- Review the different sets of poems assigned for the Group Chat & Group Performance.
- Take two (2) similar poems from different cultures (ex: 1 from China and 1 from Greece).
- Identify the point/s of similarity (ex: explores similar theme or uses similar imagery).
- In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different? Use textual evidence.
- What generalization (insight!) can you draw from your comparative analysis?
Deadline is Saturday, May 16, 5:00 PM.
I took the poem "On His Shield" and "The River - Merchants Wife". Both poems are similar because they are somewhat sad stories wherein the persona in both poems lost something valuable to them and is affecting them too much. The shield and the husband. Both poems explores the same symbolism of a thing or a person which they hold valuable to. They are different when both the persona were afriad for a certain point in their lives where they lost their valuable person/thing but the persona in the poem "On His Shield" was boastful about it and try to hid it. The shield was very much important to the persona because it is like their life on the line without their shield. His mother even says "don't come back without your shield". While the persona in the poem "River-Merchant's Wife", the feeling of fear, sadness ang regret of the wife was very visible and much allusions were there to show it. Such as the wife would rather drown than break her word, and metaphors and symbolisms like the yellow paired butterflies that hurt her feelings because yellow pertains to aging and paired was to being alone of the wife. It can be concluded that every culture has it's own strenght and weaknesses and not all are very comfortable showing their true emotions.
ReplyDeleteMichael Reyes Lit 14 - S
The Classical Greek poem, On His Shield, and the Chinese poem, "We Fought South of the Ramparts...", are comparable in a way that they both talk of the wars their civilizations have faced against the barbarians, the Thracians and Hans, respectively. Both of the speakers in the poem are warriors who relate their experiences of war. They both depict their emotions about the war though the Greek poem seems boastful in its expression. It is very interesting to note how proud the speaker in the Greek poem was even if he is in a war where lives are waged. On the other hand, the Chinese poem fosters a sad mood because of the tragic fate that all warriors would be facing. Furthermore, the Greek poem is very brief while the Chinese poem is narrative. "We Fought South of the Ramparts..." is like a marching song talking of the trail the Chinese warriors took in their journey to fight the Huns. Also, both depict the image that being part of the war means accepting anything that could happen but still fighting with all their might. The two poems then are not the kind of "musical" poems where lyric poetry took its origin. They show how lyric poetry evolved through time and manifest how it can deviate from the musical aspect of lyric poetry. Though the two poems are both lyric in form, they show differences in style---a characteristic of lyric poetry.
ReplyDeleteUnjee Kim
Lit 14 - S
Despite the difference of not only their culture but also their generation, both Sappho’s “Seizure” (Greek Lyric Poem) and Ono No Yoshiki’s Tanka (Japanese Poem) tackle issues pertaining to love. Their theme deals with the complexities that love can cause and how the persona acts upon these circumstances. Although, in Seizure, the persona deals with jealousy that resulted from a love triangle or it might even be unrequited love, while in Ono No Yoshikis’ Tanka, the persona deals with the feeling of being shy to express himself towards the one he loves. In terms of techniques used, both poems exhibit the strong use of imagery to evoke the persona’s feelings. For “Seizure”, imagery was used through the description of the physical condition of the persona, which is evident in the lines like “my tongue is stricken, a subtle flame runs like a thief beneath my skin;” and “my eyes are blank, my ears a buried thunder,” As for the use of imagery in the tanka, nature was its main focus. Both poems uses “grass” as a metaphor for their love that signifies something unnoticeable, which is one of the main emotions used in both poems. Although these poems deal with love, there is a difference in the type of love, one is unrequited love and the other is shyness towards the one he loves. There is also a big difference in the number of stanzas; obviously, “Seizure”, which made use of a lot of descriptions about the persona’s state, has more stanzas than the tanka, yet, Yoshiki was able to express his emotions despite the short poem. Through this comparative analysis, one can see the similarities of the way how humans think despite differences in culture and time. Most human experiences, like the ones depicted in these poems, are unending and the same even if there is a difference in the generations and there are barriers between each land and culture. Somehow, something binds us all together, no matter what period of time and space we reside in.
