January 24, 2010

Callinus of Ephesos’ poetry

The poem by Callinus of Ephesos expresses the poet’s personal feelings and yet he talks about universal themes on subjects like war, honor and death. The poem is about encouraging the Greek soldiers to stand up and fight courageously against the enemy; in doing so these soldiers will be able to achieve the highest honor and reward and will be forever loved by the Greek people. The poem also encapsulates some important Greek concepts: that of kleos as a reward from fighting and the idea of nostos, the return home of a Greek hero/warrior.

I like the poem very much because I feel that it is so sincere; if this is spoken by a very charismatic speaker it would be very striking to hear the sense of immediacy that is innate in the poem and it would come out to be very convincing and inspiring. While the poem rouses the Greek citizens to fight, I don’t feel any aristocratic tone in his lines, just professional and trustworthy attitude. I am also amazed of the poet’s art of the rhetoric: his style in argumentation and persuasion is logical – the poet does not readily speaks his mind needlessly but he sets out to explain first the well-defined situation and the stakes that are associated with it before stating the clear and concrete heart of his argument. Because of this, the poem becomes compelling to its readers.

January 24, 2010

Kleos, in Greek Poetry

Kleos is a Greek term associated with glory and fame and it can only be achieved during a heroic battle or war. In Greek literature, the concept of kleos is fully emphasized by the Greek warrior Achilles in the epic, The Iliad, but kleos is also emphasized in some of the early Greek poetry. Either there must have been a familiarity in this concept as influenced by the Homeric epic tradition or the concept of kleos is just considered to be a valuable asset in the Greek culture for it to be apparent in their poetry. The poet Callinus exemplifies kleos as a greater reward for a man – one of his poems rouses his fellow Greek citizens to stand and fight (“…when will you find some courage / you young men? Have you no shame of what others cities will say?”). The kind of persuasion and the sense of immediacy in pursuit of kleos is evident in the later part of the poem when he writes: “…a man who has fled from flight/ …/ such a man is not loved or missed for long by his people /… / for the high-hearted warrior / after his death; while he lives, he is treated as almost divine.”

Qualities associated with this concept include bravery and an overt display of masculinity. In the earliest Greek poetry, framed against the context of Greek war culture, it is emphasized that warriors are roused to be strong and never show any kind of weakness. In the poems of Archilochus this is evident: “Tomorrow it will be others who grieve, not we. From now on / act like a man, and put away this feminine tears” or “Stand fast among the beamlike spears / Give no ground.” Another poet Tyrtaeus says that “…no man ever proves himself a good man in war / unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter / go close against the enemy – and fight with his hands” and according to him when that man died “…his tomb is pointed to with pride, and so are his children / … / his shining glory is never forgotten, his name is remembered / and he becomes immortal.” In another poem entitled To the Soldiers, after a Defeat Tyrtaeus addresses the young men and warriors never to lose hope and stand together in fighting the enemies, and never walk away “For once a man reverses and runs in the terror of battle / he offers his back, a tempting mark to spear from behind / and it is a shameful sight…”

Glory is given to those who have the courage to fight without any flinch of fear and hesitation, and some of the Greek poetry celebrates this noble quality. Greek poetry, with its high style language in the art of persuasion, successfully able to express this idea.

Posted in Serious Thoughts
Tagged archilochus, callinus, greek poetry, kleos, poetry, Tyrtaeus
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January 10, 2010

Odysseus’s Concept of Cunning

One distinct characteristic of the epic The Odyssey is that it is a showcase of sharp intellectual skills of the main hero Odysseus, rather than a showcase of strength and power that is apparent in The Iliad (through Achilles character). The Odyssey is written in high style, full of landscape grandeur and an incredible journey– it is about Odysseus’ wanderings and adventures into foreign places and lands and meeting fantastic characters like one-eyed monsters, tempting sirens and uncivilized giants. Odysseus undeniably has the necessary strength to go through with these adventures but most of the time it is through his cunning and strategy that leaves him unscathed.

