Dear Mythology Students,
YOU CAN MAKE IT! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT! END STRONG! COME TO CLASS EACH DAY READY TO WORK HARD, and LEARN SOMETHING THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW BEFORE! IF YOU NEED HELP, all you need to do is ASK!
1. Today we discussed the many literary allusions to Icarus! Each student received the following four poems. The first one entitled, "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph" by Anne Sexton, was discussed as a class, and then we wrote an analysis of the work together. This is what we created as a class (see example below). Students were then asked to select TWO of the other THREE options and write a literary analysis. This was due at the end of the period.
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph
Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well.
Larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling
into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.
LITERARY ANALYSIS that we developed as a class! YOU may use this as an EXAMPLE to follow for the remaining pieces of work!
Showed that anything more spectacular had occurred
Than the usual drowning. The police preferred to ignore
The confusing aspects of the case,
And the witnesses ran off to a gang war.
So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simply
“Drowned,” but it was wrong: Icarus
Had swum away, coming at last to the city
Where he rented a house and tended the garden.
“That nice Mr. Hicks” the neighbors called,
Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit
Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings
Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had once
Compelled the sun. And had he told them
They would have answered with a shocked,
uncomprehending stare.
No, he could not disturb their neat front yards;
Yet all his books insisted that this was a horrible mistake:
What was he doing aging in a suburb?
Can the genius of the hero fall
To the middling stature of the merely talented?
And nightly Icarus probes his wound
And daily in his workshop, curtains carefully drawn,
Constructs small wings and tries to fly
To the lighting fixture on the ceiling:
Fails every time and hates himself for trying.
He had thought himself a hero, had acted heroically,
And dreamt of his fall, the tragic fall of the hero;
But now rides commuter trains,
Serves on various committees,
And wishes he had drowned
Icarus by Wendy Shaeffer
Did Icarus,
falling,
watching white feathers flutter upward,
curse the wax as a fair-weather friend?
It seemed such a strong solid type,
but it melted away
when things got hot.
Did he rail at the sun,
which beckoned enticingly,
and then changed from a beacon to a furnace?
Did he blame Daedalus, his father?
Who warned him not to fly too high
in the same distracted tones with which
he admonished his son
to put on a sweater in the cold,
to eat his lima beans,
to not run with scissors.
How could he have known that this time the old man really meant it?
Or did he regret that the illustrious inventor,
when creating his flying apparatus,
did not take the obvious next step:
the emergency parachute?
He must have thought
all of this
and more.
It was
a long
long
fall.
But as he neared the ocean,
came close enough to wave to the startled fishermen in their boats,
he laughed,
and admitted
that even had he known
of the many failings of fathers and feathers,
he would have done it anyway.
HOMEWORK
1. Remember that your "Movie Essay" or "Literary Allusions" assignment is due on Wednesday. I have included an example introductory paragraph that you are welcome to use to assist you.
2. Make sure that you have your mosaic and all your supplies with you on WEDNESDAY!
EXAMPLE:
YOU CAN MAKE IT! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE WEEK LEFT! END STRONG! COME TO CLASS EACH DAY READY TO WORK HARD, and LEARN SOMETHING THAT YOU DID NOT KNOW BEFORE! IF YOU NEED HELP, all you need to do is ASK!
1. Today we discussed the many literary allusions to Icarus! Each student received the following four poems. The first one entitled, "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph" by Anne Sexton, was discussed as a class, and then we wrote an analysis of the work together. This is what we created as a class (see example below). Students were then asked to select TWO of the other THREE options and write a literary analysis. This was due at the end of the period.
To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph
Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well.
Larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling
into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.
LITERARY ANALYSIS that we developed as a class! YOU may use this as an EXAMPLE to follow for the remaining pieces of work!
Anne
Sexton’s poem, “To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph, references the mythological
flight of Icarus as an accomplishment. Her use of the myth guides the reader in
realizing that risks must occur in order to obtain goals. Sexton describes Icarus's flight as the “first flawless
moments over the lawn of the labyrinth.” She continues to say, “look at the
difference that it made.” Both lines indicate that Icarus’ flight was not a
mistake, but rather he achieved something memorable. In addition, the
allusion to Icarus flying too close to the sun offers the reader insight into
the value behind attempting a goal, even if it might seem too lofty; the value comes
in the attempt, even if it comes at a significant risk. Sexton’s states, “Admire
his wings! Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually he glances up and is
caught, wondrously tunneling into that hot eye. Who cares that he fells back
to the sea?” Although Icarus does perish in the myth, the fact that he chose to
do the impossible, even though he did fail, acts as a metaphor for life. One can
never reach a goal without genuine risk and effort, and if the goal is not
reached, more is actually accomplished purely from the attempt “to fly.”