ReplyDeleteMaria Louise Avenido
Lit 14 - S
The Chinese poem “A River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” and the Poem Written by Prince Otsu for Lady Ishikawa, though they came from different countries, have a same theme-which is about waiting patiently for the love of your life to be with you. However, in the river-Merchant’s wife, the persona is the woman, while in the Japanese poem; it is the guy who is waiting. In terms of the writing style, they both made use of nature to show how long they have waited for their loved ones. Like in the Chinese poem the line “The paired butterflies are already yellow with August” which lets the readers know that the persona has waited long enough. In the Japanese poem the first line there meant that the persona has been waiting for a long time. The tone of both poems is loneliness, because they both wanted so badly to be with the love of their life. The Chinese poem made use of symbolism- the yellow butterflies meant that they were already aging.
ReplyDeleteAubrey Mae Ang
Lit 14-S
I chose the Latin poem “Odi et Amo” and the Japanese tanka made by “Kino Tsurayuki. First of all, both of them talk about love. Also, with the love comes pain. In “Odi et Amo”, the lines “I hate her but love her too” and “I don’t know, but that’s what I feel-and how it hurts!” shows that the persona is not too happy about being in love because of the pain that comes with it. It also shows that the persona wants to think that he hates the other person (maybe because of problems they might be having or the girl not being able to love him back) but he can’t because he still loves her. In the tanka by Tsurayuki, the persona also loves a girl his love to this girl is sort of strong because he was willing to go through a lot, “When I went to visit the girl I love so much, that winter night the river blew so cold”. The persona here also feels pain because the lines “that the plovers were crying” can mean that he is the one crying maybe because he was rejected by the girl or in other words, the girl does not have feelings for him. Aside from having the same central idea, both poems are short, “Odi et Amo” havinf two lines and the tanka having four. Both poems also use the first person point of view. Though they have similarities, they also have differences and one is the use of images. In the tanka, images like winter night, plovers were crying, were used throughout the poem while in “Odi et Amo” none was used. In comparing these two poems, we can see that writers have different ways on how to tell their readers what message they want to tell, they have different styles. Also, in poems like these, it is up to the reader how to interpret the poem, how he understands it, because for sure, these poems do not have only one interpretation.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Bucad
Lit14-S
The poem “Rectius Vives” (Classic Latin Poetry) and “Gulistan: The Soothsayer” (Persian Poetry) bear themes about how one should live life and appreciate it. Both of these poems also share a similar persona in them. A “guide” or a “teacher” seems to be the speakers of the poem, and the tone they project is close to giving instruction. “Rectius Vives” deals more about how to live wisely – as the title suggests. Notice in the poem the use of “extremities of high and low feelings”. The speaker suggests that one should be in the middle of these states so that one can live wisely – a better life. The following lines show this: “All who prize the Golden Mean steer clear of the filth of slums, and stay out of mansions that men envy.” and “Hopeful in bad times, fearful in good, the seasoned heart knows the changes of fortune. Jove brings back foul winter but restores spring.”“Gulistan: The Soothsayer” on the other hand, deals more about understanding life in an “inductive” way – seeing and learning things first from the basic to the complex. The entire poem revolves with this idea wherein the use of “sky and stars” and “knave that kissed his wife” acts as representations of basic and complex things. “Before one can understand bigger things, one must first go through and understand the smaller things.”Other than their narrowed down topics regarding life, the structure of the two poems are pretty different. Obviously, the number of lines on each poem is very different: one has a lot the other has merely two lines. I guess these forms are used in the poem to emphasize the lesson behind them: “Rectius Vives” uses many examples while “Gulistan: The Soothsayer” uses symbols. Now, looking at these poems at this perspective, I can say that the message and the lessons within them are not really “different” despite the era they were written.This just shows how some, if not most, literary topics and certain “life issues” encompass time.
