Beginning to connect

On March 22nd, Dr. Sexon asked the class to specifically begin making connections between William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the Bhagavad-Gita. Now I am a slacker when it comes to writing these things, so I hope you’ll excuse my tardiness. I began my study by making broad comparisons of the two texts, just to provide myself with some sort of map to help guide my way. I first define the ‘main’ characters of each text. Hamlet is a tragic hero, and Arjuna is a warrior, and, to both, honor is a huge concern. I also identified the idea that both characters are facing inner struggles.

 

In the spirit of the class, I began to make connections to other classes, which the inner struggles spurred me to do. Harold Bloom writes in his The Anxiety of Influence “I never meant by “the anxiety of influence” a Freudian Oedipal rivalry despite a rhetorical flourish or two in this book. A Shakespearean reading of Freud, which I favor over a Freudian reading of Shakespeare or anyone else, reveals that Freud suffered from a Hamlet complex (the true name of the Oedipus Complex) or an anxiety of influence in regard to Shakespeare” (xxii).  Bloom’s views of the ‘Hamlet Complex’ in conjunction with Freud, I believe, are directly tied to interiority, which Bloom is a HUGE advocate for. The inner struggles that Hamlet faced were revolutionary because of the interiority, whereas Arjuna must wear his emotions on his sleeve in order for the audience to gather what he is actually feeling; however, Krishna helps Arjuna through the ‘inner battlefield,’ so there is some interiority.

 

As I state earlier, in both texts, honor is important. It seems like honor is both held for its ethical value, but it also a social value as well (I would like to argue that Hamlet’s call to honor for the murder of a kinsman is a more complex form than Arjuna’s warrior honor, which lends itself to Bloom’s interiority theories). This is similar to the shame cultures that we’ve learned about in previous Oral Traditions and Classical Foundations classes. In the latter class, I must point out, that a hero is defined as a being who is half divine and half mortal. In later literature, the word protagonist seems to be a better fit as is defined in “A Handbook to Literature 10^th ed.” as

The chief character in a work. The word was originally applied to the ‘first’ actor in early Greek drama. The actor was added to the CHORUS  and was its leader; hence, the continuing meaning of protagonist as the ‘first’ or chief payer. In Greek drama an AGON is a contest. The protagonist and the ANTAGONIST, the second most important character, are the contesteants. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is himself the protagonist, as his fortunes are the chief interest of the play. King Claudius and Laertes are his ANTAGONISTS. (Harmon 419)

To continue with the Classical theme being applied to Hamlet, I also want to look at The Poetics for a definition of tragedy. Aristotle says,

Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is admirable, complete and possesses magnitude; in language made pleasurable, each of its species separated in a different parts; performed by actors, not through narration; effecting trhough pity and fear the purification of such emotions. (10)

 

 

In my previous blog, the Oral Traditions class can be linked into all of this by looking at this website, which as the Bhagavad-Gita performed in various languages:

http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/articles/664/1/The-Bhagavad-Gita-In-Audio/Page1.html

 

So here is my start. More to come

 

 

Sing me a song

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share with you a website that I stumbled on. On it you'll find the Bhagavad-Gita audio in Sanskrit, English, Spanish, French, Hindi, Gujarati, and Arabic. It's really neat to listen to the Sanskrit especially, but each is set to traditional melodies. 

http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/articles/664/1/The-Bhagavad-Gita-In-Audio/Page1.html

Let me know what you think! I'm taking Oral Traditions right now with Dr. Morgan, so this really fits with that class to for anyone else who is in that class with me, as well!

"We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." ~Little Gidding by T.S. Eliot

Last Monday, Dr. Sexson quoted the above passage. When I look through my notes, I can surely tell that my mind wandered at that point, and I know why. Art inspires us, and literature is art, thus the above quote inspired me, but it was a very, very dark inspirational path. Be forewarned.

In June, it will have been a decade since my father killed himself. It's been so hard to figure out what went wrong. I was only twelve at the time, newly confirmed into the church, and hopeful for my mother's recovery from the breast cancer that she'd been diagnosed with six months prior. My parents had split up four days before because my father had sort of gone off the deep end after an accident and his alcoholism progressed, and it was no longer the kind of relationship that would aid my mom in getting well once more. It was when my mom and I went to the house (we had gone to stay at my Mom's friend's condo) to wrap my youngest sister's birthday gifts (she was turning 5 two days later) that we found him.

