Epithets

Wikipedia has a great list of epithets that Homer uses in the Illiad and the Odyssey. Here is the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithets_in_Homer

Isolation and Writing

According to Ong, writing is something that isolates us from the world around us. In order to write we must separate ourselves from the world and make our own little world. This is quite interesting actually. With oral traditions you have an audience and so you cannot disconnect from the world instead you must find a way to relate what you know or want to tell someone into something that they can understand. In order to do this, you must connect with their own esperiences, and so it is necessary to not only connect to the world but draw from it in order to show your audience what you intend to show them. In other words, you must talk of the world as it is, not as you see or imagine it.

On the other hand there is writing. Writing requires isolation. I have seen this for myself first hand. Every time that I go to write, it is necessary that I find a quiet place where I can think to myself because writing requires that we order our thoughts, that we make them clear and concise, that we think on exactly what it is we are trying to say. Writing can be fun and enjoyable but it also is something that must be done alone. We do not write for others. We write for ourselves. Even the greatest authors of all time, from Wilde to Rowling and beyond, did not write their novels and plays simply for the enjoyment of the audience. It started with an idea that the author felt strongly about and grew into a story that the rest of the world could comprehend and connect with, though that was not the stories original intent. No matter how often we may say that we only wished to share our ideas with the world, in the end we are all just looking to escape to our own imagination where every thing is as we dreamed it.

This is not such a bad thing, but I think that perhaps we should learn to once again connect with others for our stories rather than just with ourselves.

Test thoughts

I just got done with my first test in oral traditions, and I think that I did well on it. I did miss one question that I know of and probably a few more, but the one that I missed was from Ong's list of the points of orally based thought. I couldn't remember #5 because I forgot the connection between the projector and the thousand ships of the ancient Greek fleet that sailed to Troy and how that was a connection to the human life world. I never really got that connection anyway so I'm not too worried about it. I'll just have to do a little better next time. Other than that the test went great, and I am very pleased with what I did. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bight me in the ass.

At the Center

I just finished the third chapter of Ong, and I thought that I would right about my thoughts on it especially about the end of the chapter where he discusses the perceptions that change from an oral based culture to a written one. Ong believes that, since sound is something that is constantly coming at us from all directions, it gives us the perception of being the center of the world around us. Since we cannot see any differently, this must be the case, adn so we are under the impression, for thousands of years, that we are in fact the center of all that is. However, once literature is created, once we become a literate culture and learn to read and write, then the world changes from one centered around ourselves to simply a world that must be explored and whose limits must be found. Withought the technology of maps, brought on by the invention of the written word, at least in Ong's view, there is no rest of the world to discover or explore. We are the important part of the world, so let the rest of it find us.

A Sad Story

I had been asked for another class with Mr. Sexson to write about a pet dying, and since it is a kind of story, which relates to this class, and since I am not certain that I can write anything else today here is a link to the other blog in case anyone is interested.

http://zsclassicalfoundations.blogspot.com/

Memorization Assignments

I have decided to do my memory theater on the modern libraries top 50 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century. here is a link to the page in case anyone is interested. i will be using the list given b the board.

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnonfiction.html

Memorizing 50 Items

I think the most daunting task that I'm going to have to try and accomplish this semester is memorizing 50 "discreet" items forward and backward. Memorizing it forward won't be that hard. I mean people have been memorizing things for classes since they were in first grade and had to learn how to spell. The problem, I think, will be trying to recite the items backwards right after that and to do so by going through the rooms of a house. I'm kind of confused as to how it's going to work. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.