"Listen to me. You mock my blindness, do you?/ But I say that you, with both your eyes, are blind" (I, 195-196). With these memorable words, the sightless prophet Teiresias all but paints the entire tragic story of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, one of the most prominent pieces of Greek literary heritage. Greeks knew and loved the story of Oedipus from childhood, just as children today cherish the story of Cinderella. In his version of the beloved tale, Sophocles concentrates his attention on the events directly leading to Oedipus' destruction, portraying Oedipus as a helpless pawn of fate. The most prominent literary device is dramatic irony, primarily of the spoken word, through which--especially in the Prologue--Sophocles captures audience attention, illuminates Oedipus' arrogant personality, and foreshadows the events of the final scenes.…
Daedalus was exiled to Crete to serve King Minos under the crime of envy. Icarus is his son. Daedalus and Icarus were sentenced to death by being trapped in a maze with the Minotaur. Daedalus builds large wings out of wax for Icarus and himself in order to escape imprisonment. Despite Daedalus’s warnings, Icarus flies too close to the sun and falls to his death after the wax wings melt.…
In many of the stories and poems that contain some form of physical transformation, from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to Marie de France’s Bisclavret, power and voice, as a form of articulate language used to express complex ideas, have been intricately linked and they themselves are usually connected to community and one’s status in the community. In most of the stories previously studied, a loss of voice resulted in a lack of recognition and led to a loss of power and freedom. As such, one would think that the opposite would be true too, and that by gaining a voice, gaining language and the power to communicate complex thoughts would result in a gain of power. This is not the case in the Island of Doctor Moreau, where although language, power and…
Icarus is a character in Greek myth. According to the myth he and his father fly with wings that his father made out of wax and feathers. They are trying to escape from a mean king. Icarus' father warns him not to fly to close to the sun or the wax would melt, ruining his wings. Icarus is caught up in the glory of his flight and does not heed his fathers warning. His wings fall apart and he plummets to the sea and drowns. The myth of Icarus appears to be fairly straight forward, and yet three poets write poems expressing three different perspectives using specific techniques. The three poets and their poems are Edward Field's "Icarus," William Carlos Williams' "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus," and Muriel Rukeyser's "Waiting for Icarus."…
The structure in this poem gives us a feeling of the old man’s desperation to dig up another story first portraying his uncomfort, “The man rubs his chin, scratches his ear.” His anxiousness escalates, “soon, he thinks, the boy will give up on his father.” You see his attitude further rise when he says, “he sees the day this boy will go. Don’t go!” Finally you see his desperation reach a high when he says, “Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?” The poem made you feel the desperation of the father through the structure because you could feel him getting more and more frustrated. This frustration in him not being able to satisfy his sons want for a new story gives us a picture of the love the father has for his child. A parent just wants to make their child happy and his anger when he cannot accomplish this show us that he has genuine love for the son.…
Jean’s work starts with an account of things that he did during the course of his life. He says that he is about to embark on a journey, and he chooses to confess all of the in the process. This shows that his work is a combination of his life experiences in this world and he later discusses very important matters that help the reader to know the importance of doing well and avoiding evil. This is because Jean seeks forgiveness now that he about to enter a new world where there will be judgment and he is afraid for he wonders if he will be forgiven for the things that he had done while he was in the world. In Metamorphoses, Ovid starts with focusing on how the earth was formed and the things which took place. He divides these seasons into…
1. Why might Sonnet 18 by Francesco Petrarcha be interpreted as a poem about defeat as much as a poem about love? Use specific examples from the text in your response.…
After a few first times reading “I, Icarus”, readers might superficially interpret the meaning to be about a flying dream, yet if we dig deeper, we will be able to comprehend the yearning to reach a superior dimension of Nowland. As a matter of fact, Alden Nowland was born in a small village in Nova Scotia; the constrictions had influenced him to foster the dream of breaking free to seek his own prospects. Nowland reflects back to his childhood and imagines he was flying beyond all the restrictions that had been confining him. Even though fictional elements play the main role in the whole poem, Nowland’s detailed description and firm assertion “There was a time when I could fly. I swear it. “(1), “I rose…
The fateful tale of Icarus has been adapted in multiple ways in poetry and in paintings. In “Icarus”, a poem by Edward Field, a popular mythological character from long ago is transformed into the vastly different reality of a more contemporary world. Irony and figurative language are essential elements of Field’s version of the tale of Icarus, who is immersed into the twentieth century.…
By including the tale of the partridge coming to Daedalus while he was burying his son, Ovid is using the principle of two-ness of polarity in making light of another angle of this story not yet revealed. When reading this story initially, Daedalus is portrayed as more of a victim, whose intelligence and ability to design the Labyrinth places him in this deleterious position of being trapped on this island. In adding the story of the partridge, Daedalus is exposed as being an attempted murderer, of a twelve year old child, and then covering it up when he, “spread the rumor of an accident” (Kline, 2000, para 10). This adds another dimension to the story and casts light on the darker side of Daedalus. Another aspect, the addition of this…
In this passage of Demodocus' Song from Book VIII of The Odyssey , “A Day for Songs and Contests”, Homer creates a contrasting effect in presenting the nature of Odysseus between the two paragraphs, one conveys strength and power, while the expresses melancholy and mourning. This is shown though the usage of diction and imagery.…
During the time of Augustus, Greek literature and myths were highly influential throughout the Roman world. In particular, Ovid, a Roman poet born in 43 BC, retells and adjusts much of Greek mythology in a humorous yet personal style to suit himself and his audiences (Plant 2012, p. 298).…
This poem has five four-lined stanzas. The first and last lines rhyme with each other while the middle two lines rhyme with each other. This creates a song like quality to the poem. The first three stanzas of the poem end with questions. This structures the idea of parents mourning with unanswered questions. The last two stanzas are enjambed. This gives the effect of the parents realizing there's no point in questioning their deaths but to be at peace with it. This poem is giving some consolation to the people who have lost loved ones, mainly children, to drowning. The poem frequently refers to Greek mythology. There is an 'old king' whom is assumed to be the Greek god of the ocean Poseidon, who resides in the sea and takes care of drowned children. In this poem, the old king takes a 'shining haul' of children with his 'sure' net. This suggests that many children have been taken by him. The use of the word 'sure' implies that no one is really safe from him and that it is fated to happen. It could also mean humans cannot prevent nor control the ocean. However, the persona describes his care as 'solicitous' and 'tender'. This expresses that the king is kind and caring to the children. In an effort to ease the parents' distress, the use of mythology conveys the notion that the children are not just gone but instead they are being taken care of in a safe 'kingdom'.…
4. The poem “Icarus” by Irving Layton is a very intriguing piece . The first quatrain follows the traditional english meter ABAB. Whereas, the rest of the poem follows no traditional meter and deviates greatly from being an english sonnet. The poem also differs from a traditional sonnet as it does pertain to the same subject , of love. Instead, this poem is more reminiscent of a narrative poem because it tells a story.…
"Sonnet 18." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 2. Detroit:…