In The Iliad, Odysseus is famous for his brilliant concept of the Trojan horse – a disguise gift to attack the Trojans, which gave them victory. But in Inferno this in turn gave the poet Dante to place Odysseus in the 8^th circle of Hell because of this treachery. The kind of cunning that Odysseus possesses is always associated with disguise and dishonesty which gives a negative implication on his character no matter how amazing or heroic he is.

In relation to this I find Odysseus’ character harsh sometimes. Everytime they went from city to city he and his men always raid the lands for food (“I stormed that place and killed the men who fought / Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women /”, Book IX) or by the time when his secret was revealed by his old nurse Eurycleia, in which Odysseus threatened to kill her if she won’t keep it to herself (“Be quiet; keep it from the others, else / I warn you, and I mean it too / if by my hand god brings the suitors down / I kill you, nurse or not, when the time comes – when the time comes to kill the other women / .” Book XIX). The latter really shocked me – it is too un-heroic that Odysseus has the drive to threaten his already-old nurse as if without respect. But in the end it’s as if the epic always calls for a need of trickery to prevail in order for Odysseus to present to the readers his cunning. Other example of this contention would include his disguise as a beggar when he arrives at his own palace in Ithaca and when the right chance of time comes, Odysseus brutally kills all the suitors and the unfaithful women servants.

But what really moved me in the epic is the unforgettable chapter of Odysseus meeting the Cyclops Polyphemus. There Odysseus presents his amazing tactics and cunning when he tricks the Cyclops Polyphemus in a clever and humorous way. But after this lighthearted scene where Polyphemus shouts “Nobody is killing me!” I felt a jolt of sympathy to Polyphemus afterwards because he is just this tragic character who is ignorant of Odysseus’ cunning (and trickery). And Odysseus seems like he is too full of himself that time (“And I was filled with laughter / to see how like a charm the name deceived them. /). Even though Polyphemus is brutally violent (as he devours two of Odysseus’ men on the spot), I find him tenderhearted when it comes to animals – “the master stroke each ram, then let it pass…” “Sweet cousin ram, why lag behind the rest / … / Why, now so far behind? Can you be grieving / over your Master’s eye?”

Moreover, Odysseus taunts the giant as if he is such an arrogant brat. Although Odysseus only wants to revenge the death of his friends, I still don’t know why I find Polyphemus sympathetic. He lives there alone in his place, contented and peaceful with a company of rams, and here comes Odysseus in the picture who disturbs him (and probably unleashed his brutishness) and blinded him all of a sudden, poke fun on the stupid Cyclops because he has the necessary tricks and tactics to do so. Because Odysseus is too preoccupied to achieve his own glory or kleos (he tells Polyphemus his real name so that the Cyclops will never forget) – I feel a certain kind of redemption that is due to Polyphemus when he prays to his father Poseidon because I know his father will do the vengeance for him.

Posted in it's my thing
Tagged cunning, homer, odysseus, the odyssey, trickery
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January 9, 2010

This is Why I Tweet

I’ve been addicted to Twitter these past few months. I can send 18 tweets per day; when I used to send only a single tweet when I was still a newbie.

The thing about Twitter is *initially* it’s not really that overwhelming and it’s as simple as sending short text messages online to your so-called legions, who are your own followers. It’s not like there’s built-in multi-applications in there – for one thing, the only way to customize your page is through changing the Twitter template or background. The rest of the fun like Twitpic or longer notes like NotePub can be incorporated through shortened links to get past through the 140-character count.

But why do I like Twitter, even better, say, than Facebook or Plurk?

The thing about Twitter is that it’s very simple. It doesn’t demand too much for you, just ‘tweet’ what’s happening around you and then that’s it. It’s free, it’s text-based, it’s so short it doesn’t take too much of your time scrolling down through tweets of your favorite people, whom you follow. It’s the new gateway for news, gossips and it’s probably the easiest and the fastest information highway – it’s like reading through headlines, one-liner rib ticklers, or nuggets of wisdom.

And there are lots of *role-players* in there, which I find really amusing. Have your read Leo Tolstoy’s tweets? You can follow him @leotolstoy and see what are his tweets like. Some interesting famous people and figures I follow are the following: