The literature of the Ancient Greeks and Romans which helped fashion the foundation of European culture has been studied and mimicked for thousands of years. The Greeks were the first major European civilization to create a complex literature and inspired the writing style for genres like history, philosophy and poetry. English writers Alexander Pope, John Dryden and Anna Letitia Barbauld drew from the spirit of the classics to construct their version of the prototypical heroic epic through The Rape of the Lock, Absalom and Achitophel and Washing Day. The neoclassical period gave way to writers like Alexander Pope showing a renewed interest in the classics. The epic had long been considered a serious literary form, applied to address lofty …show more content…
Anna Letta Barbuld provides insight into the physical and mental hardships experienced by women. Romanticism seem to be an opposing response to the neoclassical period as it takes the focus off of the classics and placed value on creativity, emotion, the spiritual and self-expression. However, one can still detect classical components within the poem. Barbuld’s use of parody, understatement, and irony echo’s Pope’s mock- epic; hence the relation to the classics. The language used is liken unto an epic challenge. “Come, Muse, and sing the dreaded washing day/ Too soon; for to that day nor peace belongs/ Nor comfort ere the first grey streak of dawn (8, 12, 13). The mock epic format however produces an uneven iambic pentameter with no rhyming scheme at the end of the lines (as the blank verse was gaining popularity). References to classical themes such as duty and sacrifice for the greater good as well as the coming of age are made. The speaker explicates in her childhood days “…the awe/ This day struck into [her] (58-59). The invocation is ironic nature as the speaker points out that the muses are “turned gossips” (1). Instead of calling on them for inspiration she calls on them to begin the task at hand. The poem also cites the Greek god of darkness Erebus and the use of the ancient word for sky; “welkin.” Through these classical implications Anna Letitia Barbuld elevates the mundane domesticity to a status more associated with the standard of a classic
Armstrong, Isobel. 'A Music of Thine Own': Women's Poetry. in: Joseph Bristow, Victorian Women Poets. Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Press Limited, 1995, 32-63.
The ancient Greeks and Romans made a variety of contributions to western civilization in the field of literature. Both of these ancient cultures produced a variety of literary works which have persevered the test of time and continue to be studied today. One of the biggest contributions of the ancient Greeks to literature came from an author, who still relatively little is known about, Homer. Homer, believed by many to have been blind, is credited with the authorship of two of ancient Greece’s most famous epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. These two epic poems chronicle the final days of the Trojan War and the epic struggle Odysseus underwent on his sea voyage back to his home after the tragic war. These two epics have had a profound impact on western literature and continue to influence literary scholars and authors to this day. The following excerpt from Bio descries the impact of these ancient poems, “The Iliad and The Odyssey have provided not only seeds but fertilizer for almost all the other arts and sciences in Wester...
Alexander Pope was born May 21, 1688, in London. His father was a cloth merchant living in London, both his parents were Catholic. It was a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment in England, and at some point Alexander's family was forced to relocate to be in compliance with a statute forbidding Catholics from living within ten miles of London or Westminster. They moved to Binfield Berkshire where Pope's early education was affected by his Catholicism. The Catholic schools were illegal but, they were allowed to survive in some places. Prior to his move to Binfield Pope spent a year at Twofold, where he wrote "a satire on some faults of his master," which led to him being whipped and beaten until he became ill. Then once again he was taken from his family.
Classical Greece has been and will continue to be a source of inspiration for Western Civilization. Democracy, Columns, human like sculpture and the Hippocratic Oath began in Classical Greece. The idea of a democracy originated in Ancient Greece. Columns are used in present time, the idea of columns was an architectural contribution. Amazing human like sculptures emerged from Greece. Lastly, the Hippocratic oath was the medical contribution that is still used today.
Thus muses Achilles, one of epic poetry's greatest heroes. Epic poetry, one of the earliest forms of literature, began as an oral narration describing a series of mythical or historic events. Eventually, these stories were written down and read aloud to an audience. Although the Epic of Gilgamesh was composed approximately fifteen hundred years prior to the Iliad, the heroes of both epics possess strikingly similar characteristics. Indeed, Gilgamesh and Achilles, as epic heroes, exemplify godlike qualities, great personal power, and fierce pride and loyalty.
Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and the Mythology of “Elysian fields” in lines one through three, she leads the reader to the assumption that this is a calm, graceful poem, perhaps about a dream or love. Within the first quatrain, line four (“I wove a garland for your living head”) serves to emphasise two things: it continues to demonstrate the ethereal diction and carefree tone, but it also leads the reader to the easy assumption that the subject of this poem is the lover of the speaker. Danae is belittled as an object and claimed by Jove, while Jove remains “golden” and godly. In lines seven and eight, “Jove the Bull” “bore away” at “Europa”. “Bore”, meaning to make a hole in something, emphasises the violent sexual imagery perpetrated in this poem.
