Classic of Poetry

One of the oldest books in Asia is Classic of Poetry. It was written 3,000  years ago. Classic of Poetry has 305 poems with three parts, the Airs of Domains, the Odes/ Elegances, and the hymns. Confucius, an early philosopher who still has an influence on people today, compiled Classic of Poetry.

        Folktales, fairy tales, theater plays, public readings, music, poetry, and more have taught people valuable ideas. They have taught people the difference between right and wrong, cultural customs, religion, history, and human nature. Classic of Poetry has 305 poems from China and they were a great influence on Chinese literature.

        Confucius knew the value of the best literature. He had Classic of Poetry arranged for people to use for educational purposes. Confucius had his own son read Classic of Poetry. He knew that Classic of Poetry would benefit his son to understand speaking. According to The Norton Anthology World Literature Volume One wrote that Confucius “… praised disciplines who quoted passages from Classic of Poetry to make a particular point, and he saw a comprehensive educational program in the anthology” (757). The poems taught rhetoric, morals, and virtues.

        Confucius said The Classic of Poetry can provide you with stimulation and with observation, with a capacity for communication, and with a vehicle for grief. At home they [the poems] enable you to serve your father, and abroad, to serve your lord. Also, you will learn the names of many birds, animals, plants, and trees” (757). Classic of Poetry was selected to be in “Confucian Classics” which was used for education.

        Readers can learn rhetoric, morals, and virtues from Classic of Poetry.

Some of the literary devices that are used in Classic of Poetry are: enumeration, evocative image, comparisons, and repetition. They teach people to read, write, and speak. Morals and virtues are in many poems. “Plums Are Falling” may have taught women to not be swayed by various men, but get married instead. The poems teach the reader about the characters of people.

        The rhetoric, morals, and virtues that are taught in Classic of Poetry are valuable for teaching today as well in the past. The limitations would be that some people would relate better if the poems were adapted for today. People now have  technology knowledge and sometimes differences in point of view. Anyway, if the reader took time to read Classic of Poetry, they would see the wealth of knowledge that could have from reading Classic of Poetry.

Works Cited

Classic of Poetry. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Volume One. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 756-766. Print.

An Essay on Man

        Alexander Pope wrote  “An Essay on Man” and it is in The Norton Anthology World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Volume Two.  Alexander Pope lived 1688-1744 and wrote “An Essay on Man”. It is known as one of Pope’s best works. It is written in heroic couplets. Pope had good understanding of religion because he came from a Roman Catholic family. He only could attend illegal Catholic schools at times. He was not able to attend a university. There were strict rules against Catholics because of James II in England. Pope did get inspired  by religion and wrote “An Essay on Man”.

In all ages humankind has wondered why our universe being created by God can be so disordered. Pope wrote that the universe is ordered in spite of evil in the world.  Pope  spoke of a divinely ordered universe that men rebel against trying to change what God created. God is all-knowing and knows that what he created was good. Man just has to accept the univerese for what it is. Pope shared his belief in the chain of being.

Pope connected all creation here on earth with what the eye could not see the tines test things in life and the universe that was too far away to see. According to Pope in “An Essay of Man”:

“. . . Vast Chain of Being! Which from God began.

Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, Beast, bird, fish, insect  
what no eye can see,

No glass can reach: From infinite to thee,

From thee to Nothing.- On superior powers

Were to press, inferior might on ours; . . .” (ins.237-242).

Pope relates his ideas to creation and the divine order of the world created by God.

Popes last lines in “An Essay of Man” were:

        “. . . All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

        All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see;

        All Discord, Harmony not understood;

        All partial Evil, universal Good:

        And, spite of pride, in erring Reason’s spite,

        One truth is clear, Whatever is, is Right. . .” (ins. 289-294).

Pope said that because of mankind’s interference in creation causes the disorder in the world. God created the world to work in divine balanced way. When evil is brought it changes what was intended. Man was not created for evil, but good. Man’s choice against creation is interference. Pope answered the questions that people had in his “An Essay on Man”  in his time. These same truths are applicable for today’s questions that are the same: Why is does the perfectly ordered universe have evil in it?

    


Works Cited

Pope, Alexander. “An Essay on Man”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 90-97. Print.

Sunjata 6/5/16

The Bride Carrying Ceremony and White Wedding Gowns

The bride carrying custom that began in West Africa has its origin from a famous epic.In Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples is the scene of Sogolon who was getting married and she could not walk. She had a twisted feet and was not able to walk on her own. The very first bride-escorting song of Manden was sung that day. According to Sunjata the sisters sang:”Walk well/Bride of my brother,/Walk well./Do not put us in the dust.”(1536). The co-brides carried Sogolon to her husband Maghan Konfara's house. This became the bride carrying tradition and the song sung when a bride is getting married. The bride carrying and the song sung by the co-brides show that getting married is a very social custom between family members and the community.

In America it is traditional for a bride to wear white. While learning about a bride from West Africa, visions of colorful clothing come to mind. In China red symbolizes good luck and the bride wears a red bridal gown. Random History and Word Origins for the curious minds includes the article “Here Comes the Bride:A History of the American Wedding”. The article explains how the custom of wearing a white wedding gown became popular. According to Random History and Word Origins:

The nineteenth century bride’s desire for a white wedding dress increased rapidly in 1840, when the newly crowned Queen Victoria of Great Britain wed Prince Albert (Wallace 2004). the monarch before her, Victoria chose to be married in a splendid, white satin gown. In reaction, young women in England and America, enamored of the newly married queen’s style, immediately began clamoring for white wedding dresses of their own” (Random History and Word Origins).

                                                            Works Cited

Random History and Word Origins for the Curious Minds: “Here Comes the Bride A History of the American Wedding”. Web. 3 June 2016.

Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1514-1576. Print.

Wallace, Carol McD. 2004. All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding. Penguin Books Print.