• How would you describe the genre(s) of the Pillow Book?
• How are poems and poetry used in the text? What is the place of poetry in Heian court life as depicted in the text?
• Whose values are authorized in The Pillow Book? How does this point of view affect the depiction of others (the poor, the elderly, those out of favor with the court, etc.) in the text?
• What’s the purpose of the story of Okinamaro, the court dog? Of the begger nun and the snow mountain?
• Look at the various lists in The Pillow Book: “dispiriting things,” “rare things,” “things that are distressing to see,” “endearingly lovely things,” “things that give you pleasure.” What do the things in each of these lists have in common?
• What are your impressions of Sei Shonagon as a writer, and as a character in her own story?

Come up with one question or discussion topic of your own.

• How would you describe the genre of the Book? How does it differ in genre from what we’ve been reading so far?
• The Book makes use of several rhetorical devices you’d expect from a persuasive argument. How many can you find? How effectively are they used by Christine?
• In what specific ways does Christine adapt her classical source material for a Christian audience? (see esp. pp. 791, 799, 801)
• Several of Christine’s heroines are warriors and/or tacticians (Semiramis, the various Amazon queens, Dido). How do their military ethics compare to those of other warriors––for example in Homer’s Iliad or elsewhere you’ve heard of or experienced ?
• The character of Reason advises Christine to read misogynistic texts “to [her] advantage, no matter what the author’s original intention was.” Is this a valid reading strategy? When is it ok to disregard an author’s to suit our own argument?

• We know Shahrazad’s strategy in telling this series of tales, but is there any moral or didactic purpose in any of the content of the tales?
• Women and “black” men receive particularly troubling portrayals in the frame narrative and in some of these tales. Do you find 1001 Nights racist or sexist? Can we even speak in terms of “racism” and “sexism” as those terms are used today?
• Repetition and numbers help to structure the tales, and 3s are especially common structuring elements. How many events occur in 3s in the story? What is the effect of sequences of 3 in the tales?
• How many different ways is verse used in the tales? In other words, is there a rhetorical strategy in the use of verse rather than prose in some places?
• The “frame narrative” passages between tales are largely repetitive and formulaic, but is there any development of the narrative or character development within those passages? Think especially of the character of King Shahrayar.

• What elements of the Epic genre (as you are so far familiar with them) are present in Beowulf? How does this English Epic differ from the Homeric or other epic forms you’ve read?
• There are several embedded narratives in Beowulf (e.g. Sigemund and the dragon, ll. 883-914; and the Fight at Finnsburg, ll. 1070-1157). What is their function in the narrative and, considering their placement, in the action of the story?
• Who and what are Grendel and his mother? What is the source of their animosity toward the Danes?
• What goes on in the various victory feasts at Heorot? Is there a structure to them? What ceremonies are performed? Or is it just mead drinking and boasting?
• What is Wealhtheow’s role at Heorot? Consider especially lines 1167-1231—the end of the second feast at Heorot.
• Devise one question of your own to post to the class.

• The Muslim faith prescribes 5 articles of faith, or “pillars” of Islam: 1) daily prayer, 2) charity, 3) fasting, 4) pilgrimage, and 5) profession of faith. Where do you find examples of or injunctions to these acts in the selections you read?
• The Qur’an retells several episodes from both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Gospels. What facts differ in the Islamic telling and how do this differences change the emphasis?
• It what ways does the Qur’an proclaim a new “covenant” with the “People of the Book”?
• Why do you think the Qur’an emphasizes both the singular (unitarian) nature of God and the humanity of Jesus?
• Come up with one additional questions form your reading to pose to the class.

• 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? Choose one example to interpret in detail.
• 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?
• The Gospel of John is often described as the most mystical of the synoptic gospels. How does it differ from the others in terms of style? Why, for example, is Jesus called “the Word” (Logos)?
• What is the Matthew’s purpose for the graphic description of Jesus’s passion and crucifixion? How do you respond as a reader? How is he reader meant to respond?

• 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 do repetition and variation function in the poems? Think in terms of the analogies the poems draw between natural and human cycles.
• Why do you suppose these poems are so central to Confucianism? What values in the teachings of Confucius are celebrated in these poems?
• In the Analects, Confucius writes “The three hundred Poems are summed up in one single phrase: ‘Think no evil’.” Is this evident in the poems you read? Where?

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

• In several places, Patroclus is addressed directly, in the 2nd person, by the speaker of the epic (XVI.615; XVI.721; XVI.826). Why does Homer do this and what effect does this have on the narrative?
• Compare Achilles’s reaction to the death of Patroclus to Gilgamesh’s reaction to the death of Enkidu. In addition to the emotional content of their responses, what specific acts or rituals does each perform and what are their meanings in the face of death?
• What is the meaning of the tableaux rendered by Hephaestus on the shield of Achilles? How are the scenes related to each other? To the rest of the narrative?
• What is the dramatic effect of Priam’s meeting with Achilles to retrieve Hector’s body? What does Achilles see in Priam that moves him so?

• Compare and contrast the Homeric gods, as they are depicted in the Iliad, with the biblical god and the gods in Gilgamesh.
• Discuss the nature of conflict as it occurs between men and men, gods and men, and gods and gods. How do the sources of their conflict differ? How do they resolve conflict?
• We know from the opening lines that Iliad is going to be largely about μῆνιν Ἀχιλῆος––“the rage of Achilles.” What are the sources of his rage and how is it characterized in the epic? Can you predict how Achilles’s rage will effect the outcome of the war?
• Although the Trojan War is prosecuted by men, it has particular and wide-ranging effects on the women of Troy and the surrounding area. Describe women’s role as both agents and casualties of war.
• What is the purpose of the episode in Book VI between Glaucus and Diomedes? What do we learn not only about the ethics of war, but also about the function of epic narrative from this scene?
• Stanley Lombardo’s popular translation renders the dialogue in a refreshingly colloquial manner. Find some examples and describe how his translations choices effect characterization.