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Discuss the portrayal and effects of loss in the poetry of Cavafy

My Mother's Sin and Other Stories A series of lectures on Modern Greek literature taught by Dr Dimitra Tzanidaki-Kreps This is a first class essay of one of my students, Jenny Wight, who took my course this year writing beautifully on the effects of loss in Cavafy's poetry.

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Discuss the portrayal and effects of loss in the poetry of Cavafy

In Ritsos’ Moonlight Sonata what sentiments does the woman’s confession provoke/inspire to you and how these compare to the ones felt by the young man who remains silent throughout her long monologue.

Yannis Ritsos' "Moonlight Sonata" is a poignant and emotionally charged poem that presents a deeply intimate monologue of a woman speaking to a silent young man. The setting is night, with the moonlight casting a dreamlike atmosphere over the scene. The woman's confession, filled with personal revelations, memories, and emotions, evokes a variety of sentiments in the reader and provokes a complex response.

Συνέχεια

In Ritsos’ Moonlight Sonata what sentiments does the woman’s confession provoke/inspire to you and how these compare to the ones felt by the young man who remains silent throughout her long monologue.

How does Seferis’ mythical method interact with Greece’s lasting socio-political issues?

Seferis uses the mythical method in his poetry to allude to and comment upon social and political issues in Greece in his lifetime. Before discussing his poetry, it is important to define what is meant by Seferis’ mythical method. This method can be described as allusive, as although Seferis does make direct references to myth he does so in inventive ways, for example by using narrative space, symbols and characters to evoke Greek myths.

Συνέχεια

How does Seferis’ mythical method interact with Greece’s lasting socio-political issues?

The form of Dramatic Monologue as perfected by Ritsos’ poetry.

Yannis Ritsos is widely regarded as one of the most significant figures in contemporary Greek poetry. He managed to revolutionise the idea of a dramatic monologue and create not just beautiful poetry, but also a multifaceted art form that has depth on psychological, social, and philosophical levels throughout all of his publications. The dramatic monologue form was popularised by Victorian poets such as Robert Browning, but Ritsos revitalised it and many poets to this day still use his style as inspiration. His ability to construct identities and characters that the reader can genuinely sense and almost experience is skilful.

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The form of Dramatic Monologue as perfected by Ritsos’ poetry.

«Examine how homoerotic love is expressed in Cavafy’s erotic poetry» By Yousuf Danawi, Reading University

This essay aims to examine the manner in which homoerotic love is expressed in Constantine Peter Cavafy’s erotic poetry.Initially, it will provide a brief introduction entailing contextual information. Subsequently, this essay will bestow an intricate analysis of his erotic poems, with a particular focus on elucidating recurrent themes pertaining tohomoerotic love. The analysis will explore both the formal and thematic constituents of Cavafy’s erotic poetry, accompanied by a pervading extraction of deeper meaning.This examination will be enhanced utilising relevant secondary literature. The primary source that consists of the poems to be discussed in this essay derives from a digital anthology that comprises Cavafy’s ‘Recognised’, ‘Denounced’, and ‘Hidden’ poems

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«Examine how homoerotic love is expressed in Cavafy’s erotic poetry» By Yousuf Danawi, Reading University

Theatricality, didacticism, prosaic verse, use of persons as symbols, contemplative mood, flashbacks are some of Cavafy’s recurring ‘tropes’. Discuss.

Within the vast poetry collection of Constantine Cavafy, arguably, a pattern of recurring tropes emerges, offering the readers an in depth understanding of what defines his artistry. The poems that I have chosen for this essay being Young Men of Sidon, Alexandrian Kings and Kaisarion, from his book The Collected poems. One might say that they serve as an example of Cavafy’s gravitation towards an array of literary devices such as theatricality, didacticism, prosaic verse, use of persons as symbols, contemplative mood and flashbacks, one might say that they create a narrative that extends beyond the individual poems, inviting us to explore the timeless themes captured by Cavafy.

Συνέχεια

Theatricality, didacticism, prosaic verse, use of persons as symbols, contemplative mood, flashbacks are some of Cavafy’s recurring ‘tropes’. Discuss.

ἐξ ἐρίων δὴ καὶ κλωστήρων καὶ ἀτράκτων

This essay examines that metaphor in the context of the political and war situation at the time Lysistrata was first performed. It considers traditional gender roles in the fifth-century Greek polis and Lysistrata’s inversion of those roles in her weaving analogy. Aristophanes’ comedic purpose in the weaving speech, in Lysistrata as a whole, and more generally across his corpus is examined. In addition, some observations are made about the sound pattern of Lysistrata’s speech and, in a personal argument, a speculative suggestion is advanced that the audience might have associated her cadences with the familiar rhythms of a domestic weaving loom.

