“The T’al Story”
This story introduces the idea of the “bogey man”; many of the stories that include the
character of T’al are cautionary tales.
Before students read the story, ask them to consider any other stories or movies that they
have read or seen where the disobedience of a character results in tragedy.
Once students have read the T’al story, ask them to list all of the ideas that arise from the
story. These may include
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the consuming of children.
?
vanity leading to one’s downfall.
?
children obeying their mother .
?
explaining how mosquitoes came to be.
?
punishment for disobedience (children not listening to mother)
Other Myths / Literature
Look at another myth / legend that explains how something in nature came to be: “How
Rivers First Came to the Earth” from Mythic Voices page 43.
Look at some Biblical parables. A list of suitable parables may be found on the internet.
One site is http://www.biblemeanings.info/Parables/Clowes.htm. Choose one or more for
students to read. Discuss what lesson is to be learned from each parable. You could then
have the students read Milton''s “On His Blindness” which alludes to Matthew 25: 14-30,
the parable of the talents. As this is a difficult poem for grade 10 level, it will require
some background information, teaching about the sonnet form, as well as a discussion of
the parable and its relation to the poem.
Read Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3 (expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden).
Read a fable. Fables may be found at http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/aesop/
aesopsel.html.
Discuss the conventions of a fable. A definition follows:
The purpose of a fable is to teach the moral lesson chosen by the writer by telling a story
in which animals talk and act like human beings. The normal narrative structural
elements are used: plot, characterization, conflict, setting, theme. The conflict of a fable
is directly related to the moral normally given at the end of the story. The setting is less
important than the voices of the characters which the writer creates. The audience of the
fable may be either young or old, but the tone of the fable has the qualities of children''s
literature, simple and yet subtle. In a fable the language used is simple and repetitive. The
ideas are predictable and short. Techniques such as suspense and foreshadowing are
frequently used. The voice of the writer is that of the neutral narrator, the storyteller,
sharing a simple experience with a listening audience. If read to an audience, the voices
of the characters may be dramatized, and the emotions experienced dramatized with
voice and actions. There often is an underlying voice, the voice of the writer, sardonic,
ironic, amused by the foibles of humanity. The intended impact of a fable is to
demonstrate and teach the truth of the given moral.
Look at an urban myth.
(Try the following address: http://www.delta-9.com/net47/myth/ )
Discuss what lesson is being offered.
Classical Mythology
Mythic Voices
“Demeter and Persephone” page 213 - explanation of the cycle of nature.
“Theseus and the Minotaur” page 99 (as background to Dedalus and Icarus myth - brief
explanation of which follows) - punishment for flying too high --challenging the gods,
disobeying his father
“The War of the Gods and Titans” page 15. (Cronus consuming his children.)
“The Creatures of Prometheus” page 23 (punishment for disobedience)
“Pandora’s Box” page 27 (punishment on man)
Myth
“Daedalus and Icarus” page 70 (punishment)
“Pandora” page 17 (punishment)
“The Kingdom of the Dead” page 128 (punishment - Tantalus and Sisyphus) Students
will need some background about Odysseus.
“Psyche” - page 67 (lesson - Love cannot live without trust)
Video Resource: The Storyteller 292.1 The “Theseus and the Minotaur” and "Daedalus
and Icarus”
Assignments
1. Did your parents create a bogey man for you when you were young? If so, who/what
was he/she/it? For what purpose(s) was the bogey man invoked?
a. Tell your family’s bogey man story.
b. Create your own bogey man to tell your own children. Consider what lesson
you wish them to learn.
2. Write your own myth which explains how some aspect of nature came to be. For
example, explain why night exists or why frogs croak.
3. Create an urban myth specifically for Powell River. Be sure to consider the lesson it
conveys.
4. In the myth about Psyche, although she makes an error, she earns redemption. Create
a story in which someone earns redemption after a wrong-doing.
5. Write an original fable that has one of the following morals:
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appearances are deceptive
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try to please all and you end up pleasing none
?
don’t count your chickens before they are hatched
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a hero is brave in deeds as well as word
Be sure to follow the conventions of a traditional fable.
6. After reading “The Kingdom of the Dead” in Myth, students could research the
following:
Odysseus, Circe, Hades, Persephone, Persephone, Erebus, Teiresias, Poseidon, Apollo,
Achilles, and Zeus. Provide a brief explanation for each.
