When considering the content of a poem, diction is often of the highest importance; by borrowing Latin amid a poem which is primarily written in Old English, the wall between both cultures are broken down even more, denoting the nuance of a transitioning nation. In P.J. Frankis’s article about the use of the phrase “enta geweorc” in numerous Old English text, the use of Latin loan-words in Old English texts is briefly touched upon. Frankis points to the a-verse of the first line of “The Ruin” for evidence, noting that the prefix of the word “waelstan,” or “weal-,” is taken from Latin. He continues, pointing to the word “towers,” or “torras,” yet another loan-word (Frankis 225). The poet of “The Ruin” simply may not have had the Old English …show more content…
While Anglo-Saxons were typically Christian, Romans tended to worship local gods instead, from deities such as the Sun God, or even those residing within the pantheon. Because of this, the use of words such as “fate” can be tricky when looking through “The Ruin.” In the first line of the poem, the speaker claims that “the fates” broke the “marvelous … wall-stone” before them” (“The Ruin” 1). By the middle of the poem, the speaker refers to the destructive power as “Fate” alone, drifting away from the pluralities of his previous use of the word which may have referenced Roman or Greek mythologies. In such mythologies, the fates are known to “determine the course of human life” (“fate”). Considering the Roman belief in the pantheon and the gods which resided within it, it would not be too far of a stretch to consider “The Ruin” possibly alluding to the mythological fates. However, the shift in language from “the fates” to mere “Fate” cannot be ignored. The varied usage of the term could simply highlight a tension between the portrayal of pagan religions in opposition to Christianity. The use of fate as a device, though, also highlights the secular route which “The Ruin” seems to take, namely when considering the avoidance of the absence of the model of internal failure, a way of thought which stemmed from Christianity
More specifically, Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” In Ovid’s work, fate plays a crucial role as it did in “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” Fate in the poem is seen as a story that cannot be changed. People cannot escape their destiny or fate.
Waddington grabs hold of this notion and retrieves the trope of the “old blind woman in the tower” by giving her new life with the restructuring of the poem (Waddington 4-5). While Tennyson’s epic poem utilizes the strict confines of iambic pentameter and heroic verse known by Homer’s original Odyssey, Penelope’s updated narrative bleeds out through a variant, but equally structured schematic. Waddington’s six stanzas contain a slow moving enjambment of choppier and more laborious lines, creating a certain rocking of language emergent from the first lines: “You’ve come / at last from / all your journeying” (Waddington 1-3). This motion of the poem effuses the tediousness of Penelope’s long wait, as well the feeling of the line by line repetition of the legendary loom through which her story (and her husband’s) is woven.
The Romans, originally called the Latins after the volcanic plain were they lived, were founded around 753BCE after the battle across the seven hills on the Tiber. The battle was fought between twin brothers Romulus and Remus, ending in the defeat of Remus (Duiker). Religion played a huge role in the daily life of Rome, the state religion lasting between 200BCE-250CE (“Roman Religion”). Temples to worship the gods were built throughout the Roman Empire and family houses would also have a small altar and shrine. The Roman religion was a mixture of fragmented rituals, taboos, superstitions, and traditions that they collected over the years from a number of sources. The Roman gods and goddess were a blend of several religious influences. Many of the gods and goddess were introduced through the Greek colonies of southern Italy; others had roots in old religions of the Etruscans or Latin tribes (“Roman Religion”). Roman authorities were generally tolerant of the dietes and religious practices of Empire subjects and tried to foster loyalty to the empire by merging these gods and goddess into the Roman Pantheon (Overfield). Normally all the Romans would require was that the various cults not threaten public order or morality. Cults like Bacchism, Celts Druid and Christianity were seen as violating all norms of social behavior and threatened the stability of Roman rule (Overfield). It was not until the rule of Constantine that Christianity was accepted. This Essay will explore the two religious practices, Vestal Virgins and Roman devotees of the cult of Isis, describing their religious life before Constantine’s conversion.
“The Roman Baths at Nimes,” a sonnet, has a unique modified structure which resembeles the main purpose of the poem. Originally, a sonnet was structured as “one strong opening statement of eight lines, followed by a resolution to the emotional or intellectual question of the first part of the poem” (Strand 56). The contemporary sonnet comes in two forms, the Petrarchan and the Shakespearian. Both have fourteen lines but they differ in their rhyme scheme. Cole combines the elements from the original and Shakespearean sonnets to form a unique structure for his poem. He uses a modified rhyme scheme of aabcbcdedefghh, which very closely resembles the contemporary form of the Shakespearean sonnet (because of the final couplet rhyme hh) but not exactly. He incorporates the features of the antique sonnet by presenting his internal struggle in the first ten lines of the poem and in the final sentence, resolving the conflict.