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ἐξ ἐρίων δὴ καὶ κλωστήρων καὶ ἀτράκτων

Discuss the portrayal and effects of loss in the poetry of Cavafy

My Mother's Sin and Other Stories A series of lectures on Modern Greek literature taught by Dr Dimitra Tzanidaki-Kreps This is a first class essay of one of my students, Jenny Wight, who took my course this year writing beautifully on the effects of loss in Cavafy's poetry.

Συνέχεια

Discuss the portrayal and effects of loss in the poetry of Cavafy

Poetics and Histories: To What Extent Did C. P. Cavafy Alter Historical Narratives, and for What Artistic Purposes?

stuident Name: Joseph Watson Module Lecturer: Dr Dimitra Tzanidaki-Kreps Date of Submission: 11/01/2016

Συνέχεια

Poetics and Histories: To What Extent Did C. P. Cavafy Alter Historical Narratives, and for What Artistic Purposes?

Hyperion or the hermit in Greece

Concept, dramaturgy and performance by Dimitra Kreps

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Hyperion or the hermit in Greece
Υποβλήθηκε από joanna την Πέμ, 2008-04-10 09:38.

Πλάνο διαλέξεων ακαδ. έτους 2007-8 για το μάθημα Έισαγωγή στη ΝΕ λογοτεχνία'

tzanidaki writes, "Το μάθημα απευθύνεται στους 2ετείς, University of Reading, department of Classics

Introduction to Modern Greek Literature
Lecturer: Dr Dimitra Tzanidaki-Kreps
Department of Classics, Reading University"

10 Απριλίου 2008

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN GREEK LITERATURE
Univ. Of Reading, Classics

LECTURE PLAN by Dr Dimitra Tzanidaki-Kreps

Week 1: Literature for a New Nation: 1821-1881.
From “Great Idea” to Aftermath of Disaster 1881-1928

Reading:
Beaton, R. 1999: An Introduction to Modern Greek Literature. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Week 2: GEORGIOS VIZYiNOS
Biography-My Mother’s Sin

Week 3: The only journey of his life

Essay: Self-punishment and guilt are the two constants in the Mother’s emotional landscape. Is there redemption for the Mother following her confession in the meeting with the Patriarch. What is the final and lasting impression of the novel to you?

Reading:
Syrimis, George 1995. Gender, Narrative Modes and the Procreative cycle: The Pregnant Word in Vizyenos, Journal of MG studies, 13/2: 327-49.
Barbeito, Patricia Felssa 1995. Altered States: Space, Gender, and the (Un)making of Identity in the short stories of Giorgios M. Vizyenos, Journal of MG studies 13/2:299-326
Beaton, Roderick (ed.) 1988a. The Greek Novel: AD 1-1985 (London and Sydney: Croom Helm)
Chryssanthropoulos, Michalis, 1988. Reality and Imagination: The use of History in the Short Stories of Vizyenos, in Beaton (ed.), 1988a: 11-22
Peckam, R. Shannan 1995. Memory and homelands: Vizyinos, Papadiamantis and Geographical Imagination, Kambos Papers in MG (university of Cambridge), 3: 95-123.
Peckam, R. Shannan 1996. Between East and West: The border writing of Yeoryios Vizyinos, E*****ene 3/2: 167-80.

Week 4 C. P. CAVAFY
Biography-Kaisarion

Week 5: Young Men of Sidon – Melancholy of Jason Kleander, Poet in Kommagini, A.D. 595

Essay: Caisarion also features in another of Cavafy’s poems entitled “Alexandrian Kings” and there is also a passing reference in one more of his poems (The sculptor Tyaneys). Read all three poems and explain why Caisarion commands such a poetic charm upon Cavafy.

