western literature week11

Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), often stylized as e e cummings (in the style of some of his poems—see name and capitalization below), was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. He wrote approximately 2,900 poems; two autobiographical novels; four plays and several essays. He is remembered as an eminent voice of 20th-century English literature.

Lame(跛腳)queer(怪物) Peculiar adjective 1. strange; queer; odd: peculiar happenings. 2. uncommon; unusual: the peculiar hobby of stuffing and mounting bats. 3. distinctive in nature or character from others. 4. belonging characteristically (usually followed by to): an expression peculiar to Canadians. 5. belonging exclusively to some person, group, or thing: the peculiar properties of a drug. 6. Astronomy. designating a star or galaxy with special properties thatdeviates from others of its spectral type or galaxy class. noun 7. a property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to aperson. 8. British. a particular parish or church that is exempted from thejurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop in whose diocese it lies and isgoverned by another. 9. peculiars, Also called arbitraries. British Printing. special charactersnot generally included in standard type fonts, as phonetic symbols,mathematical symbols, etc.

scotch verb to prevent something from being believed or being done: Her remarks were intended to scotch rumours of imminent job losses. noun a type of whisky (= a strong alcoholic drink) made in Scotland: a bottle of Scotch I'll have a Scotch (= a glass of Scotch).

Patronage noun 1. the financial support or business provided to a store, hotel, or thelike, by customers, clients, or paying guests. 2. patrons collectively; clientele. 3. the control of or power to make appointments to government jobs orthe power to grant other political favors. 4. offices, jobs, or other favors so controlled. 5. the distribution of jobs and favors on a political basis, as to  those whohave supported one's party or political campaign. 6. a condescending manner or attitude in granting favors, in dealing withpeople, etc.; condescension: an air of patronage toward his business subordinates. 7. the position, encouragement, influence, or support of a patron, astoward an artist, institution, etc.

	A chorus, in the context of Ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks.
	Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός , meaning "god from the machine". The term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to allow a story to continue when the writer has "painted himself into a corner" and sees no other way out, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or as a comedic device.
	Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC,a contemporary of Socrates. He is widely referred to as "The Father of History" (first conferred by Cicero); he was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation—specifically, by collecting his materials systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a historiographic narrative. The Histories is the only work which he is known to have produced, a record of his "inquiry" on the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Some of his stories were fanciful and others inaccurate; yet he states that he was reporting only what was told to him and was often correct in his information. Despite Herodotus' historical significance, little is known of his personal history.
	In Greek mythology, a satyr is one of a troop of ithyphallic male companions of Dionysus with goat-like features and often permanent erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but in 6th-century BC black-figure pottery human legs are the most common.  In Roman Mythology there is a concept similar to satyrs, with goat-like features: the faun, being half-man, half-goat, who roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing. Greek-speaking Romans often used the Greek term saturos when referring to the Latin faunus, and eventually syncretized the two.
	Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action", which is derived from "to do". The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division They are symbols of the ancient Greek Muses, Thalia, and Melpomene. Thalia was the Muse of comedy (the laughing face), while Melpomene was the Muse of tragedy (the weeping face). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics—the earliest work of dramatic theory.
	Epidaurus Theater, designed by Polykleitos, c. 330 BC, 14000 seats at a sacread area of Asklepios. Greek theatre or Greek Drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece between c. 600 and c. 200 BC.
	A melodrama is a dramatic or literary work in which the plot, which is typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Characters are often simply drawn, and may appear stereotyped.
	In Greek mythology, Medea is a sorceress who was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason abandons Medea when Creon, king of Corinth, offers his daughter Glauce. The play tells of Medea avenging her husband's betrayal by killing their children.
	In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the creator of the Labyrinth. Often depicted in art, Icarus and his father attempt to escape from Crete by means of wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus' father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun, when the wax in his wings melted and he fell into the sea. This tragic theme of failure at the hands of hubris contains similarities to that of Phaëthon.
	In Greek mythology, the labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur eventually killed by the hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it.
	Hubris describes a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous over-confidence. In its ancient Greek context, it typically describes behavior that defies the norms of behavior or challenges the gods, and which in turn brings about the downfall, or nemesis, of the perpetrator of hubris.
	Golden Eleece In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-hair winged ram, which was held in Colchis. The fleece is a symbol of authority and kingship. It figures in the tale of the hero Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest for the fleece by order of King Pelias, in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. Through the help of Medea, they acquire the Golden Fleece. The story is of great antiquity and was current in the time of Homer (eighth century BC). It survives in various forms, among which the details vary.
	Pelias was king of Iolcus in Greek mythology, the son of Tyro and Poseidon. His wife is recorded as either Anaxibia, daughter of Bias, or Phylomache, daughter of Amphion. He was the father of Acastus, Pisidice, Alcestis, Pelopia, Hippothoe, Amphinome, Evadne, Asteropeia, and Antinoe.
	The Argonauts were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War, around 1300 BC,accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, Argo, named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts" literally means "Argo sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe in the area.
	A solar deity (also sun god or sun goddess) is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios.
	Samson and Delilah , is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the Grossherzogliches (Grand Ducal) Theater on 2 December 1877 in a German translation.
	Samson Agonistes is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's Paradise Regain'd in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To Which Is Added / Samson Agonistes". It is generally thought that Samson Agonistes was begun around the same time as Paradise Regained but was completed after the larger work, possibly very close to the date of publishing, but there is no agreement on this.
	John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse. Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica (1644)—written in condemnation of pre-publication censorship—is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of free speech and freedom of the press.