Dear Mythology Kids,
TODAY we focused on ANALYSIS! You have a strong understand of the pantheon, Hades, and the myths associated with the gods. At this point, my young friends, you can explain to an audience how the use of mythology assists a reader in understanding meaning!
What "truth" or theme is Rosetti attempting to convey regarding Pandora as a symbolic character in this poem "Pandora?"
EXAMPLE THAT WE WROTE TOGETHER!
"Pandora"
Dante Gabriel Rosetti
What of the end lady? Was it line the deed that
set the fiery pinions free? Wherefore upon
Jupiter's demand that Vulcan male thee so divine?
TODAY we focused on ANALYSIS! You have a strong understand of the pantheon, Hades, and the myths associated with the gods. At this point, my young friends, you can explain to an audience how the use of mythology assists a reader in understanding meaning!
For those of you on tour, THIS IS DUE UPON YOUR RETURN. The majority of you communicated with me prior to your departure, so you have schema on what we did in class. For those of you that did not, PLEASE START ADVOCATING FOR YOURSELVES! The analysis that you wrote did in class is due on Wednesday!
What "truth" or theme is Rosetti attempting to convey regarding Pandora as a symbolic character in this poem "Pandora?"
EXAMPLE THAT WE WROTE TOGETHER!
"Pandora"
Dante Gabriel Rosetti
What of the end lady? Was it line the deed that
set the fiery pinions free? Wherefore upon
Jupiter's demand that Vulcan male thee so divine?
“Pandora,” by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, offers the reader
insight regarding the mythological character of Pandora as a symbol. In
addition, Rosetti gives the audience valid concepts concerning the primary
theme surrounding the “Pandora” myth. In the text, Rosetti does not blame
Pandora for opening a box containing evils to torment and tempt mankind, but
rather he indicates that Pandora represents an instrument, a weapon, created by
the gods to punish mankind. The lines, “Was it thine the deed that set the
fiery pinions free? Wherefore upon Jupiter’s demand did Vulcan make thee so
divine?” helps the audience recognize that Pandora acts as a destructive pawn
of the gods. The text offers information about her creation, and that she is
formed to perform a “deed” that will release “pinions,” or evils upon the earth.
She represents the “fatal female” character in that she does not simply open a
jar containing ills, phobias, complexes, and desires to torment man, but she
exposes mankind to the disgraces of nature, which in turn gives them the opportunity
to grasp opposition. According to the text, Pandora does not release all of the
pain causing attributes; hope remains in the jar. The “Pandora” myth indicates,
“Only one spirit remained in the jar. Hope had become caught under the rim”
(Hamilton, 35). Rosetti returns to the myth by posing a question as the poem’s conclusion,
“If hope is pent therein alive or dead?”
By ending this way, he offers the reader a choice. Is it possible that hope was
able to escape the confines of the jar; therefore, giving mankind the
opportunity to feel positive and negative
effects of hope? Or did hope remain in the jar forever? If this is true,
then mankind would never have the opportunity for motivation when he feels distress.
The conclusion must come from the reader’s perception of hope. Either way,
Pandora acts as a symbolic representation of the female that causes strife to
man, but without her role, man cannot grasp happiness.
FOR YOUR HOMEWORK, which is due on WEDNESDAY, the 8th, please select from ONE of the TWO poems. Follow the prompt for the one you choose. You will need to use textual support from the poem! You will also need to use the "Prometheus" myth (you have a copy of it in your notebook), or the "Sisyphus" myth in your book (312).
FOR YOUR HOMEWORK, which is due on WEDNESDAY, the 8th, please select from ONE of the TWO poems. Follow the prompt for the one you choose. You will need to use textual support from the poem! You will also need to use the "Prometheus" myth (you have a copy of it in your notebook), or the "Sisyphus" myth in your book (312).
Based upon the prompts, analyze ONE of the following
poems.
Analyze Homer’s purpose concerning the use of symbolic
meaning and how that meaning offers the reader insight concerning theme
(“truth”) in relationship to the poem’s subject. Support your analysis with
text.
#1
The Odyssey,
Book XXI, Homer
And I saw the sinner at his endless task
raising his
prodigious stone with both his hands.
With hands and feet he' tried to roll it up to the
top of the hill, but always, just before he could roll
it over on to the other side, its weight would be too
much for him, and
the pitiless stone would come
thundering down again on to the plain” (Homer).
Analyze Byron's purpose in
using Prometheus to illustrate the theme of "sacrifice?" Support your
analysis with text.
#2
"Titan"
by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Titan! To whose immortal eyes
The suffering of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality.
Your silent suffering and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud could feel of pain.
Thy god-like crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less,
The sum of human wretchedness
And strengthen man with his own mind.
by George Gordon, Lord Byron
Titan! To whose immortal eyes
The suffering of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality.
Your silent suffering and intense;
The rock, the vulture, and the chain,
All that the proud could feel of pain.
Thy god-like crime was to be kind,
To render with thy precepts less,
The sum of human wretchedness
And strengthen man with his own mind.
