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2005/11/27 Lessons for LiteraureWhat is literature? Stories, poems and plays, especially those that are considered to have value as art and not just entertainment.( definition from The Macmillan Dictionary) Literary texts are products that reflect different aspects of society: They are cultural documents which offer a deeper understanding of a country or countries.(Basnet and Mounfold 1993)
Why use literature? Literature is authentic material. Students need to be exposed to this source of unmodified language. Literature encourages interaction. Literary texts are often rich in multiple layers of meaning, a good source for students’s discussions and sharing each other’s feelings Literature also help to develop students’ linguistic competence. Literature educates the whole person. Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. Students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature.
Models of teaching literature The cultural model The language model The personal growth model
English literary history from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 20th c. The important literary works and writers of this period; The literary movements and genres;
Objectives to have some ideas of English literary history; to become familiar with the important English literary works, writers, and literary movements; to develop literary competence; to maximize the students reading; to encourage comparative literary study.
Assessment Journals. You are encourage to keep a journal in English, which will reflect your personal development in literary competence. You can review your journal with your teacher. (20%) You are required from time to time to do some small-scale literary research tasks and present them in class. (20%) At the end of the term, you are required to have a written examination. (60%)
Approaches to learning Tutor-led input Small-scale topic-based investigative research Accessing information: library, internet, investigation Presentation Group tasks or tasks in pairs
Approaches to learning Tutor-led input Small-scale topic-based investigative research Accessing information: library, internet, investigation Presentation Group tasks or tasks in pairs
Geoffrey Chaucer “ ‘What man art thou,’ quoth he (the host) ‘That lookest as thou wouldst find a hare; For ever on the ground I see thee stare.’ ”
Political and cultural context: the changing England The foundations of the feudal system had already began to crumble; The people’s uprising of 1388, raising the question as to the abolition of feudalism; The glory of the Catholic Church was on the wane; European Renaissance began in Italy.
Chaucer: Man of Affairs He began life as a page in a nobleman’s household; He went to France at 19 on one of the campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War (1336-1431); Several times he was sent to the Continent o diplomatic missions, two of which took him to Italy; He was appointed controller of customs at London; Con. In 1386, he was elected member of Parliament; He 1389, he was appointed Clerk of the King’s works.
Chaucer: Man of Books During his life, he was first much in France, then not a little in Italy, and finally settled down in England; His literary career corresponds with these three periods: ---The first period consists of works translated from French; ---The second consists of works adapted from the Italian; ---The third includes “The Canterbury Tales”, which is purely English.
Chaucer’s contributions to English Literature Father of English poetry: he introduced from France the rhyming stanza of various types, especially the rhyming couplet of 5 accents in iambic meter (the “heroic couplet”) to English poetry, instead of the old alliterative verse; He was among the first to use English to write, contributing greatly to the founding of the English literary language, the basis of which was formed by the London dialect, which was profusely used by the poet; later writers were greatly influenced by his language; Con. He was the forerunner of the English Renaissance; His The Canterbury Tales gives a panorama of the contemporary England.
The Canterbury Tales: a monumental work in Eng. literature The story; The Prologue; The Tales Social Significance
April pierce (if sharp-pointed instrument) go through bud A young flower or leaf before it opens shoot A new growth from the ground vein Blood-vessel sap watery liquid carrying food though a plant shower A short period of a light rain zephyrs (poet.) soft, gentle freeze sprout Put out leaves tingle stir pilgrim A person who travels to a holy place as a religious act of respect martyr A person killed for his beliefs
The second and third stanzas Read them and discuss the contents: Who is the story teller? what is the meaning of “assorted” and “resort”? Who else came to the inn and where they were to go? What is the story teller going to tell?
The fourth stanza Read the stanza and discuss why the knight is told as a perfect knight? ( at least three reasons)
The fifth stanza Who is told? What are the things told about him? (at least three characteristics) Compare him with his father and say what you have found?
yeoman A servant hood Covering for the head fastened to a coat Peacock A large beautiful bird with long tail feathers draggle dirty Close-croped Cut short lore knowledge bracer Sth to protect one’s arm
Con. In what way is the yeoman described? Whom does he remind you of?
nun A member of an all-female religious group living together in a convent guile deceit mell well intone sing eglantine A kind of rose primly neatly grease Melted animal fat amiable Kind-hearted yelping Sharp cry from pain, anger… wimple Head cover for a nun slate Blue-grey stone rosary The string of small decorative balls used to count them in the Catholics
The Anglo-Norman Period( 1066 – 1350 ) The Norman Conquest The influence on the English language Literature: the romance Arthur and his knights of the Round Table
The Norman Conquest Duke William in 1066, the battle of Hasting, William the Conqueror was crowned as King of England. He confiscated the lands of the English lords and bestowed large patches of land to his Norman barons, who in turn divided the land among their own knights. In order secure the King’s authority over his barons, William compelled all vassals to take oath directly to him as well as to their lords. The Norman Conquest marks the establishment of feudalism in England.
The influence on the English language The Norman lords spoke French; The Church used Latin; The English subjects retained their own language. By the end of the 14th century when Normans and English intermingled, English again became the dominant language.