7. After reading “Daedalus and Icarus” in Myth, retell the story in a modern background.
Consider how you would show:
?
the killing of the apprentice
?
the building of the labyrinth
?
the flight and fall of Icarus
(This could be done either as a written assignment or a dramatic presentation.)
Questions for Discussion or Written Work:
Mythic Voices
”Demeter and Persephone” page 213
1. Why do you think Hades wanted Persephone to be his queen?
“Theseus and the Minotaur” page 99
1. What do you infer when the princess turns her face away from Theseus? Why do you
think she indicates he is to go into the labyrinth first?
2. Theseus is loved by both Aegeus and Ariadne. Do these characters have anything else
in common?
3. Discuss the significance of the two occasions on which Theseus is washed.
4. Why is Dedalus prevented from leaving the island?
"The War of the Gods and Titans" page 15
1. Do you feel sorry for Cronus? Why or why not?
2. Often myths employ the ugly, the grotesque, the violent while exploring the cruellest
traits of human nature. Do you think the story of Cronus is too grotesque? Give
reasons for your answer.
3. What might this myth say about conflicts/relationships between generations?
"The Creatures of Prometheus" page 23
1. Write a character sketch of Prometheus as though he were an ordinary man. Note how
he lives, what he likes to do.
2. As he sends the first people out, Prometheus refers to our "inheritance". What was
that? What had he hoped to achieve by creating human beings?
3. Would you like to be one of the humans Prometheus created, who knew him as their
god? Why or why not? Would it be pleasant being a human under Zeus? Explain.
4. Down through the ages Prometheus has represented the spirit of revolution, of
defiance of authority. What choice did Zeus have but to punish his rash behaviour?
"Pandora''s Box" page 27
1. Does our society expect women to be "all giving"?
2. If Pandora were made so that she would be unable to resist doing what she had been
told not to do, then she had no free will. Is it fair to blame her for her actions?
Myth
"Daedalus and Icarus" page 70
1. What were Daedulus'' faults?
2. What services did Daedalus perform for Minos? Why was he banished?
3. What happened to Icarus? Why?
"Pandora" page 17
1. Explain the meaning of Pandora''s name.
2. Show how her one weakness brought disaster.
3. What modern tales do you know of heroes who are persecuted because of their deeds
of kindness?
"Psyche" - page 67
1. Why does Psyche lack suitors?
2. How did she betray her gentle husband?
3. Why did she set out to perform impossible tasks?
4. How were the tasks accomplished?
5. What details of the story make Psyche likeable?
6. What is the theme of the story? (Psyche means soul.)
7. Why do you feel the ending is satisfactory (or unsatisfactory)?
The Flood
Inform students that many different cultures and religions have similar stories. For
instance, many different cultures have stories that explain the creation of man. Ask them
to reflect on the myth of Prometheus if this one was studied with the T''al story. Ask them
if they can think of any other versions of the creation story. Inform them that the same is
true for flood stories. They will read four different versions: Sliammon, Biblical, Greek,
and Sumerian.
Perhaps the presence of so many flood stories in different cultures can be accounted for
by an actual flood that occurred in the fifteenth century B.C. in the Mediterranean area.
However, what is more significant is the fact that the flood was seen by ancient man as
god''s punishment for man''s evil doing.
Read the Sliammon myth of "The Flood" as told by Ambrose Wilson.
Read the Biblical version of the flood, "Genesis" 6-8.
Read the Greek version of the flood, "Deucalion and Pyrrha" (attached), and "The Flood"
page 19 in Myth.
Read the Sumerian version of the flood. This is an excerpt from the epic of Gilgamesh.
The epic of Gilgamesh is contained on twelve large tablets which date back to 650 B.C.
They are probably not the original as fragments of the flood story have been found on
tablets dating back to 2000 B.C. Linguistic experts believe that the story was composed
well before 2000 B.C.
The main figure in the epic is Gilgamesh, who may have been based on an actual
Sumerian king. The story begins by outlining the deeds of the hero Gilgamesh who had
great knowledge and wisdom. Gilgamesh is determined to find immortality because he
fears death. It is during his search for immortality that he meets Utnapishtum, the
character who relates the flood story to him.
Questions on "The Flood" from Myth.
