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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

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

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.

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

Hyperion or the hermit in Greece

Concept, dramaturgy and performance by Dimitra Kreps

Hyperion or the hermit in Greece

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

"TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE" BY MARIA KAVOURI

INTRODUCTION

From the antiquity we have information about the foreign language teaching methods, particularly Ancient Greek language to Latin people. Consequently, during the Hellenistic times, the Koine Greek, which reigned as “lingua franca” among the great Hellenistic multicultural empire, was taught for a great number of purposes: trading, legislating or simply living and participating to the public life of the Hellenistic empire. Rosetta’s Stone discovery and it’s decipherment confirms that. The Greek language written on papyrus discovered in Asia, also confirms the Greek language spread all over the known world. During the early-Christian period the Koine Greek was taught for the reading of The Holy Scriptures. Furthermore, the Ancient Greek and Latin language learning, represent the greatest aspiration of all the cultured people in the learning languages fields in all the times.

In our days also the interest on the Modern Greek language exists as well as the continuum of the Ancient Greek language for various other purposes. There are different causes that move people learning Modern Greek language. Firstly the Greek people children who live abroad in order to maintain their mother-tongue, secondly Italian people with the desire to establish themselves in Greece, especially people in retirement attracted by the good weather and the quality of life or because of marriage with Greek people. In the last years, Greece keeps commercial relationships with a great deal of European countries in stable basis and very often employees of factories, or people who often travels in Greece for work, decide to learn Modern Greek. In Italy this reality is frequently managed by the Universities or the Greek communities disseminated in the greatest cities of Italy. Otherwise, teachers take Modern Greek classes in private language schools. Everyone approaches Greek language with a great respect and interest, having studied Ancient Greek language before.

As all of us well know, the first method that has been used in order to teach a foreign language was the Grammar- Translation method, because of the necessity to translate documents rather than speaking. It was a method based on the study of the structure of the language such as the grammar and the lexicon. With the passing of time new theories, more or less efficient, take part in the linguistic scenario and one gives its place to the other. Currently, the most favourite teaching method is a mix of various methods of approach, in order to assure a full immersion in the language target and expose the learner in the most quantity of input.

By the spreading of Internet the linguistic scenario is really changed. A great deal of electronic tools which help foreign language teaching are available online.

We can find newspaper’s corpora, songs, speeches, films, journals in the foreign language. With the support of the Hot Potatoes a suite of Web authoring tools by Half-Baked Software Inc. and the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre, is possible to design exercises through the pc and obtain a good students’ evaluation from distance.

There is also the Dialang, a diagnostic software which permits to us a very faithful evaluation on the student’s linguistic competences. It is available in 14 languages and it examines 5 abilities such as listening, reading, comprehension, lexicon.etc

Finally, we can keep a BlogSpot which keeps in touch with the students, especially when it is possible to withdraw learning material or have feedback from the teacher.

As a Greek language teacher in Italy, I’ll illustrate my work in multicultural classes to adults, starting from my own electronic tools like my Blog Spot http://mariakavouri.blogspot.com and the web site of Fryctories, official site for the support and the dissemination of the Greek language: http://www.komvos.edu.gr/fryktories/ where is possible to find teaching material and share opinions about all the subjects that concern the teachers in order to avoid the teachers’ isolation.

Fryctories has organised a very live teachers’ community through its forum keeping in touch all those people disseminated all over the world, where Greek language is studied and spoken .

Another very important tool for the Greek language teaching is “Diadromes stin didaskalia tis ellinikis glwssas”. It means, “a come along through the Greek language teaching”. This is a supporting programme in a long life learning system, organised from the Greek Minister of Education and long life learning the Greek Language Centre for the Research, based in Salonika and the European Union Social Fund. The aim of this programme is to provide new knowledge to Modern Greek language teachers abroad and update their old knowledge with the most modern systems such as electronic tools, keeping in touch with the learners and the other teachers, exchanging ideas, designing exercises, curricula, students’ and text books evaluation. The programme works from a distance so is available to all over the world teachers and at the end has an official examination.

Here follows the first part of a lesson plan teaching the Conditional clauses and tenses. 

LESSON PLAN

 

Level

Intermediate

Target group

Adults

Key Concepts 

The little Prince of Antoine de Saint Exupéry 

Objectives

Focus on the conditional tenses and  their use 

Duration

2 classes for a total of 90 minutes 

Material

1.      Print out with the text and the tables of conditional tenses.

2.      Laptop with the Internet connection in order to reach the electronic vocabulary of The Portal for the Greek language.

3.      Electronic support material though the program Hot Potatoes for the exercises. 

Abilities

Developing oral communication skills

Standards  learning 

The Subjunctive and all the verbal system.

Lesson organization 

Deductive approach

Planning 

PPP

 

TEACHING STEPS

PRESENTATION

We would like to teach the conditional clauses and tenses in Modern Greek to Italian students, although the subject is pretty difficult to find in grammar books, we try to explain it through the grammar book “Greek An Essential Grammar of the Modern Language” written by David Holton, Peter Mackridge and Irene Philippaki- Warburton.

We introduce the story of the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint Exupéry and we give the hand out with the text, while we ask students to read and to focus on the phrases in bold, having found and explained the lexicon, they have to look up through The Portal for the Greek language which provides an electronic vocabulary for the Greek language. http://www.komvos.edu.gr/dictionaries/dictonline/DictOnLineTri.htm  

Although that story is only a translation into Greek language, I chose it because it is well known by the most students all over the world and the subject is highly moving. Here we can find a little sample of the story so we can understand better the teaching steps Nevertheless it permits me to present it easily in this symposium.

PRACTICE

" The Little Prince "

. The next day the Little Prince came back.

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . ." "What is a rite?" asked the little prince. "Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

Here follows the Greek version of “The little Prince” with the conditional clauses in bold as in the English version.

Consequently we will have the conditional tenses organization in grid, exercises and tasks.

At the end we will manage the dramatisation of the text searching to learn the new knowledge.

We divide the students in small groups of two people who have to dramatise the dialogue between the fox and the Little Prince. In this task they have to produce oral speech following the grammar rules of conditional tenses. They also have to learn blocks of words from that text in order to dramatise successfully the story. We choose that text with highly emotional tone, aiming to decrease the “affective filter”. According Krashen’s theory on “the affective filter hypothesis” and its influence on the foreign language learning, the emotional subject as learning material, decreases the affective filter, responsible for the different results on the attainment of a language. This hypothesis explains why the learners being exposed on the same quantity of input have different results on the attainment of a language.

 

 References

 

  • “Greek  An  Essential Grammar of the Modern Language” by David Holton, Peter Mackridge and Irene Philippaki- Warburton Routledge Tylor & Francis Group.
  • Medieval and Modern Greek, Robert Browning, London 1969
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