ReplyDelete-Juan Alberto Ong, (Lit14-S)-
Indeed, poetry can be constructed in different forms, written in different languages, reflect different cultures and originate from different parts of the world. Despite having these disparities, poems can still talk about similar things, express the same emotions and effects to its readers. For instance, “Break up” by Caius Valerius Catullus, a Classical Latin poem, and “On His Shield“ by Archilochus, a Classical Greek lyric poem, are similar to each other despite their difference in origin since both personas seem to show in the poems how they confront and suppress something inside them that were caused by certain events that they were faced with. They differ in their situations since “Break up” talks about a man, Catullus, who has just ended a relationship with someone who he referred to as Lesbia. One can see that he is trying consoling himself with words such as “So long girl! Catullus won’t miss you, What’s left for you? Who will date you? Who’ll say “no more lovely”? Who’ll give it to you now? Who will you kiss? Bite whose lips? Lock up your heart. You can take it.” in order to somehow conceal his depression and misery from his failed love. In a way, he can also cover up his fear of not having to meet or look for someone who can love him again. On the other hand, “On His Shield” talks about a man who dropped and lost his shield in a war against the Thracians. In this poem, we can note how his tone can tell that he seems to cover up his fear of losing and dying in the war through his words, “So what if some barbaric Thracia struts with my shield that I had to drop behind the bush, it was a first-target too, but I saved my skin, Let it go, I’ll soon buy another just as good.” Through these poems, we can see how culture differences can be capable of not being an obstruction to having similarities in the way we think and deal. Most especially, these poems proved that no matter who we are or what race we may be, we are still all humans—we go through the same things in life, for instance, hardships that come along our way and come up with ways on how to deal with them.
ReplyDelete(Samantha Valencia LIT14-S)
Even if countries have totally different cultures, ideas, religion and are very far from each other, we can still see the similarities on how they write and what they talk about – showing us not just the similarities on the themes and topics they use but also how people think and experience life in general. We can see these similarities in the poems “The River-Merchant’s Wife: A Letter” from China and Ono No Yoshiki’s Tanka from Japan. Each story talks about love, and how they longed to show their love to someone but are just shy. It shows how they are not able to show their love, like in the Chinese poem, it says there: “When at fourteen I became your bride I was bashful and could only hide my face and frown against a dark wall: a thousand calls, not once did I turn” and in the Japanese tanka: My love is like the hidden grass hidden in the deep mountain: though its abundance increases, there is none that knows.” These two examples show how the two personas are shy and cannot face their loved one. But in the Chinese poem, it is much different since the girl at that time didn’t love his husband because it was just an arranged marriage, while in the Japanese poem, it was evident that the persona is talking about his love for another. The wife loved his husband later on but was not able to show her affections to him since the husband had to leave. From here, the tone too differs from the two poems, the Chinese poem is somewhat longing and in a way regretful because she did not seize the opportunity to show her love for him, while the Japanese tanka’s tone is just basful or “torpe”. Both poems used nature to sho how they feel and how they compare love with nature. Li Po’s use of butterflies, monkeys, autumn and Ono No Yoshiki’s use of mountains and grass convey an earthly image. These similarities show us how the Chinese and the Japanese give importance to nature, by comparing it to their love. It made me realize that even if cultures differ from each other, people are just really the same when it comes to life. We experience the same things, like pining for someone’s love, being dumped, waiting for our love and so much more. Even with different beliefs, tongues, religion and culture, in the end, we are all just the same.
ReplyDelete- Frances Anne T. Daleon (Lit14 - S)
I find it interesting to compare the poems “Seizure” from the Classical Greek poetry and “Ono No Yoshiki” from the Japanese poetry not only because both talk about the same appealing subject which is love but also because it explains the ancient cultures’ take on unrequited love. It is evident that both personas hide their feelings only that in “Seizure”, it seems unintentional as the persona’s “tongue is stricken”, his “eyes are blank” and “ears a buried thunder”. It seems that the persona does not have any strength to tell the man how much she loves him because of the ill-effects this unrequited love brings, leaving her with no other option but to hide it. On the other hand, in ‘Ono No Yoshiki”, it seems intentional as the persona deliberately compares his love to “grasses hidden in the deep mountain”. The poem suggests nothing of a struggle which can be the cause why the persona cannot tell his feelings. It is just that probably he is a coward or a ‘torpe’ as we call it.
ReplyDeleteIt is also interesting to note how both poems use ‘grass’ as an image to describe love. Grass, as we all know, is something that is barely noticed and is barely given much importance. This gives me an idea that both cultures have this notion of love being useless or unimportant most especially when they found out that the person they love does not love them back. They, in turn, stop and hide their feelings instead of pushing it through, and fighting for it just as how most people today fight for love. People in ancient times really have a very different take on unrequited love as compared to people in the modern times.
