9/27/19 Stanley Kong PD 8

Stanley Kong
Period 8
Modern Mythology
9/27/2019

     -Aim: How can we create and define the value of ancient mythology in contemporary?
     
Today in class, we learned the correct pronunciation and definition of the Greek words Hamartia and Hubris. Hamartia means a tragic flaw and Hubris means excessive pride. It
was said that during the Greek times, a high majority of all Hamartias were caused by Hubris. For example, envy meant you had excessive pride within yourself to believe you deserve what others have. Or greed, where you had excessive pride to believe you should keep everything to yourself and be greedy. We also discussed Icarus's death and how we labeled it insignificant. A quick recap to the lesson on the 26th where we analyzed a picture explain Icarus's death. The image was a painting of normal life where everyone is working and animals are living normally. The painting also consisted of Icarus in the dark corner drowning after he fell into the ocean. This painting made the point of no matter how high and mighty you might feel, life will always move on and someone will always be able to replace you. During today's lesson, we analyzed poems written by W. H. Auden and William Carlos Williams. Both these poems were written about Icarus and how his death was completely ignored and how irrelevant Icarus was to society and the world. The poem written by W. H. Auden talked about a farmer who had continued to till his land, the Sheperd just continued on with his day and a sailor on an expensive ship who had to get to his destination. The sailor watched in awe while Icarus fell but did not even think twice to go towards him. In Williams' poem, he talks about another farmer who was working hard in the hot sun that melted the wax of Icarus's wings. Off in the distance, there was Icarus splashing into the water while the farmer was not even aware of it. We discussed the difference between these poems and how Auden was showcasing people 'ignoring' Icarus's fall while Williams wrote about the farmer completely unaware of his death thus implying 'ignorance'. We also had a discussion about the difference between Greek philosophy and Western philosophy. The obvious meaning of the story about Icarus is don't fly near the sun but western philosophy also has a similar statement. "Reach for the stars." These two statements are complete opposites but are similar based on the wording. Our class discussed the definition of both and how they could both be implying the same meaning. One person stated that the word 'reach' implied going as far as you physically can while not actually flying near the sun. Today's lesson was extremely down to Earth and I learned the harsh reality of the world. I am not ignorant like Icarus but I am always confident with myself and sometimes I should learn to be humble as this story shows I am replaceable and very small compared to the vast universe.