1. Why did Zeus send a flood to cover the earth?
2. Why were Deucalion and Pyrrha saved?
3. How was the earth repopulated?
Assignments:
1. Have students locate a flood story from another culture. Students could tell the story
to the class or give a dramatic presentation of the story. (Try this address: http://
www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html.)
2. Have students compare the flood myths that they have read. Create a chart in which
they compare the following points: extent of flood (how long it lasted), extent of
flood (how much of the earth was covered), cause of the flood, the "hero" in the story.
Students should include one other point of their own choosing -- find something that
exists in all, or most, of the stories. Inform the students that not all of their squares
on their chart may be filled.
Before the students begin the assignment, discuss the qualities that a good chart
should have. Use these ideas to create the marking rubric.
3. Perhaps the presence of so many flood stories in different cultures can be accounted
for by an actual flood that occurred in the fifteenth century B.C. in the Mediterranean
area. However, what is more significant is the fact that the flood was seen by ancient
man as god''s punishment for man''s evil doing. Is the idea still with us today that
terrible disasters are a form of god''s punishment for not observing the proper forms of
religious behaviour?
Write a story set in modern day which includes a disaster inflicted on mankind as a
punishment for man''s evil doing.
Deucalion and Pyrrha -- Greek Flood Myth
After Zeus had been in control on Olympus for some time, he looked down to
earth and saw that man had become lawless and evil, neglecting even sacrifices to the
gods. According to some accounts, Zeus actually disguised himself as a man and
wandered the earth seeking the hospitality of the people. It had always been a custom in
Greece that one must always honour a guest, but Zeus was treated cruelly wherever he
went, except in one house. When he came to the house of a poor old man, Deucalion,
and his wife Pyrrha, he was immediately welcomed and given what little they had. Since
Deucalion had never neglected to sacrifice and to pray to the gods, Zeus determined that
he would destroy all men on the earth and spare only this pious couple.
As a result of this decision, a terrible flood was sent. Deucalion and his wife were
saved because Zeus had previously instructed them to build a raft. After the terrible flood
had abated, Deucalion and his wife found themselves alone in the world. They were very
old and so the problem of repopulating the earth with a new race of people had to be
solved by the gods. As Pyrrha and Deucalion were praying to them, Zeus said, "Veil your
heads and cast behind you the bones of your mother." They considered for some time
what this message meant. Finally Pyrrha arrived at the solution. She realized that by
"mother", Zeus had meant Gaea, the earth mother. Surely the bones of the mother were
rocks. Therefore both Pyrrha and Deucalion gathered stones and threw them over their
shoulders. All of Pyrrha''s stones became women and all of Deucalion''s stones became
men. Thus, the earth was repopulated by a newer, and hopefully more pious, race of men
and women.
from Head, Jim. Man and Myth. Toronto: Metheun, 1974.
"Thens Travels to the Upper World"
Many myths involve characters travelling to other worlds: either the upper world or the
lower world. After students have read the story about Thens, ask them to consider the
following aspects of the story:
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travel to another realm
?
the triumph of the underdog
?
possession of special powers
?
three women
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beautiful, but dangerous, women
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performing tasks to reach a goal
The following stories connect with the above ideas that are introduced in the Thens story.
Travel to another realm:
"The Voyage of Odysseus" Mythic Voices page 194
"Orpheus" Myth page 57
"The White Stone Canoe" Mythic Voices page 233
Video Resource: "Orpheus and Euydice" (292.1 The)
"A Tour of the Greek Underworld" (attached)
Triumph of the underdog:
The story of David versus Goliath. "I Samuel" 17: 1-58
Possession of special powers:
Achilles (modern day: Superman, Spiderman)
Three Women:
Stories of the Graces, Fates, Furies, Gorgons, Graiae
Video Resource: The Storyteller "Perseus and the Gorgon" (292.1 The)
Beautiful but dangerous women:
Andromeda, Aphrodite, Artemis, Circe, Sirens
Performing tasks to reach a goal:
Psyche
Students could be asked to locate stories regarding the characters listed above. Students
could use print resources available in the library or do an internet search.
Assignments:
1. Create a board game based on a journey to the underworld.
2. Two people who went to the Elysium Fields were Heracles and Achilles. Look up
accounts of their lives to determine why they were numbered among the lucky
mortals. Create a story of a hero who achieved a deed worthy enough for him/her to
go to this part of the underworld upon his or her death.
