a. Epic Poetry-- It is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. It always has interaction with god and mythology. This kind of works form the basis of the epic genre in Western literature. For example, Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid
b. In medias res-- It is the literary and artistic narrative technique of relating a story from the midpoint, rather than the beginning. In an in medias res narrative, the story opens with dramatic action rather than exposition setting up the characters and situation. For example, Odysseus's journey when he was held captive on Calypso's island.
c. Flashback-- It is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory.
d. Nonlinear narrative-- It is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, hypertext websites and other narratives, where events are portrayed. It is often used to mimic the structure and recall of human memory, but has been applied for other reasons as well.
e. Foreshadowing-- It is a literary device by which an author hints what is to come. It is used to avoid disappointment, and sometimes used to arouse readers. A hint that is designed to mislead the audience is referred to as a red herring.
f. Invocation-- It is to call on god or goddess. When a person calls upon God, a god, or goddess to ask for something or simply for worship, this can be done in a pre-established form or with the invoker's own words or actions. An example is the Lord's Prayer.
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B. Book Discussion
Topic one- Sappho
a. Sappho's poems are all talking about love and she used to wrote lyrical poems. She lived in island of Lesbos. Because she was an homosexual, "Lesbos" transformed into lesbian which means women homosexuals. b. Sappho's poems were produced almost two hundred years after Homeric epics. In Homer epics, people used to call on Apollo; however, in Sappho's poetry, they used to call on Aphrodite, goddess of love and sex. -- on page 595-596
c. Key sentences on Poem 1:
(a) I am calling out. (b) back into her love (c) You be my ally. -- on page 597
d. Key sentences on Poem 16:
(a) the most beautiful thing is what you love. (b) for she (refers to Helen)-- on page 597
Topic two- overview
a. John the Baptist and the blood moon-- King Herod II arrested all the Christians but his step daughter Salome fell in love to John the Baptist due to his beautiful face. In that day, there was blood moon outside and blood moon was regarded as a bad omen (ominion). Because John the Baptist refused to love Salome, she told the King that if she couldn't get his love, she wanted to off his head and do "the Dance of Seven Veils". Therefore, John died and from then on, Salome was called "the fatal woman" (femme fatale) -- on page ix
Salome and Johnc. Samuel Beckett-- He was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.
-- on page xxi
Samuel Beckettd. Virginia Woolf-- She was an English writer and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a central figure in the influential Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals.
Virginia Woolf--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Stories of the Day
a. Zeus and Io (Jupiter and Io)-- There is one time, Zeus was stunned by Io's beauty, so he turned Io to a heifer. Zeus's wife,Hera, was mad and sent Argus to watch the heifer (Io) all day and night. Therefore, Zeus told Hermes to kill Argus. After Argus died, Hera felt upset and put his a hundred eyes on a bird. This kind of bird turned out to be peacocks. However, the heifer wasn't good at the moment because of stung by the gadfly all the time so she came to Caucasus Mountains then she met Prometheus, one of the Titan gods. He saved the heifer by blew her once. But it is not the ending yet, because the Io's offspring saved Prometheus in the future.
Zeus and Iob. Zeus and Europa-- Europa was Helen's mother. She was violated by a goose which was transformed by Zeus. After that, the goose carried her to a new place and dropped her. That is the reason why Europe was so called.
Zeus and Europa
c. Uranus and Zeus-- Uranus, one of Titan gods, was Zeus's father. Because he took his father's crown by force, he was afraid that his sons would take his crown away in the same way. Therefore, he ate all his sons and daughters, right after they were born. One day, Uranus's wife gave birth a new baby again, but this time, she decided to let Uranus swallowed a big rock and save her son. She sent her son to the mortal world and used percussion instruments to covered his noises of crying. (That is also why the Zeus is the god of thunder and lightening.) Many years later, Zeus wrested the crown form his father, then cut open Uranus's belly. At the moment, all his brothers and sisters were all jumping out. Zeus married his sister, Hera and sent his brother, Hades, who he hates to the Hades.
d. Prometheus Bound-- Prometheus, one of the Titan gods, who played an important role in ancient Greece just like Suiren and Fu Xi in ancient China taught ancient Greeks how to plant trees and light a fire. However, Zeus was angry about this, so he gave Pandora to Prometheus and his brother, Epimetheus, as a bait. One day, when Prometheus and Epimetheus went out, Pandora opened a box which they told her not to open. After that, the plague went out from that box and the box was called "Pandora's Box". Zeus caught this opportunity to lock Prometheus in the Caucasus Mountains and sent a vulture, a bird which is similar with eagle, to eat his liver. (Prometheus could produce a new liver every day.)
Prometheus Bound
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D. Vocabulary and Other Information
a. Metamorphoses (v)-- "Meta" is to transform and "morph" stands for form.
b. Human races include Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, and African American (Black).
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