Revison of "What Are the Elements That In Our Action?"

New Title:What Are The Elements That Motivate Our Actions?

This week, I read the Sanskrit poem Bhagavad-Gita, also known as the Song of the Lord.  This poem contains great philosophical ideas that are so endurable and powerful that it has influenced Indian society for thousands of years.  There are many philosophical perspectives within this poem, such as the rule of reincarnation, the rigid of the reincarnation order, discipline and duty.  However, among all those fascinating perspectives, the one about humans’ motivations for their actions--The Second Teaching, from sections 47 through 51 (Krishna’s words to Arjuna, trying to persuade him to fight)--is interesting for its parallels with Kant’s moral theory.

In section 47, it initially states that our actions should not bind with the consequences, and in the ensuing section 48, it complements that rather than focusing on the consequences, our actions should follow the discipline. The discipline is the neutral balanced manner between failure and success.  Section 49 to 50 basically describes that men become pitiful if their motives of the action are influenced by the consequences, instead of from their understanding of the discipline (it is neither failure and success, nor good and evil). In order to do that, they need to be rational and wise.  In fact, this idea is similar with a famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant’s moral theory.  In Kant’s moral theory, he indicates that morality only exists when one’s action’s motivation come from a good will, which contains an obligation/discipline that has moral worth; and one does something only for the sake of the right thing itself, regardless of anything else (such as consequences, self-interests, experiences, education, etc).  Kant’s explanation to his idea is that if we do things do not meet such requirements he mentioned before, then we are not doing the right thing out of our very pure heart, and our mind are not free from desires(or any personal things), nor our decision or action will be considered free.  Coincidentally, in the section 51, the poem also indicates that if we are wise enough to “relinquish the fruit born of action,” we will be “freed from these bonds of rebirth,” and can “reach a place beyond decay.” 

This is something that we rarely thought about in our daily life, isn’t it? When we do things, it is almost impossible that not to think of the consequences or reactions that would be following after our decisions or actions; and in modern perspective, our motives of action should always have a reward or a punishment behind it, rather than thinking what is our firm duty/discipline, and that is why we are so easy to bind up with things in our lifes. 

Moment

After I read the 4^th chapter of the ancient Japanese novel From the Tale of Genji, “Evening Faces,” it reminds me a joke.  One day, a guy asks God, "God, what does 100 million years seem like to you?" God answers, “One hundred million years? That's like a moment me." Then the man asks again, "God, what's 100 million dollars seem like to you?" “One hundred million dollars? It seems like a penny to me." So this guy says, "Hey God, could I borrow a penny?" And God answers, "Sure. Just a moment."

So how long does a “moment” last? Well, a moment is actually a medieval unit of time equal to 90 seconds.  Of course, in modern days, it means a short period of time.  It is not that essential to measure how long a moment is, but far more important is to focus on how we should spend that moment, and how we are going to treasure the moment, as well as every moment in our lifes.  The reason is simple:  we cannot experience any one moment twice ever again; and what’s left will only exist in our memory.

In the story, Genji is initially going to visit his old nurse, and since the nurse is not at home, he meets the mysterious, shy and attractive woman next door in a conincidence. Then, they start to date day and night.  However, just a couple of days later, the girl dies after Genji woke up from a horrified dream at a strange night. It is all supernatural and sudden to Genji about the girl’s death, and he is very depressed by that. The time spend with the mysterious girl seems to last only a moment compared to the entire life experiences of Genji. However, no matter what Genji does after the girl’s death, what’s done cannot be undone: the moment with her was long gone.

  A moment can pass us by quickly and without a notice.  Sometimes, we never think of treasuring something until it is gone; and sometimes, even though we already have done our best to maintain something, it will still pass us by. That is the moment of life.  Therefore, we should take good care of ourselves because the moment in life is very limited, and we should also look after and treat people around us nicely because we do not know when they will forever pass us by. 

 

                                  A beautiful moment of the mysterious girl

An Orphan Elephant:Kinship Love

            I do not talk about my past to people often, not even to some of my friends.  The reason is not only because my story is very depressing to talk about, but also because my audiences usually misunderstand me. 