- Marjorie Gene A. Gadiano (Lit14-S)
Even though people live in different parts of the world and their cultures vary from one another, emotions, feelings, and ideas are part of the human experience so even if writers express them in different ways, they surely share the same thought in a way or another. I chose to compare the Classical Latin poem “To Cerinthus” and the Japanese tanka of Price Otsu because both poems showed the actions taken by people for the sake of the one they loved. Also, both poems seem to say that the difference of social status does affect people’s relationships. In “To Cerinthus,” the persona didn’t care to what other people think about her relationship with the man that she loves. She let the people talk all they want and ignored the fact that the people are doing it deliberately just because she and the man came from different social classes. This point can be seen in the lines, “Let gossips chatter of my joy…” and “For a little infamy is spice to pleasure…” Similarly, the poem by Prince Otsu showed his sacrifice for the girl that he so truly loved. The poem implied that he waited all night long or possibly a whole day for the girl in the hill because of the lines, “I stood dampened” and “By the dew on the hill.” In this poem, we can see how society dictates just because of the title of “Prince.” Surely, this means that the man is not free to love just anyone because he is the next person to sit on the throne. Now, the difference lies on the tone of the poems for “To Cerinthus” shows confidence, while the other poem shows sadness. The setting is also totally different because in the first poem, the persona and her lover was clearly surrounded by people in a city where certain rules abound, while in the Japanese poem, the man was placed on one of nature’s beautiful sights, a hill. We can already see the difference of cultures there for the Latin setting is very society oriented, while in Japan, people seem to think that the human experience can be clearly depicted by nature.
ReplyDeleteCheth Neciemie G. Mundin (Lit14 S)
The two poems that have both intriguing similarities for me are “For the Spartan dead at Thermopylae” of Greek Poetry and “Odi et Amo” of Latin Poetry. Both are very short poems but both have deep and wide meanings that can be remembered very well. The Greek poem talks about the Spartans who defended Greece from the Persians at Thermopylae. This short poem honors their memory and tells us how these brave Spartans sacrificed themselves defend the country from the injustice and tyranny of the Persians. In these two lines, little has been said but vast knowledge has been given. The Latin poem on the other hand talks about love and hate as a mixture of emotions in one’s head and heart. These two contrasting emotions are felt by the persona which may imply a lot of interpretations as to what the persona is going through. In these two lines, we may assume that the persona loves someone who has hurt her, or a child loving a parent that is unruly and a lot more, all in two lines.
ReplyDeleteThe two poems talk of very different topics, the Greek poem “For the Spartan dead at Thermopylae” talks about history; the 300 Spartans, the Latin poem “Odi et Amo” talks about emotions; love and hate, which is their main difference. But their best similarity which intrigued me the most is how the both have messages with great depth stuck in just two lines, two lines that can be easily remembered but a lot to learn from.
I guess the best insight that I have gained from this comparative analysis is that even a few set of sentences can really matter, and one’s intellectuality isn’t always about how long you can write or speak rather it is how deep your understanding and how you portray one’s message is the thing that matters most.