Latin French English veal calf pork swine mutton sheep interrogation question ask
The Romance The Normans brought to England their bright, romantic tales of love and adventure which are in sharp contrast with the strength and somberness of Anglo-Saxon poetry. This is the most prevailing literature in the feudal England. It was a long composition, sometimes in verse, some times in prose, describing the life and adventures of a noble hero. The central character of romances was the knight, a man of noble birth skilled in the use of weapons. He was commonly described as riding forth to seek adventures, taking part in tournaments, or fighting for his lord in battle. He was devoted to the church and the king. The rule of manners and morals of a knight is known as chivalry. One who wanted to be a knight should serve an apprenticeship as a squire until he was admitted to the knighthood with solemn ceremony and the swearing of oaths.
King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table 1.King Arthur may have been a Celtic chieftain who resisted Anglo-Saxon invaders after the Roman garrisons had abandoned Britain. 2. Nennius and his chronicle in Latin “History of the Britons” (c900?). 3.Geoffrey of Monmouth and his chronicle in Latin “History of the Kings in Britain” (12th C.).
Learn the following words Christmastide Period from Christmas eve to New Year courteous Having good manner, polite and kind to Derring-do Desperate courage feasting To eat a large special meal mirth Joy and laughter jousting Fight on horseback between knight Carol Christmas hymn din Loud confused noise that continues chanting Singing religious songs gallant courageous, polite to women
dais Platform for a throne canopy Covering tapestries covering gem Precious stone of jewel prickle Make a hole fray fight suppliant A person asking humbly for sth. stalwart Tall and muscular bedeck decorate warble singing dainties Delicious food
The English Island to 1066 The Britons: the early inhabitants The Roman Conquest ( 55 B.C. – 410 A.D.) The English Conquest: Angles, Saxons and Jutes The Norman Conquest ( 1066 )
The Song of Beowulf England’s national epic (3182 lines) Reflecting events which took place on the Continent at the beginning of 6th C. Written by an unknown scribe at the beginning of 10th C. and was not discovered until 1705 Pagan in spirit Beowulf, one of the national heroes of the English people
Warming up Anglo-Saxon Scandinavia Peninsular Scandinavia The Peninsula in Northwestern Europe… Jutland Containing Denmark and part of Germany rear Build, erect Shield and amour lament To express grief for mound A pile of earth, sand,…
Glossary kennings alliteration caesura epic
Guiding Questions:For Homework Write in your journal and prepare a mini presentation about the following questions. What can we learn from Beowulf about the Anglo-Saxons? What are some formal elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry?
1. The changing England The New Monarchy The Reformation The English Bible The Enclosure Movement The Commercial Expansion War with Spain
2. The Renaissance and Humanity The Beginning of the English Renaissance The influence of the bourgeoisie is shown in the sphere of culture: the intellectual movement known as the Renaissance; The thirsting curiosity to the classical literature; Con. Humanity is the key-note of the Renaissance. It reflected the new outlook of the rising bourgeois class, which saw the world opening before it. According to the humanists, both man and world are hindered only by external checks from infinite improvement. Man could mould the world according to his desires, and attain happiness by removing all external checks by the exercise of reason. 3. Representatives of the Renaissance Thomas More: the author of “Utopia”; Edmund Spenser: the poet’s poet, author of “The Faerie Queene”; John Lyly: author of the novel “Euphues”; Francis Bacon: philosopher, scientist and prose writer; Marlowe: the gifted play writer, author of “Tamburlaine” and “Doctor Faustus”.
4. Shakespeare(1564 – 1616) Some quotations by his contemporaries: “The Muses would speak with Shakespeare’s fine filed (i.e., elaborated) phrases, if they would speak English." (Frances Meres) “… a handsome, well-shaped man, very good company, and of a very ready and pleasant smooth wit.” Con. “… Soul of the Age！ The applause！delight！The wonder of our stage！” “Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time！”
(1) Comedies Comedy: A dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict; (American H.) Most of his comedies are created at the first period of his literary career; The main characters are young men and women just freed from the feudal fetters; The praise of their youth, love and ideal of happiness; The victory of their humanist ideal; The Heroines The Merchant of Venice.
(2) Histories They are political plays; The principal idea of these plays is the necessity of the national unity under one king; They cover 2 centuries of English history from Richard II (1377 – 99) to Henry VIII (1509 – 47)
(3) Tragedies Tragedy: A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.( American Heritage Dictionary) Social background: The co-operation between the Crown and the bourgeoisie, which was the basis of the Elizabethan regime, was now over. The Crown tended to be absolutist, and the bourgeoisie struggled for free development; Shakespeare began to observe life with penetration, to expose mercilessly the contradictions of Elizabethan society. Con. Hamlet; Othello; King Lear; Macbeth. Topics for discussion 1. Hamlet’s dilemma 2. people’s attitude toward supernatural phenomena in Shakespeare’s time 3. Does Elsinore represent the Garden of Eden after the serpent (Satan) does his dirty work.
