It is during the ancient times that the first instance of ekphrasis has been recorded. The most famous and most often quoted ekphrasis appears in Greek literature, in Homer’s Iliad. In the 18th Book of this work, Homer brings forth an elaborate picture about the making of the Shield of Achilles. When Hephaestus starts upon his work, Homer narrates:
First fashioned he a shield, great and sturdy, adorning it cunningly in every part, and round about it set a bright rim, threefold and glittering, and therefrom made fast a silver baldric. Five were the layers of the shield itself; and on it he wrought many curious devices with cunning skill. (Book 18, 478)
The later passages continue to describe the process of creation of the shield. Hephaestus’s
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He starts his inquiry from a critical and theoretical point of view, and he considers the ancient practice of the ekphrasis as follows: “It was, then, a device intended to interrupt the temporality of discourse, to freeze it during its indulgence in spatial exploration” (Krieger 1992, 7). As a starting point of his study he accepts Spitzer’s definition of the ekphrasis. He proposes to expand the usage of the term in a wider context and he states: “Even while deferring the special connection between ekphrasis and works of the plastic arts, I will broaden the range of possible ekphrastic objects by re-connecting ekphrasis to all ‘word-painting’” (Krieger 1992, 9). The term “word-painting” that he uses stands for the descriptions of visual works of art. Thus, he applies the term ekphrasis not only to mere words that describe an “objets d’art” as Spitzer mentioned, but more extensively, to the capacity of the words within the language to describe pictorial works of art. He mentions that this ‘(re)-connection’ of the term ekphrasis with the visual arts (as for e.g. painting) is favourable and advantageous both for the discourse and for the reader. Or in other words, the description of a pictorial work of art within a discourse doesn’t have to be regarded as a competition between the verbal and its visual representation, because the pictorial work of art has its own “spatial completeness” and it has a “constant” state of being; because of these characteristics it doesn’t rely on the reader’s perceptual ability, which may vary from subject to subject, because a pictorial work of art already has a “fixed representation” (Krieger 1992, 8). As a consequence, the verbal representation of a pictorial representation enriches the discourse in which it
Achilles vs Hektor The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer, takes place in the tenth year of the Trojan War. Recalling important events that take place bringing the war to an end the poem uses figurative language and literary devices to enhance its characters, presenting similarities and differences between how the characters handle specific situations and how they deal with the concept of masculinity. For example Homer uses the method of literary foils. A foil is a character that depicts traits that differ with the traits of another character. In The Iliad, Achilles and Hektor are foil characters.
In the epic poem The Iliad, armies and individuals on both sides of the Trojan War are compared to animals through a figure of speech called, simile. The similes reveal qualities about the nature of honor and leadership. Through out the epic, both Gods and mortals have made decisions in battle that are considered honorable or dishonorable. While the narrator does not directly say an action is honorable or dishonorable, it is implied through simile that an action is to be viewed a certain way.
Taking even further, the phrase “kaloi kai agathoi” shows the aristocracy’s attitude towards themselves versus the have-nots as it means “the beautiful and the just”, implicitly connotating that everyone else is physically and morally twisted. This pushes the economic gap into dangerous levels—if the phrase hadn’t formed into words at Athens’ democratic peak after 474 B.C. Homer shows the manifestation of the thought in book two of Iliad when he describes Thersites’ appearance and personality in the same breath, “vain and without decency, to quarrel with princes with any word…was the ugliest man who came beneath Ilion. He was bandy legged and went lame of one foot, with shoulders stooped and drawn together over his chest, and above this his
Hubris is one of the many themes that were brought up in the Iliad. Its definition is extreme pride and arrogance shown by a person that will bring downfall to that person or to others. The first time this theme is brought up is when Helen leaves with Paris. Agamemnon uses Helen as an excuse to rile up all the Greek kings. Agamemnon knew that if they beat Troy, then he would control a major passage of trade which would make him the undisputed ruler of all of Greece.
An Eye For An Eye (An Analysis of Violence in the Iliad) Robert Kennedy once said, “What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders.” As Mr. Kennedy so eloquently said, acts of violence rarely accomplish their intended goal.
