The Classics

​The Classics

"They were concerned with making moral choices and using reason to make sense of a chaotic world.

How does culture influence your goals?

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​Essential Question

​Learning Objectives

After an initial reading about Ancient and Classical Literature, students will be able to identify and describe characteristics of this literary focus.

Text Talk Questions

​Highlight the answers in your textbook.

1. How did mythology influence ancient literature?

2. What was the intended purpose of ancient and classic literature?

3. What is an allegory?

​Vocabulary

1. Philosophy - the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.

2. Epic poem - a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds.

3. ideal - an ultimate standard of perfection; a model of excellence.

4. Allegory - an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe a subject.

5. formal - symmetrical or highly organized.

6. restrained - subtle, not excessively showy.

Multiple Choice

The following passage (paragraph 6) mainly...

"The artists, poets, and philosophers of the ancient and classical periods valued reason or rational thinking over emotion or passion. They sought to achieve the ideal or most perfect form in their works, whether it be a sculpture of the idealized human form or an epic poem about an ideal hero. The pursuit of the ideal can be seen through the famous sculpture, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, which shows the goddess of Victory braced against a strong wind as she stands on a ship. Poets and artists communicated these values in both form and content. For example, epic poems and tragedies may have episodes of passion and action, but these dramatic moments are always balanced out by a clear theme about the importance of rational behavior and moral actions. In their lectures, philosophers argued about how to attain these ideals in an imperfect world. Architects built structures that were perfectly balanced and symmetrical."

• provides the origin stories of ancient Greece’s first philosophers

• explains that rationality and order were highly valued in the ancient and classical periods

• suggests that ancient and classical artists were obsessed by perfection to an unhealthy degree

• explains why rationality was so important to artists in the ancient and classical periods

Multiple Choice

The passage below (paragraph 1) adds to the development of the text mainly by ...

"The global nature of our lives today is not terribly different from life in the ancient and classical worlds. We certainly can travel and communicate faster than people did 2,500 years ago, but even back then people were telling similar kinds of stories, striving for similar ideals, and asking themselves similar questions about the nature of being human. Just as the classical world of Ancient Greece had epics like the Odyssey, we have stories of modern day heroes and heroines who embark on journeys or battles of their own in order to pursue an ideal. We witness these pursuits in films like Star Wars and Spider-Man, as well as in texts like Divergent and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, the story of Cheryl Strayed’s journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail."

• creating a connection between today’s world, and the ancient and classical worlds

• proving that contemporary literature is directly inspired by ancient and classical literature

• explaining that people today face the same challenges that people in ancient times did

• suggesting that throughout history, people have always tried to be perfect

Multiple Choice

Based on the text, which of the following examples most closely represents an allegory?

• A woman compares a beautiful baby to a wild rose.

• A playwright authors a play that humorously exposes society’s hypocrisy.

• A teacher tells a story that appears to be about two wolves, but is really about good and evil.

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

What is most closely the central idea of the passage below (paragraph 5)

"The ancient and classical worlds were global places. In the mid 300s BCE., Alexander the Great expanded Greek influence as far east as India and Persia. At its height, the Roman empire included Britain, most of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Each empire included people who spoke different languages and practiced different customs and religions. As a result, many texts from different regions of the world during this period have surprisingly similar themes and structures. The parables of Jesus, like fables of the Greek writer Aesop, were simple tales with clear morals or lessons for listeners. The epics of Greece, Rome, and India all featured gods and goddesses intermingling with the human heroes, important battles, and a focus on the pursuit of ideals. Even though Greco-Roman and Indian epics like the Odyssey and the Rámáyana were written in completely different places, they both take place in a mythological past and involve gods populating the human earth. They describe the journeys of heroes who face battle, turmoil, and the prospect of victory. These themes can be seen in Battle at Lanka, which portrays an important battle featured in the Rámáyana."

• The passage explains why ancient India is more similar to ancient Greece than people realize.

• The passage suggests that ancient Indian writers plagiarized Homer’s Odyssey.

• The passage describes how ancient Greece came to colonize India and Persia.

• The passage explains the global, interconnected reality of the ancient and classical worlds.

Multiple Choice

According to the text, which of the following best describes the purpose of ancient and classical forms of literature

• They were intended to entertain and distract the people who read them from their daily troubles.

• They were intended to be solved like puzzles so that whoever solved them could prove their intelligence.

• They were intended to teach the people who read them, so they could make more moral choices.

• They were intended to frighten the people who read them into good behavior.

Multiple Choice

According to the text, Homer’s Odyssey is best described as a(n)...

• allegory

• epic poem

• lyric poem

• ode

Match

Match each term to its definition.

• The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence

• A standard of perfection; a principle to be aimed at

• Long, serious, poetic narrative about a significant event, often featuring a hero

• Symmetrical or highly organized

• A symbolical narrative

philosophy

ideal

epic poem

formal

allegory

• philosophy

• ideal

• epic poem

• formal

• allegory

Open Ended

Explain the characteristics of an epic poem.

Open Ended

How does the purpose of most ancient and classical literature connect to or reflect the ideals of those time periods?