Reflection, Week of December 14, 2009

This was an interesting week. In the beginning of the week we went to the library to type up our two sources, and a revised bibliography. I got this done that day and handed it in, even though today (Friday) was the due date. I prefer getting my work in early so I don't have to run the risk of getting lazy and procrastinating, leaving more to do in a shorter amount of time. The assignment this time was to take two of my sources, take an excerpt from it in Latin, to translate in a footnote, and then in the middle of the page, explain the significance of it. Both of my excerpts came from Cicero, mainly because my IA is dealing with the interaction between Cicero and Julius Caesar, and examining what the relationship between the two was. I've found that they were political opponents... interesting. I hope to find more information soon.

The best part of class this week was the discussion from Daedalus and Icarus about Daedalus' advice that Icarus should not fly too high or too low in the sky, because he'd either fall into the sea or the wax on his wings would melt and then, he would fall there too. A discussion came up in class about situations in life where it is best to take a middle path, meaning one that is not too extreme in either direction. An example I came up with in class was sex - too much is bad, some is better than none. I was just trying to be funny, but there is some validity to that point. An example that someone brought up that interested me was that of homework - too much of it would just clutter our lives, too little would mean that we'd become lazy and wouldn't be learning as much on our own. I agree; if I had no homework I'd get lazy and become too dependent on the teachers spoon-feeding information to me, I think homework gives me a chance to learn on my own. But too much homework would be overwhelming.

Reflection, Week of December 7, 2009

So we finally finished up with Pyramus and Thisbe (it ended with Thisbe killing herself by falling on the sword with it stabbing into her lower chest), and now we are translating another story, Daedalus and Icarus. It's not nearly as long as the other stories we've done, and I already knew the outcome of the story before we even started to translate.

Some background information on the story that I picked up in class; it took place on Crete, an island south of Greece, c. 1500 B.C., which was the height of the Minoan civilization. King Minos was the king of Crete at the time and Daedalus was a Greek inventor who had been called to Crete to build the labyrinth under the palace to lock the Minotaur away in. At this point though, Daedalus wants to escape from Crete and in order to do this, because King Minos might be able to stop him from leaving, he builds wings, one pair for himself and another for his son Icarus.

So far the story is unwinding nicely, although I already know what is going to happen; Daedalus and Icarus are going to be able to fly away but Icarus is going to fly too close to the sun, and the wax on his pair of wings is going to melt, and he'll fall into what is now known as the Icarian Sea, off the coast of Turkey. I have found that knowing the outcome of the story and what is going to happen has helped me to translate, because if I know the basic vocabulary in the story, I can more easily translate it into a coherent sentence that is consistent with my understanding of the story. I find this story interesting as well, and it's much easier to follow than Daphne and Apollo was, and it's shorter than Pyramus and Thisbe.

Reflection, week of November 31, 2009

This week we did a lot of interesting things in class, including IA preparation, in which I went to the library to gather facts and actually quote different sources that I've been using, so that I have some background information to start my IA. I revised my IA question to, What is the relationship between Julius Caesar and Cicero and what were their attitudes toward one another? I will find information regarding this and the context behind it, and I've already started to find information. The difficulty is in correctly quoting my sources, as the Latin texts are, from my perspective at least, oddly numbered.

Also we did a Paper 2, on which I am confident I did well. I thought it was relatively easy but it was good because it gave me a taste of what the IB Paper 2 will be like. It involved translating and then answering questions based on the Latin text, which I was able to quote specific phrases and words that helped me answer the questions.

Overall I am confident in my performance in class this week and I felt like as a whole the class got a lot done, in translating Pyramus and Thisbe as well. We are almost done.

Journal Entry for November 13, 2009

This week we mostly did two things in class, both of which were relatively productive.

The first was reviewing about the IA and the preliminary bibliography that is due within the next week or so, and the other was that we were asked to prepare a practice preliminary bibliography, so that we can receive suggestions and feedback before the bibliography is actually due. I got a good start on mine, and I was able to format my sources with little difficulty so that I was able to turn in a practice preliminary bibliography today. I think I can still find some more sources before the next copy of the bibliography is due.