As an only child of my parents, I grew up in a normal Chinese family and lived a normal life until when I was nine years old my father went to the U.S. for a job.   Because of the departure of my father, the responsibility of supporting the whole family had doubled on my mother’s side: She had to work extra hard to pay back the debts which my father incurred for his trip, and also, she had to take care of me and my grandparents. Since she had no time to take care of herself, and due the accumulative pressure she obtained, just roughly a year later, she died of cancer when I was ten. Moreover, due to the passport and monetary difficulties, my father could not come back, nor I could go abroad; so I was all alone.   When I tell my story about this point, my audiences would say things like “I’m so sorry to hear that” or “Dude, you must have or develop an adamant and mature nature to live a life like that since then. You are such a man.”  By saying this, they have already missed the point.

            It was the love from the kinship which supported and protected me after my mother passed away.  Without my kin, how could I possibly live by myself in a condition that has nothing to eat and nowhere to live?  It was my grandparents who provided a comfortable room for me to live. It was them who cook for me and took care of me daily.  Also, my other relatives: uncles and aunts, they usually gave me money and take me to shopping mall to buy new clothes and shoes, and even a new computer.  Moreover, it was my cousins who would like to spend time with me and chat with me.  It was my kin who raised me up, and took an extremely good care of me.  They used their love to fill up my broken heart.  Thus, this is my life and my world: A world filled with kinship love, and without these love, I would not be here today.  They saved me.

            Once upon a time, I watched a TV show which is about elephants.  It describes the elephant herds, especially the female elders, usually aunts, will take care the little orphan elephants, until they grew older and stronger.  Once upon a time, I was an orphan elephant, and the herd and its love, was my whole world.

Sakuntala and Huan Zhu Ge Ge

      The drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is about a tortuous and undulatory love story between a beautiful ascetic woman named Sakuntala and the king Dusyanta.  The descriptive language which is used in the drama highlights the story and makes impact more lively.

      The descriptive language used in Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is remarkable and efficiently provides a very lovely and vivid atmosphere for the play.  When Dusyanta first sees Sakuntala, he is amazed by her incomparable beauty; because of the very well expressed description which is used in the book, I started to see images of Sakuntala in my mind. As an example “her lips are fresh red buds, her arms are tendrils, impatient youth is poised to blossom in her limbs.”  This kind of description is very suitable for the moment, and it is certainly making the audiences sense the scents of love.  Other than the descriptive language, I also discovered it is very interesting that there is another story in Chinese culture which is similar to this one. 

      In the ancient time, there were four great civilizations, China, Egypt, India, as well as Mesopotamia (Babylon), which were the most flourishing and well-developed regions compared to other places in the world contemporarily.  Moreover, since the Ancient India and China were so close together, they somewhat influenced and integrated with each other in certain domains, such as in religion and literature. Like the last comparison Dan and Cheng illustrated between Ramayana and Journey to the West, in these two stories, they both had a very interesting, critical and powerful character that looks like a monkey: Hanuman and Sun Wu Kong.  About this story, the “twin story” I found in Chinese literature is called Huan Zhu Ge Ge (in English is translated as “Princess Pearl”)

      In the play of Huan Zhu Ge Ge, there are many similarities with this drama.  The princess (Huan Zhu Ge Ge)’s mother is named Xia Yu He, and like Sakuntala, they both bore a child for the king, and they both violated some rules or norms (Xia Yu He is lower class Han People and the emperor is Manchu, considered as the Son of Heaven, and these two definitely cannot have any relations, not even sex). The king and emperor are both gentle and charming, and later they both separate with their women; also, the king and emperor both have left some “souvenirs” that can bring back their memories about the past with their women: Sakuntala has the ring, and Xia Yu He has the folding fan and a poem from the Chinese emperor (Qian Long Emperor).   Also in the starting scene in both stories, the king and emperor enter the play when they are hunting; and even more coincidentally, they are both hunting a buck! However, the main differences are that in the Chinese story, Xia Yu He had already died several years before, and she never gets a chance to meet with the emperor again. Huan Zhu Ge Ge is a story which is based on the journey of the princess Pearl to reunite with her father, and it is also based on the love stories between her and her soul mate. In contrast, Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection,is simply about the reunion and love between Sakuntala and the king.  Beyond the similarities and the differences, there is one quote that can use to summarize these two stories: “All shall be well. Jack shall have Jill.”

