• The Norton editors describe the Gospels as, perhaps “the single most influential text of world literature.” How many images, motifs, characters, sayings, etc. from the readings do you recognize from other texts or from everyday speech?
• How would you define “parable” as a literary genre? What are its distinctive features?
• In his explanation of his use of parables, Jesus tells his disciples “When a man has, he shall be given, and it will be more than he needs; but when he has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him” (Matthew 13). What does he mean? Do you agree with this?
• Jesus also explains his use of parables as the fulfillment of a prophesy of Isaiah from the Hebrew Bible. How would you explain the use of parable in strictly literary terms? What does it allow that more literal genres might not?
• What is the Matthew’s purpose of the graphic description of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion? How do you respond as a reader? How is the reader meant to respond?

According to the text from Early Chinese Literature and Thought, class of poetry consist of three rhyming stanzas of four to six lines with four syllables each. In the next poetry, I will interpret what this poem actually means for me. However, we have to recognize that each poem has a history behind it and other person might perceive it different than me.

1. Plums are Falling. (Pag1324)

In this poetry, I found out the meaning of being selective when the choices presented to you are in abundance. As the lines stated “Plums are falling, seven are the fruits”. There is a natural understanding of how fruits, after they mature, will fall from the trees and only those who are in a good condition will be chosen by us. In terms of who is making the selection, the lines clearly shows how the woman is the one who seems to choose which man she wants. But does she really sound secure about this choice? The quote “Many men want me” is repeated three times. In my opinion, it shows that she’s really confident to say that she doesn’t have problems when it comes to choosing which man she wants to be with. In line 10, page 1324, “Let me be bride of one”, it suggests that she doesn’t actually have the full authority to take the decision by herself. Otherwise, in my opinion, if the line says “I will be the bride of one” then this will make the voice of the woman more powerful. We can interpret that maybe in this time period, women were not allowed to make decisions without someone’s consent.

CXIII. Huge Rat . (Pag 1328)

This poetry is very interesting and emotional in terms of trusting someone else. It characterizes how we do good things for people we know and we get nothing as change. This poetry reveals the senses of taking advantage of someone for a long period of time. “You show no gratitude” (10) “Yet you pay me no need” are one of the main points where it shows how the author had helped this person for long time and he gets nothing in return. Even though the poetry says huge rat, it can be interpreted in different way, such as they utilized rat to represent how dirty or disgusting a person can be when they take advantage of someone. It can also represent how this action can happen when we provide help to a stranger and not knowing if they will just take advantage of that help. There are a total of six paragraphs represented in this poetry and each one of them has 4 lines. The repetitions “Huge rat, Huge Rat” can be seen in paragraph’s one, three and five. On the other hand, we can see how the theme changes in paragraph’s two, four and six with “Happy land, happy realm and happy meadows” found it in line 3.

My favorite scene in Oedipus the King is the conversation between Oedipus and Tiresias. The greatness of the scene lies in its use of irony, as well as, in a play between the figurative and literal meaning of the word “blindness”. Tiresias is a blind prophet whose “power of seeing shows him most nearly what Apollo sees” (343-443). Oedipus has a literal ability to see but his anger and fury unable him from seeing the truth.

The conversation starts when Tiresias, reluctant about his visit, finally arrives to the King’s palace. Oedipus and the chorus as well, hope that the prophet could explain who killed Lajos. The King greets Tiresias with great enthusiasm, calling him a “master of a hidden world” (363) who “can read earth and sky” (364), only to accuse him of being a murderer himself a few lines later. The quick change in King’s opinion is caused by Tiresias’ silence. The prophet knows the truth about the events, but he does not want to display it, explaining “the most terrible knowledge is the kind it pays no wise man to possess” (383-384). Finally, Tiresias reveals, “You killed the man whose killer you now hunt” (435) and both characters engage in a dialogue full of references to blindness.

The prophet states that Oedipus “has been living in the most hideous intimacy with his nearest and most loving kin, immersed in evil that he cannot see” (440-444). Tiresias exposes the truth about the King’s lineage; Oedipus is one of the Thebans. The King’s anger and fury do not let him echo the words said by Tiresias. Oedipus welcomes only a narrative which fits his own beliefs. He says to the prophet, “You have blind eyes, blind ears, and a blind brain” (447). This suggests that he does not consider Tiresias a respected interpreter anymore, but rather a fool who is trying to steal his power. This harsh opinion is emphasized later when Oedipus calls Tiresias “a blind groper in his art” (467).

Tiresias responds to all of Oedipus’ insults explaining, “You don’t see where you live or who shares your house “(499-500). This explains that the King does not know basic facts about his close family because he has been blinded to the truth his whole life. Later, the prophet foresees that Oedipus’ ignorance to facts which were laid out in front of him, will cause him a literal blindness, “Your eyes, which now see life, will then see darkness” (507-508). These two utterances clearly show the difference in the use of the word “see”, firstly with its metaphorical meaning, secondly just as literal action. The scene ends with Tiresias’ profound summary of Oedipus: “A blind man who still has eyes” (551).

Oedipus; “You have blind eyes, blind ears, and a blind brain” (447).

The San Francisco Symphony performance of Oedipus Rex: Stuart Skelton as Oedipus, Ayk Martirossian as Tiresias (1995).”