The other thing we did was continue to translate Pyramus and Thisbe. The story is unwinding nicely I'd say, and we've come to the point where Pyramus believes that Thisbe has been devoured by the lioness, and he stabs himself in the thigh with a sword. When we went over this I began to wonder, why would anyone do something so horrible to themselves? I came up with two possible reasons; either A. Pyramus is so in love with Thisbe that he can't imagine anything good in his life without her and he can't function without her and her love, or B. he wants to make his ending as painful and tragic as he believes her death was. Either way, I am excited to see what will happen next, and since it's been said that Romeo and Juliet was based off this story I can very easily make predictions. I am finding the story to be interesting, and I especially liked the description of the lioness as fierce and vicious with blood soaked jaws, maybe because I always think of lions as cute and cuddly, like giant cats. Either way, I am looking forward to seeing exactly what will happen next, and compare my predictions to the actual outcome.

We also, in class, drew this very amusing and kind of cute interpretation of the story when Thisbe is running from the lioness into the cave, and I can remember it in detail. We had an anorexic-looking lioness with blood dripping from her jaws, Thisbe running in motion, the mulberry tree (the "agreed upon tree") which I drew, and a crescent-shaped cave. I wish I had a copy of the picture for my online scrapbook, it was amusing to say the least.

Reaction to Pyramus and Thisbe, November 9, 2009

My first reaction to lines 96-104 (the part where Thisbe hides from the lioness and Pyramus comes along next) is that I am worried that Pyramus and Thisbe are not going to get to meet up. Thisbe is hiding from the lioness and Pyramus is looking for her and finds her vale, and sees traces of the lioness' presence there before. I think this is going to be somewhat like in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, even though she isn't at the time. I hope Pyramus doesn't kill himself in the same manner, but I am just concerned for both his fate and for Thisbe's. I think Thisbe was very lucky to have been able to escape the lioness, but I think of all places to hide - a cave? Isn't that where lions live? I can predict a tragic ending, mainly because the story has a Romeo and Juliet feeling to it and that was definitely a tragedy. I'm excited to see how the story will unfold from here, I just hope there won't be any deaths until the very end if any at all.

Daphne and Apollo; Favorite Part of Story

My favorite part of Daphne and Apollo is when Daphne is turned into a tree. I can say that I truly sympathized with Daphne when Apollo was following her and trying to pursue her when she made it very clear that she was NOT interested. Daphne being turned into a tree was the best way she could escape Apollo and his obsessiveness and I also thought the way her transformation was described was quite interesting. I found the image of "heavy sluggishness" when she was first starting to transform to be interesting, and also I found it to be cool when it said that her "soft breasts are surrounded by gentle bark", because I can just imagine how that would feel - standing there with my body becoming surrounded by bark, with my arms turning into branches.

The main reason this was my favorite part of the story is because I didn't like how obsessive Apollo was being. I know that he could not control how he felt because he was shot by Cupid's arrow, but still I felt really bad for Daphne. All she wanted was to remain virginal and to be left alone and Apollo just didn't take the hint (either that or he did and just didn't care). When I first heard that Daphne was going to turn into a tree, my thoughts were, well thank god she is FINALLY escaping Apollo and his madness!

Reflection 5, 10/18/09

This week there were two main topics covered in class. One of them was the IA. Our class went up to the library to look for IA sources and to start typing up our outlines that are due on the 23rd. I got mine finished, because when we went up to the library several weeks ago to gather sources, I found several. I also have been told that one ancient source to look for is Cicero. My IA topic is about the influence of Julius Caesar on Roman politics at the end of the Roman Republic and the start of the Roman Empire, and Cicero lived during this time and wrote about it in detail. I was able to get my outline finished, and I turned that in the same day.

We also have been going over Daphne and Apollo, and we are almost to the end of the story. The dog and rabbit simile has already come up. I noted that Apollo is acting very animal like in his pursuit of Daphne, like a dog hunting its prey. Daphne, the innocent sweet virginal girl, is fleeing to protect herself, like a rabbit would flee from any animal pursuing it as prey. I also considered that the use of the dog and rabbit simile could represent that Apollo is moving in on Daphne as if he sees her as 'prey' so to speak, or someone that he wants to capture for himself. Apollo got even more creepy in these passages to me, as he is trailing behind her so close that Daphne can feel him breathing on her neck. If I were Daphne I'd be running too...fast!! We stopped where Daphne is by the river, begging the gods of the river to turn her into something else so that Apollo will not pursue her any more. At this point I change my mind from what I said a month ago (that I hope Apollo captures Daphne). I can see she is clearly bothered by it and I don't want him to capture her, who knows what he would do. I hope she finds safety from him because to me, she seems terrified.