Eliot's quote reminded me of the exploration into my 12 year relationship with my father, and how much I didn't know at the time that I could only learn from extensive counseling. At first I blamed my mother for dad's death because of the separation, but I recalled then my last words to him which were full of hate because I was so upset that he would let my mother take us away rather than fight to be a family. I blamed the cancer, alcohol, us kids, dad's job, the falling stock market, an injury that my father had a few months before, you name it... I blamed it. 

I have worked hard to 'move on,' but I haven't arrived at many of the places, which I hope to know, someday. For this reason, Eliot's quote feels tailor made to what my goals have become.

Sorry if this was depressing... then again.... not all epiphanic moments are happy ones

The other side of the story

After posting my last blog about my Grandma and Grandpa Mason's raspberry patch, I realized that it was highly unfair to discount my mother's side of the family, especially since I received via email the other day a poem from my cousin that I found quite interesting. It is as follows:

The Raspberry Room by Karin Gottshall

It was solid hedge, loops of bramble and thorny

as it had to be with its berries thick as bumblebees.

It drew blood just to get there, but I was queen

of that place, at ten, though the berries shook like fists

in the wind, daring anyone to come in. I was trying

so hard to love this world—real rooms too big and full

of worry to comfortably inhabit—but believing I was born

to live in that cloistered green bower: the raspberry patch

in the back acre of my grandparents’ orchard. I was cross-

stitched and beaded by its fat, dollmaker’s needles. The effort

of sliding under the heavy, spiked tangles that tore

my clothes and smeared me with juice was rewarded

with space, wholly mine, a kind of room out of

the crush of the bushes with a canopy of raspberry

dagger-leaves and a syrup of sun and birdsong.

Hours would pass in the loud buzz of it, blood

made it mine—the adventure of that red sting singing

down my calves, the place the scratches brought me to:

just space enough for a girl to lie down.

My cousin had received this poem with a link to where it had been posted, and she passed it along to me because it reminded her of when we were kids. With my cousins on my mom's side, each summer we would play some version of cowboys and indians (whatever version it was I cannot say), and a lot of it had to do with building forts. My fort was always in a patch of bramble raspberry bushes, and I was usually Princess Wild Flower, or something like that. The location was not the safest, and I was often in my grandparent's house to get doctored up. When I was talking to my grandma about it today, she asked me "Do you remember the first time you really banged yourself up?"

I thought about it, and then I remembered. I was more tramatized by my grandpa's response to me crying than to the blood running down my leg. You see, my grandpa was a medic on the front lines of almost every major, textbook battle in WWII. He was highly decorated for his outstanding service, and was even written about as being a hero. That being said, I remember now how angry he seemed at me for crying over a skinned up knee, and how he told me that if I even knew the things that he saw that I would stomach such petty pain. At the time, I told him I hated him and ran to my parents, but that moment has lasted in me, but I didn't realize it. I changed then. I was not one to cry over bumps and bruises, and I even remember trying so desperately hard to not cry when I ripped off a toe (it was sewed back on, so I'm not too much of a freak). I relived that experience from just a poem that my cousin sent to me because it reminded her of the adventures we would have as a child. I love my grandpa, and though I thought that I hated him then, I now appreciate what he did for me. He inspired me to be tough, which proves that tough love works.

I couldn't find a picture of the whole backyard where we would play, but this is a part of it where one of the last apple trees stands from the old orchard.

Going back to the poem, I thought it was quite appropriate to share it with everyone for a different reason (not just for the sake of fairness). The preface to the poem really struck me because it says this:

American Life in Poetry: Column 126

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE

The British writer Virginia Woolf wrote about the pleasures of having a room of one’s own. Here the Vermont poet Karin Gottshall shows us her own sort of private place.

I find it so neat that Dr. Sexson could ignite my memory to recall my Grandma and Grandpa Mason's manicured raspberry patch, which reminds me of the hedgerows in Little Gidding, and then I recalled my Grandpa and Grandma Boe's wild and unruly raspberry patches, which inspired my cousin to email me a poem. The poem's preface shows that a correlation exists between Karin Gottshall, the author, and a previous work by none other than Virginia Woolf (To be Bloomian, perhaps this is an instance of the anxiety of influence?). Dr. Sexson, did you mean to do all of this? :)

My Grandpa and Grandma Boe holding hands.

