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makeup8.docxTask 3: Activities for Roland
Unit 3: Response Paper 1:
Choose a prompt from the Roland Activities Links to an external site. page.
Compose a five paragraph essay responding to the prompt.
Follow the guidelines below as you compose your essay:
- Your essay should be at least 250 words.
- Be as specific as you can. Support your points with details from the text. Prove that you read the book!
- Indicate at the beginning of the essay which prompt you are responding to.
- There is no requirement to include introduction and conclusion paragraphs, but you may if you wish.
Plagiarism Reminder
The essay should be in your own words. Do not copy an essay from an online source. If you use language from the texts, use quotation marks (Example: "Sing, Muse, of the man of many ways . . .")
http://www.europeanamericansunited.org/school1/Traditional/Roland.htm Links to an external site.
Read through the Roland Study Guide Links to an external site. and all of the Activities below before making your selection. Make a copy of the Activity question to begin your response. Upload your Activity here.
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Why did Roland wait to blow his horn? Look closely at the three horn blowing discussions and explain what their purpose is in the poem. Use specific examples from the poem to support your discussion. |
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Roland is a hero; Charlemagne is a king. Compare/contrast their characters and roles. Could Roland fit into some ancient epic such as the Odyssey or Gilgamesh ? What about Charlemagne? Is he like any other king you have read about? Support your discussion with examples from Roland and from some other ancient epic. |
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Look through Roland to find examples of Saracens (Muslims) represented as evil, deceitful and demonic. Do you think this was a normal way to write about strangers at that time and in that place? What do you think motivated such hostility? Discuss this issue using plenty of specific examples from the poem to support your ideas. |
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Compare the expression of monotheistic faith in Sura 1, "The Exordium," from the Koran (to the descriptions of the pagan, idol worshipping infidels in Roland. Do you think the Roland poet was genuinely ignorant of Muslim religion, or that he had his own agenda and reasons for presenting the Saracens as demonic heathens? |
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Sura 5, "The Table," from the Koran talks at some length about Christians and Jews, and their relation to Islam. The Koran accepted both Christians and Jews as "people of the book," but asserted that the Koran was a correction to errors that had crept into these earlier monotheistic religions. Discuss the attitudes towards Christians and Jews that you find in "The Table" and compare it to the attitudes towards Muslims that you find in Roland. What are the significant differences? Do you find any interesting similarities? Be specific in your responses and refer to examples from the texts you are analyzing. |
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Roland is one of a group of early French epics, or " chansons de geste" which have been compared to American Western movies: fighting men, horses, buddies, no women, good versus evil, etc. Do you agree? If so, select a particular Western movie and compare it to Roland in some detail. Be sure to support your ideas with plenty of specific supporting examples from Roland and the film, and be sure to explain "so what." |
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Compare the relationship of two sets of buddies: Roland and Oliver and Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Do you see any relevant similarities? Any interesting differences? And, so what? Be sure to go into plenty of specific examples from both texts to support your ideas. |
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Compare the roles of Charlemagne in Roland and Aeneas in the Aeneid . Both are in charge of world class empires, or at least their beginnings, and both fight "holy" wars of a sort, Aeneas to fulfill Roman destiny, and Charlemagne to free Europe of the pagan infidels. Both seem to suffer a lot and neither has a good time. Compare them in some detail, using specific examples from both text to support your ideas. |
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Read about the life of Charlemagne in any good encyclopedia or history of Europe, or look at Einhard's brief, readable Life of Charlemagne Links to an external site. , written in the ninth century, and compare what you find out to the presentation of Charlemagne in Roland . Why do you think there are so many differences? Do you think the Roland poet was aware of how he was changing Charlemagne into a Christian saint, or do you think this had already happened in the centuries since Charlemagne's death? Explain your position referring to specific information you have read about Charlemagne and specific examples from the poem. |
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Do you think the Roland poet knew the "Sermon on the Mount" from The New Testament ? If so, how do you think he interpreted it? Was this the key to his idea of being a good Christian? If not, what was? Explain in some detail, using specific examples from both texts, and be sure to develop an interesting point (e.g. SO WHAT?) |
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Some critics have suggested that epic poems such as Roland were composed in monasteries along pilgrimage routes, to help drum up tourist traffic. Would this help to explain the god-like quality of Charlemagne and the warrior-saint nature of Roland? Or is this too cynical a view of a great poem? Give your opinion, but support it with specific details from the poem, and, ideally, a few facts from an encyclopedia or some such (be sure to cite the source of your information). |
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For all its extremist religious politics, Roland presents a picture of surprisingly democratic interaction between the peers and the emperor. Look closely at the way decisions are made, both at Charlemagne's court and in the field, and describe in some detail the process of debate and consensus that guides the nobles in their actions. Can you think of any other story you have read in this course that involves such democratic processes? Or is democratic even the right word for this struggle for consensus among the aristocracy? Comment and support your ideas using specific examples from the story. If you deal in lots of comparative detail with a second story too, this can be worth double credit. |
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Explore The Military Martyrs Links to an external site. and discuss in detail how this concept of the fighting saint may help to explain Roland's role in the battle and his final ascent to heaven. Be sure to give specific examples from the Military Martyrs pages and from Roland to support your ideas. |
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When Roland finally does blow the horn, he bursts a blood vessel in his head, and this causes his death. Why do you think this is how he dies? Hints: Can you explain its link to the horn-blowing episodes? Can you explain its connection to the absolute superiority of Roland to the "pagans?" Can you connect Roland's means of death to the angel coming to receive his glove (his fealty). Use specific examples from the poem to support your ideas. |
Activities for The Song of Roland by Dr. Diane Thompson, NVCC Links to an external site. , ELI
Week 8 Discussion Question
Roland is in the tradition of Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Aeneas, and the other epic heroes we have studied this semester. What do you think makes him a epic hero? Why do you think many westerners do not know of him as well as they know other heroes from western culture?
