Let’s dive head-first into the Aegean Sea, swim around in the waters once swum by Achilles and Odysseus, root around in sacrifices and altars, the occasional slaughter of beloved Patroclus, the blood-thirsty murder of Hector and also a host of would-be-suitors of Penelope (I won’t lie, that becomes a bloody bloody mess, that one) before swimming over to the Ionic and Tyrrhenian Seas, chasing, if you will, on the heels of that squirrelly Trojan, Aeneas, who, weirdly enough, finds his way to what we know as Italy and becomes the founder of Rome well before Odysseus even makes it back to the shores of his beloved Ithaca. Go figure. While there, we’ll revisit the ancient myths of horrifying abuse suffered by ancient Greek women at the hands of gods and demi-gods in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, because it is useful to pair everything with a stark and tragic reminder of the transformational resilience of the least powerful among us when suffering trauma.
It’s the Greeks; it’s the Romans; it’s gonna be epic.
Learning Outcomes:
*An understanding of the motifs, themes, and tropes set up and used most frequently in epic poetry.
*An understanding of the ways in which narrative structure of the epic can be seen repeated in contemporary
narratives.
*A consideration of how the observations of people, relationships, desires, manipulations of these epic poets
writing their epic poems might still hold relevance today
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites:
Students should submit up to four pages of a critical writing sample via this form by May 9, 2024. Students will be notified of their acceptance into the course by May 14, 2024.
Corequisites: All students enrolled in 4000-level literature courses must attend campus-held literature events, including Literary Evenings, Poetry at Bennington, and the Ben Belitt Distinguished Visiting Writer reading, which take place Wednesday evenings.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
T/F 4:10PM - 6:00PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Course Frequency: Every 2-3 years
Categories: 4000 , All courses , Four Credit , Fully In-Person , Literature
Tags: classical literature , critical analysis , epic poetry