Raspberries

A few classes ago, Dr. Sexson was talking about how smell and taste could spur epiphanic moments, and he looked right me and mentioned the idea of me playing in a raspberry batch in my grandparent's backyard. Immediately, memories flooded my mind. On the Mason side of my family, my grandparents lived in a town called Darien, CT. They had a cute, little clapboard New England-esque home, and the yard was manicured neatly. In the backyard there was a garden. Along the walkway were 'money plants,' and I don't know if that's actually what they were called, but they had these flat pods that grew on them, and inside were little disks. Imagine a bean pod if it were flattened (not crushed!). My sister and I were forced to amuse ourselves when we were in CT because my father was an only child, and we didn't have cousins to play with, so we came up with a little game.

Using the 'money' that came from the money plants, a person would pay the toll to enter the raspberry patch. This patch was gorgeous. Tall hedges that were as tamed as they could be wound in an crescent shape. On one of the sides there was a beautiful wrought iron bench that were would play on. Now grandma and grandpa didn't want us to pick all of the raspberries, so they added to our little game and said that we had to have enough 'money' for the ones that we picked. It was one 'coin' for each raspberry, and if we didn't have enough then we had to give them to the grownups. 

Had Dr. Sexson not looked me in the eye and mentioned a raspberry patch in my grandparent's backyard, I would never had thought about it, but it stuck with me. It was like Erin recalling a childhood memory of her and Katey. 

Roses are red

Throughout the Four Quartets, I have noticed the importance of roses. I have already posted a few blogs on roses, but with a more musical twist. I want to use an article in the November 1, 1885 issue of the New York Times titled "The Roses of England" as a way to organize the information that I have collected.... so here goes! Oh and a note, I think I am going to try to do this by quoting the NYT article, and then outlining underneath any other information or thoughts that I have.

"Ancient fable derives the crimson hue of many of its varieties from the blood of the heathen goddess of beauty"

- ANGLO-SAXON PANTHEON: "Freo brought fertility to people and the land. The msot beautiful of all Goddesses, she ruled love and beauty as well. People prayed to her for happiness in love. She was also associated with war, battle, death, magic, prophecy, and wealth. She receives half of the dead lost in battle in her hall. She is also associated with abundance and wealth, and is the goddess of magic"

***Thoughts: I have issues with this because I learned in another class that the Anglo-Saxons were very atheistic and pretty much believed in wyrd and nothing else. Also, I thought there was a disconnect from love in a marriage. If anyone has any further insight on this subject, I would love to hear it!

"Mediaeval writers relate that the red rose sprang from the fire-brands heaped upon an early Christian martyr at Bethlehem"

"A rose appeared in the centre of King Arthur's Round Table at Winchester, and some antiquiarians would deduce from this source its adoption as the emblem of England"

-Plantagenent Princes = War of the Roses

+Red Rose: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancater, 4th son of Edward III

++Claim to throne: direct descendent

+++1340-1399: 4th son of Edward III and Queen Phillippa

+White Rose: Edmund, Duke of York

++Claim to throne: descendent through a female from Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III

+++Reigned 1327-1377; nine of his twelve children survived; war was present during the majority of his reign

+Causes of Conflict

++Both houses were direct descendents of King Edward III

++Lancatrian King Henry IV surrounded hismelf with unpopular nobles

++Civil unrest

++Powerful lords with private armies

++Mental illness of Henry IV

+"The rival houses were united by the marriage of Henry VII, the representaive of Lancaster, to Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV of York

+More information on the War of the Roses

-After the revolution of 1688 the white rose was adopted by Jacobites as the badge of the exiled house of Stuart, and the 10th of June was for a long time called White Rose ay, that being the birthday of the Pretender, as the son of James II was called."

I found it very interesting to make these connections using the article. Usually, I regard things of great symbolisim and history as being something of Classical times, but the matter of importance that is placed upon the rose in English history makes me smile. I'd be curious to know if anyone else stumbled upon information, I'd love to hear it!

They say that roses are red, but maybe those red roses were really the white roses, stained with blood

Gospel Harmonies

I have copy and pasted a great webpage that helped me understand the Gospel Harmonies a little better. I myself am an Episcopalian, and I spent a lot of time in the Church of England as a child, so it turned into a particular interest to me. So here is my litte cheat sheet web page that helped me out, if anyone is interested :)

--------------------------------------------------

To blend separate tones into a chord. Term used in biblical studies for blending two or more pericopes into a composite version, preserving characteristic elements from each. Harmonizing represents a natural tendency of the human mind to resolve discord by drawing contrasting elements into a balanced composition. It is the opposite of analyzing: separating a composition into its constituent parts.