3. Create a comic strip which centers around a hero who possesses special powers.
4. For what purpose could a trio of women exist in today''s world? Create a group of
three women who have jurisdiction over a part of life. What will they will look like?
What will their power be? What purpose do they serve? What are their names?
Present your information in one of the following formats:
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an illustrated storybook
?
a poster
?
a cartoon with a single panel
5. Create a new Brooks code of conduct. Consider the following misbehaviours:
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late to class more than three times
?
skipping class
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not completing homework
Create a list of tasks that any student committing these infractions would have to
perform in order to redeem him or her self. Present them in the appropriate
format. Check the style in the student agenda.
6. Dante Alighieri was an Italian author who, around 1300, wrote The Divine Comedy.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante divided the afterlife into three sections -- Heaven,
Purgatory, and Hell. Dante''s Hell lies insides the earth. The upper regions lie close to
the earth''s surface while the deepest part is the exact centre of the earth. There are
nine circles; each circle is smaller than the one above and contains a different class of
sinner. Lesser sins are punished in the top circles of the cone while the sins become
greater and the punishment harsher as the circles narrow. Lucifer himself is in the
center of the lowest circle which is a frozen lake.
While Dante was writing from a Christian tradition, he nevertheless included many
ideas from Greek mythology. The five rivers of the Greek underworld appear -- four
in The Inferno and the fifth, Lethe, as the transition from Purgatory to Paradise.
Here, too, Charon acts as ferry operator, arguing against accepting Dante
because he is not dead. Minos, transformed into a bull monster, coils his long tail
around each sinner to fling him into whatever circle or category the sinner belongs.
Read the following descriptions of each of the circles described by Dante. Then,
create your own version of hell. There is an outline attached that may help you get
started.
Questions:
"The Voyage of Odysseus"
1. What is so dangerous about the land of the lotus eaters? Why does Odysseus insist on
driving his men back on board?
2. Odysseus expects hospitality from the Cyclops. From this, describe the value placed
by the Greeks on generous hospitality. Where else has this occurred in myths?
3. Describe how Odysseus tricks the Cyclops.
4. What evidence in the story is there that Odysseus is a good leader?
5. Why do the men stay with Circe for a year?
6. What advice does Circe give Odysseus about how to get past the Sirens? What advice
does she give him on how to get past Scylla and Charybdis?
7. What act costs the last of Odysseus'' crew their lives?
8. Penelope rules the kingdom of Ithaca and waited for twenty years, while Odysseus led
a life of adventure. What does this say about the different lives of men and women at
the time?
9. Outline the voyage of Odysseus in point form, detailing each episode, the danger
encountered, and the losses suffered in surmounting the danger.
10. Pretending that you are Odysseus, write a log or diary of your journey from the end of
the Trojan War to your final return to Ithaca. End your diary by stating whether your
return was worth all the suffering endured, or whether you should have just stayed in
one of the lands you encountered along the way.
11. Create a pictorial map of the journey of Odysseus.
"Orpheus and Eurydice"
1. Tell how Orpheus twice lost Eurydice.
2. Describe the fate of Orpheus. What immortality did he receive?
3. What is the theme of the story?
4. Why have some authors changed the story of Orpheus and Eurydice so that it has a
happy ending? Give reasons for and against the probability of a happy ending.
A Tour of the Greek Underworld
Entrance into the underworld, Hades, was often difficult. The traveller had to discover the cavern
or underground river, and follow the winding path down, down into the earth. Originally the
Greeks believed that the underworld was across the river Ocean, but when travel to far islands put
that to disrepute, the underworld changed to under the world, in the centre of the earth.
Travellers first met a river, the river of woe, sadness, or affliction--Acheron; Acheron was
originally a son of Gaea but was said to have quenched the thirst of the Titans during the Titan/
Olympian war, and Zeus threw him into the underworld to become its first river.
Charon, the ferry operator of the underworld, plied his trade on the river Acheron (some said on
the river Styx). Greeks were insistent on proper burial rights for the dead. If the burial rites were
not carried out perfectly, the soul would forever wander on the banks of the river Acheron, unable
to get into the next world. An obolus, or coin of payment, was placed in the dead person''s mouth.
Charon took this coin of payment, and ferried the soul across the river: no money, no passage.
