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STUDENT : ALJUN BERNADEZ EMPERADO

(BSE-MATHEMATICS 4)
INSTRUCTOR : MR. FRANCIS HUE SALOMON
 MODULE 1

Lesson 1
Introduction to World Literature

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND EXERCISES

Present your own idea on the following.

1. What is Literature? (20 pts)

Answer :
Simply put, literature is a group of works of art made up of words. Most literature are
written,but some are passed down orally. Literature is typically defined as exceptionally
well-written works of poetry, drama, or narrative. Literature can also refer to imaginative
or creative writing that is evaluated for its artistic value.

2. Based on your own understanding, what is world literature? (20 pts)

Answer :
Based on my own understanding of what I’ve read and learned in the module, the
term "world literature" refers to the totality of all national literature as well as the
circulation of works beyond their country of origin. Moreover, world literature is the
cultural heritage of all humanity since in order to be considered world literature, it has to
speak to people of more than one nationality, hence it transcends borders.

PRACTICE TASK/ASSSSMENT

1. How does studying world literature help you as a student? (20 pts)
Answer :
Because it covers so many important themes for understanding globalization, the
study of world literature is a powerful tool for global studies. Literature from around the
world can show us how information is shared across cultures and nations. It sheds light
on how cultural artifacts change as they travel across languages and borders. It can also
help us understand how new media technologies can facilitate globalization by creating a
public space for the global transmission of literature and other information. Our
perspectives are enlarged when we study literature because we can learn about and
understand people who are different from us. On the other hand, we can come across
characters or poems with whom we really identify—it can be both exhilarating and
reassuring to learn that your precise thoughts and sentiments have been shared by
others. Literature teaches us to be sensitive to the whole range of human experience
and to consider this when making decisions in our daily lives as a result of these
influences.Academically, studying literature also helps us to refine our own writing skills
and expand our vocabularies.
ASSIGNMENT

Research on the Biblical literature and discover what the different literary forms present
in the said literature. Write your discoveries in sentence form.

Answer :
The Bible presents its unique message in a wide range of literary forms,
demonstrating its unity in diversity. The Bible's text is an aesthetically pleasing depiction
of human experience from a divine viewpoint. As we read, interpret, and seek to apply
the truths of Scripture, we must be careful not to overlook this artistic dimension, or we
will miss an important part of enjoying the Bible.

So, we will take a brief look at the literary forms found in the Biblical literature . Since
I am a servant of God and reading the Bible is one of my hobbies also, I can share what
literary forms I discovered in Biblical literature.
 Firstly, we all know that the Bible contains narrative throughout most of its books
since prophets wrote those books in the Bible basing on what the Holy Spirit showed
to them.
 On the other hand, the Old Testament is full of historical narrative and history is one
of the literary forms in Biblical literature.
 Then the Bible contains poetic literature, often found in the Old Testament in the
form of Hebrew poetry. These include books like Psalms (which are essentially a
bunch of songs) and the Song of Solomon (which is almost like a collection of love
letters where two people are expressing their feelings for one another).There are
also parts of other books of the Bible which include poetic elements such as in Isaiah
or Jeremiah.
 And, in wisdom literature, this includes books like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job.
Proverbs comprises of many wise sayings that offer advice for different types of
situations.
 Prophecy in the Bible often takes the form of oracles or visions. In these, the prophet
reveals hidden knowledge of God and His plans. Prophecy appears in many books
of the Old Testament.
 Literary forms such as gospel, oratory and epistle are also present in the Biblical
Literature.
 LESSON 2
Biblical Literature

LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND EXERCISES

1. Discuss why Job 28:12-28 keeps on explaining about the precious stone. (20
pts)

Answer :

In Job 28:12-19, here it speaks of wisdom and understanding, the knowing and
enjoying of God and ourselves. Its worth is infinitely more than all the riches in this world.
It is a gift of the Holy Spirit which cannot be bought with money. Let that which is most
precious in God's account, be so in ours. Job asks after it as one that truly desired to find
it, and despaired of finding it any where but in God; any way but by Divine revelation.
“But where can wisdom be found?” is Job’s key question in verses 12 and 20. To
answer his own question he states that it cannot be found among the living (verses
13-14). Job mentions gold five times(verse 15,16,17(2) ,19), silver once(verse 15), and
names seven different precious stones; yet none of these treasures individually, nor all of
them collectively, can purchase the wisdom of God. It is natural for people who do not
understand the importance of God’s Word to seek wisdom here on earth. Yet Job
said wisdom is not found there. No leader or group of leaders can produce enough
knowledge or insight to explain the totality of human experience. The ultimate
interpretation of who we are and where we are going must come from the Lord (verses
20-24). The fear of the Lord is a key theme in the book of Job. True wisdom begins with
the fear of the Lord which is stated in verse 28.