Module 2 Research
Choose a video or an article that focuses on one of the selections we studied in Module 2. Please introduce the video or article to the class. Remember to post the link to your video or article.
Module 2: Reading Quiz 3
This Unit introduced you to material ranging from amazing adventures to philosophical questioning of good and evil, divinity and destiny. You learned about the different ways that mythic, "epic" material can be handled in different civilizations. You read selections from two first century BCE epics, Roman Virgil's Aeneid and one of two Indian epics: The Bhagavad-Gita or The Ramayana. These epics all deal with important religious and ethical questions about love, war, destiny, the nature of divinity and the nature of the universe.
Based on your readings, what did you come away with in regards to these epics all dealing with important religious and ethical questions about love, war, destiny, the nature of divinity and the nature of the universe? Please explain your thinking.
- Good answers will be at least 200 words (feel free to write more!)
Plagiarism Reminder
Answers should be in your own words. Do not copy answers from online sources. I am interested in what you think. If you use words from the texts, use quotations marks (Example: "Noah was a righteous man.")
Task 9. Virgil's Aeneid/Indian Epic Activities.
TASK 9. Read through the Activities for Virgil's Aeneid and Virgil's Aeneid/Indian Epic Activities. Then select one of these questions to answer for this Activity, and upload here. These activities are listed below under the title, Task 9. The readings from Task 8 are linked here: the selections from the Aeneid: Book VI (http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.6.vi.html) and the selections from the Bhagavad-Gita ( http://learner.org/courses/worldlit/gita/read/ Links to an external site. ) or the Ramayana : CANTO CXXX.: THE CONSECRATION ( http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry501.htm Links to an external site. ).
After completing Task 9, go on to Unit 3.
WORLD LITERATURE I
Activities for The Aeneid, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Ramayana (Task Nine)
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/eng251/virgilgitaques.html Links to an external site.
(Course created by Dr. Diane Thompson, NVCC, ELI)
Please read through all of these Activities before making your selection. Make a copy of the Activity question to begin your response. . Upload your Activity here.
