poetic thought
14. What gift did Paris choose among those the goddesses offered? Helen/most beautiful
15. What character symbolizes reconciliation in Lysistrata? naked woman
16. Diff. between Sophocles and Euripides tragedy? formal truth vs. emotional truth
17. tragedy deals with individual, comedy centered around society/community
18. parabasis? - abuse of audience
19. What was the captured women's fate after a lost war? - slave or concubine
20. phallocentrism? domination of a culture by male point of view
21. Aristotle saw tragedy as perfect form of literature (not too short, not too long)
22. Plato - beauty - shoulder blade itches - wings
23. nostos? homecoming
24. once something said, can not be taken back (note gods and Tiresias story)

Ovid's Metaphors

"As he saw the sisters running./Now his bellow/Was as homicidal/ As it was anguished./ He came after them and they/ Who had been running seemed to be flying./ And suddenly they were flying." pg 228

It is important to note the metamorphosis, even when it is in the language. - when a simile becomes a metaphor. But why is this important? It is commonly known that a metaphor is more powerful. It makes a statement. It is the beautiful elegant sister compared to poor simile. Simile, the younger sister always living in metaphor's shadow. When Ovid transitions from simile to metaphor, he is constructing his world out of valuable material.

I found a passage out of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being that was quite meaningful. "Tomas did not realize at the time that metaphors are dangerous. Metaphors are not to be trifled with. A single metaphor can give birth to love." pg 11

I liked this idea that metaphors give birth because that means they are life giving. Similes are restrained to the words like or as. But metaphors are bound by no two words. A metaphor can change one thing into another. The metaphor is at the heart of Ovid's Metamorphosis. It is the very thing that makes such remarkable transformations possible. That is why it is so vitally important.

Not much has changed...

Women are "leaving the door open for a guy to get away with something...Here's what's happened over the years," says comic and radio host Steve Harvey. "Women's standards and requirements have lowered over the years. And as men, we know that. We have taken advantage of it. We've created terms that we feed to women that allow us to exist as we do," Author of Act like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve Harvey puts the responsibility on the women to train men again. By withholding what he calls "the cookie" (sex) women hold the power and can demand more from the men. He suggests a ninety day rule. Ninety days in a relationship before the man, uh, gets the cookie. In this way, the men can be held to a higher standard. Does this sound familiar? I immediately thought of Lysistrata's brilliant but simple plan. Stop having sex with men, to get them to bend to a woman's will. In her case it was to stop a war. Of course when Aristophanes wrote the play it was fiction, and comedy at that. But is there truth in it? What hidden power do women possess? And more importantly, is it our responsibility to ensure that men behave themselves? That they don't kill each other and sleep around? I want to know.

Death of Cygnus

1. At the walls of Troy,
2. A place once awed and admired,
3. An epic battle raged at her feet.
4. Swift footed Achilles tore through the Trojan lines,
5. Eyes searching for his prize,
6. But the life of Hector Tamer of Horses,
7. Would not be his to steal for years to come.
8. Instead here came Cygnus son of Neptune,
9. God of the sea.
10. His mighty arms plucked Greek soldier after soldier from the battlefield,
11. Throwing their souls into the dark underworld.
12. A worthy opponent indeed.
13. “Think yourself lucky,” Achilles bellowed,
14. “As you leave your pretty armor to me,
15. That it was Achilles who killed you.”
16. His deadly spear sped toward the Trojan's champion,
17. But…miraculously bounced harmlessly off his chest.
18. Achilles stared on in shock.
19. Cygnus’s taunting laughter pounded in his ears,
20. “To be the son not of a sea nymph like you,
21. But of Neptune, lord of the whole ocean, eh,
22. You’re going to have to do better than that, Greek,
23. If you want to kill me.”
24. At this time Cygnus threw his own spear,
25. Achilles raised his shield,
26. And felt the dull thud as the point nearly drilled all the way through.
27. Achilles returned fire,
28. Only to have the same result as before,
29. He might as well have been throwing toothpicks,
30. The way his spears bounded off Cygnus.
31. Achilles, angry, began to doubt his own strength.
32. He gathered his fallen spears,
33. And for good effect,
34. Hurled one through the soft body of a nearby Lycain.
35. He watched the man crumble dead to the ground.
36. Satisfied in his skill, Achilles hurled the same spear at Cygnus,
37. His eyes saw blood,
38. But his brain failed to tell him,
39. It was from the man he’d just killed,
40. And not from Neptune’s son.
41. He charged at the uninjured Cygnus and pounced on him,
42. Achilles blade shattered his helmet and shield with its frantic blows,
43. But Cygnus remained whole and unharmed.
44. On the contrary, it was the blade of Achilles that suffered,
45. The sharp edges turning soft like lead.
46. In a rage of despair and frustration,
47. Achilles rammed his shield into Cygnus’s face,
48. Crushing the nose like a soft pair.
49. He brought his sword pommel down,
50. Slamming it into the top of Cygnus’s head.
51. In this berserker state,
52. Achilles repeated this action until the skull caved in.
53. Thus was the death of Cygnus, son of Neptune.
54. But Achilles would go without his spoils,
55. For Neptune had spirited his sweet son away,
56. On the white wings of a bird.

Note: Lines 13-15, 20-21, 45, 48 were taken from the Ted Hugh's translation.

An Imaginary Life

Who is The Child? He is Enkidu. He is Mowgli. He is Neleus and Pelias. This mystical character is present in all cultures and all times. There are websites to this day about wild, feral children. The struggle between civilization and nature have been voiced in human expression since the oral tradition. The Child slowly changes as he becomes more familiar with Ovid. What Ovid doesn't know, is that he changes as well. The more things change, the more they stay the same. All that is past possesses the present. These concepts are prevalent throughout the book. Not only does it have direct references to Ovid's Metamorphosis. pg 64 - "I have stopped finding fault with creation and have learned to accept it. We have some power in us that knows its own ends. It is that that drives us on to what we must finally become. We have only to conceive of the possibility and somehow the spirit works in us to make it is the real metamorphosis. Our further selves are contained within us, as the leaves and blossoms are in the tree. We have only to find the spring and release it. Such changes are slow beyond imagination." These changes are the true metamorphosis. Beyond life into poetry. Beyond poetry into life. The two become indistinguishable. So than, why does The Child return to the wild? After all his experiences he chooses nature over civilization. He leaves and Ovid is left alone, but happy. He wants this in his soul. He knows it is right. The meaning of age is lost to him. As is his previous life in Rome. He is left to nature and in this knowledge he is happy.

Term Paper

I got this brilliant idea for a creative term paper. I just have to talk to Prof. Sexson about it. Since all that is past possesses the present is the theme of our class. I would like to modernize one of the classical stories we have read for this class. My favorite is Cupid & Psyche, even thought we haven't gotten that far yet. But I thought an updated version of the classic tale would be pretty cool. We have Beauty and the Beast and a few fairy tales, but we don't have anything anchored in the real world. That's what I want to do.