Hamlet Plot; Main characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ghost, Polonius, Ophelia, Horatia, Laertes….; Setting: Elsinore Castle in eastern Denmark; Themes: hesitation, inherited sin and corruption; Sons seeking revenge…
Sonnet The term sonnet is derived from the Italian word sonetto, meaning little song. By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines following a strict rhyme scheme and logical structure. These have changed during its history. Traditionally, English poets usually use iambic pentameter when writing sonnets.
Shakespearean sonnets Soon after the introduction of the Italian sonnet, English poets began to develop a fully native form. These poets included Sir Philip Sidney, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel and William Shakespeare. The form is often named after Shakespeare, not because he was the first to write in this form but because he became its most famous practitioner. Con. The form consists of three quatrains and a couplet. The couplet generally introduced an unexpected sharp thematic or imagistic "turn". The usual rhyme scheme was a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g
2005/11/9 Introduction For European CultureClassical and Hellenistic Greece
I. Persian invasions of Greece and Greek victory (490 and 480—479 B.C.) · Greek cities of Ionia in Asia Minor revolt from Persian control (499 B.C.); · Athens and Eretria take part in burning of Sardis in Persian Empire (498); · Persians besiege Miletus, leading city in the revolt(496); · Fall of Mletus(494)’ · End of Ionian revolt(493); Con.
· Battle of Marathon near Athens, Persians defeated (490); · Death of King Darius of Persia(486); · King xerxes prepares for new invasion of Greece (484); · Persian army sets out from Sardis, Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, Battle of Salamis(480); · Battle of Plataea, Battle of Mycale on coast of Asia Minor (according to Hrodotus, fought on the same day as Plataea)( 479)
2.The Athenian Empire
· The Athenians were determined to fight a war of pursuit against the Persians and their territory in Asia Minor; · It headed a confederation of Greek states that gradually became an Athenian empire ( The Delian League )( the island of Delos); · Athens acted with restraint initially; gradually it intervened in other city-states’ affairs Con.
In 454, the league agreed to transfer the common treasury from Delos to Athens; therefore, cash contributions to the league were actually payments of tribute to Athens;
3. The Age of Pericles
· Under the leadership of Pericles (490?-429), Athens enjoyed its greatest period; · His politics, the best example of how an aristocrat from a wealthy family controlled, his way of controlling the masses; · His policy: Persians were the past, Sparta was the threat of the future; · On his initiative, the city understood to rebuild the destroyed temples on the Acropolis; Con.
· The single most inspired architectural achievement of the Classical Age is the Athenian Acropolis, which dominated the surrounding city and could be seen from the marketplace below. Construction began in the sixth century, but the largest and most magnificent of its temples, the marble Parthenon dedicated to Athena, was built during the Age of Pericle. Pericles’ lifetime coincided with the zenith of Athenian literature
------Athenian drama, espicially reached its highest development in the plays of Sophocles (a personal friend of Pericles) 4. The Rise of Macedonia
· The rise of Hegemonies; · The Monarchs of Macedonia; Alexander’s Empire (336–323 B.C.) 5. Classical Greek Culture(Ca. 500-323 B.C.)
(1) Greek drama (tragedy) · Drama originated from a choral song in Athens in honor of the god Dionysus; · Probably shortly before 500 B.C. a single actor began to sing or talk with the chorus, thus allowing the story to become more complex;
· The playwrights derived most of their plots from the familiar tales of gods and heroes in Greek mythology; · The themes: what is humankind’s relationship to the gods? What is justice? And if the gods are just, why do they make people suffer? ( These are fundamental questions for all religions).
Con.
· In its developed form drama became a vehicle for interpreting human experience; · It is probably for the education in ethics, the surviving plays combine dramatic power with subtle moral problems. Aeschylus (525?-456)
· The tragedy of Orestes, son of Agamemnon( the only one trilogy which has survived); · The central theme is the nature of justice, which Aeschylus explores in a tale of multiple murders and vengeance; · The tale. · For Aeschylus, human beings are often trapped in complicated situations, in a dilemma, out of which there is no escape.
Sophocles (496?-406)
Sophocles carried the evolution of drama further: unlike the dramatic-typed characters in Aeschylus dramas, Sophocles characters are sharply characterized characters; he also added a third character enabling him to concentrate more on the
interplay of characters; besides, he showed a greater interest in personality.
con
· His play Oedipus the King, the most famous and nearly perfect specimen that survives. · Freud drew on it in his theory of the Oedipus complex, a child’s desire for the parent of the opposite sex and rejection of the parent of the same sex. Euripides(480?-406?)
· His plays show a still later stage of evolution: he carries psychological analysis much further than his predecessors; he is interested in how the inner workings of the mind and emotions shape a person’s destiny; · Medea, his most familiar play shows. (2) Arstophanes(448?-385?) (comedy)
· Unlike tragedy, comedy treats the real world: Aristophanes satirized the Peloponnesian War, political leaders, intellectuals– including Socrates—and the failings of democracy, using fantasy and burlesque to demolish his targets.
· Aristophanes made the sharpest attacks for democratic leaders after Pericles. In The Knights(424), a general tries to · persuade an ignorant sausage-seller to unseat Cleon, one of those demagogues:
Con.
