Thucydides offers one-hundred and forty-one speeches in his monumental history of the Peloponnesian War, yet the early eulogy offered by Pericles (in Book II) is surely the most famous. The word "eulogy" comes down to us from the Greek word eulogia meaning to offer praise, or even high praise. Pericles delivers his famous eulogy, the … Continue reading What Is A Eulogy? Ethos, Pathos, and Logos In Pericles’s Funeral Oration Speech
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The Principle of Exchange in The Shipman’s Tale
The Shipman is a western man, perhaps hailing from Dartmouth (as Chaucer suggests in the "General Prologue"). He is a modest man, riding a cart horse, and wearing a wool cloth with a dagger around his neck. He is a "good felawe." On his way to the pilgrimage had stolen a good deal of wine … Continue reading The Principle of Exchange in The Shipman’s Tale
Modernism in My Ántonia
A novel is just a glimpse, a framed and sometimes fragmented exploration into the depths of memory, psychology, time and place. Willa Cather's My Ántonia (pronounced "an-ton-ee-yuh" as in the name Anthony) is one of the seminal works of the great American pastoral tradition, similar in style to O Pioneers! It is told as a … Continue reading Modernism in My Ántonia
The Story of French Impressionism, Part III: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was born into a lower middle-class family in France. His father was a tailor and his mother worked as a seamstress. At a young age he wanted to be a singer, however due to his family's financial concerns, he went to work in a porcelain factory until a new mechanized procedure was … Continue reading The Story of French Impressionism, Part III: Pierre-Auguste Renoir
La Roue
La Roue (1923) Director: Abel Gance A Victor Hugo quote begins The Wheel - "Creation is a Great Wheel which does not move without crushing someone." ★★★★★ The special effects, camera angles, techniques, lighting, acting, unusual narrative styles, and great directing are all groundbreaking in this film. La Roue is a film which defined and … Continue reading La Roue
Socrates Ridiculed in the Clouds
The Clouds, first performed in 423 BC at the Dionysia, is Aristophanes's masterpiece, though it received only third place at the festival. Aristophanes's earlier plays had all been a string of successes. There is a rumor that, in anger at his loss over the Clouds, Aristophanes edited the original manuscript. This is referenced in the … Continue reading Socrates Ridiculed in the Clouds