· Read the entire Book VI of the Aeneid. (The section in the text cuts out most of this important book.) There is a section in this Book that deals with the cycle of souls, from death to purification to rebirth. Compare this to the concept of rebirth in the Gita. What similarities do you find? What interesting differences? And, so what? Use examples from both texts to support your ideas. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Read the entire Book VI of the Aeneid and read the Gita. Aeneas discovers the purpose of his actions and destiny in this Book. Compare what he discovers to what Arjuna learns about the purpose of his actions and his destiny. (Worth double credit if very thoroughly developed and well-done. Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· In the Ramayana, Rama is presented as the ideal king and hero of Indian literature. Like Aeneas, he is descended from a god; like Aeneas, he suffers adversity and travels through the wilderness. Rama always does what he is supposed to do, promptly, cheerfully and with kindness for others. Compare/ contrast Rama's calm acceptance of adversity with Aeneas' moans and groans about the "tears of things." Which hero seems more "real" to you? Why? Develop your ideas using specific supporting examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· In the Ramayana, the forest is presented as "a place of pain," where people go into exile to live as ascetics. This forest is contrasted with the pleasures and safety of life in the city. Think back to Gilgamesh and Enkidu and the complex relationship between city and wilderness in that story. Compare/contrast these two visions of wilderness and civilization and make some interesting point about them. Use examples from both texts to support your ideas. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· In the Ramayana, Rama's wife Sita is the perfect woman. She loves and obeys her husband, follows him cheerfully into the wilderness, and never questions her role. There is no perfect woman in the Aeneid, but there are quite a few imperfect ones, both human and divine, who stir up a lot of trouble. There are also some imperfect women who make trouble in the Ramayana, including the hunchback who provokes Kaikeyi to demand Rama's exile. Compare/contrast some of the women in these two epics and come to some interesting conclusion. Support your ideas with specific examples from both epics. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· In the Ramayana, Rama insists that right action is obedience to his father. Right action for Sita, Rama's wife, is to obey her husband. Compare/contrast this clarity of knowing what is right with the fog Aeneas seems to wander in, never quite knowing what he is supposed to do, except in brief moments when a god intervenes, such as Mercury telling him to leave Dido. Support your ideas with specific examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Read the entire Book VI of the Aeneid. Aeneas has lost his homeland and must trudge onward to fulfill a destiny that is not of his choosing. He is somewhat consoled in the underworld (Book VI) by a vision of the future destiny of Rome and his descendents. In the Gita, Arjuna grieves because the coming battle will pit friends and relatives against one another, but Krishna teaches him that it does not matter, because every soul is eternal. Duty must be done, but with a pure, detached attitude. Compare/contrast these two very different notions of destiny and why a hero must act as he does. Support your comments with examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Read the Book of Job (71-82) online --use link to Hebrew Bible) and compare/contrast Job's vision of the unknowable God with Arjuna's vision of Krishna's totality. Do you see interesting similarities? Differences? And, so what? Use specific examples from both texts to support your ideas. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· If you are interested in reading the entire Gita (there is only an excerpt in the textbook), it is on the www at The Bhagavad-Gita. Explore the character of Arjuna and compare/contrast him in some depth to the character of Aeneas. Support your ideas with examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Consider all that Aeneas has to give up, including his wife, Creusa and his lover, Dido. Can you see similarities between the many losses that Aeneas suffers on the way to founding Rome and the Gita's doctrine of discipline? Can you see interesting differences? So what? Support your ideas with examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· The ending of the Aeneid is very bitter--Aeneas kills Turnus, his violent enemy and the poem ends abruptly. Clearly there is no hopeful future for Aeneas, although Rome is promised to his descendents. Some people have commented that Roman paganism offered no "solutions," to the problems of loss and death, which paved the way for the solutions offered by Christianity. Do you see any "solutions" for these problems in the Gita? If so, what, exactly, are they? Develop and support your ideas with examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Read the Sermon on the Mount and compare/contrast its message with that of the Gita. Each offers a "solution" to the loss and pain of human experience, but in very different ways. Develop and support your ideas with examples from both texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Aeneas (Aeneid), Rama (Ramayana), and Arjuna (Gita) all learn what their heroic duty is, and all finally accept it. However, the "duty" each learns is different in interesting ways. Compare/contrast the different kinds of duty two of these heroes learn, and support your ideas with examples from the texts. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Arjuna (Gita) and Isaiah (Hebrew Bible): Encounters with God. Read Isaiah 6 and compare/contrast his vision of the unknowable God with Arjuna's vision of Krishna's totality. Do you see interesting similarities? Differences? And, so what? Use specific examples from both texts to support your ideas. (Thanks to Sandra Del Cid for this question.) If you want to expand this question to include other examples from the Hebrew Bible, you can. (Be sure to post the Activity question at the top of your essay.)
· Week 7 Discussion Question
· This week you were asked to read the selections from the Aeneid: Book VI (http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.6.vi.html ) and the selections from the Bhagavad-Gita ( http://learner.org/courses/worldlit/gita/read/ (Links to an external site.) ) or the Ramayana : CANTO CXXX.: THE CONSECRATION ( http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/ry501.htm (Links to an external site.) ). Had you ever read any of those selections before this class? What stands out the most to you about this week's readings? What message(s) do these selections hold for a reader today?
Module 2: Reading Quiz 2
After reading The Odyssey and the Greek play you chose, compare and contrast the two works.
Use the following guidelines to help you compose your answer:
- What are at least three similarities between the two readings?
- What are at least three differences between the two readings?
- These two stories come from the same culture and close in time period. How do you think the two works are shaped by the time they are written in? Why do they still speak to us today in 2021?
- Good answers will be at least 200 words (feel free to write more!)
Plagiarism Reminder
Answers should be in your own words. Do not copy answers from online sources. I am interested in what you think. If you use words from the texts, use quotations marks (Example: "Noah was a righteous man.")