--- Tell me this, how can I, a sausage-seller, be a big man like that? --- The easiest thing in the world. You’ve got all the qualifications: low birth, marketplace training, insolence. --- I don’t think I deserve it. --- Not deserve it? It looks to me as if you’ve got too good a conscience. Was your father a gentleman? --- By the gods, no. My folks were scoundrels. --- Lucky man. What a good start you’ve got for public life. --- But I can hardly read. --- The only trouble is that you know anything. To be a leader of the people isn’t for learned men, or honest men, but for the ignorant and vile. Don’t miss the golden opportunity.
(3)Historical writing
Drama is one way of examining the human condition. Another way of doing this is to write history – to analyze the past and compare it with the present.
--- Herodotus(484?-425?), the Father of History, who wrote about the Greek war with Persia. --- Thucydides (455?-395?), the successor of Herodotus, who participated in the Peloponnesian War and wrote its history.
A quotation from Thucydides about the lust for power
——Our opinion of the gods and our knowledge of men lead us to conclude that it is a general and necessary law of nature to rule whatever one can. This is not a law that we made ourselves, nor were we the first to act upon it when it was made.
We found it already in existence, and we shall leave it to exist for ever among those who come after us. We are merely
acting in accordance with it, and we know that you or anybody else with the same power as ours would be acting in
precisely the same way. (Throughout his work, he presents a series of speeches and debates about various issues and
decisions.)
(4). Philosophy
· Drama, historical writing and artistic depiction (which we will discuss later) are all ways of looking at human experience and subjecting it to a critique. Another, and one that the Greeks invented, is philosophy—the attempt to use reason, and argument if necessary, to discover why things are as they are.
· Greeks became skeptical about the accounts that they found in their own mythology, and they began to suspect that there was a logical order to the universe and that humanity had the capacity to discover it.
Con.
· Pythagoras, Heracleitue, Democritus · The Sophists and Socrates; · Plato and Arstotle. · Statue of Apollo from Olympia, from the fifth century B.C. The statue combines the power and dignity of a god with the idea perfection of a human being. Its harmonious beauty also suggests that Greeks were the bearers of civilization and
enlightenment as compared with other peoples.
Mycenaean Civilization (ca.1600 – 1100 B.C.)
The Greeks appear to have began to settle in Greece from the Balkan areas a bit to the north, about 2000 B.C. They were members of the general family of Indo-Europeans that began a wide dispersal perhaps about 5000.
Around 1600B.C., the country now called Greece was divided into small kingdoms. Each kingdom was made up of a walled city and the land around it. The people who lived in Greece at this time became known as Mycenaeans,because Mycenae was the most important kingdom. 1.Geography played a large part of the formation of the society
· Mountain ranges divide Greece into many small valleys, different from that of Egypt. · Politically, independent communities without the direction (or the oppression) of a central ruler. · Economically, sailors, traders, and warriors at sea · wealth 2. The height of its prosperity (1400 – 1200)
· The King lived in palaces with workshops, storerooms and sometimes bathrooms Mycenaean scribes
· Tombs: Treasury of Atreus, the grandest and the best, conventionally named for the father of the legendary King Agamemnon ( the high vaulted ceiling is still intact, and the cavern, breathtaking
· tomb treasures · The walls around the citadel were built in their present form (which is different from the Minoans) · The mighty Gate of the Lionesses (or Lion Gate) was erected as an entrance to the city. (see the picture) · The Trojan War Comparison between the Mycenaeans and the Minoans
·the Mycenaean are more warriors than the Minoans; ·They are more involved in wars; ·They have less visual art than the Minoans; ·They have got walled cities; ·The King has more power The decline of Mycenae
· The war against Troy was the last feat of the Mycenaean Age. · The raids by sea · The attacks by land · 1100, Mycenae was overrun and destroyed The Dark Age
· The period from 1100 to 800 B.C. is known as the Dark age of Greece. · A sharp cultural decline; · Inhabited sites were abandoned; · Pottery was much less elegant; · Burials were made without expensive ornaments; · Construction of massive buildings came to a halt; · The art of writing in linear vanished; · Palace-centered bureaucracies no longer existed, but no evidences show the replacement of it; THE FOUNDATION OF GREEK CIVILIZATION
1. Cretan (or Minoan ) Civilization
(2000 -1400 B.C.) 2. The Mycenaean Civilization (Ca.1160 -1100) 3. The Dark Ages
(1100 - 750 or 800 B.C.) 4.The Archaic Period
(800-600 B.C.) 1. Minoan (Cretan) civilization (2000 –1400 B.C.)
The Minoans lived on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. Their way of life slowly grew into the first great civilization in Europe.
Palaces and legends
The Minoans take their name from King Minos who is said to have ruled the island. What we know now about the Minoans mostly comes from the Minoan Palaces at the city of Knossos.
The legend of King Minos
According to a Greek legend, the god Zeus fell in love with a beautiful princess called Europa. He turned himself into a bull and swam to Crete with the princess on his back. King Minos of Crete was one of Princess Europa’s sons.
The palace at knossos
Each of the main towns on Crete was built around a huge palace, but the one at Knossos was the largest. It had over a thousand rooms, which were linked by corridors, staircases and courtyards.