FEVER
Icarus
did not die in the fall.
What his father, Daedalus, never saw was
this:
Icarus fell toward the Aegean Sea; fell through clouds,
through billows
and canopies and flotillas of clouds; and
fell away.
They were carried on
the stratospheric currents, miles away from the drop point at which Icarus had
vanished through the cloud foam. When
Daedalus banked and swooped and did his air-search, he found the pinions
floating in the Sea. But he did not find
his son, because Icarus had come down miles away.
In a wagon filled with sheep’s wool.
But even from that height, even falling
that distance, even though he had blacked out with fear and the air wrenched
from his throat…the impact was enormous.
And Icarus broke both legs. And
Icarus slipped an inter-vertebral disk.
And Icarus went into total systemic shock. And Icarus had his memory smashed out of
him.
When he awoke in the hospital, he could
not tell his name, could not relate the facts of his accident, could not offer
a clue as to where he had come from, who he was, what he did for a living. He was tabula
rasa.
He was taken in by a kindly family; and
they raised him as their own son. The
family was poor, but honest.
Traditionally, they were vineyard hands and Certified Public Accountants
during the months of October through April.
After many years, Icarus left home and
immigrated to Switzerland, where the need for vintners and notaries and young
men who never seemed to age was limitless.
He settled in Berne. Where he works to this day. Frugal, fair-haired, unmarried, and neat, he
shares his two-room flat with a small gray dog, and gets nine hours sleep every
night. And dreams of the sky.
Every morning he washes the fever sweat
from his body.
And sees unfamiliar faces in the clouds.
by Harlan Ellison
ICARUS by Edward Fields
Only the feathers floating around the hatShowed that anything more spectacular had occurred
Than the usual drowning. The police preferred to ignore
The confusing aspects of the case,
And the witnesses ran off to a gang war.
So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simply
“Drowned,” but it was wrong: Icarus
Had swum away, coming at last to the city
Where he rented a house and tended the garden.
“That nice Mr. Hicks” the neighbors called,
Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit
Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings
Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had once
Compelled the sun. And had he told them
They would have answered with a shocked,
uncomprehending stare.
No, he could not disturb their neat front yards;
Yet all his books insisted that this was a horrible mistake:
What was he doing aging in a suburb?
Can the genius of the hero fall
To the middling stature of the merely talented?
And nightly Icarus probes his wound
And daily in his workshop, curtains carefully drawn,
Constructs small wings and tries to fly
To the lighting fixture on the ceiling:
Fails every time and hates himself for trying.
He had thought himself a hero, had acted heroically,
And dreamt of his fall, the tragic fall of the hero;
But now rides commuter trains,
Serves on various committees,
And wishes he had drowned
Icarus by Wendy Shaeffer
Did Icarus,
falling,
watching white feathers flutter upward,
curse the wax as a fair-weather friend?
It seemed such a strong solid type,
but it melted away
when things got hot.
Did he rail at the sun,
which beckoned enticingly,
and then changed from a beacon to a furnace?
Did he blame Daedalus, his father?
Who warned him not to fly too high
in the same distracted tones with which
he admonished his son
to put on a sweater in the cold,
to eat his lima beans,
to not run with scissors.
How could he have known that this time the old man really meant it?
Or did he regret that the illustrious inventor,
when creating his flying apparatus,
did not take the obvious next step:
the emergency parachute?
He must have thought
all of this
and more.
It was
a long
long
fall.
But as he neared the ocean,
came close enough to wave to the startled fishermen in their boats,
he laughed,
and admitted
that even had he known
of the many failings of fathers and feathers,
he would have done it anyway.
HOMEWORK
1. Remember that your "Movie Essay" or "Literary Allusions" assignment is due on Wednesday. I have included an example introductory paragraph that you are welcome to use to assist you.
2. Make sure that you have your mosaic and all your supplies with you on WEDNESDAY!
EXAMPLE:
According to Joseph Campbell,
Mythologist, and author of The Hero’s Adventure, stories possess merit only if they contain a hero. Campbell states, “Even in popular novels, the
main character is a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the
normal range of achievement and experience.
Without a hero there is no story.” (The Hero’s Adventure) This
explains why so many forms of entertainment, from novels to films contain plots
that involve the heroic archetype. Characters such as,
_________________________ (name of character), in ______________________ (name
of film/make sure you underline the title) possess archetypal characteristics
that guide _______ (him/her) along a
difficult journey, which ultimately
assists __________________ (name of character) in gaining a heightened sense of
self or what Campbell calls “enlightenment.”
NOTE: So, for
each body paragraph, you would need to discuss how the particular archetypal
trait that you are discussing leads the hero to enlightenment!