Carlos Andrei B. Dela Cruz
2-BS MIS 081175
(Lit 14 - S)
The Classical Latin Poem “Odi et Amo and the Japanese Tanka by Prince Otsu, are similar because they both talk about love and how the personas persevere to the point that it hurts them already emotionally. In the Latin poem, the author is pretty direct in saying that he loves the girl but at the same time, he hates her too. The author gave emphasis on the oxymoron “love and hate” wherein he used that central theme to give the poem a sense of confusion in the part of the persona. The Japanese Tanka by Prince Otsu also talked about love and hate at the same time. The persona hates the girl for letting him wait a long time standing in the rain, but at the same time he also loves the girl and chose to wait and stand on the hill despite the harsh conditions. The only difference in these two poems is that the Japanese Tanka used nature as imagery to represent what hardships the persona is going through. On the other hand, the poem Odi et Amo used words to show the confusion he is baring inside. The Japanese Tanka is a form of Mixed representation while the Odi et Amo is in a Dramatic form of representation. Looking at these poems, I can say that despite the distance and the differences in culture we humans all think and feel the same thing when it comes to love. We would do anything and die for the ones we love even if he/she doesn’t actually love us back. “Odi et Amo” was written about 50 B.C. and Prince Otsu wrote his tanka about 680 AD, and as absurd as it may seem, these two poems can even be related to the 2007 hit song “Hate That I Love You” by Rihanna and Neyo. :D
ReplyDeleteAlbert Gavin Mendoza
2-BS Psy 082512
(lit 14 S)
Sappho’s poem ‘Seizure’ (in Greece) and Ono no Yoshiki’s poem (in Japan) has similarity that both poem is about one side love that maybe the loved one doesn’t know about the love of the writer. The grasses that he describe his love in Simile shows that increasing of his love and already it’s plentiful but no one knows since it’s hidden in the deep mountain( his heart ) so he is hiding his love. Maybe he is too shy? Or he loves the one whom he can’t love (kind of he loves his teacher’s daughter that in higher social level since there were classes in that times). It is also like in Seizure that she loves a girl. Love the same gender is still not acceptable in many societies in the world and even in ancient Greece, others might not understand easily therefore maybe she is hiding her mind and also is anxious for the love behind loved one and her lover, the man. If Seizure narrated how she feels the way in her love in many ways using different kind of sensations such as touch, sight and hearing, the Yoshiki’s poem is very simple. One simile is all using for the poem. Very moderative but impact enough that we can feel that he loves ‘her’ a lot and even the love is getting bigger or wider, deeper. It can be because Sappho is female and Yoshiki is male and in Greece, Europe is more like descriptive than North Asian such as Korea, Japan and China. Those countries have (or like) sense of blank or margins that not like showy especially when they want to show one’s mind. Shortly, Sappho’s poem is vividly and narrative While Yoshiki’s poem is moderative and simple. However both poems are lovely enough to understand the love which is from only one side.
ReplyDeleteJiHyun Han (Lit14-S)
The classical Greek poem "On His Shield" and Chinese poem "We Fought South of the Ramparts..." are similar for they both talk about wars in their respective culture. Although similar in theme, these two poems share very different views about wars. In "On His Shield", the persona, presumably a warrior during that time, speaks of how he doesn't value his shield, which is very opposite to most warriors of their culture. His tone implies that he couldn't care less if he looses his shield as long as he "saves his skin" which is so ironic because during that time warriors would literally die for their shields. It only suggests that even if the persona is a warrior for his country, he really cares of nothing but himself. He shows indifference to the actual battle and concern only for his welfare. While in the poem "We Fought South of the Ramparts...", the persona, an army of Chinese warriors, speaks of how their lives are about battling and fighting without end. It says, "soldiers fall", "horses stumble" which shows that, unlike in the first poem, death is an inevitable part of their lives, and is possibly the least of their concerns. What they actually think of is the purpose of the war. They say that there is no benefit that could be acquired in killing. Thus the tone shows concern for the welfare everyone, and not only for themselves, which is very different from the first poem.
ReplyDeleteMIO CASANO lit14S
The poems “On His Shield” from Greek poetry and “Rectius Vives” from latin poetry are basically talking about the same thing. Both of these poems are talking about surviving and living. The poem “on his shield” is about a soldier (Spartan) choosing to let go of his shield at the hands of a barbarian despite it being a very important thing for him. He chose to let it go because he thought that it was the wisest chose he could make in order to survive. He did not want to be overly confident with his talent as a Spartan and fight a barbarian (which sounds tough) and have a chance to die in the process. From this perspective, we could now clearly see how the second poem is similar with the previous one because the poem “Rectius Vives” talking all about how to live life wisely, avoiding the extremes and always be cautious. The lines “To live wisely, Licinius, do not always thrust into deep water” and “it was a first-rate targe too, but I saved my skin.” from both poems are saying something quite similar about not going into something that would endanger themselves. However, though both poems have similarities, they also have their differences. These poems differ on how their personas deliver their lines. The poem “on his shield” ’s persona is a man who is trying to comfort himself bout living his shield behind in order to survive. While on the other hand the 2nd poem’s persona is a wise man trying to teach a person about the secrets of living wisely. From this I have learned about how two different cultures could have connections despite their differences through poetry. – Ray V. Bolintiam Lit14-S
ReplyDeleteThe poem "Paralysis" in the Clasical Greek Poetry tells us about a young lady who had been
ReplyDeletebewildered by a Cyprian (Cyprian is Aphrodite which is goddess of love), which means, she fell in love
with someone (the slender youth). The young lady tells her mother she is incapable of doing what her mother
wants because she can't focus her mind to it and she is somewhat distracted to what she feels.
