Monday, September 30, 2019

The Translations

After finishing our look at The Iliad (well, at least in second hour), it becomes more clear that the voice of the translator (or the modern day scop) influences how we the audience judge the characters and their trials and tribulations. Take, our lovely Hector, the fawn, the one who should be a blip on the radar of Homer's works. In our translator's hands, we see him as just, humble, the man who should be victor on a morally basis alone. I find translations quite fascinating as how they impact our interpretations. Ergo (I almost put "hence," but I know Abby would be disappointed in me), we will have other opportunities to look at multiple translations throughout the course.

2: We actually finished everything on the agenda today! And, you now know why I am quite bothered by people who categorize Shakespeare as Old English! Today was the completion of vocab experts, which means review and quiz are forthcoming this week. We then finished our Gilgamesh groups, looking at epic similes and motifs floating through the forests of Humbaba's guard. Last, we delved into The Iliad, prompting my babbling at the beginning of this post. For homework, you have "The Wife's Lament" to close read (there are versions of this online, but we will be focusing on the translation that I gave you in class) and Chapters 1-4 of Grendel. You will definitely see a vacillation in voice with his telling of the tale.

6: We finished our vocab experts for unit 3 and our Beowulf discussion before jumping into Gilgamesh analysis, which we almost completed. For tomorrow, you will need to prep The Iliad excerpt in your textbook and chapters 1-4 of Grendel.

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