                     

For more information about the Chinese Play Huan Zhu Ge Ge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Huanzhu

Men Vs. Women

            In the past few weeks, we have read stories and poems from many different regions in various times in history, and many of them describe one or a series of dramatic battles, such as the ancient Mesopotamian poem Gilgamesh and the Indian poem Bhagavad-Gita. However, the battle described in the Greek drama Lysistrat is not between man and God nor man and his kin, but between men and women. More precisely, the story is about how (Lysistrata leads) women in Athens and Sparta overcome the men’s obstacles and social norms (rules) to pursue their rights and needs, and finally, bring peace between the two cities.

            For this drama, I did a little research on what a traditional Spartan and Athenian woman was like.  Sparta was considered to be a warrior civilization, and the class of women had a relatively high standard compared to many other ancient civilizations.  Women in Sparta were allowed to have education; they could learn fighting skills to protect themselves, and they had more freedom in their society.  However, the norms were quite different in the ancient Athenian civilization.  Women were powerless minors that barely prior to the slaves: They could not own properties; they were not educated, and their obligation was to bear children, serve their husband, and do some sewing jobs.  This recalls the status of ancient Chinese women: They were as powerless as the Athenian women, and they were treated more like personal property that belonged to their husband rather than as a wife by modern standards.   However, Chinese women never took a stand before their men to declare or pursue their rights or needs like the Athenian and Spartan women, whose men of course, were outraged about women’s “rebellion.”

            In the play, the men think that women are weak and tiny, and only men are the representatives of strength and power. They are acting quite tough, well, at least before the Koryphaios of men has failed his demonstration of snaring the Koryphaios of women’s neck.  Even though all the men are saying things like “no fancy grappling with these grannies,” the woman still wins the tussle when the Koryphaios of men tries to snare her.  Then, the role changes after that: It is the women’s turn to show that they are as powerful as the men can be.  Sarcastically, on women’s side, they also have some issues.  The First, Second and Third Woman all have different kinds of excuses to avoid the battle with the men, and I think it illustrates that many women are naturally afraid of trouble (battle) and lacking confidence because they have never experienced things like that nor have been taught to do so.  I can tell that it is a harsh battle for both sides.

            After I read the conflicts in the story, I think the men versus women issue is similar to a question we might have asked when we were young: Does the egg appear first or the chicken?  Obviously, whether it is chicken or egg, they cannot be separated from each other because there is a strong bond of existence in between.  This also applies to whether men should reign over women, or women reign over men.  In my opinion, there is no win or lose because they cannot live without each other, and they need each other as their essence of life.  In the end of the story, the war between two cities has stopped, and wives and husbands’ reunions have drawn a happy ending to the story. Therefore, to the question about who should rule over the other is: They should work together equally, and in harmony. 

Candle vs. Firework

After I read this tragic Greek drama Antigone, I felt that this is actually a very good story that had many meaningful perspectives behind it.  In this drama, it mentions about the perspectives of what is mean to be loyalty to a country/city, what action will consider being treasonous, and the king Creon’s opinion about how money can lead to evil action.  There are many great thoughts that coming from this drama, and what I interested in is two types of behavior, or say attitude towards to our life: to be like a candle or firework. 