...owned painters or prominent scientists who have spent their entire lives trying to create or become something their nation could take pride in. However, Publius Virgil had a special challenge since he was trying to unite a nation of conquered people, such as the Greeks, who already took great pride in their own epics and culture. Thus, to accomplish this task Virgil had to distinguish his hero Aeneas from the Greek’s literary hero Odysseus by contrasting their individual views on the meaning of life. This allowed Virgil to highlight why Aeneas and in turn Rome could be considered more admirable since he believes both serve an eternal purpose. However Virgil was probably unaware of the fact that it would be his epic and not the empire of Rome that would stand the test of time becoming not just a source of pride for a nation but the entire literary world as a whole.
The average American is separated from the Greek epic. Although the lowest man is as capable of tragic struggle and feeling as any Greek hero, he is not capable of comprehending the scale and scope of the epic in his own life. We have no way of grasping the gargantuan undertaking of an epic. The epic poem is nonexistent in modern literature, and the number who read epic poems is decreasing rapidly as well. We may read excerpts or quotes about famous works, and from those remarks be able to afford remarks of our own, but this is a form of Cliffs Notes to cultural fluency. The fact that these facile and passing acquaintances serve as the bulk of our culture's understanding reveals the imperfect nature of what we assume we know. We feel qualified to claim a connection with the Greeks, through no proper understanding of our own, but rather through an opinion about an interpretation of a translation.
Virgil’s Aeneid, tells the story of the founding of Rome. It follows the last of the Trojan’s who escaped the fate of Troy. Troy eventually falls following Homer’s The Iliad, and Virgil continues the story of their people. The Trojans are not, however, the only similarities between the two books.
The Greeks were both smart and creative people. Their religion consisted of extramundane beings who had powers that they used to explain unnatural events, such as storms. They worshiped powerful gods whom they put upon a pedestal. Many of the gods were described as powerful, attractive, athletic, just, and above all, the gods had a great amount of intelligence. So it makes sense that the Greeks would want to integrate that intelligence with their mythology and folklore. The Odyssey, written by Homer, is a substantial example of that. The protagonist of the story, Odysseus, was acute, imposing, and dominant, which was exactly what the Greeks believed was the perfect character.
The Greeks in the third B.C. introduced the Romans to Hellenic culture achievements. The Romans acquired from Greece knowledge of scientific thought, philosophy, medicine and geography. The Romans adopted the humanistic outlook of the Greeks and they came to value social aptitude and articulate and beautiful style and poetry.
Poetry in the early 19th century was a form of therapy that allowed the writer and reader to get in touch with their emotions. In the poem “To a Little Invisible Being Who is Expected Soon to Become Visible”, Anna Barbauld discusses the feelings of what it is like for a mother awaiting her unborn child. The poem is written in a third-person narrative style and the author uses many exclamation points, which suggests the urgency and emotion through the punctuation. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB. The language is positive and hopeful, which helps form an inclusive tone of romance. Likewise, the poem is broken into nine quatrains which aids in the depiction of the mother carrying a child for nine months in her womb.
...omer’s epics successful while also making the Aeneid more personal by adding his own flare. Many had attempted to combine both styles, but it was seen as impossible to have a Roman writing that was on the same level as Homer’s epics. Homer was given credit as the one who developed the style of Greek writing and many Romans believed that in order to create a writing like his one had to have the ability to think, a way with words and a capacity for storytelling. Virgil was successful because he had the abilities mentioned and he was literate, which in turn worked in his favor. By combining the Greek style of writing with the Roman style Virgil was attempting something that no other Roman had ever succeeded at before. Therefore, without Virgil’s adaptation and adoption of Homeric qualities we most likely would not have the Aeneid or study it as closely as we do today.
To conclude, it can be said that Sophocles and Euripides both were great playwrights and important characters of Ancient Greek Civilization. In addition, they contributed western literature by innovating drama and theatre.
The traditional style of an epic is conveyed in its tone and structure. Epic poems are structured in such a way that they include heroic rhyming schemes, heroic similes, and lengthy, formal speeches. The heroic-couplet, which rhymes the pairs in the form of iambic pentameters, is what makes up the heroic-rhyming scheme. This form of couplet produces a kind of melodious appreciation of the text. It was immensely popular amongst the different epics written throughout history to employ a serious tone to the poem through rhyming. However, it was utilized by Alexander Pope, in The Rape of the Lock, to create a lighthearted mock-epic, which pokes fun at the 18th century society in which he lived. The “trivial” is made apparent in the opening couplet of the poem: “What dire offence from am’rous causes springs, / What mighty contests rise from trivial things” (Canto I, 1-2). The first line i...