Aeneid commentary II-III 2010 北京大学英语系欧洲文学课教案ＰＰＴ.pptVIP

Aeneid Books I-VI: Commentary Book I The original opening lines of the Aeneid (according to an early editor, Servius): “I am he who once tuned my song on a slender reed, then, leaving the woodland, constrained the neighboring field to serve the husbandmen, however grasping—a work welcome to farmers. But now, of Mars’ bristling. . .arms and the man I sing. . . .” A good lesson that writing should always be revised! The increasing importance of the author Iliad: “Anger sing, O goddess, the anger that moved the son of Peleus, Achilles. . . . Odyssey: “The man describe for me, O Muse, who was never at a loss. . . . Aeneid: “I sing of warfare and a man at war. . . And, eventually, in the The Divine Comedy, the author not only tells the story but becomes the story’s main character: “In the middle of our life’s journey, I found myself lost in a dark wood. . .” Also the case in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: “Bifil in that sesoun on a day, In Southwerk, at the Tabard as I lay. . .” Epic exordium: the opening L. exordium “a beginning” 3 parts: State the subject: “I sing of warfare and a man at war” Call on a muse for help: “Tell me the causes now, O Muse. . . . Ask a question: “Can anger black as this prey on the minds of heaven? The virtue of endurance Aeneas’ heroism consists of resolute endurance of repeated setbacks as much or more than it does in victories He is not a conqueror but a refugee, a “displaced person,” a leader of a defeated nation How many works of literature introduce their hero by a scene in which his knees are weak with fear, and he is wishing he were dead? According to the 4th century biographer of Virgil, Donatus: “Virgil was accustomed to say that no virtue becomes a person more than endurance, and that no fortune is so harsh that with prudence a brave man cannot overcome it by enduring” The virtue of endurance is a central teaching of Stoicism A school of philosophy founded by Zeno (3rd century BC, Greek) and which was popular among the educa