Just like what the title incorporates, the young lady is experiencing a strong emotion that is enough to paralyze her.
The emotion is confusing her on what to choose between her duties or her love for the slender youth.
On the other hand, the poem "Odi et Amo" seen in Classical Latin Poetry, the persona experiences confusion on
how he really feels towards the person he loves. This confusion may have been resulted from an unwanted
past experience he had with the one he loves, or it is a relationship between two people but are not yet commited
and the guy is waiting for the lady to answer him. This may also an effect from a parent-child relationship
when the parent may have been doing bad things that hurt the child but because they are blood-related,
the child has no choice but to love the parent still.
The similiraty of the two poems is obviously shown in their theme which is about love. They both share
the effect of love to them. Besides on having a similiraty, the poems have differences on what the persona
feels for love. For the Odi et Amo poem, the persona is having a painful feeling of love. But to the Paralysis
poem, it's a totally different which is the feeling of confusion to the giving value to the love she has.
Both the poems focus on love that they show us how love has affected lives of the persona and
how strong love could be.
-Edgar Joseph R. Carrasco Lit14-S
Odi et Amo by Catullus and the Tanka by Ono No Yoshiki talks about their love unknown by their loved ones. There theme is similar that they long to be known for their love and to be loved. Their similarity is that they both do not contain any flow of stories, and shows one's perspective or feeling towards love or their loved ones. Difference is that the Tanka used quite deep expressions of metaphor, such as, explaining love as grasses hidden in a deep mountain. But, Odi et Amo did not use any metaphor or simile. It just straightly told how Catullus feels about love that he is experiencing. I realized that in world everywhere, the love communicates to human all in the same way and love speaks the same language to everyone. Some deserves to be in pain because of love, or some can be happy also because of love. It's neither punishment nor a gift.
ReplyDeleteHa-eun Baik
Lit 14-S
Love is indeed a universal idea and sensation that is neither limited within the boundaries of a certain country nor locked in a particular culture. It is not surprising how it has earned a spacious room in the literature of the East and the West. To illustrate, Catullus’ “Breakup” (Classical Latin Poetry) and Tu Fu’s “The Ballad of the Army Waggons” (Chinese Poetry) both tackle the same topic – losing someone you love.
ReplyDeleteBoth poems involve a conflict that has perpetuated the separation of their characters in love – Catullus’ internal conflict in “Breakup” and war in “The Ballad of the Army Waggons”. Catullus finally decided to leave the girl that he used to chase while the parents and wives had no choice but recognize the mandatory service of their children and husbands in the army.
However, the two poems differ in the context of love as “Breakup” involves romantic love while “The Ballad of the Army Waggons” deals with family love. The poems also vary in tone. The former (“Breakup”) has a self-pampering/self-comforting attitude as in the lines “So long, girl! Catullus won’t miss you...What’s left for you? Who will date you?” whereas the latter (“The Ballad of the Army Waggons”) has a mournful/pitiable nature as in the lines “While our sons are cut down and lie unburied in the Steppes...Go, look along the shore of the Black Lake...At all the bleaching bones there, forsaken.”
In addition, the poems differ in form with “Breakup” having a single stanza of 21 lines and “The Ballad of the Army Waggons” having 6 quatrains.
Also, other ideas can be drawn out of the two poems. There’s gender inequality in “Breakup” as Catullus asserts that it is the girl’s loss and not his as in the line “But nights you’ll whine, girl: Who will you kiss? Bite whose lips?” Meanwhile, politics was touched in “The Ballad of the Army Waggons” as Emperor Wu-ti’s reckless lust for more land was pointed as the reason for the war.
The comparison of the two poems left me reflecting on the contexts of love and I realized that there is always this risk of failure in romantic love. A partner may forget or lose his/her love for us but not our parents. To them, we are more than the worth of the precious stone on Earth.