The throne room
The king carried out ceremonies in the throne room. The throne in Knossos is made of stone and is the oldest throne in Europe still standing I its proper place. The walls are painted with frescoes of plants and mythical creatures, called
griffins.
Storerooms
Farmers had to give some of their produce to the palace, where it was kept in the store rooms. Some of it was used to feed court officials and to pay the palace craft workers. The rest was traded abroad. Grain, oil and wine were stored in
huge earthenware jars.
Painted walls
The palace walls were decorated with bright paintings called frescoes. A fresco is a picture which is painted on a wall while the plaster is still damp. The Minoans painted vivid scenes of palace life, plants and animals.
The legend of the Minotaur
According to legend, the Minotaur was half-bull and half-man, and lived in a huge maze under the palace at knossos. A young Greek prince called Theseus set out to kill it. The daughter of King Minos gave Theseus a magic sword and a ball of thread. As he went deeper into the maze, Theseus unwound the thread, leaving a trail behind him. He used the sword to kill the monster and then followed the thread back to the outside world.
(2) Life on Crete
Most people on Crete were farmers. They kept animals, such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, and grew wheat, barley, vegetables, plums, grapes and olives. People also ate a lot of fish, which they caught in the sea around the island.
Travel and trade
The Minoans were skilled sailors, They had a large fleet of ships and sailed all around the eastern Mediterranean. Minoan merchants sold pottery, grain, wine and olive oil, and brought back gold, silver, jewels, ivory and linen. They were
successful traders and became very rich.
Bull-leaping
The Minoans enjoyed an extremely dangerous sport known as bull-leaping. Highly trained acrobats grasped the horns of a charging bull and somersaulted over its back. The bull was sacred to the sea god, so bull-leaping may have been part of a
religious ceremony.
Religion
The Minoans did not build huge temples. Instead, they prayed and made offerings to their gods and goddesses in special rooms inside the palaces, or at small outdoor shrines
Writing
Once the Minoans began to store goods and trade with other lands,they needed to keep a record of who owned what. At first they used pictograms (picture writing), but later they invented a form of writing which experts call Linear A. So far, no one has been able to understand what it says.
The end of the Minoans
1. Around 1450 B.C., there was a major disaster on Crete, The palaces were badly damaged, but no one is sure exactly how this happened. Around this time, a volcano on the nearby island of Thera erupted. This may have caused and
earthquake or a giant tidal wave, which wrecked the Minoans’ towns. Falling ash from the volcano may have ruined their
farmland.
2. At around the same time, Crete was invaded by people known as the Mycenaeans, who came from Greece. The
Minoans never really recovered and their civilization gradually died out.
Important dates
·C.6oooBC / Farmer settle on Crete ·C.2500BC /Towns begin to grow up ·C.1900BC / The first palaces are built. Picture writing is used. ·C.1700BC / The palaces are destroyed by an earthquake. ·C.1700-1450BC / The palaces are rebuilt. Crete is at its most powerful. ·C.1650BC / Linear A writing is used. ·C.1450BC / The palaces are destroyed. The Mycenaeans invade. The Minoan civilization gradually dies out. The Greek Renaissance (ca.800 – 600 B.C.)
As culture in Greece revived after what we call the Dark Age, the Greek people entered a period of rapid artistic and intellectual development. Poetry and art broke new frontiers; the economy expanded, partly through colonization in other
lands; and, above all, the social organization called the polis, or independent city state, appeared.
1.The Epic poetry
· The revival of literature in the form of Epic (epos, “saga, narration”); · Chant of sagas about the personality and deeds of Agamemnon, Menelaus, Achilles, Odysseus, and other princes; · Those sagas overlapped and multiplied and like streams, they flowed together and became the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey ascribed by Homer.
Iliad
· A portrait of a warrior aristocracy: the greatness in combat is the highest virtue; · A highly stratified society: kings and nobles make policy, working class have few rights only duties, women play on part; · The headstrong warrior Achilles is Homer’s concentration; · The conspicuous part of gods · A powerful study of men and women in conflict. The Odyssey
· Celebrating the triumphs of the hero Odysseus, through cleverness rather than sheer military prowess. · Ten years of voyage the demand of every kind of the stratagem( clever tricks); · Penelope, Odysseus’ faithful wife, a noble and admiring woman. Homer’s Influence · The two epics remain the chief inspiration for Greek literature in all periods; · Poets repeated the legends and wove variations on them; · Historians and philosophers drew on Homer for evidence or themes for debate; · Plato criticized Homer’s portrait of gods; · Later poets Greek poets did not try to challenge Homer in long epic poems, but in delicate, restrained kind of poetry; Con.
Homer influence long outlasted classical Greek literature:
---Roman poets wrote shorter epics inspired by Homer (particularly Virgil); ---Echoes are found in Shakespeare, Chaucer, and others. 2. Greek religion Most of the gods in Greek mythology appear in Homer’s two epics ---Zeus, the sky god of the first Greeks; ---Apollo, the sun god, probably from western Asia Minor; ---Aphrodite, goddess of love, from Cyprus; ---Athena, goddess of wisdom, from Crete; Con.