To the Greeks, the soul was a pale reflection of its former personality, in other words, a shade of
itself. Physically, morally, and in all ways, it was a shadow of its original self. Only a few
privileged persons lived the same in the underworld as on earth. Minos, a judge of the
underworld, was one of these three souls.
Hades consisted of three sections: Erebus, Tartarus, and the Elysium Fields. The entrance way or
vestibule - Erebus - was a place through which all of the dead had to pass (perhaps a type of
limbo). Since the Greek underworld or Hades was for all the dead, whether good or bad,
judgment followed.
The three judges in Hades were Aeacus (son of Zeus and Aegina) who judged the Europeans,
Rhadamanthus (son of Zeus and Europa) who judged the Asiatics, and Minos (also the son of
Zeus and Europa) who judged the difficult cases. This tribunal sat awaiting the various shades
and prepared to send them to either Tartarus (a place of punishment) or Elysium Fields (a place of
eternal happiness).
The next step was to cross the river of lamentation or wailing -- Cocytus. In journeying to either
Tartarus or Elysium Fields, the shades might run into the Fates, the ones who spun, measured, and
cut the thread of life. As a matter of fact, the fates were the ones responsible for the soul getting
to this point. If the thread of life had not been cut, then the individual would not have died. Also
in the realm of darkness could be found the Furies and Nemesis. The Furies, with serpents in
their hair and blood dripping from their eyes, pursued sinners on earth, but lived in the
underworld. Nemesis, the spirit of just punishment and the goddess of retribution, was a sister to
the Fates and was known as the divine arbiter of justice, concerned not only with punishment but
also with just rewards.
Travellers were also likely to meet Hecate, Queen of the Dead and goddess of magic charms and
enchantments. As the goddess of witchcraft and sorcery, she was said to haunt the tombs of the
dead and scenes of crimes while on earth. Hecate was also connected with Artemis and Selene as
a goddess of the moon, but the goddess of the dark side of the moon.
The river Styx had nine loops and surrounded the underworld. Originally she was a daughter of
the Titans and helped the Olympians in the war, so she became the river of the gods. If a god
swore by her, the oath was irrevocable.
Edging closer to Tartarus, the soul was greeted by Cerberus, the watchdog at the gates of Tartarus.
According to most stories, he had three heads and venom dripped from all his mouths. In
addition, he had a serpent''s or a dragon''s tail. He would let souls in but not out. However, he
could be bribed with a honey cake on occasion or with sweet music.
The river of fire, Phlegethon, also led into and surrounded Tartarus. Tartarus itself formed a
dismal picture -- gates of bronze guarded by Cerebus, surrounded by fire, encased within a triple
wall, and within, the wailing and cries of those being punished. Tantalus was one of those sinners
enduring punishment. He was guilty of many crimes, but perhaps the worst was the testing of the
gods by serving them his son for dinner. The gods discovered his gruesome plot and Tantalus, as
punishment, stood forever in a pool of water, unable to drink, and within reach of fruit trees, but
unable to eat. Another soul in torment was Sisyphus. He died, but by a trick escaped from the
underworld to return to earth. He was recaptured and for his trickery was condemned to forever
roll a rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down. Ixion, another sinner, showed his disrespect
for the gods and attempted to win the love of Hera. For his presumption, he was condemned to
roll forever on a wheel of fire throughout Tartarus. Finally, the Danaids were all guilty of
murdering their husbands. Originally, there were fifty sisters, all betrothed to fifty male cousins.
For some reason, they went through with the marriage and then forty-nine of them killed their
husbands on their wedding night. (One didn''t do it.) As punishment, they were to fill a barrel
with water from a nearby stream, but the water had to be carried in sieves. Needless to say, the
punishment lasted forever.
If Tartarus was not the destination of the soul, the wanderer would then find his or her way closer
to the Elysium Fields. In the Abode of Sleep, the soul met Thanatos / Mors (death), Hypnos /
Somnus (sleep, who is the brother of death), and Morpheus (the son of sleep and god of dreams).
Finally, the soul reached Lethe, the last river, the river of forgetfulness, on the edge of the
Elysium Fields. One cup of water from the river and the soul forgot its past. From there the soul
moved into the Elysium Fields, the enjoyment of the Happy Isles, where soft breezes always blew
and the hideous creatures of the other infernal regions were barred from entrance. Nearby, stood
Persephone''s grove of black poplars and sterile willows, for nothing truly fruitful could bloom in
the underworld. Finally, the soul saw the king and queen of Hades -- Persephone and Hades.
