Western literature week 7

Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Related Poem Content DetailsBY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

 And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

 And every fair from fair sometime declines,

 By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Epithets in Homer

A characteristic of Homer's style is the use of epithets, as in "rosy-fingered" dawn or "swift-footed" Achilles. Epithets are used because of the constraints of the dactylic hexameter (i.e., it is convenient to have a stockpile of metrically fitting phrases to add to a name) and because of the oral transmission of the poems; they are mnemonic aids to the singer and the audience alike.

Homeric simile

Homeric simile, also called an epic simile is a detailed comparison in the form of a simile that is many lines in length. The word "Homeric" is based on the Greek author, Homer, who composed the two famous Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Many authors continue to use this type of simile in their writings.

The typical Homeric simile makes a comparison to some kind of event, in the form "like a ____ when it ______." The object of the comparison is usually something strange or unfamiliar to something ordinary and familiar. The Iliad, for instance, contains many such similes comparing fighting warriors to lions attacking wild boars or other prey. These similes serve to take the reader away from the battlefield for a brief while, into the world of pre-war peace and plenty. Often, they occur at a moment of high action or emotion, especially during a battle. In the words of Peter Jones, Homeric similes "are miraculous, redirecting the reader's attention in the most unexpected ways and suffusing the poem with vividness, pathos and humor". They are also important, as it is through these similes that the narrator directly talks to the audience.

de- : down, away from

Examples: decelerate, dethrone, decline and so on.

ter- : rob

Examples: attrition, detritus, trite and so on.