I can't wait to translate the end of the story, even though I already know what is going to happen :)

Reflection 4, 10/11/09

This week in class we went over Daphne and Apollo, like usual. We discussed how Apollo would have acted, spoke, and gestured during his speech to Daphne. I figured that Apollo would have gotten the point most effectively to Daphne that he is pursuing her as a lover and not an enemy when he said that he was Jupiter's son. Jupiter is a god and Daphne, like everyone at the time, would have known who Jupiter was. Once Daphne saw that Apollo was Jupiter's son and therefore a god himself, I believe that she would be more likely to soften up to him and trust him. Of course this doesn't happen and she just continues to run, but I felt that if any part of the speech seemed like it would pacify her at all, it was that part. I envisioned Apollo's speech like a theatrical performance, with the spotlight shining on Apollo, who would be standing in the center of the stage. As he walks, the spotlight would follow him, and he'd be speaking to Daphne with his eyes wide open, in a loud, clear, and passionate voice. Meanwhile, Daphne would be fleeing and Apollo would be chasing her, and I imagined they'd be positioned on the stage in such a way that both of their facial expressions could be seen by the audience, so we would know exactly how they were feeling.

Of course I am no theater expert but this is what my mind envisioned.

Outline of this past week, 10/3/09

A lot was covered this week in Latin class. One of the things discussed was the due date for the outline of our IA. The purpose of making an outline is so that you (Dr. Stewart) will know what each of us has in mind, so that we can be pointed in the right direction. I honestly could benefit from this, the IA is looming over my head and is a big cloud that I worry will rain on me, so I should start getting my IA together very soon.

We are also continuing to translate Daphne and Apollo. Daphne is running from Apollo, who is following her and trying to pacify her by telling her he is not just any man and is pursuing her as a lover and not an enemy. Personally, Apollo is starting to get creepy, although I acknowledge he can't control how he feels. I hope something exciting happens in the story, and that Apollo captures Daphne and takes me by surprise by his actions. To me, it'd be a lot more interesting than him chasing her for the large majority of the story.

Fire Simile, 9/20/09

When I read the simile that is comparing Apollo's love for Daphne to a fire that burns a field of stocks and a hedge, I realized that Apollo loves Daphne so much more than I originally imagined. He doesn't have a small crush on her, his love for her is a fiery, burning, fierce passion that engulfs all of him ("the god burst into flames, his whole chest on fire"). I think that the fire in the field is the stronger, more meaningful fire for a number of reasons. A field with stalks is a lot larger than a hedge, and the field grows grains. Grains are one of our sources of food, and if all our food is burnt, then there is no way we can survive. I saw this as representative of the fact that Apollo loves Daphne so much that she is essential to his life, in the same manner that grains are essential toward humans as food. Without Daphne, Apollo is nothing and his life means nothing, because she is all he can think about. Another reason I felt that the fire in the field is the more meaningful one is because it is much harder to put out a fire in the field than it is to put out a fire burning a hedge - and symbolically it would be near impossible to put out Apollo's love for Daphne.

Reflection on Daphne and Apollo, 9/13/09

I find the story of Daphne and Apollo, by Ovid, to be very interesting. While reading I have made a number of observations, both about the plot/characters and about Ovid's writing style.

Apollo is very arrogant and conceited, for example in line 456 where he refers to Cupid as "naughty boy" (lascive puer). Cupid's personality is the exact opposite - he is childish and immature as can be seen when he tells Apollo he is about to shoot him with his arrows. I feel that these two characters represent opposite ends of the spectrum, with a spoiled, bratty child on one end and an arrogant, overly proud adult god on the other. I prefer Apollo to Cupid and I am sure anyone reading this story would be inclined to prefer one character over another, especially the one that they are more similar to in personality.

I have noticed two reoccuring trends in Ovid's writing. The first is that he tends to use the 'royal plural' (nostra(s)) a lot in quotes from Apollo and Cupid. It seems that he uses it when a character is saying something and is trying to exclude the person that they are speaking to by lumping everyone else in with himself. An example of this is line 465, "your glory is less than ours" (tanto minor est tua gloria nostra). I've also noticed that Ovid uses a verb once and when translating in English, the verb is said twice, but in the Latin text, the verb only appears once in the sentence. This is different from English con structions, where we say the verb as many times as we use it. Lines 463-464 of the text are an example of this in Latin.

I am excited to read the rest of the story, as the plot is getting very interesting!