The tour is now complete. The dead must stay but the living may return to the upperworld.
From Mythology. The Center for Learning.
Why Study Mythology?
Ask students how they would define mythology. Some might say that myths are stories
of gods and goddesses or the ancient religion of the Greeks. Some might say that myths
are legends of famous heroes.
Tell students that mythology will be studied in a broader sense in this unit, as a body of
traditional tales of a particular people, originally told orally, but later passed on in written
form. Mythology extends from early Greek and Roman times (and even before to
primitive or historic times) up to today. Myths range from the tale of an egg cracking
open to form the earth to the traditional wedding belief of something old and something
new, something borrowed and something blue. Mythical places range from Mt. Fuji in
Japanese mythology to Mt. Olympus in Greek mythology to the Fountain of Youth in
more modern times. Stress that mythology is not merely something from the olden times.
Words such as folklore, fairy tales, myths and legends are sometimes used
interchangeably, but there are some differences to be noted.
Myths properly refer to early humanity''s seeking for explanations of the phenomena of
nature (the sun as a chariot, a volcano shows a god''s anger); they are imaginative
precursors of scientific investigation. Sometimes myths were used to explain customs or
rituals (before you hunt buffalo, you dance--then the hunt will be successful).
Legends were usually true stories exaggerated. Thus, there was a real event -- a Trojan
War -- but the stories dealing with the war cannot be proved. Legends frequently deal
with heroes who may or may not have accomplished great deeds. Davy Crockett was a
noted frontier settler, but did he kill a bear when he was three? Beowulf might have been
a real person, but could he really wrench off a monster''s arm or swim underwater for
hours?
Folk tales or fairy tales are generally pure fiction -- to amuse, to entertain, or teach. Folk
tales frequently use the supernatural (witches or fairies) and deal with the common
people (forest dwellers or farmers).
Ask students to discuss the need within individuals to create myths. Lead them to an
understanding that by studying myths we can learn how different societies or cultures
have answered basic questions about the world and our place within it.
Explain how myths, while retaining certain similarities, will vary according to climate,
custom, or social system. For example, the Greeks living in a warm climate saw humans
as created from the mud of a river bank; while, farther North, the first human beings were
said to have come from frozen stones, licked by a divine cow until the person was
released from the ice.
From: Mythology. The Center for Learning.
This Unit
This mythology unit is organized around three Sliammon myths. The students will be
exposed to some of our local First Nations stories as well as be given an overview of
classical mythology and related stories.
Mythology is an interesting study by itself; however, it is hoped that students will come
away from this unit with an ability to locate and understand allusions made in other
pieces of literature.
There are quite a few suggestions for additional readings and activities. Teachers are
encouraged to choose as many of these as time permits or are relevant for their students.
There are, of course, many other myths, stories, and assignments that can be used; feel
free to include them.
Allusions in Literature
On First Looking Into Chapman''s Homer John Keats
Much have I travelled in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdom''s seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told 5
That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken; 10
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific -- and all his men
Looked at each other with a wild surmise--
Silent, upon a peak of Darien.
Keats was a poet writing in the Romantic era, the nineteenth century. When Keats was
about twenty-one years old, he borrowed a translation of Homer by George Chapman, an
Elizabethan writer from the seventeenth century. Keats and a friend stayed up all night
reading Chapman''s translation of Homer''s Iliad and Odyssey. The next morning, Keats''
friend found this sonnet on his breakfast table.
A celebrated mistake in Keats'' sonnet is his error in stating that it was Cortez who
discovered the Pacific Ocean; in truth, it was Balboa in 1513.
How does knowledge of Homer''s epic enrich your understanding of Keats'' sonnet?
