“My words are very easy to understand and
very easy to put into practice, yet no one in the world can understand them or
put them into practice” (Tao te ching, Poem 70)
INTRO:
For your First Paper assignment, which also functions as an exam over our first
two books, I want you to consider the ‘conversations’ two ancient works are
having with each other. Even though these works are written in two different
cultures in some cases a thousand or more years apart, they each represent a non-Western point of view, and express
similar virtues and philosophies. Each one plays on the idea of paradox and the
difficulty of expressing the ‘truth’ for people to read and follow.
PROMPT:
I want you to write a paper examining one work from Literature from Ancient Egypt and at least one poem (though you can
use two) from the Tao te ching. By
“examining them,” I mean I want you to consider how each one is having a
similar conversation about truth, beauty, life, death, enlightenment, art,
writing, or virtue. Discuss how each one is talking about the same basic idea
in different ways; for example, if an Egyptian poem speaks about the importance
of using “right speech,” how does a poem from the Tao te ching do the same thing, but from its own unique
perspective? What would they both agree
on, and where might they slightly disagree?
REQUIREMENTS:
- Try to imagine that the
two works are sitting at a table having a conversation together. The topic
is the connection you see between both works. How would they discuss it?
Show us how each work develops the conversation over a few beers.
- QUOTE from each work: if
you think the Egyptian poem says that death is an illusion, show us where you see that—what lines, what
words. It’s okay to summarize what a poem is saying, but also try to analyze it—show us how the work
says what you think it does.
- When you quote a work, be
sure to introduce the poem and then put the page number in parenthesis at
the end. For example… In the Tao te
ching, the poet writes that “My words are very easy to understand and
very easy to put into practice” (77). We’ll talk more about integrating
quotations into a literature paper in class soon.
- The paper should be at least 3-4 pages double spaced
(and typed, naturally).
- The paper is due by 5pm on Monday, September 18th [no class that day]
Chance bray
ReplyDeleteDr. Grasso
Non western literature
September 18, 2017
The poem that I enjoyed and thought spoke to me the most was soul food out poem 2 of Tao Te Ching. I felt like it had a straight forward concept that everyone could understand and could probably relate toeveryone as well. The first line of Tao te ching the poet writes “ everybody on earth knowing that beauty is beautiful makes ugliness” I found that very interesting because its so true. If you didn’t know what beauty looked like how could you find it? If you didn’t know beauty then how would you know what was ugly? I just think this line has a nice concept to it because without beauty theres no ugliness and then we wouldn’t have all the high standards in society on how your supposed to look. The second stanza in Tao te ching says “ everyone knowing goodness is good makes wickedness”. I find this easy to believe as well because with all the wicked there is in the world its easy to forget about the good going on. People are wicked because they know what goodness is and they want people to not feel that so they try to hurt people and take the goodness away which is wicked. But in the end you cant have one without the other.
The third stanza is kind the same in soul food, it says “for being and nonbeing arise together: hard and easy complete eachother;long and short shape eachother; note and voice make the music together; before and after follow eachother” these are all things that have to have eachother to coexist in my opinion. Each thing is more or less the opposite of the next, like long and shore, before and after, hard and easy. It might be hard to understand but I think it makes the most sence out of all the other poems I have read. The fourth stanza from soul food says “that’s why the wise soul does without doing, teaches without talking” this line is saying you can teach and do by just being you and leading with example. Just looking at someones life and saying I need to be more like him or her and I need to do the things they are doing because they make it look rite. The fifth stanza says “ the things of this world exist, they are; you cant refuse them” meaning everything is what it is, you cant say something doesn’t exist just because that’s what you believe, if there is proof you cant argue with that proof. Its like dome people don’t believe in the holocaust, but it happened and there is proof of it so there is no arguing it. The last stanza says “ to bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let go; for just letting go is what makes it stay” I think the main idea of this is to just be humble, if you do something don’t brag about it or to have something but not to own it like having a wife/girlfriend, just someone you love and is yours but you don’t own them.
i don't have a printer and didn't know if i needed to take it to you or not and if i do i can have it there tomorrow in person if you like?
Chance: you can't submit a paper on the blog, and you also can't turn in work if you don't attend class regularly. Come back to class and/or come talk to me about class. Until then, I can't accept your work...it's not an on-line class. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing such interesting and informative article. I really appreciate your work, Keep it up and you will be very successful in future.
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