Eurolit Homework for 9/14/18

Read: Iliad Books XVI and XVII

Quiz: Who's responsible for Patroclus' death?

Honors 9 Homework for 9/14/18

Know: nuts and bolts of "Heracles"

COLLEGE BOWL MONDAY!!!

Eurolit Homework 9/13/18

Read: Iliad Books XIV & XV

Eurolit Notes 9/13/18

Book IX

Overture - an introduction to something more substantial.

p. 172 The passage that begins “My divine mother….” is important!

In this whole story, only one character changes (Achilles). “The wrath of Achilles is my theme.” What changes? He is going to lose his wrath. This passage reveals Achilles internal struggle: whether or not to kill Hector. 

Homer uses repetition throughout — about 1/3 of the work is repetition. 

p. 213

The passage that begins “And so it happened that the great Achilles….” is very important! 

We already know what happened - Achilles will join the battle again and Patroclus will die. This is the beginning of the end of Patroclus. 

Achilles cannot look like he is too anxious to join the battle, so he sends Patroclus instead. 

p. 218

The passage that begins “Who knows, a friends advice….” is important!

Nestor plants the seed in Patroclus’ head to convince Achilles to allow Patroclus to wear Achilles’ armor. His aim is to make the Trojans think that Achilles had re-entered the battle and scare them off. 

Honors 9 Homework 9/13/18

Know: nuts and bolts of "Theseus"

COLLEGE BOWL TOMORROW!!!

Eurolit Homework 9/12/18

Read The Iliad: Books IX and XI

Eurolit Notes 9/12/18

We have to have willpower (resolution). What you say or do is your resolution. Audacity is a part of this. According to the Homeric Pattern we shouldn’t exceed the bounds meant for us by the universe or gods. Who created the gods? We did. Therefore, we have imposed these boundaries upon ourselves. We hold ourselves back by our lack of audacity.

Robert Browning (an English romantic poet) said “…man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?” We mess up a lot, but this is what allows us to continue to strive for excellence. We are meant to commit Ate. This his how we attain Arete. 

The gods are anthropomorphic projections of ourselves. They are imperfect because they are reflections of our own imperfections and it is by seeing their flaws that we learn valuable lessons. 

Character is always a positive or negative example of what the author intends, and often he gods are negative examples. What Browning is saying is that we have created something (Heaven) in order to aspire to be perfect. That isn’t what Homer is saying. The gods of The Iliad are, instead, reflections of humanity. 

One of the things Homer does is use repetition. 

Hector is a foil for Achilles. A foil is a secondary character that has an important difference to the main character. Their purpose is to point out or draw attention to this difference. For example, Hector has a sense of duty but Achilles does not — he fights for Greece only for selfish purposes. 

Dramatic irony - when the reader knows something one or more of the characters do not. 

Leitmotif - a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.

Objective Correlative - he artistic and literary technique of representing or evoking a particular emotion by means of symbols that objectify that emotion and are associated with it.

Man is self-surpassing. Why does Zeus punish Prometheus for giving man fire (or knowledge)? He fears being supplanted by man. The real power is with words. “I, too, could fight the gods with words.” We created the gods and have self-imposed bounds. We can become like the gods, else why is there a heaven? 

Myth of Sisyphus (Camus) - Sisyphus tells the King of Corinth that Zeus has kidnapped his daughter. Zeus finds out and condemns Sisyphus to Tartarus. Sisyphus asks Hades to allow him to say goodbye to his wife, but Sisyphus does not return to Hades after doing this. As a result, Zeus condemns Sisyphus to Tartarus again but Sisyphus must roll a boulder up a mountain for all of eternity. Sisyphus embraces this act, deciding that if he has to roll a boulder up a mountain for eternity he will enjoy it. In short, it’s how you deal with what you’re dealt. 

Honors 9 Homework 9/12/18

Prepare: to re-write “Daedalus” theme essay

Honors 9 Notes 9/12/18

An essay is a group of paragraphs with one controlling idea. The controlling idea is the thesis statement. 

Writing is thinking on paper. 

Avoid plot rehashing. You don’t want to summarize the plot. You want to state your thesis and provide evidence from the text to support this thesis. Your thesis is an interpretation of the literature. 

A five paragraph essay contains an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs supporting and explaining the thesis, and a conclusion. Every part of your essay should support your thesis. 

A story starts off at Point A. It eventually comes back to Point A, except A is no longer A because something has changed. 

You have to ask three or four basic questions to get to the main point:

1 What changes?

2 What makes it change?

3 In what way does it change? (You ask this question sometimes, but not always.)

4 Why does it change?

When you answer questions you have arrived at the theme. 99% of the time it is the main character or protagonist that changes. Mostly, this ends up being a character analysis. 

