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Hidden poetry

Personatges:

Erinna de Telos

Tema: Monodic poetry

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Competència en Comunicació Lingüística

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Espanya > Cultura Clàssica > 4t ESO > Pervivència de les llengües clàssiques. Llengua i lèxic

Enunciat

Erina was a Greek poet of the 4th century BC, whose most famous work contains 26 legible verses, out of a total of 54, corresponding to different parts of the poem. Originally, this poem, called The Distaff, was 300 lines long. It is a lament for the death of her friend Baucis and an evocation of a childhood lost and spent with her. She was born on the island of Telos, now Tilos, in Greece, near Kos, where she seems to have studied. She was much admired in her time and praised by later poets for the maturity of her writing despite her young age, as it seems she wrote this poem at the age of 15.
The activity on an excerpt from The Distaff consists of several parts. In the first one, you must read the text, reflect on it and answer the questions. In the second part, based on the interpretation you have made of the reading, draw on cardboard what the poem has suggested to you and stick or copy the text. The third part consists of selecting and marking on the text those words or expressions that have had the greatest impact on you, so that they form a small poem to which you will give a title.&nbsp;
Fragment of The Distaff&nbsp;
&hellip;and those game, Baucis, remember?&nbsp; Two white horses, four frenzied feet &ndash; and one Tortoise&nbsp; to your hare: &lsquo;Caught you,&rsquo; I cried, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re Mrs Tortoise now.&rsquo;&nbsp; But when your turn came at last to catch the catcher&nbsp; you raced on far beyond us, out from the great shell&nbsp; of our smoke-filled yard&hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &hellip; Baucis, these tears are your embers&nbsp; and my memorial, traces glowing in my heart,&nbsp; now all that we once shared has turned to ash &hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &hellip; as girls&nbsp; we played weddings with our dolls, brides in our soft beds,&nbsp; or sometimes I was &lsquo;mother&rsquo; allotting dawn wool&nbsp; to the women, calling for you to help spin out&nbsp; the thread &hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&hellip;and our terror (remember?) of Mormo&nbsp; the monster &ndash; big ears, long tongue, forever flapping,&nbsp; her frenzy on all fours, those changing shapes &ndash; a trap&nbsp; for girls who had lost their way &hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&hellip; But when you set sail&nbsp; for a man&rsquo;s bed, Baucis, you let it slip away,&nbsp; forgot the lessons you had learnt from your &lsquo;mother&rsquo;&nbsp; in those far-off days &ndash; no, never forgot; that thief&nbsp; Desire stole all memory away&hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &hellip; My lost friend,&nbsp; here is my lament: I can&rsquo;t bear that dark death-bed,&nbsp; can&rsquo;t bring myself to step outside my door, won&rsquo;t look&nbsp; on your stone face, won&rsquo;t cry or cut my hair for shame &hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; But Baucis this crimson grief&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; is tearing me in two &hellip;&nbsp; &nbsp; Balmer, J., Translating Fragments II: Erinna&rsquo;s Distaff. The Paths of Survival &lt;<a href="https://thepathsofsurvival.co.uk/2012/10/05/translating-fragments-ii-erinnas-distaff/">https://thepathsofsurvival.co.uk/2012/10/05/translating-fragments-ii-erinnas-distaff/</a>&gt;&nbsp;
Amongst other ideas, this work speaks about childhood games and tasks that she shared with her friend Baucis.&nbsp;
&nbsp; &nbsp;1. What games does it refer to?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;2. Which "female" tasks are mentioned?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;3. Which goddess appears in the text and why?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;4. Which childhood fear appears? What do you identify it with?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;5. Why is the poem so sad?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;6. What biographic information about Erinna can you extract from the text?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;7. Extract and copy the words which are linked to the feminine sphere.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;8. Despite the fact that there are many works of this typology in literature and the obvious referent that Erinna constitutes in this sense, her work is not known, why do you think this happens?&nbsp;

Observacions i context

Erinna's work is an elegy, a poetic composition that is not subject to a specific type of verse, but Erinna uses the dactylic hexameter, typical of homeric poetry.

She wrote in Doric dialect with Aeolicisms, a nod to her predecessor Sappho and to lyrical poetry in general, since Aeolian is the language this genre was born in. There are other poetesses of later times which date from the 4th century until the Hellenistic or Roman periods. Some of these women are Anyte of Tegea, Myro of Byzantium, Nossis, Aristodama of Smyrna or Melinno.

The elegy is a type of composition that has continued to be cultivated throughout history, and of which Erinna is, undoubtedly, a referent.

An individual activity is proposed which has several parts. In the first one, the text is read, reflected on, and questions are answered. In the second part, based on the interpretation made of the reading, a drawing is made on cardboard about what the poem has suggested and the text is stuck or copied. The third part consists of selecting and marking on the text those words or expressions that were the most impacting so that they form a small poem that will be given a title. Murals can be put up in the classroom's walls or around the centre.

Instructions for the activity:

1st part

- Material: fragment of the poem, cardboard, pencils, crayons, felt-tip pens, etc.

- Read the fragment.

- Answer the questions.

2nd part

- What did the text suggest? Could you draw it? Do it on a piece of cardboard.

- Stick the poem on the cardboard or copy it.

3rd part

- On the copied or stuck text, frame the words or expressions (short) which impacted you the most.

- Create your own poem using the chosen words or expressions.

- To finish off, the poems will be read out loud.

Descripció

Reading and reinterpreting a classical text.

Resposta

Documents

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