Reading:
Robinson, C. 1988. C.P. Cavafy, Bristol Classical Press.
Joseph, Brian (ed.) 1987b. The poetics of Cavafy: Textuality, Eroticism, History (Princeton University Press).
Keeley, Edmund 199a. Cavafy’s Alexandria: Study of a Myth in progress (Princeton University Press).
Keeley, Edmund 1983: Voice, perspective and context in Cavafy, Modern Greek Poetry, Voice and Myth. (Princeton, New Jersey)
Vayenas, Nasos 1979a: The language of irony (towards a definition of the poetry of Cavafy), Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 5: 43-56.
Nehamas, A. 1983: Memory, pleasure and poetry: the grammar of the self in the writing of Cavafy. JMGS, 1: 259-319.
Alexiou, M. 1983: Eroticism and poetry, in C.P. Cavafy. Special double issue of the Hellenic Diaspora, vol. 10: 45-65.
Beaton, R. 1982. C. P. Cavafy: irony and Hellenism, Slavonic and East European Review, 59/4: 516-28.
Beaton, R. 1983: The history Man, in C.P. Cavafy. Special double issue of the Hellenic Diaspora, vol. 10: 23-44.
Agapitos, P. 1994. Byzantium in the poetry of Kostis Palamas and C. P. Cavafy , in Campus Cambridge Papers in MG, 2: 1-20.
Liddell, R. 2002. Cavafy: A Biography, Introduction by P. Mackridge.

Week 6: In search of a new national identity 1929-1949

GEORGE SEFERIS ‘Last stop’

Biography
Last stop

Essay: Detail the issues raised by both poems and the poet’s response to these issues taking into account the historical co-ordinates of the poems.

Reading:
Beaton, R. 1991. George Seferis, Bristol Classical Press.
Beaton, R. 2003. George Seferis: Waiting for the Angel A Biography, Yale University Press.
Dimiroulis, Dimitris 1985: The Humble Art and the Exquisite Rhetoric: Tropes in the Manner of George Seferis, in M. Alexiou and Lambropoulos 1985, 59-84
Thaniel, George 1977: George Seferis’s Thrush: A Modern Descent, Canadian Review of Comparative literature, 4: 89-102.
Beaton, R. 1987. From Mythos to Logos: the poetics of George Seferis. JMGS 5: 135-52.
Keeley, Edmund 1983: George Seferis and the mythical method, in E. Keeley, Modern Greek poetry: Voice and Myth (Princeton, New Jersey)
Ricks, David 1989: The shade of Homer: a study in Modern Greek poetry, Cambridge: CUP.
Krikos-Davis, K. 1979: On Seferis “Helen”, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 5: 57-76.
Krikos-Davos, K.: Notes on Seferi’s “last poem”, Scandinavian Studies in MG 708: 101-6.
Beaton, R. 2001: Reading Seferi’s politics and the politics of Reading, in Campus Cambridge Papers in MG, 9: 1-35.
Kostiou, Katerina 2001: Irony and satire in George Seferi’s poetry, in Campus Cambridge Papers in MG, 2: 57-82.

Week 7: George Seferis: Helen

Week 8: The aftermath of War and Civil War 1949-1967

YANNIS RITSOS
Biography-The Moonlight Sonata

Essay: Discuss the theatrical elements of the poem and their overall function in the poetic ambience.

Reading:
Robinson, C. 1994: The presentation of place and space in the poetry of Yannis Ritsos, 1934-1947, in Campus Cambridge Papers in MG, 2: 73-94.

Week 9: ODYSSEAS ELYTIS
Biography-Small Green Sea
The Mad Pomegranate
Marina of the Rocks

Essay: Elytis, Poetry and poetic symbols: Discuss their relationship

Reading:
Friar, K. 1974: The Sovereign Sun-introduction.
Keeley, Edmund 1983: The voices of “TO Axion esti” and Elytis and the Greek tradition, Modern Greek poetry: Voice and Myth (Princeton, New Jersey)
Mackridge, P. 1984: A matter of light and death, Folia Neohellenica 6.
Robinson, C. 1981: The Greekness of Modern Greek Surrealism, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 7.

Week 10: Post-war fiction

YORGOS IOANNOU
Biography-The *****s comb

Essay: Unlike most of Ioannou’s short novels, which are written in the 1st person singular in this one the 2nd singular is used. Discuss the reason(s) for this switch, its “poetic” effect and its justification.

Reading:
Germanacos, N.C. 1973: An interview with three Greek prose writers (May 1972): Stratis Tsirkas, Thanassis Valtinos, George Ioannou, Boundary 2, ½: 266-313.
Robinson, Christopher: Fragmentation in lie and art. In Cambridge Papers in MG, no. 9 2001
Anna di Benedatto Zimbone, Ghiorgos Ioannu: saggio critico, Universita di Catania 1994
A. Droukopoulos: Giorgos Ioannou: enas odigos gia tin anagnosi tou ergou tou. Athens
1992

Summer Term Week 1: Exam preparation-Revision

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