            The background of drama Antigone is based on a city called Thebes, and from the conversation between Antigone and her sister Ismene, we know that their brother have killed each other in the battle; one fought for the city of Thebes, and another considered to be a traitor who fought for the enemy of Thebes.  Also in the conversation about whether they should ignore the law and bury the brother who died as a traitor, or just leave it because the king strictly prohibits anyone to bury the body, Antigone and Ismene present two different life attitudes, which I may represent as “firework and candle.”  Antigone’s attitude and opinion is that as a sister, she have to bury both of her brothers regardless whether they are honored or dishonored; she willing to do it because she thinks that it is her obligation to do as a family member.  Also, she indicates that even if she will be putting in death penalty for bury the body, she still thinks that it is a great honor to do so, and her death will be a glory.  Antigone’s attitude is like a firework, strong, unconstrained, shine brightly, but it won’t last long. Antigone will do regardless about the law, but follow what is truly right in her heart; she’s not afraid of deathly restrictions, but only focuses on her loyalty for her family, and it is her glory to do so.  Compare to Antigone, her sister Ismene’s attitude is more legally fit into her society.   She is afraid of death, she want to be obedient to the king, and she does not think Antigone’s idea is good.  Ismene’s characteristic is more like a candle, mild, submissive, and it can last long.

            In my perspective, to be like a firework, we have to have lots of courage, and firmly solid faith to things that we insist on, and it is never easy to be one.  Most of the time, we are ordinary people like candles, peaceful, mild, obedient to the manmade laws and certain society norms in our life.  The question is, when one day we realize that the law or society goes wrong and unfair, will we have the courage to take a stand and fight against it, like Antigone? Or should we choose to adopt it and let it be? Fireworks’ strong, unconstrained beauty or candles’ mild, long last life is what we have to choose to be.

What Are The Elements That In Our Action?

In this week, I read the Sanskrit poem Bhagavad-Gita, also known as the Song of the Lord.  This poem contains great philosophical ideas that are so endurable, powerful and it has influenced Indian society for thousands of years.  There are many of the philosophical perspectives within this poem, such as the rule of reincarnation, the rigid of the reincarnation order, discipline and duty etc.  However, among all those fascinating perspectives, the one towards to humans’ actions, which in The Second Teaching, from section 47 to 51 (Krishna’s words to Arjuna, trying to persuade him to fight), is interesting, critical and that idea is free from the religion in my point of view.

 In section 47, it initially states that our actions should not bind with the consequences, and in the ensuing section 48, it complements that rather than focusing on the consequences, our actions should follow the discipline. The discipline is the neutral balanced manner between failure and success.  Section 49 to 50 basically describes that men become pitiful if their motives of the action are influenced by the consequences, instead of from their understanding of the discipline (it is neither failure and success, nor good and evil). In order to do that, they need to be rational and wise.  In fact, this idea is similar with a famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant’s moral theory.  In Kant’s moral theory, he indicates that morality only exists when one’s action’s motivation come from a good will, which contains an obligation/discipline that has moral worth; and one does something only for the sake of the right thing itself, regardless of anything else (such as consequences, self-interests, experiences, education, etc).  Kant’s explanation to his idea is that if we do things do not meet the requirements he mentioned before, than we are not doing the right thing out of our very pure heart, and our mind are not free from desires(or any personal things), nor our decision or action will be considered free.  Coincidentally, in the section 51, the poem also indicates that if we are wise enough to “relinquish the fruit born of action,” we will be “freed from these bonds of rebirth,” and can “reach a place beyond decay.” 

This is something that we rarely thought about in our daily life, isn’t it? When we do things, it almost impossible that not to think of the consequences or reactions that would following after our decisions or actions; and in modern perspective, our motives of action should always have a reward or a punishment behind it, rather than thinking what is our firm duty/discipline, and that is why we are so easy to bind up with things in our life. 

Some Thoughts About Ramayana(Group A Assignment).

After I read Ramayana, I have to admit that in this poem which done by the ancient Indians thousands years ago, is fantastically well written, very interesting to read, and when I think about the story and compare it to our modern life, there are some thoughts that popping into my mind.