Jan Christopher B. Gonzales, Lit14-S
The poem of Otomo Tabito and the poem of Sa'di (The Soothsayer) are similar. Both poems are ironic because of its theme which is about a person who believes that he is wise but in fact what he claims himself to be is actually his opposite. In the tanka, the persona describes a man who believes himself to be wise and doesn't drink but that man behaves like an ape ("The man who thinks he's wise ... How like an ape he is!"). While in the poem, "The Soothsayer", the persona talks about a man who can see the future but can't tell who his wife has an affair with ("What could he know of sky, ... the knave that kissed his wife?").
ReplyDeleteAlthough both have same themes, the images used in these poems are different. In the tanka, the author used the sense of sight so that the readers could imagine that the persona is talking to the readers ("Give him a good look")about another person in the same room or somewhere near him ("O what an ugly sight"). While in the other poem, the persona may or may not be talking about a person near him because there were no senses used insted the author just placed a question. Also, there is a difference in the problem of the person being talked about. In the "The Soothsayer", the problem of the person being talked about is his ignorance to his wife's lover while in Otomo's tanka, the person himself is the problem, behaving like an ape.
From these poems, from Otomo and Sa'di, we can relate the ideas shown in the story in the coming elections. This is because like what were shown in the poems, there might be some running candidates who claim themselves to be clean and uncorrupt but these candidates may be just covering themselves so that they would get more votes and win the elections.
Paul Lao Lit14-S
I chose the poems “Rectius Vives” (Classical Latin Poetry) and “Masvi-yima’navi” (Persian Poetry). Both are similar simply because they teach wisdom to those who read it. The poem “Rectius Vives” teaches us how to live wisely. It tells us to do everything in moderation in order to be successful. It is seen in the lines “do not always thrust into deep water” and “hopeful in bad times, fearful in good.” On the other hand, “Masvi-yima’navi” is about a group of people finding out who the creature is. It simply teaches us a truth in life – if there’s light, or knowledge, we can all agree on the same thing. The main lesson can be read in “If in each one’s hand there had been a candle, the difference would have gone out of their words.” Meanwhile, the two poems are dissimilar on how the lessons are taught. In “Rectius Vives”, it is more like a direct teaching because the persona tells exactly what to do and what not to do. In “Masvi-yima’navi”, the lesson has a story and it is up to us to discover it. I can conclude that since both poems were written in early history, most of their poems are about wisdom in life. May it be Latin or Persian; they all aspire for the same thing, which is to find wisdom and learning.
ReplyDeleteJustin Nico L. Ravago
Lit14 S
The poems break up and Ono No Yoshiki's tanka both take on the theme of love. Both poems show a similar situation which is the pain in love. The poems give us an idea of how hard it is to find true love, however they show in different ways. Tanka shows how hard it is to be noticed by and to find the girl you like. Break Up ,on the other hand, shows how hard it is to lose the girl and how hard it is to continue the search. Despite the difference on the message there are many similarities in the way it was delivered. Both poems use the mindset of the persona and how their conscience directs their thoughts. From reading the two poems I can imagine how hard love can be. To find love takes so much from a person. Even when a person finds love it doesn't mean it will be their forever. to lose love or to find out that love was not their after all is even more harder to take.
ReplyDeleteMarc An
Lit. 14 S
I find the religious poems of Egypt from "The instruction addressed to King Merikare” and the poems of India entitled “Hymn of Creation” from Rig Veda, interesting because they have a very different points of view on the creation of life.
ReplyDeleteThe Egyptian poem says that God created to man and saved them from the “water monster,” man is also from images from God himself and came from his body. The Indian poem on the other hand says that creation was unknown, and that we do not have any idea as to how creation occurred, it says that only the one supreme being knows, or not.
The main difference of the two poems are; the Egyptian poem shows confidence that there is one supreme being that created life and existence, the Indian poems on the other hand show hesitance in proclaiming that there is one entity that created existence and life.
The two poems for me agree on one thing, that there is a being more powerful than we are, that humans are not the smartest living and we are only a product of either God’s hands and will, based on the Egyptian poem, or the Supreme Being’s seed of thought, based on the Indian poems
From this analysis I gained the knowledge that the way beliefs are written or interpreted may be different but the core of these beliefs will be the same in essence, especially when it comes to the subject of religion.
Denise L. Tiu/ Lit14-S