The harmonizing of different sources is evident in the composition of the synoptic gospels themselves. It occurs at every level of transmission of the gospel texts, especially after the churches adopted a 4 gospel canon in the mid-2nd c. CE. Scribes already familiar with one version of a saying or story, who were copying a parallel account in another gospel, sometimes altered details of the second to agree with the former.


There are four types of harmonizing: radical, synthetic, sequential & parallel.

Radical harmonizing suppresses variant details in one text by replacing them with preferred wording drawn from another version. Radical harmonizing tends to produce a uniform official version of a saying or story in separate gospels.

Synthetic harmonizing expands a text by adding details from one account to another to produce a conflated version that is not identical with either of the sources. A synthetic version is most evident when compared with other texts that alternate between some of the elements it combines.

Sequential harmonizing preserves two or more versions of the same material as separate incidents in the same narrative. This produces repetitions of sayings & stories that literary critics call "doublets."

Parallel harmonizing presents two or more versions of the same account side by side in a synopsis for easy comparison. This type of gospel harmony highlights both the similarities & the differences of the versions of a pericope & is the basic tool of modern gospel scholarship.


The composition of gospel harmonies is as ancient as the textual evidence itself. One of the oldest surviving papyrus fragments to mention Jesus (known as Egerton 2) is from an unknown gospel that included controversies paralleled only in the gospel of John with stories echoed only in the synoptics. Whether this text conflated written or oral sources is uncertain.


Justin Martyr, however, quoted gospel passages in a harmonized version of Matthew & Luke (and perhaps Mark), that was probably based on a written text. Justin's disciple, Tatian produced the Diatesseron, a harmonized story of Jesus based on 4 or 5 gospels, which for several centuries was preferred in many circles to the canonical gospels themselves.


Even church leaders who rejected the Diatesseron produced their own harmonizing tools. Eusebius of Caesarea attempted to resolve the obvious discrepancy between the chronology of the synoptics & John. Augustine's influential Consensus of the Gospels minimized discrepancies between the synoptic accounts in favor of Matthew's version. The Lutheran reformer, Andreas Osiander, composed a Gospel Harmony that wove all the differences of the 4 gospels into an expanded composition that did not omit a single detail. If narrative sequence or substance prevented passages from being conflated into a single account (synthetic harmonization), Osiander simply included all versions (sequential harmonization).


The process of harmonizing material from different sources is particularly prevalent in an oral culture. Since the human memory normally files things by motif, similar material is easily confused. The reading of passages with similar themes from different gospels in the same liturgical season also leads to harmonized interpretations of the text. Thus, elements of Matthew's birth story are blended with details from Luke in Christmas celebrations.


Scholars whose research is devoted to establishing the original form of a tradition generally regard all types of harmonies (except gospel parallels) as later distortions. Given the innate tendency of the human mind to create harmonies, an unharmonized version of a saying, story, or text is probably earlier.


Other On-line resources:
The Harmony of the Gospels - complete text of Augustine's classic apology (posted by New Advent).
Papyrus Egerton 2 Home Page - Wieland Willker presents images & translations of fragmentary gospel discovered in 1934 (U of Bremen).
The Dura-Europos Gospel Harmony - Peter Kirby presents text & assessment of 3rd c. parchment fragment 0212 discovered in 1933 (Early Christian Writings).
Harmony of the Gospels - Ken Palmer presents a sequential harmony of the outlines of the 4 canonical gospels similar to Osiander's (Life of Christ).

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The website can be found at:
http://virtualreligion.net/primer/harmony.html

If it weren't for him

The past two blogs that I have posted on Little Gidding have talked a lot about a man named Nicholas Ferrer, so I think it is only fair to give a little background information on him as well.

He was born to a merchant who was one of the earlier members of the Virginia Company. He became involved in the company, and in 1622, he rised above his brother in the ranks when he became deputy. Due to a few family issues, Nicholas and his wife thought it best to leave London and all of the drama that came with the city life, and that was when they purchased the Manor at Little Gidding in 1624. When the plague his London in 1625, they hastened their move to the country, but they came to find the place in complete disrepair. His wife's first order of action was to restore the church before even their own dwelling place.