· Greek gods intervene actively in human affairs , which is different from the remote, transcendent deities of Near Eastern; even their dwelling place the Mount Olympus is earthly, an actual mountain in northern Greece;
· No religious code; · No priestly class (no priestly hierarchy); · Each locality (city) has its own god although most gods were common to all Greeks; · Religion and the life of the city were intertwined, beautiful temples were built all over Greece. · Dionysia, the Athenian festivals dedicated to the god of emotional religion, Dionysus; · 776 B.C. is commonly agreed to mark the beginning of the “ historic” period of Greek civilization, for the first Olympic games were held at Olympia, in the Peloponnese, in honor of Zeus.
3. Colonization (Ca. 750-550 B.C.)
· Growth of population; · Limited resources; · Foreign colonization: northern, western, and southern shores of the Black Sea, Western Asia Minor, Aegean islands, much of Sicily and southern Italy, Spanish coastal sites;
· A colony was a wholly independent state although the parent city might well expect some courtesies as offering during a religious festival;
· Trade revived as colonies supplied raw materials to the mainland, who, in turn, ….. 4. The Alphabet
·The Phoenicians were using a Semitic script called the alphabet; ·One of the incalculable benefits the Greek had from trading with the Phoenicians was the alphabet
Two versions of the alphabet ---the Western version ---the Eastern version ---Thus large regions of the world use one or another derivative of the Phoenician alphabet in the form the Greeks gave it. 5. Archaic Literature
Homeric epics continued as the main inspiration during this new period of literacy, but poets adapted this legacy to express their own thoughts and feelings: Homer never speaks in the first person (except to invoke the Muses to inspire
him), but it is in the intense expression of the poet’s own personality that Greek poetry is most different from literature of the ancient Near East.
Hesiod of Boeotia
· The first major successor of Homer; He lived probably about the same time or shortly after Homer. He refers to himself as · a farmer in Boeotia, a region of central Greece. Two complete works left( doc.1):
· Works and Days · Theogony Sapho of Lesbos
· The most intense and subtle poet of nearly of any age; (the exact analysis of feelings, the inventive images, the individuality mark her as a great writer of the highest originality) ( doc.2)
· Only one of her poems has survived completely, others …. · The possibility of being banned by the church because of the subject matter; Pindar of Thebes
· Choral odes written to celebrate victories of his patrons in the various Greek games; · The odes are sung by choirs of boys at the homecoming banquets of the winners · Brilliant rhetoric and striking metaphors; · The most accomplished advocate of aristocracy, both personal and political 6. Archaic Greek Art
· In pottery, sculpture, and architecture, the Greeks showed their ability to borrow motifs from other culture and to transform them into something clearly Hellenic, which shows the role of cross-fertilization in cultural history
Paintings
· Nearly all paintings come from the vases, also some from wall paintings in the Italian towns of Pompeii; · By 850, the Geeks had developed the geometry style, using various patterns and, later stylized human figures. · By 700, the Greeks had developed the Black Figure style of pottery; · Over the next two centuries the Greeks brought vase painting to a height of creativity and elegance Sculpture
· Greek sculpture also drew on the kingdoms of the Near East and Egypt for inspiration. · The Kouros, a young man standing rigidly erect in the fashion of Egyptian statues, often with one foot extended;( the first type of freestanding marble statue)
· The kore, his female counterpart Architecture
· The Greeks no longer spent their wealth and labor constructing palaces or immense tombs; · They build temples, gymnasiums and various other places of assembly, which were to be enjoyed by all; · The most important architecture form was the temple; · A simple rectangular structure, sloping roof, supported by columns, a shrine in the interior, sacrifices on altars outside; The Doric style.
The Polis
· For the social history of Western civilization, the most important event in the Greek Renaissance was the emergence, after 800, of the independent city-state, the “polis”
· In form, the polis had a central focus, called the “astu”, often built around a citadel. The polis also included the surrounding suburbs and fields. If the polis was large, even the formers might live inside the “astu” and travel to their
fields;
· Inhabitants: citizens of both men and women, slaves and resident aliens; 1.The overall social movement toward self-government
( when we can first see the Greek states in history, they did have kings; the king also served as head of the army, at least in name, and probably as chief priest. As mainstays of his power, he drew to himself, in a kind of council, heads of clans
or large families within his city. But by about 700, kings had vanished in nearly all poleis and had given way to land-
owning oligarchies. Evidently, the more influential citizens were no longer willing to submit to any kind of dynastic
kingship. Sparta was an exception)
Con.
· The upper classes( aristocrats) must have governed through assemblies (the armed forces of the poleis); · The population grew and poorer citizens became part of the armed forces; · As the number of citizens in a state increases, democracy will tend to arise (Aristotle); · Legal codes defining citizens’ rights were published( which showed the populace was no longer willing to accept direction from its social betters.
· Also in the 7th c., the first popular leaders ( “tyrants”, the Greek word, referring to an autocrat who ruled without strict legal foundation, not necessarily to a cruel oppressor) united the masses behind them and challenged the rule of the
aristocrats.
· Tyrants were certainly no sponsors of democracy, but they helped undermine the aristocratic system and laid the path to self-government in the poleis.