Fate is an old debated concept. Do one's actions truly play a role in determining one's life? Is fate freedom to some or is it binding to others, in that no individual can make completely individual decisions, and therefore, no one is truly free. Nowadays, fate is a subject often rejected in society, as it is seen as too big, too idealistic, and too hard to wrap a persons head around. However, at the time of Antigone, the concept was a terrifying reality for most people. Fate is the will of the gods, and as is apparent in Antigone, the gods' will is not to be questioned. Much of Sophocles' work focuses on the struggle between human law and what is believed to be the god’s law. Fate was an unstoppable force and it was assumed that any efforts to change one's future were unrealistic. In Sophocles' Antigone, fate plays a crucial role the choices that the characters make.
8. Edmondson, J. C., and MyiLibrary. “Augustus”. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 4 May 2014.
The first thing that comes up in The Odyssey that pertains to fate is when Zeus exclaims “My word, how mortals take the gods to task! All their afflictions come from us, we hear. And what of their own failings? Greed and folly double the suffering in the lot of man.” Zeus is saying that we all as humans cause our own misery and blame the gods for it. His attitude towards the struggles of humans is that since we cause our own problems, we should fix them by ourselves too. He is admitting that the gods do not have full control over events in human life. They have a
For pagan religion, ‘the Truth’ is something to be glimpsed, something to be ascended to and apprehended in the soul. By ‘eliminating everything’ and reducing the temporal self to naught, a visionary pagan may catch a glimpse of the divine Ground—and this glimpse is its highest hope and goal. But mystical experience can prove hopelessly fleeting, as Plotinus repeatedly discovered, and thus he was mystified by and lamented his inability to remain in that blessed state—for “there comes the moment of descent from intellection to reasoning, and after that sojourn in the divine, and I ask myself how it happens that I can now be descending, and how did the soul ever enter into my body” (IV, 8, 1). Via the painful but necessary path of self-negation, he slowly ascends to his goal, until at last he reaches the heights of divine union and blessedness—but alas, only to helplessly fall away again, back into the temporal and material realm. Self-willfulness, that which is at the root of the soul’s descent*, is at last renounced in its ascendant return to divinity—alas, only to resurface yet again and drag the soul back down into the mires time and matter, in a manner reminiscent of the tale of Sisyphus, or perhaps the wheel of birth and death. In a...
Fate has a place in the Greek world but its place is not the same as it is in other scenarios or worlds. It is important to understand the word before we discuss it. Fate as far as Greek mythology goes is not just fate. By most standards fate means that things occur for an unknown reason that no one has any control over. However, in the world of Greek Mythology fate does not just happen. The gods engineer fate and they interfere to make things happen that might not otherwise have happened. Since the players do not always know of the gods' involvement, things may actually appear to be fate but in reality be engineered happenings.
The idea of fate has existed for a long time and exists even today. Fate revolves around the idea that people's lives are predetermined and that no matter what is done it cannot be changed. With the gods it was used to explain events that seemed strange. Sophocles expands on this idea by introducing Oedipus' fate. The thought of fate is strong considering no matter how hard he struggles he still receives what was predetermined. As a baby he survived the elements on Mount Cithaeron. As Oedipus was destined to live, it shows the dominance of fate. Having fate play such a large part of the play is certainly an insight into the Greek's idea that fate controls us no matter how hard we struggle against it.
In English literature and Greek mythologies fate and free will played colossal responsibilities in creating the characters in the legendary stories and plays. The Greek gods believed in fate and interventions, predictions of a life of an individual before and after birth which the individual has no control over their own destiny. Free will and fate comingle together, this is where a person can choose his own fate, choose his own destiny by the choices the individual will make in their lifetime. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of free will is the “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior cause of divine intervention”. Fate and the gods who chose their destinies directed Gilgamesh, Oedipus and Achilles.
Lendering, Jona. “Etemenanki (The tower of Babel).” n.d. Livius: Articles on Ancient History. Web. 09 March 2012.
To view the links that are instilled between mortals, immortals, and fate in The Iliad, it is worthwhile to examine each on its own to observe how they connect. The characteristics of the three are inherently unique in relation to each other, though in some areas there is overlap. Man is defined as a mortal, someone who can die from old age and disease. Products from mortal and immortal procreation, such as the hero Achilles, fall into a sort of category all their own, but Achilles himself suggests that he would die from old age if he were to return home (9:502-505). In this weakness of the flesh they differ from the immortal gods, who cannot die from natural causes. Nevertheless, the gods share the imperfections of man: disloyalty, deceit, anger, and even lust. They see themselves as above man, and yet their actions are often as selfi...
The first point is that fate determined Agamemnon journey to the war against Paris for ten years. “It goes at it goes now. The end will be destiny .You cannot burn flesh or pour unguents, not innocent cool tears, that will soften the god’s stiff anger”( Line 67-70).This quote was told by Chorus when the god Zeus send Agamemnon and Menelaus against Alexander for stealing Helen from her husband. Alexander and Helen flew away to troy therefore Agamemnon went to troy to fight with them for ten years. This is all predetermined by fate. When the Chorus said “it goes as it goes the end will be destiny”(Line 67-68) that means that things will come to pass in the way they are fated, no tears or burning of sacrifice will change the fate. No one can change the fate from occurring which predetermined the war against Troy. “With time, this foray shall stalk the castle of Priam. Before then, under the walls, fate shall spoil the rich hands of the people” (Line 126-130...