References

Oedipus Rex, San Francisco. Personal photograph taken by San Francisco Symphony. 1995. http://www.opera-opera.com.au/archive/stuartskelton.htm

• In the Norton headnote, xing is translated ‘evocative image’: “Xing brings natural images into suggestive resonance with human situations.” How does xing function both in the form and the meaning of the first 4 selections?
• These poems are clearly different in form and scope from the epic verse we’ve read so far. But are there similarities as well: In religious and moral instruction? Literary elements? Traces of oral performance?
• How does repetition function in the poems? Does it mirror something in the cycle of nature and human existence that the poems address?
• Why do you suppose these poems are so central to Confucianism? What values in the teachings of Confucius are celebrated in these poems? (You’ll have to skim some of the selection from Confucius in the Norton Anthology–or read more carefully if you want to consider this for a final paper topic.)

Here are some things to take note of as you read our first cycle of lyric poems–the Chinese Classic of Poetry

1. What image or images are introduced by the poet? Is there a central metaphor that is developed throughout the poem?
2. What kind of tone or mood is created by its formal elements?
   • Rhythmic elements like meter, accent, line length, stanza arrangement, repetition, etc.?
   • Sound elements such as assonance, alliteration, rhyme, onomatopoeia?
3. How do the form and content work together to create meaning? Or is there an ironic relationship between form and content that complicates meaning or creates ambiguity?
4. Does the poem center on a static image? Or is there movement from stanza to stanza––from one perspective to another? From a wider to a narrower focal length? From one time of year, or time of life, to another?
5. What are the poem’s normative functions? Does it authorize some “official” view of things? Or is it transgressive in some way?

Here are some questions to think about for Wednesday’s class.

• How does our contemporary concept of “tragedy” differ from Sophocles? What elements are necessary to qualify as “tragedy”?
• What are the symptoms of the plague in Thebes? How are they appropriate to the crime?
• Locate examples of dramatic irony in the text? What is the intended effect of irony in Oedipus?
• Why is so much disclosed through riddles? Is there some relationship between riddle-solving and the exercise of free will?
• What is the narrative function of the 1st scene between Oedipus and Kreon (beginning at line 617)? What do we learn about each from the scene?
• Do you think Jokasta bears any blame for Oedipus’s fate? What errors does she make?
• How many different kinds of blindness are depicted in the tragedy? How does blindness function on both a literal and figurative level?

King Oedipus, aware that a horrible curse has befallen Thebes, sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to seek the advice of Apollo. Creon informs Oedipus that the curse will be lifted if the murderer of Laius, the former king, is found and prosecuted. Laius was murdered many years ago at a crossroads.

Oedipus dedicates himself to the discovery and prosecution of Laius’s murderer. Oedipus subjects a series of unwilling citizens to questioning, including a blind prophet. Teiresias, the blind prophet, informs Oedipus that Oedipus himself killed Laius. (440-444) “You have been living unaware in the most hideous intimacy with your nearest and most loving kin, immersed in evil that you cannot see”.

This news really bothers Oedipus, but his wife Jocasta tells him not to believe in prophets—they’ve been wrong before. As an example, she tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her. Well, she and Laius had the child killed, so obviously that prophecy didn’t come true, right?

Jocasta’s story doesn’t comfort Oedipus. As a child, an old man told Oedipus that he was adopted, and that he would eventually kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother. Not to mention, Oedipus once killed a man at a crossroads, which sounds a lot like the way Laius died.

Jocasta urges Oedipus not to look into the past any further, but he stubbornly ignores her. Oedipus goes on to question a messenger and a shepherd, both of whom have information about how Oedipus was abandoned as an infant and adopted by a new family. In a moment of insight, Jocasta realizes that she is Oedipus’s mother and that Laius was his father. Horrified at what has happened, she kills herself. Shortly thereafter, Oedipus, too, realizes that he was Laius’s murder and that he’s been married to (and having children with) his mother. In horror and despair, he gouges his eyes out and is exiled from Thebes.

(1336-1340) All! All! It all happened! It not was all true. O light! Let this be the last time I look on you. You see now What I am- the child who must not be born!

Oedipus, the king of Thebes tries to resolve the plague that is running rampant through the city. Soon thereafter, it was prophesied that the plague wouldn’t be lifted without exiling the murderer of Laios, former king of Thebes. In Oedipus’ quest to seek out the murderer of Laios, he consults a blind seer, Tiresias. Upon hearing that Oedipus himself is the cause for the plague brought upon the city, he is furious and mocks the seer’s blindness and lack of sight. The seer continues to reveal many truths of Oedipus’ past that Oedipus dismisses as falsehood.

Ironically enough, everything the seer saw was later discovered to be the truth. Oedipus, known famously for solving the Sphinx’s riddles with his quick wit (lines 470-479) has been ignorant to the truth of his history for many years. Oedipus’ insightfulness and capacity for comprehension was misguided; his ability to see was ironically mocked. The seer, who was literately blind, was able to see more than Oedipus, who was supposedly gifted for his ability of perception. It was only befitting that in the end Oedipus blinds himself.

lines 1441-1445 – “Eyes, now you will not, no never see the evil I suffered, the evil I caused. You will see blackness – where once were lives you should never have lived to see, yearned-for faces you so long failed to know.”

Choose 1 or 2 examples of epic simile from the reading and analyze. In your analysis, consider the following:

• What is being compared in the simile?
• On how many different levels does the comparison work?
• How does Homer’s choice of vehicle (the image the person or action is compared to) affect your understanding of the tenor (the person or action being compared)?
• Does the comparison familiarize the person or action or defamiliarize it—or does it do both in different ways?

Suggestions epic similes:

VI.533-538 – Paris compared to a fleet horse.

VIII.565-570 – The Greek armies compared to stars in the night sky.

XVI.517-519 – Sarpedon’s fall compared to trees felled in the forest.

XVI.863-867 – Hector and Patroclus compared to a lion and a boar at a spring.