Ulysses Alfred, Lord Tennyson
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match''d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard and sleep, and feed, and know not me. 5
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy''d
Greatly, have suffer''d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore and when
Thro'' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades 10
Vext the dim sea; I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour''d of them all; 15
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades 20
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish''d, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me 25
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself
And this gray spirit yearning in desire 30
To follow knowledge like a sinking star
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptor and the isle --
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill 35
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent, not to fail 40
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners, 45
Souls that have toiled and wrought, and thought with me --
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads -- you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; 50
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep 55
Moans road with many voices. Come, my friends,
''Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 60
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though 65
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 70
Ulysses is the hero of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer tells of
Ulysses’ adventures on his way home to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars. Tennyson’s poem
picks up the story long after Ulysses returned home. The aging hero has grown restless
and is preparing to set out with a band of his followers on a final voyage.
What other specific references does Tennyson make to the Greek epic?
Siren Song Margaret Atwood
This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:
the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons 5
even though they see the bleached skulls
the song nobody knows
because anyone who has heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret 10
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical 15
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.
I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you. 20
Come closer. This song
is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique
at last. Alas 25
it is a boring song
but it works every time.
According to myth, men were absolutely unable to resist the sirens’ song. Odysseus (Ulysses)
because of his desire to experience all things, wanted to hear the song. He had his crew tie him
tightly to the ship’s mast, then stop up their own ears with wax and sail close to the island. He is
the only man to have heard their song.
How does Atwood make use of the myth in this poem? What does calling the song boring
indicate?
Andromeda Graham Hough
One can get used to anything; the cave
Was dark, smelt bad, and twice a day the wave
Slopped on the floor; however much she swept
Sand, bladder-wrack and dead sea-urchins crept
Over the stones. The monster did not care, 5
But crouched preoccupied before the door,
Fretted at unsuccessful business deals,
Went out to fish and came back late for meals.
And when at last the heaven-sprung hero came,
Wing-heeled and gorgon-shielded, thirsty for fame, 10
Red-hot with bravery, he found her sitting
Upon a damp stone, busy with her knitting.
The monster lay asleep, and dinner stood
To simmer by a fire of smouldering wood.
The sword seemed pointless, something was amiss. 15
She stirred the pot. He had not come for this.
He was too late. The voyage had been too long.
The gorgon shield turned no ill thing to stone.
The gold helm hardly dazzled her at all.
She hung the iron ladle on the wall, 20
Stood up and faced him. Was the moment come?
But when the monster shivered in the gloom
She bent and spread a cloth over its coiled
Green limbs. The hero’s attitude was spoiled.
Had he looked close enough he might have seen 25
A thin dry shudder where her heart had been,
But saw no thundering wrong to fight about,
Clattered his golden armour and went out;
Finding her patient unrebellious shape
No pretext for a plain heroic rape. 30
The tide was rising, and she turned once more
To sweep the dark sea from the door.
In this bitter and ironic poem, Hough is using the Perseus myth to express a very individual concept. So
that his inner thought can be understood, he has had to utilize the universality of the myth.
What traditional aspects of the myth are present?
How has Hough changed our concept of each classical figure?
Hough seems to be looking at the entire idea of heroism from a modern and cynical perspective. What
picture of the hero emerges now?
Is Andromeda any better off in the new tradition?
The World is Too Much With Us William Wordsworth
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon, 5
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I''d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; 10
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
In this sonnet, Wordsworth is reflecting on the condition of England at the end of the
nineteenth century. Wordsworth is responding to the rush and the complexity of urban
life in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. Who are Proteus and Triton? Why does
Wordsworth refer to them in the concluding lines of this sonnet?
Musee des Beaux Arts W.H. Auden
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting 5
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course 10
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer''s horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Brueghel''s Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may 15
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on. 20
Details in the first part of the poem seem to refer to two paintings by Pieter Brueghel:
The Massacre of the Innocents and The Numbering at Bethlehem. In the second part of
the poem, Auden describes Brueghel’s painting The Fall of Icarus.
What do Auden and the “Old Masters” have to say about the significance and experience
of human suffering?
On His Blindness John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent
E''re half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodg''d with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present 5
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light deny''d,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man''s work or his own gifts, who best 10
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best, his State
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed
And post o''re land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.
Milton was totally blind by the time he was forty-seven. Since he spent most of his time
reading and writing, Milton’s blindness was a severe blow.
In line three, there is an allusion to the parable of the talents (Matthew 25: 14-30). Of
what significance is the parable in Milton’s poem?
In what two ways is the word talent employed?