In 1626, William Laud, who was Bishop of St. David's, but then became the Archbishop of Canterbury, ordained Nicholas as a deacon. The family became very involved in making Little Gidding a place of worship, and they devised the Gospel Harmonies. When Charles I heard them, he borrowed the Ferrer copy until the family made him one. Only 15 copies survive today.

Nicholas died in 1637 at 1 am, which was the hour that he arose every single day to begin his prayers. He was buried in a table tomb in front of the church.

The mission of Nicholas Ferrar was kept alive by his family who were commited to goodwill and the Church of England

Additional resources:

This is a stellar explanation of the Gospel Harmonies

More information on Nicholas Ferrer

Like a broken king...

As I continue sharing what I have learned as I studied about the place Little Gidding, I wanted to pause on the part of TS Eliot's Fourth Quartet when he says "Like a broken king." This broken king was King Charles I who was the ruler of England and Scotland at the time that Nicholas Ferrar and his family (re)founded Little Gidding. Through the course of his reign, King Charles I visited the area a total of three times.



His visits to the church are remembered by a stained glass window. In the design is Charles I's coat of arms that includes the arms of four areas: England, Scotland, Ireland, and France (English still claimed the throne there). Unusually, this coat of arms is not supported by beasts, but the size of the window is the reason for that.

At the base it says, "Caroli I qui latitabat apud I manos 2 Mai AS 1646" which commemorates Charles I visit to Little Gidding. Over the window arch it is written 'Ut si quis perdicem in montibus' I Samuel Ch26.v.20(Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord; for the King of Israel is come to seek out a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge on the mountains.) This is a reference to when Charles I was being hunted down after the Battle of Namesy. There are also two flowers: An English Tudor rose and a Scottish thistle.



The king came by night while on the run, and John Ferrar, the son of Nicholas Ferrar, took Charles in and hid him in Coppingford, which was somewhat near to Little Gidding. There he stayed for two days, and then he travelled on to Stamford. A few days later he surrendered, was put on trial (just for show), and then was executed in Whitehall January 30, 1649


Click here for more information

Little Gidding background fun-ness

Ok, so I am really bad at keeping up with blogs, but here I go at attempting to catch up. I apologize everyone!!!

Anyways, I found the history of Little Gidding absoluetely fascinating when I was doing research for the group project. Through my efforts, I created a sort of timeline of Little Gidding of things that I found interesting, helpful, intriguing etc.

500-700: Anglo Saxons at Great Gidding found an early settlement.
*Their leader was named Gydel, and it was from his name that Gidding comes from. Gidding actually means "Gydel's People"

800-900: Viking Invasions

1086: In the Domesday Book of 1086, which was William the Conquerer's inventory it was reported that Great Gidding supported a minimum of six 'sokemen.' Locations: Accumesbury an Cresseuuelle. Population = 343-490
*At this point there was no reference to Little Gidding
*Norman barons displaced Danes and became the new landlords

Post Domesday Book: Little Gidding formed as a seperate manor
*Gidding Parva = Little Gidding

1185: Maud Engaine grants Little Gidding Church to the Order of the Knights Templars at Temple Bruer in Lines, but the Inquiry of the Knights Templars showed that the church retained 'no geld' which is what the church would have taken in from the offerings. This was considered a time when fund raising was happening for the Crusades.

1279: LG has 600+ acres that are being used for agriculture. There was a street that is today used for the Main Street where there were 31 houses

1348: LG is deserted because of the Great Plague

1566: Only 6 households remain, though its not entirely due to plague. There were also issues with how land was managed and how the workforce was used and abused

1594: No houses left in LG

1625: Ferrars bought the Manor of LG. They came and found everything in ruins

1626: Nicholas Ferrar ordained Deacon by the Archbishop Laud in Westminster Abbey

1642: King Charles I spent the day while traveling North

1646: King Charles I visited May 2nd while escaping battle of Naseby

1848: William Hopkinson bought the Manor of Little Gidding, built a new house in the place of the old manor house and named it the Ferrar House.
*He also started to restore the house, and began with the bell because it was the most important messenger for it called people to worship

1853: Restoration complete and had stained glass windows and a chandelier

1936: TS Eliot visited May 25th

1942: TS Eliot Fourth Quartet 'Little Gidding' published

1964: The Nicholas Ferrar Memorial Church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, consecrated at Arbury in Cambridge

After this time, LG changed hands a few times, and then in 1998 the community disbanded, and Ferrar House went into care of caretakers and wardens , and the Parochial Church Council now cares for it

http://www.littlegiddingchurch.org.uk/