2.Economic conditions
·The basic means of livelihood was agriculture; ·The thin and rocky soil, not suited to raising grain or pasturing animals, farmers threatened a limited food supply. ·The “export” of people, the cultivation of olive trees; ·The citizens looked down upon trades and crafts( which might have hindered them from making progress in technology); Con.
· Industry was little more than household craft · No using of slaves in agriculture, which is different from the Romans; slaves were only used in mining and stone quarrying;
· Taxation was haphazard 3. Life in the Poleis
· Class structure: social mobility, no rigid divisions, no hereditary nobility, the new wealth bringing many into prominence; · Women: probably half of the population; from Homer, Penelope (wife of Odyssus); from tragedies, Clytemnestra, Antigone, Medea; from religion, Athena, Aphrodite; not owning property; for poor women, working as seamstresses,
nurses, sellers in the market, even prostitutes; the protection of law but not playing any part in politics and not voting;
Con.
·Home life: for the nobles, far less luxurious; dwellings, modest; sanitation, primitive; fish, grain, and bread , the staples; meat , reserved for festival days; olive oil used extensively;
·Few luxuries available, a lot of leisure time spent mainly in public places it is still the case today); ·Life in a polis, for all citizens, was shared in many ways with all others 4. Sparta
· The leader of the Dorian states in the Pelopennese, achieved greatness by imposing on itself a rigid political system that made every citizen the unflinching servant of the state;
· They solved the problem of overpopulation by militarism; the conquest of the Messenians around 720; Con.
· A government in which oligarchy ( the rule of a small number) is tempered with a measure of democracy; two kings ( a survival from prehistoric times), five overseers elected annually by the citizens, the council of the elders (28 men above 60 chosen by the people for life, the assembly, the legislative body ( every male citizen above 30; · Foreign affairs: conquest; then alliance, the Peloponnesian League” · The training of soldiers · Women: beauty; bearing a child whom father is not her husband; · geography: cut off from the other Greek poleis by two mountain ranges; · Because of the isolation, trade was discouraged; · The isolation also cut the people off from new ideas that might have sparked creativity. The Spartans didn’t cultivate philosophic debate or historical writing. Though they did make fine pottery, at least until 525, the martial spirit of the
society did not provide the right atmosphere for the general development of the arts.
2005/11/3 Guangxi ZhuangzuGuangxi Zhuangzu
Guangxi Zhuangzu, also Kwang·si Chuang (kwäng'sē' chwäng'), is an autonomou region of southern China on the Vietnamese border, with the population of about 15.55 million approaches that of Australia. The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which has a large non- Chinese minority, was created in 1958 from Guangxi prov. The Zhuang are the second largest ethnic(of a national or racial group of people group) in China after the Han, and are by far the largest minority in the region. Most of the Zhuangs live in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which is nearly the size of New Zealand. The rest have settled in Yunnan, Guangdong, Guizhou and Hunan provinces. While most Zhuang communities concentrate in a compact(consisting of parts that are positioned together closely or in a tidy way, using very little space area) in Guangxi, the others are scattered(covering a wide area) over places shared by other ethnic groups such as Han, Yao, Miao, Dong, Mulao, Maonan and Shui. Lying in Guangxi's mountainous regions, the Zhuang area is high in the northwest, undulating(describing or having small hills and slopes that look like waves) in the middle and low in the southeast. Limestone is widely distributed in the area, which is known round the world for its karst topography. Crisscrossing rivers endow the Zhuang area with plentiful sources of water for irrigation, navigation and hydropower. The coastline in south Guangxi not only has important ports but also yields(to supply or produce something positive such as a profit, an amount of food or information) many valuable marine products including the best pearls in China.
History "Zhuang" was one of the names the ancestors(a person, plant, animal or object that is related to one existing at a later point) in time of the ethnic group gave themselves. The term was first recorded some 1,000 years ago, in the Song Dynasty. The Zhuangs used to call themselves by at least a dozen other names, too. The Zhuang areas first came under the administration of China's central authority 2,000 years ago. most of the Zhuang area was governed by the headmen system all through the over 1,000 years from the Tang to Qing dynasties. Backed by the central authorities, the local headmen oppressed and exploited the Zhuangs, forcing them into hundreds of uprisings. In 1851, the Taiping Revolution, the biggest of peasant uprisings in Chinese history, broke out in this area. Thousands of Zhuangs joined the Taiping Army, forming its spine in its march to the north. Many of them became important leaders of the army and the Heavenly Kingdom of Taiping. Inhabiting China's southern frontier areas, the Zhuangs have played an important role in defending the country's territory. In the 1070s, they repulsed(to push away or refuse something or someone unwanted, especially to successfully stop a physical attack against you )the Annamese aggressors; in the middle 16th century, they beat back the invading Japanese pirates. Towards the end of the 19th century, French troops that had occupied south Vietnam pushed northward and invaded China. People of Zhuang and Han nationalities in Guangxi formed the Black Banner Army and trounced the French invaders near Hanoi in 1873. They again routed the French at Hanoi in 1882. When the French invaders made new incursions into China in 1885, the local Zhuang and Han people helped the Chinese army win a crucial victory at Zhennanguan, a pass on the Sino-Vietnamese border. The Zhuangs also made great contributions to the Revolution of 1911, China's first democratic revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Many Zhuangs became key members of the Tong Meng Hui, an organization Dr. Sun formed to advance his revolutionary cause.
