Western Literature Week One

                                             Orientation

Syllabus [this course]

What is that? What is that for? Why should we care?

The objective of this course is to make us know how to read, understand, and appreciative Western Literature.

What is literature?

It is imagination, emotional, beautiful, and intellectual. Literature gives us spiritual about humanity and psychological relief.

Reminder of the class

Preview before the class

Every class should write down the notes and it should be handed in before Christmas

Before the midterm, we talk about Epic poetry. After the midterm, we talk about Drama and Bible.

Text book of the course

Bible

It is the collection of texts sacred in Judaism and Christianity. It is an example of a collection of scriptures written at different times by different authors in different locations. Jews and Christians consider the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration or an authoritative record of the relationship between God and humans.  

The Hebrew Bible: Biblical , Classical, and Literary

The Christian Bible

Origins of Lesbo

Sappho of Lesbo is the first lesbian of the world. Also, she is a Greek lyric poet.

The Alexandrians included her in the list of nine lyric poems.

The bulk of her poetry, which was well known and greatly admired through much of antiquity, has been lost.

However, her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments.

Lesbian: is a female homosexual, a female who experiences romantic love or sexual attraction to other females.

Homer

He is best known as the author of the Iliad and Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the epic poets. 

   

Aphrodite

She is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Apart from her natural beauty, she also had a magical girdle that compelled everyone to desire her.

Aphrodisiac: It increases sexual desire.

Vocabulary 

ori: beginning, first

eg. orientation, oriental, original

allusion: a passing or causal reference, an identical mention of something

biblical: in accord with bible

Additional Supplement

Roman Numbers

Use of Roman numerals continued after the decline of the Roman Empire.

The numbers 1 to 10 can be expressed in Roman as follows:

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X 

Consumers electronics

Origins of Western Literature

Western Literature is from ancient Greek, ancient Roman, and Hebrew cultures. However, in 19 century, English became an important language in the world.

The oldest British literature is the form of epic poetry as well- Beowulf

Beowulf: is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative poems. It is the oldest surviving long poem in Old English and is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Old English Literature. 

Film: Helen of Troy

Introduction: Helen of Troy is based upon Homer’s story of the Trojan War., as recounted in the epic poem, Iliad. The film is placed in the early classical period rather than the correct late Bronze age. The Greeks are shown with Iron Age classical hoplite dress and arms. 

Video

Intro to American Literature

The History of English in Ten Minutes