The first thought I had is about suicide. When Hanuman feels stressed out that he thinks that he cannot complete the mission of finding Sita, Hanuman wants to kill himself for his failure. However, Hanuman subdues that negative thinking with more reasonable responsibilities and a meaningful quote, “the wise ones say that suicide is the root of many evils, and that if one lives one is sure to find what one seeks.”  I was impressed and totally agree with this idea that the Indian people already thought about thousands years ago.  For my perspective, every life (especially for human) has its individual goal for living.  Murder might be the doomful faith for one, but suicide is just unreasonable failure of life. As human beings, we have to think what we do for our life, and we have to be responsible for who we are.  Suicide is a quick escape from the destructive situation, but the consequences follows the suicide would be worse than before because it is a failure for that responsibility.  Moreover, in many other religion also considered suicide is a sinful thing to do, such as in the Divine Law in the Bible of Christian.  Thus, I think that for the minimum and basic goal for living is to keep living or be alive, and even a heroic suicide really cannot be considered as a successful living example.

After life and death, I found another thought about one of the most important and also the greatest emotion of human: love.  The love between Sita and Rama is very touching.  When Rama is trying his best to get his beloved Sita back, Sita shows us an absolute faith to her husband Rama.  There is a funny, but rather more sarcastically quote which says “Every man and woman will cheat on their spouse, it just the matter of how magnificent the attraction is.” This simply means, if the attraction to us is powerful enough, we will cheat on our spouse because we cannot resist the attraction.  However, in Sundara 18-26, after the demon Ravana consistently requesting Sita many seductive attractions to be his wife, and all his other wives will be her servants; reasonable facts that his has unbeatable power in all three world and her husband has no way to find her or save her; also threat her to become his wife within one year or he will eat her for dinner. After all, Sita still hold her purity and faith to her husband, and in the end, Rama successfully saves her and they both live in a happy life.  It is such a happy ending story, but I has changed my mind about man and woman’s faithfulness.  One will cheat on his/her spouse because he/she does not love his/her spouse enough(or maybe it cannot be qualified as love), true love will never turn their back on each other, like Sita and Rama.  No matter how low the chance is, and how hard the situation gets, he never gives up hope for finding Sita.  For Sita, as a powerless normal woman, surrounds and threats by Ravana and those demonesses, she still refused to be Ravana’s wife no matter how good the condition is or how bad her situation and consequence gets(even it risks her life!).  Their faith for each other is creating a strong bond for their love, and it is the true love I considered.  What is love? I think Sita and Rama have taught me a good lesson today.  I will end my post with another quote heard from one of my friend: “if two holds each others’ hands and take a walk for one day, they are impassionate; if two holds each others’ hands and take a walk for a year, they are dating; if two holds each others’ hands and take a walk for ten years, they are relatives; if two holds each others’ hands and take a walk for fifty years, it is called love.

Book I, The Book Of (about) Study.

Analects, another very well-known and influential work existed in the history of China. Compare to the previous reading about the Classic of Poetry’s romance and reflection of the norms of the ancient society, the Analects is intended to teach people the thought of Confucianism, which also educate people the rules or the ideas of how to be wiser, thoughtful, and living in a more meaningful life.   Analects have twenty chapters, and each chapter has its own subtitle; the book I focus on is Book I, the Book of (about) Study. The reason why the English version uses the Roman numerals follow after each book instead of using a proper subtitle is because the Analects’ subtitle was named in a very strange way, which makes the translation version impossible or irrational to follow its naming rule.  So, the Chinese version Analects’ naming rule was that each chapter got its name after the first two or three words of the master Confucius’ lecture within the first section of that chapter.  It is very strange and unique so that is very hard for the translated version to keep up and also make sense.

The Book of Study, which is the Book I, has total of sixteen sections, and there are only two of them has been selected in our text book. The reason why Analects are so important and popular in Chinese society is because it already becomes part of our language.  It seems deservedly so, but the Analects was written in old style of Chinese, and most of the words and characters is very different compare to the modern Chinese that we spoke; in other words, if I meet with Confucius right now, even we both considered to be Chinese and speak Chinese, we still cannot understand each other. We need translation between old Chinese and new Chinese, just like translation needed between Chinese and English.  However, because of the great influences of the Analects, in modern Chinese, we actually are using some original sentences or phrases that come from the Analects directly, and they can be understand and make perfect sense (it is like we use the figure of speech in English).  Therefore, not only for the behavior and thought education, but also for the language, Analects are becoming parts of our modern Chinese.  