Culture The Zhuang language belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language family. Ancient Zhuang characters appeared in the South Song Dynasty (1127-1279), but never got popularized. So, the Zhuangs wrote in the Han script until 1955, when the central government helped them create a writing system based on the Latin alphabet. The Romanized script has been used in books, magazines and newspapers. The Zhuang ethnic group's ancient culture and art are not only rich and colorful but also outstanding with their indigenous characteristics. Bronze drum, a special relic of minority groups in central south and southwest China, dates back well over two millennia. Guangxi alone has unearthed more than 500 of such drums, which are in different designs and sizes. The largest exceeds one meter in diameter and the heaviest weighs over half a ton while the lightest several dozen kilograms. However, explanations are diverse in so far as the use of these drums is concerned. Some people believe that they were meant for military music, others argue that they were for folk music, and still others think they were for religious rites or to symbolize power and wealth. Zhuang brocade is a splendid handicraft which originated in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Woven in beautiful designs with natural cotton warp and dyed velour weft, the brocade is excellent for making quilt covers, table-clothes, braces, aprons and handbags. Winning national fame during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), Zhuang brocade has been steadily improved and at least 40 new designs have been developed in the past few decades. Legends, fairy tales, stories and ballads frame the folk literature of the Zhuangs who have also been reputed for their singing. Sweet songs can be heard wherever you go in the Zhuang area. In the old days, every Zhuang community held its regular songfests at given venues. On those occasions, young people from nearby villages would come together in their holiday best to meet each other and choose their lovers through songs. Common Zhuang musical instruments include suona (Chinese cornet), bronze drum, cymbal, gong, sheng (Chinese wind pipe), xiao (vertical bamboo flute), di (Chinese flute) and huqin (a stringed instrument) made of horse bones.
Customs and Habits Most Zhuangs now live in one-story houses the same as the Hans. But some have kept their traditional two-story structures with the upper story serving as the living quarters and the lower as stables and storerooms. The old housing style, they think, suits the mountainous terrain and the humid climate. Contemporary Zhuang clothing is in general close to the wear of the Han people. But traditional dresses remain in many places or are worn for special occasions. While sharing many festivals with the Hans, the Zhuangs have three red-letter days of their own: the Devil Festival, the Cattle Soul Festival and the Feasting Festival. The Devil Festival, which falls on July 14 on the lunar calendar (usually in August on the Gregorian calendar), is an important occasion next only to the Spring Festival. On that day, every family would prepare chicken, duck and five-colored glutinous rice to be offered as sacrifices to ancestors and ghosts. The Cattle Soul Festival usually follows the spring ploughing, when every family would carry a basketful of steamed five-colored glutinous rice and a bundle of fresh grass to the cattle pen. After a brief sacrificial rite, they would feed the cattle with the grass and half of the rice. They believe that the cattle have lost their souls because of the whipping during the spring ploughing and that the ritual would call back the lost souls. The Feasting Festival is celebrated only by people who live near the Sino-Vietnamese border. Legend has it that a group of Zhuang soldiers, having repulsed the French invaders in the late 19th century, returned in late January and missed the Spring Festival. To pay tribute to them and celebrate the victory, their neighbors prepared a sumptuous feast for them.
Development After 1949 Land reforms began in the Zhuang area immediately after the founding of the People's Republic. Land was confiscated from evil landlords and distributed among the poor peasants. Later producers' cooperatives were formed while the socialist transformation of handicrafts and private industry and commerce was carried out. The Zhuang area is basically agricultural, but before 1949 the local people never had enough to eat despite their hard work and the favorable natural conditions. By 1983, they had raised grain output by 158 per cent thanks to improved field management and the 500,000 water conservancy projects built since liberation. Forestry in the Zhuang area has grown even more rapidly, with timber output 150 times what it was before 1949. The rapid growth of agriculture and forestry has contributed to the development of modern industry, which started from scratch after liberation in 1949. In the early 1980s, Guangxi annually produced 4,400 tractors and 3,600 farm lorries. In transportation, highways now reach every township in the region, railway mileage has almost quadrupled and shipping services have been opened on the main rivers. Education and medical services have also taken on a new look. There were three colleges in Guangxi in the early 1950s but higher education was still beyond the reach of the minority groups because of their lack of elementary and secondary education. Today the autonomous region has over 20 universities and colleges, and the Guangxi Ethnic Institute alone has turned out over dozens of thousands minority graduates, half of whom were Zhuangs. Elementary and middle schools have increased in large numbers so as to enroll all school age children. In the past, the Zhuangs had such a shortage of medical services that for generations they suffered from infectious or contagious diseases like cholera, smallpox, snail fever and malaria. The incidence of malaria, for example, exceeded 90 per cent. Now these diseases have almost been eliminated since hospitals cover all cities, counties and townships, and every village has its clinic. |
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