Achilles anger throughout Homer’s masterpiece results in the unnecessary deaths of many warriors, a shameful reputation, and a disastrous downfall. To begin, Achilles struggle with anger first comes to light from his inability to fight under
Rather, its is our own familiar routine manner of perceiving things that we assume a connection between the text and the image. Magritte has argued that in relation to a different set of images, neither the painted image nor the words are, in actuality, a pipe. He presents this contradiction in its simplest form, ‘a calligram that Magritte has secretly constructed, then carefully unraveled’ (ibid, pg20) highlighting the difference between the ‘separation of linguistic signs and plastic elements’. Magritte combines verbal signs and plastic elements together but without ‘referring them to prior isotopism’. This is Magritte’s attempt to expose us of our own immediate automaticity that is so deeply
Revenge lies within us all, Revenge is an instinctive human characteristic. These emotions and actions associated are neither preventable nor controllable. Everybody has felt and taken action on the emotion of revenge, whether it 's your sibling, friend, or enemy. Revenge can bring justice but as well bring pain to someone else. Vengeance is an extremely popular emotion in today 's life whether it is terrorism or a dispute between family and friends.
Art is known to have impacted humankind as from time memorial. In many occasions when people wanted to pass the information, they were only using paintings to communicate. Many kingdoms were known to give information about their values and beliefs through paintings made on their walls. Most of the paintings use to speak a lot about the religion of the Kingdom, and sometimes romantic pictures were used to expound more on how such kingdoms were committed to taking care of individuals emotions. Baroque paintings were used especially for matters to do with religion.
The contrasting intent between the two poems are heightened within the description of the hero's’ shields. Aeneas’ shield portrays the glorious accomplishments that future Rome will achieve.(Mastin). His shield solely revolves around the future of Rome. But Achilles shield is more cynical, it depicts what was occuring during the Siege of Troy and seems to mostly display the detriment of war. (“Iliad”).Considering that The Aeneid is political propaganda, it should come as no surprise to the reader that Aeneas’ shield caters to the Roman delusion that their empire is
The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is a epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.
Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.
The Iliad by Homer, the Odyssey poem written by Homer and the Prometheus mythology are classical texts that reflect the historical and cultural background of the Greek and Roman literary skills. The Odyssey and the Iliad are Homer’s epic poems that portray Greek and Western culture. The three texts give an insight of the ancient Roman myths, culture and the literature during both the 17th and 18th century. The two texts by Homer and the Prometheus mythology represent a classical period that consisted of the cultural history and the civilization of the Romans and Greece hence known as the Greece-Roman World. Homer’s narratives, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey”, and Aeschylus mythical story “Prometheus” have cultural and mythological similarities
M.H. Abrams’s The Mirror and the Lamp: romantic theories and the critical traditions is one of the most influential books in the field of western criticism. It was published in the year of 1953. The title of the book refers to the two contradictory metaphors used to portray the artist – one comparing the artist to a mirror which reflects nature as it is or perfected whereas the other compares the artist to a lamp that illuminates the object under consideration. Professor Abrams in his book illustrates the transition of the perspective of the theorists on the artist from one to the other and the ramifications of the latter in aesthetics, poetics and practical criticism. The essay “Orientation of critical theories” is the first chapter of this book.
In the first chapter of Erich Auerbach’s novel Mimesis titled Odysseus’ Scar, the stylistic properties of the Old Testament and Homer’s The Odyssey are contrasted to show the two foundational styles for ancient epic literature. Auerbach starts the chapter with an analysis of Homer’s use of digression with in book 19 of The Odyssey, when Odysseus’s true identity is discovered by Euryclea, to alleviate suspense within the book. He goes on to discuss how the comparison of the Homeric style with the “equally ancient and equally epic style” (7) of the tale of the sacrifice of Isaac in the old testament demonstrates “the genius of the Homeric style” (7). Auerbach then goes on to discuss how the Bible and Homeric representation of Gods differ in that