In China, we studied the Book of Study from the Analects, and I very much liked the first section, and luckily, it has been selected in our book. In the first section, it seems to have three questions, but it is actually giving us three ideas. The first one is telling that when we studying and learning something, we feel happy because we know better and more than before; however, it is also a great pleasure when we reviewing or practicing what we have learned because that is how we know if the knowledge has or has not became our own stuff. The second one is telling us when we meet a friend comes from far away, it is a great pleasure to do so.  Well, the friend not only means the people we know, but also means that person can be anyone or stranger we do not know, but he must have the same interest, same goal, or similar personality as us, so we can get along nicely and it will eventually becomes a pleasure. And for the third one, Confucius is very likely telling a story about himself. He had travelled many places and tried to teach his ideas, but no one had ever understood him or appreciated his works, they have treated him terribly instead.  However, Confucius did not ever blame them, because a gentleman should not be mad or hate someone who does not understand his idea.

In the section 11, Confucius is telling an idea of being filial piety.  To determine whether a man is or is not a good son, is to initially look at what his perspective in his mind and his goals are when his father is alive, and then after his father passed away, we look at whether he changes or maintains his thoughts and actions in a few years (the “three” in the text is also means “a few” here).  In other words, in Confucius’ perspective, a good son should have his mind settled and act(behave) consistently even after his father is dead because it is a respect of what the father has told the son in his life about what he should think and what he should do.

Here is a picture of Confucius (Kong Zi in Chinese), by the way, Confucius is from the same province in China as me(Shan Don Province).

Hey Girl, Do Not Wait Under The Plum Tree Anymore!

This week we assign to read the ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry, and finally, I find something that I have a bit of knowledge on. The Classic of Poetry is called Shi Jing in Chinese, and it is a collection of ancient poems starting from Zhou Dynasty. When I was in middle school in China, my Chinese class’s curriculum had a few lessons about the poems that are selected from the Classic of Poetry. The poem “Fishhawk” was a very famous one which I have learned in Chinese, however, the poem “Plums Are Falling” is more interesting to me because it describes a girl who lived in a society that so different from our modern world and her thoughts about seeking her love. In ancient time, China was a very closed minded and feudalism country, and it had many weird rules and traditions which respected and agreed by all citizens. In poem “Plums Are Falling,” it demonstrates a problematic tradition about females. Any females in the old time, especially maiden girls, they are living in a very closed and private life in order to protect their purity. Unmarried girls usually stayed in their own living room all day long, and if they had to go out on the street, they could not wear short skirt or short shirts. No matter how hot the weather was, the only body parts that they did not necessarily have to put cover or clothes on were their hands and faces. Girl’s bodies are sickly virgin and strict for people. For some extreme examples, if an unmarried girl accidentally to be seen of the other body parts other than the hands and face or she touched by a man, then she had already lost her virginity, and the best way to deal with this situation for that girl was to marry with that man. Moreover, the closed minded society not only restricted for their appearances, but also for females’ minds. Their mind and heart had to be faithful to the family and especially for her husband if they were married. For the maidens, they had to restrain their heart for love, and control their emotions for wanting fall in love with the man they like; it is simply because most of the time they could not decide which man they are going to marry. Moreover, if it was before marriage, girls could not show any of the emotions which deal with “like”, “love” to any man because those emotions would also considered to be wrong and they had lost their virginity mentally.

In this poem, in the end of spring, there is a maiden girl who looks at the plums falling from the tree. It is a metaphor for showing that the time flies, the best time of the year almost passes by; here also indicates that as a woman, her youth is also passing by quickly. The number uses in the poem are not the actual number, in ancient China, number seven and up usually means a lot of, and number three and less means a bit of; or the number used in the poem means an approximately percentage number. While the number of fruit on the tree becoming less and less, the maiden urging for her love becoming stronger and stronger. In the beginning, she requests that she wants a nice looking one; when there only had thirty percent of the fruits left on the tree, she wants a mature one. Lastly, when she notices that almost all of the fruits have fallen on the ground, she only hopes that she could marry to a man, any man. I think this is kind of sad, she has wasted her time and youth on waiting and hoping her love to come, but she never dares to approach to one. Finally, after she becomes old, like the plum tree without any plums, she is still single and lonely. This poem is very irony to me, the girl had many choices, and the society and the traditional rules prohibited her from pursuing her love. It is a tragic love poem; while it shows the girl’s aspiration for love, it demonstrates the girl’s sorrow for the lost of her youth.