One of the best ways to write a good essay is to know the nuts and bolts, because that provides you with examples to use within your writing. You have to funnel these examples down to the best examples and quotations. Further, you must make sure that you understand the essay prompt and respond to it accurately and directly. 

Always use present tense verbs when you write about literature. 

Never use the pronouns I or you. 

What changes in “Daedalus”?

In the beginning Daedalus is happy. The text says he is “honored by all men”. What changes in the end is that he is no longer happy. The proof of this is in the text. In the end Daedalus watches his son’s body plummet into the sea. 

What makes Daedalus unhappy? 

Icarus develops the excessive pride Daedalus has. What causes Daedalus to be unhappy is, essentially, that “his pride raced away with his wits.” He has Hubris. In other words, his story follows the Homeric Pattern. He was striving to be the best and most excellent. He wanted to be the greatest inventor of all time. He has too much pride and goes too far. He commits Ate and faces Nemesis (the death of his son). 

In what way does he change? 

Daedalus realizes that having excessive pride is not good when his son dies. He come to this realization too late. 

Why does the author have Daedalus change this way? 

One of the purposes of myth is to teach ethics. It is wrong to have excessive pride (Hubris). Therefore, we should know ourselves (gnothi seaton) and stick to the middle (meden agan). Don’t fly too high or too low. Thus, we have arrived at our theme. 

There is a cliche we have that comes from this myth: “Pride goeth before the fall.” 

Characters are also symbols. Daedalus is a symbol for humanity. We have this pattern as part of our nature. 

Often, people who attain excellence have a pattern of behavior that causes them to fall of their own accord. 

Is pride itself a bad thing? No. Is excessive pride a bad thing? According to the rhapsode, it is. 

Five Paragraph Essays:

The essay should have a title. It should not be “Daedalus Essay”, but something that fits your main thesis. 

In the intro paragraph, there will be a thesis statement. It is the last sentence in the first paragraph. This paragraph will also state the name of the author and the title of the work. It might include the genre of the work and some historical or biographic information about the author. The intro paragraph also briefly states the three reasons you have come to your thesis opinion. There is also a hook. The very beginning sentence (or sentences) hooks the reader’s interest. You should also include any definitions that are necessary for the reader to understand your argument (in this essay you will want to define the Homeric Pattern). You also want to plant the “big picture seed”. The “big picture seed” will work together with the hook and the title, so that the reader will already know what you are going to say in your conclusion paragraph. 

What happens in the body (middle three) paragraphs is argument form. This means that everything goes back to the thesis opinion. You have to have three main reasons (each has its own paragraph) why the thesis opinion is right. Then you will have examples and quotations from the text which support this opinion. Finally, you will have an explanation which supports your quotations. Ultimately, your explanations support your quotations/examples, which support your main reasons, which support your thesis statement. 

Thesis statement > Main Reasons (3) > Examples > Quotations > Explanations 

A thesis statement includes the thesis opinion, three reasons, author, title, and genre.

Never lose focus on the thesis opinion. A thesis opinion is the part of your thesis statement that states the focus of your essay. 

The conclusion paragraph will have a thesis re-statement. You will state the thesis again but in a different way. An essay gets one opinion — the thesis opinion. You have to explain your examples and show big picture thinking. You could also compare what you are writing about to something else. Whenever you compare two things you have to keep them balanced. You could also use a critical technique in your conclusion. This means that you agree or disagree with the main theme. Whatever you chose, you need to demonstrate that you really understand the bigger picture.

For our three reasons, we could write about the Homeric Pattern. Which characters follow the Homeric Pattern? Daedalus, Icarus, Pasiphae, and Minos. We only have three paragraphs. We could group them together. In paragraph one, we could write about Daedalus and Icarus. In paragraph two, we could write about Queen Pasiphae and King Minos. That leaves an extra paragraph. 

Remember, characters are always a positive or negative example of the theme. The previously mentioned characters are all negative examples of excessive pride. If we include Talos, an example of a character who did not have excessive pride, in paragraph three, it would round out our essay and provide further support for our thesis. 

The last sentence in a body paragraph is known as a “clincher sentence”. It sums up the whole body paragraph and ties it back to the thesis opinion.

Don’t forget your transitions and topic sentences. 

Do not just give opinions. You need evidence and explanation.

The last sentence in the essay it the “Ta-Da Sentence”. It is your last chance to summarize your thinking and tie everything together. 

Eurolit Homework 9/11/18

Read Iliad Books V and VI

Eurolit Notes 9/11/18

Review: 

The Homeric Pattern:

1 Arete (a character strives for excellence)

2 Hubris (a character possesses excessive pride)

3 Ate (a character exceeds the bounds meant for them by the gods/universe)

4 Nemesis (a character pays the price for committing Ate)

The Homeric Pattern is demonstrated by Achilles and Agamemnon, as well as other minor characters. 