Ode to a Nightingale John Keats
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
''Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, 5
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease. 10
O for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool''d a long age in the deep-delvèd earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country-green,
Dance, and Proven?al song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South! 15
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stainèd mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim: 20
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs, 25
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs;
Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow. 30
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night, 35
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster''d around by all her starry Fays
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways. 40
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmèd darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; 45
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast-fading violets cover''d up in leaves;
And mid-May''s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 50
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call''d him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die, 55
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod. 60
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path 65
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that ofttimes hath
Charm''d magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. 70
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades 75
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now ''tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—do I wake or sleep? 80
Keats wrote this poem in May of 1819 while living with his friend Charles Brown in
London. Brown made the following comment on Keats’ composition: “In the spring of
1819 a nightingale had built her nest near my house. Keats felt a tranquil and continual
joy in her song; and one morning he took his chair from the breakfast table to the grass
plot under a plum tree, where he sat for two or three hours. When he came into the
house, I perceived he had some scraps of paper in his hand, and these he was quietly
thrusting behind the books. On inquiry, I found those scraps, four or five in number,
contained his poetic feeling on the song of our nightingale.”
The year 1818 was a difficult one for Keats. In addition to other problems, Keats’
younger brother Tom contracted tuberculosis, and Keats cared for him constantly, running
the risk as he knew of contracting the disease himself. Tom died in December, 1818.
Keats did fall ill himself. He died of tuberculosis in February, 1821.
Locate the allusions that Keats makes in the poem. Provide an explanation for each one.
Night Clouds Amy Lowell
The white mares of the moon rush along the sky
Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens;
The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs
Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens.
Fly, Mares! 5
Strain your utmost,
Scatter the milky dust of stars,
Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you
With one lick of his vermilion tongue.
Amy Lowell was an American poet who lived between the years of 1874 and 1925.
What time of day is Lowell describing in this poem? She is alluding to a Greek goddess
in the poem. Try to discover to whom she is referring.
Sea Grapes Derek Walcott
(Modern poet, born 1930, on St. Lucia, a West Indian island)
That sail which leans on light,
tired of islands,
a schooner beating up the Caribbean
for home, could be Odysseus,
home-bound on the Aegean;
that father and husband’s
longing, under gnarled sour grapes, is
like the adulterer hearing Nausicaa’s name
in every gull’s outcry.
This brings nobody peace.
The ancient war
between obsession and responsibility
will never finish and has never been the same
for the sea-wanderer or the one on shore
now wriggling on his sandals to walk home,
since Troy sighed its last flame,
and the blind giant’s boulder heaved the trough
from ground-swell the great hexameters come
to the conclusions of the exhausted surf.
The classics can console. But not enough.
Odysseus...Aegean: Odysseus is the Greek hero whose ten-year voyage home from the
Trojan
War is described by Homer in the Odyssey. The Aegean is the sea, between Greece and
Turkey, on which he voyaged.
Nausicaa’s: Nausicaa was a beautiful young woman who helped Odysseus when he was
shipwrecked. The “adulterer” is Odysseus himself.
obsession: A persistent idea or desire that cannot be gotten rid of by reasoning.
Troy: The city in Asia Minor that Odysseus and his fellow Greeks conquered.
blind giant’s boulder: In the Odyssey, the blind giant Polyphemus hurls a boulder at
Odysseus’ ship.
hexameters: The meter in which Homer’ Iliad and Odyssey were composed.
In this poem, the theme or central idea about life is stated directly. In the poem, the
allusions to Homer’s Odyssey help convey the theme. Walcott states the theme in the
final line of the poem. The poem’s previous eighteen lines, which compare a modern
situation with episodes in Homer’s
epic, have all built up to this statement. Often writers draw comfort from such
comparisons, offering solace for current problems by showing how past ones were
overcome. Here the poet frustrates that expectation, his last line casting a chill over both
the modern event and Homer’s story.
1. What is the mood of “Sea Grapes”? Which words and phrases convey this mood?
2. In your own words, explain the conflict between “obsession” and “responsibility” that
the poet mentions in the fourth stanza. Why does he say that that conflict will never
be resolved?
3. How can “The classics...console” someone who is experiencing such a conflict? Why
is such consolation “not enough”? Has a work of art ever made you feel better about
your life? Explain.
4. How does the statement of theme in the final line relate to the mood of the poem?
5. Would you rather be a “sea-wanderer” or the one on the shore?
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