Here is a picture of a chinese girl cosplay the girl in the poem under the plum tree.

River!River!River!(Ancient Egyptain Poem 2nd edition)

        When I hear people mention about ancient Egyptians, the pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, and their hieroglyphic words in the tombs are the primary things that popping into my mind.  However, after I read some of the ancient Egyptian poems, I have a better understanding about the Egyptians’ perspectives towards to their religion, belief, and maybe their romanticism. 

        I like the poem called “Akhenaten’s ‘Hymn to the Sun’” simply because this poem is not only describes how important the sun or sun god to the ancient people, but also mentions about essential factors of the Neil River to them.  While the sun shines its brightness, heat and lively rays upon the land which in order to protect people from cold, darkness, fear, and even death, the Neil River preserves and nourishes people with its streams.  When I read this poem, it recalls my memories about many poems and ancient articles that I have studied in China that are about rivers.  In my opinion, I think that we should have appreciated the rivers more than we did to the sun.  Indeed, without the sun and its light and heat, nothing would appear on earth; however, when the sun did rotate and provide day and night to every place on earth, it was the rivers who nurtured the old civilization to be formed.  In China, there was Yellow River, and we call it our Mother River thousands years long; in mid-east Asia, there was a prosperous and fascinating region known as the Mesopotamia, and it was form by two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates River; in India, the Indus River was their civilization’s seedbed.  Back to thousands years earlier, the river can provide food(fishes), drinking water, agriculture and protection to the ancient people, and they are all the very essence of life, and it was almost impossible to life in the region far from the river.  Well, after all, every region as its own tradition.  Ancient Egyptians thought that it was the sun (sun god) who should take 90% of the credits because they believed that their sun god was the creator of everything.

        When I actually look into this poem, I feel that it was a very outstanding work and I really like it.  The poem “Akhenaten’s ‘Hymn to the Sun’” contains many poetic elements such as metaphor, simile, and symbolism.  Metaphor for example, in the first section of the poem, it describes the sun (they think that actually is the God) rises by using many words such as “majestic,” “awesome,” “bedazzling,” “exalted” and “overlord” to emphasize the overwhelming power the sun(God) has.  Moreover, it also uses simile and symbolism to show people’s fear about the darkness, which after the sun (God) goes away during the night.  For example, in the second section, it describes “darkness like death (use of simile),” and “he who created all things lies low in his tomb” symbolize that without the sunlight, the land is very much like a tomb.  Later in the poem, when it mentions about the flood god Hapy, there is no words to blame Hapy or Akhenaten.  Instead, they think that it is “to preserve and nourish the People.”  I assume they realized that how important the river is to them, or maybe they this it was just their ultimate God’s plan after all.

Gilgamesh(updated and modified)(2)

        The epic tale of Gilgamesh is based on a real person, who was the king of Uruk. After I read the story, I consider that this is a very interesting and allegorical story. Even though the story of Gilgamesh was written thousands years ago, it still can represent many features or characteristics of human beings lived in the modern time; also, the story teaches people meaningful lessons about life.
        In the beginning of the story, Gilgamesh appeared to be the strongest man in the world, and he ended up to be a tyranny: he can take whatever he wants, and pay no attention to the people in his country. This is exactly reflected a negative manner or behavior of human, which is that if someone gains an unbeatable power, it would make (s)he to become very arrogant, self-centered and do thing careless about others. However, later on in the story, Gilgamesh’s behavior and personality had changed. The first change of Gilgamesh was after the exciting battle with Enkidu, who was sent by the Gods, and raised by animals, they became devoted friends. Then, Gilgamesh started to contribute and rule the country with harmony, and he was no longer considered as a tyranny anymore, but more like a hero. Furthermore, after Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed the Humbaba, Gilgamesh has gained more fame, even to the world of gods. Basically Gilgamesh has changed from a powerful tyranny to a very well-known and beloved heroic king. I consider that it is a allegory that not everyone was born perfect, everyone might had some dirty spot in history, however, it is never too late to change, and it is never too late to be good again. 
        After Enkidu was cursed to death, Gilgamesh changed again; he constantly worried about his death and tried hard to become immortal. However, his failure left a meaningful lesson to us: there is nothing will last forever, the only thing that matters is we should enjoy, treasure and appreciate the moment we spend today. This allegorical ending remind me a quote from the movie “Kung Fu Panda”: “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the ‘present.’”