The Iliad was composed around 850 B.C.E. and sung by rhapsodes for about 700 years. It chronicles events that happened in about 1250 B.C.E. The Trojan War was the first great world war - it involved Troy and multiple Greek city-states and involved “1,000 ships”. 

Cuirass - large metal buckle that guards the torso. 

Most soldiers can’t afford swords, therefore not anyone could be a warrior (it was expensive).  This was during the Bronze Age. 

The warfare itself would have been like football - one line against one line. It was not heroic (no Arete) to try to outmaneuver the enemy by flanking them. This was the way war was fought until the American Civil War. 

The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides is a good resource. The Peloponnesian War occurred between 431-404 B.C.E. It is featured in many Greek plays. 

The translation of The Iliad by Lattimore is a good resource if you want to read a more exact version of Homer’s work. 

Homer uses understatement to describe Helen’s beauty. He also employs similes and extended similes frequently. 

Odysseus’ epithet is “of the nimble-wits”.

The Fates have decreed that Troy must fall because Paris has not obeyed the dictates of Zeus. 

Asclepius is the god of medicine and physicians in Ancient Greece.

Diamedes is the closest there is to a “white knight” in The Iliad. He will come into the story later on. 

Honors English 9 Homework 9/11/18

Complete: First Words I & II

Eurolit Homework 9/10/18

Read: Iliad Books III & IV

Reading/Listening Quiz

Eurolit Notes

The epic is a long narrative poem. Most of the characters occupy a high position (kings, princes, etc.).

The main character of The Iliad is Achilles, who is the son of the Nereid Thetis and of Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. 

Characters are always positive or negative examples of the theme. 

To get the the theme of a work, you ask three or four questions. These are:

1. What changes? 

2. What makes it change?

3. In what way does it change?

4. Why does it change in that way? (The answer to this question is the theme.)

Keep your eye on Achilles. Achilles is symbolic of humankind and will lead you to the theme. 

The Iliad is vast in scope and contains the first depiction of a world war in literature. 

The gods are ficelle characters (for comic relief). However, they also have a very important comment on the main message. They underscore the theme that Homer is trying to convey. 

The gods participate in the fighting. Athena, Hera, and Poseidon fight on the side of Athens. Aphrodite and Zeus fight on the side of Troy. 

An epithet an adjectival phrase meant to characterize. Homer often uses epithets in The Iliad. 

The principal characters are all (kind of) negative examples of the theme. The central theme is not “avoid having hubris”. All of the principal characters in The Iliad follow the Homeric Pattern. 

We do not read stories about ordinary human beings. We read stories about extraordinary human beings. How they achieve excellence is by striving to be the best they can be. Why do they strive for excellence? According to Homer, all men fear death. What motivates people more than anything is this fear. Therefore, humans seek a kind of immortality. They seek fame. They strive for excellence in order to become famous. When they get this fame, it makes them too full of themselves. Then, they commit Ate (exceed the bounds meant for them by the gods/universe). 

The Homeric Pattern:

1. Arete (a character strives for excellence)
2. Hubris (a character possesses excessive pride)
3. Ate (a character exceeds the bounds meant for you the the universe)
4. Nemesis (a character pays the price for committing Ate)

To be shamed is the worst thing that can happen to a Homeric hero. This is what happens to Achilles. 

According to the myth, Paris abducts Helen and takes her back to Troy because he chose Aphrodite in a contest to determine who was the most beautiful. This ultimately goes back to the Fates, which are symbolic of the things that we cannot control. Paris’ fate is predetermined. Actually, this chain of events begins even further back, as Agamemnon is the descendant of Tantalus, who was cursed along with his offspring. Agamemnon is Helen’s husband, from whom Helen was stolen away. 

Honors 9 Homework for 9/10/18

Know: nuts and bolts of "Daedalus"

Honors English Notes 9/10/18

There are two types of thinking - induction and deduction. Induction occurs when you use a number of related experiences to lead to a general principle. Deduction means that you know a general principle and apply it before coming to a conclusion (think Sherlock Holmes). 

Real thinking is having reasons (evidence) for our opinions. 

Character is always a positive or negative example of the theme of a work. 

In “Daedalus”, the Minotaur symbolizes the beast within us, or the id. The id is the animal part of our subconscious minds. The labyrinth in the myth is symbolic of our minds. 

The Homeric Pattern:

1. Arete (a character strives for excellence)
2. Hubris (a character possesses excessive pride)
3. Ate (a character exceeds the bounds meant for you the the universe)
4. Nemesis (a character pays the price for committing Ate)

In the myth, Icarus flies too close to the sun and pays the price by falling to his death. The reason that Icarus does this is that he wants to surpass his father by gaining knowledge that his father does not possess.