Task 6. Activities for Greek Drama.
TASK 6. Read through all the Greek Drama Activities listed below under the title, Task 6. Then, select one of these questions to answer for Activity 4 and upload it here.
WORLD LITERATURE I
Task Six: Activities for Greek Drama
Please read through all of these Activities before making your selection. Make a copy of the Activity question to begin your response. Upload your Activity here. These Activity entries must be thoughtful; each one should be the equivalent of at least a full typed page or more in length (e.g. not less than 250 words). They may be longer if you need to say more on your topic. You will not be able to do these Activity entries properly unless you have carefully read the assigned literature.
· The House of Atreus is one of the world's most famous dysfunctional families. Look up each of the family members, write a brief biography of each, and then explain what the family's main problems were. Support your ideas with specific examples from your reading. Bulfinch's Mythology is a good place to start.
· Consider the scene where Clytemnestra persuades Agamemnon to walk into the palace on valuable tapestries. She is treacherous; he is arrogant. He has sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia; she has taken his cousin as her lover. So who is to blame for what happens next? Do you think her killing of Agamemnon is righteous vengeance or criminal murder? Support your position with specific examples from the play.
· What could be more dangerous than going off to war while a treacherous, adulterous woman stays at home? This is the threat of Clytemnestra. No matter how successful Agamemnon might be, he could not defend himself against his wife. She is one of the most feared and loathed women in Greek literature. List some of her interesting behavior patterns and explain why they make her seem so dangerous to Agamemnon and other Greek men of the time. You might want to look for background information using Diotima, which links to materials for the study of women and gender in the ancient world
· Discuss Agamemnon's character as a king and as a husband in the play Agamemnon. Do you think he deserved to die? Why or why not? Support your comments with specific examples from the play.
· Lysistrata is about women seizing power and withholding sex in order to stop a war. However, it was written by a man during a period of history when Athenian women couldn't even go to the marketplace on their own. Do you think a woman would have written this play differently? Why? How? Be specific in your answer and use examples from the play to support your ideas.
· Medea is betrayed by her mortal husband Jason. She responds by killing his father in law and new wife AND by murdering her own children who were fathered by Jason. Why do you think Medea kills her children? Use specific examples from the play to support your points.
· Medea is a woman, a foreigner, a witch, a scary, powerful creature. Do you think Euripides was sympathetic to her strangeness, or did he use it to show what a horrid being she was? Discuss and support your comments with examples from the play.
· Oedipus the King. The fate of the infant Oedipus was predicted at birth. No matter what he did in life, he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Contrast this to the conditional futures that Tiresias predicts for Odysseus when he visits Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey. If Odysseus does one thing, "A" will happen, and if he does something else, then "B" will happen. Compare the fixed fate of Oedipus with the fluid fate of Odysseus. Use examples from both texts to support your points.
· Oedipus the King. Discuss the relationship of Oedipus and Jocasta in Oedipus the King. Are there any indications that she is much older than Oedipus? That she might be his mother? Should Oedipus have been concerned about who she was when he married her? Do you suspect Oedipus of practicing DENIAL? Support your comments with specific examples from the play.
· Oedipus the King and Antigone. Both Oedipus in Oedipus the King, and Creon in Antigone rule Thebes with arrogance and bad temper. Yet as rulers, they exhibit some very important differences. How are Oedipus and Creon different? Which king is the better leader? Why? Support your answer with examples from the plays.
· There are a number of excellent films of Greek Dramas, including Agamemnon, Oedipus and Medea. If you can locate one of these films, watch it and write a critical review, describing how the film interprets the drama and comparing it to the text of the play (which you, of course, have read).
· Woody Allen's film, Mighty Aphrodite, uses a Greek chorus which gradually moves from Greece to Manhattan over the course of the film. Compare his use of the Greek chorus to its use in a Greek drama that you have read. Be sure to support your ideas using specific details from both the Woody Allen film and the Greek drama.
· Both Oedipus and Job from the Hebrew Bible struggle with the question of the inscrutable nature of God's will. Although the answers are quite different, each is disturbing, because there does not seem to be much room for human understanding, action, and freedom in relation to God and/or fate. Compare/contrast these two ancient heroes who struggle with divine power and support your ideas with specific examples from both texts.
· Consider two stories where a father is asked by a god to sacrifice his child: Abraham in the Hebrew Bible and Agamemnon in Iphigenia at Aulis (by Euripides). Discuss what the two stories have in common and important ways in which they are different, using specific details from both texts.
· Make up an interesting question of your own about a Greek Drama and answer it using relevant examples from the text(s).