Something New About Ancient Egyptians

When I hear people mention about ancient Egyptians, the pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, and their hieroglyphic words in the tombs are the primary things that popping into my mind. However, after I read these ancient Egyptian poems, I have a better understanding about the Egyptians’ perspectives towards to their religion, belief, and maybe their romanticism.
The poem “Akhenaten’s ‘Hymn to the Sun’” is a twelve sectional open form poem. This poem contains many poetic elements such as imagery, simile, and symbolism. For example, in the first section of the poem, it describes the sun (they think that actually is the God) rises by using many words such as “majestic,” “awesome,” “bedazzling,” “exalted” and “overlord” to emphasize the overwhelming power the sun(God) has. Moreover, it also uses simile and symbolism to show people’s fear about the darkness, which after the sun (God) goes away during the night. For example, in the second section, it describes “darkness like death (use of simile),” and “he who created all things lies low in his tomb” symbolize that without the sunlight, the land is very much like a tomb. In this poem, I also understand that how respectful and devotional the people to their gods. In section nine and ten, it mentions about the flood god Hapy, but there is no word to blame Hapy or Akhenaten. Instead, they think that it is “to preserve and nourish the People.” I assume they think that it was god’s plan after all.
The poem “Love Songs” is very interesting to me not because it contains much adult information, but I am so amazed that the openness and the romanticism it gets thousands years ago. The imagery uses are very dramatic and effective. For example, “her eyebrows, gleaming darkly, marking eyes which dance and wander,” and “to young breasts firm in the bouncing light which shimmers that blueshadowed sidefall of hair.” When I read these lines, I cannot stop myself to graph her image in my head, it is such an outstanding description of it.

I really like these ancient poems written by the Egyptians, it is very unique and well-written, and most importantly, it give me a better understanding about their beliefs, religion, and their romanticism.

Gilgamesh

The Epic of Gilgamesh is known as the earliest literature work of human beings which engraved on the stone tablets. This ancient epic poem is not only has very important influence to the people who lived thousands years ago in the Mesopotamia, but also tremendously contributed to modern study of the people’s beliefs and thoughts, and also their societies in the region of the Mesopotamia. The epic tale of Gilgamesh is based on a real person, who was the king of Uruk. After I read the story, I consider that this is a story which very interesting, meaningful and allegorical to me; and within the story, it represents many features of human beings who lived in thousands years ago that has no differ compare to us in the modern day. In the beginning of the story, Gilgamesh appeared to be the strongest man in the world, so he ended up being a tyranny: he can take whatever he wants, and pay no attention to the people in his country. However, after an exciting battle, he met his devoted friend Enkidu who was raised by animals, they started to contribute and rule the country with harmony. In the story, Enkidu used to be wild, but after he went to the city, he became civilized. This is an allegory that shows people live back then believe that civilized has the meaning of living in a big city. After Gilgamesh and Enkidu killed the Humbaba, Gilgamesh has gained even more fame, even to the world of gods. Basically Gilgamesh has changed from a powerful tyranny to a very well-known hero. I consider that it is a allegory that not everyone was born perfect, everyone might had some dirty spot in history, however, it is never too late to change, and it is never too late to be good again. Later on, after Enkidu was cursed to death, Gilgamesh tried hard, but failed to become immortal. This is an allegory that shows people always wanted to live forever, but after all, we have realized that nothing will last forever.