2. Do precious stones play an important role in the scripture we have discussed?

Why? (20 pts)

Answer :

Precious stones such as topaz, gold, pearls and sapphires are listed in the Bible and
have meanings of their own and these stones play vital and fascinating role in the Bible.
Precious stones, from the word itself are very precious and powerful stones, worn to
ward off evil. They have healing and medicinal powers, which protect us against the bad
effect of planets. They are known to boost the spiritual power of our body, keeping us
happy and healthy. If we just read the bible we can find what those precious stones
symbolized.
PRACTICE TASK/ASSSSMENT

Briefly explain the influence of biblical literature on western civilization

modern secular age. (50 pts)

Answer :

The most profound effect of biblical literature can be found in Western people's arts,
particularly their music and, in particular, their best poetry, theater, and creative fiction.
Novelists, playwrights, and poets who write simply as human beings, not as believers of
any religion, provide some of the most emotional and insightful interpretations of biblical
material—stories, themes, and characters. Scholars have attributed biblical influence to
two perspectives of the human condition that have become popular in Western literature.

ASSIGNMENT

1. Enumerate and explain the periods of Greek Literature.

Answer :

Greek literature, body of writings in the Greek language, with a

continuous history extending from the 1st millennium BC to the present day. Greek
literature has influenced not only its Roman neighbors to the west but also countless
generations across the European continent. Greek writers are responsible for the
introduction of such genres as poetry, tragedy, comedy, and western philosophy to the
world. These Greeks authors were born not only on the soil of their native Greece but
also in Asia Minor (Ionia), the islands of the Aegean, Sicily, and southern Italy.

THE PERIODS
The history of ancient Greek literature may be divided into three periods: Archaic (to
the end of the 6th century BC); Classical (5th and 4th centuries BC); and
Hellenistic and Greco-Roman (3rd century BC onward).

A. Archaic period, to the end of the 6th century BC

During the Archaic period, the poets' works were spoken - an outcome of an oral
tradition - delivered at festivals. A product of Greece's Dark Ages, Homer's epic
the Iliad centered on the last days of the Trojan War, a war initiated by the love of a
beautiful woman, Helen. It brought an array of heroes such as Achilles, Hector,
and Paris to generations of Greek youth. It was a poem of contrasts: gods and mortals,
divine and human, war and peace. Homer's second work, the Odyssey, revolved around
the ten-year “odyssey” of the Trojan War hero Odysseus and his attempt to return home.
While most classicists and historians accept that Homer actually lived, there are some
who propose his epics are the result of more than one author. Whether his or not,
Homer's works would one day greatly influence the Roman author Virgil and his Aeneid.
After Homer, lyric poetry - poetry to be sung - came into its own.There were many others
who ”wrote” during this period, among them were Aesop, Hesiod, and Sappho. The
noted storyteller Aesop may or may not be the great fabulist of the ancient world.
Professor and classicist D. L. Ashilman in his introduction to the book Aesop's Fables,
wrote, "Aesop may not be a historical figure but rather a name that refers to a group of
ancient storytellers." Convention claims that he was born a slave around 620 BCE in
Asia Minor. After he received his freedom, he traveled throughout Greece collecting
stories, including The Mischievous Dog, The Lion and the Mouse, and The Monkey as
King. These stories often ended (not always happily) with a moral such as honesty is the
best policy, look before you leap, heaven helps those who help themselves, and once
bitten, twice shy. Written down years after his death, Aesop's fables were among the first
printed works in vernacular English.
Another poet of the Archaic Period was Hesiod, the author of Theogony, a hymn
to Apollo's Muses. He has been called the father of didactic poetry. Like Homer, little is
known of his early life except that he came from Boeotia in central
Greece. Theogony told of the origins and genealogies of the gods, the kingdom of Zeus.
His others works include Works and Days, The Shield of Herakles, and Catalogue
of Women.
Lastly, one of the few female lyric poets of the period was Sappho, often called the
tenth Muse. Born on the Aegean island of Lesbos, her poems were hymns to the gods
and influenced such Romans poets as Horace, Catullus, and Ovid. Much of her poetry
remains in fragments or quoted in the works of others.

B. Classical Period (5th and 4th centuries BC)

Oral recitation of poetry, as well as lyric poetry, morphed into drama. The purpose of
drama was to not only entertain but also to educate the Greek citizen, to explore a
problem. Plays were performed in outdoor theaters and were usually part of a religious
festival. Along with a chorus of singers to explain the action, there were actors, often
three, who wore masks. Of the known Greek tragedians, there are only three for whom
there are complete plays: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Oddly, these are
considered among the great tragic writers of the world.
Aeschylus (c. 525 - c. 456 BCE) was the earliest of the three. Born
in Eleusis around 525/4 BCE, he fought at the Battle of Marathon against the Persian
invaders. His first play was performed in 499 BCE. His surviving works
include Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants (a play that beat out Sophocles in a
competition), Prometheus Bound, Oresteia. Part of the Oresteia trilogy, his most famous
work was probably Agamemnon, a play centering on the return of the Trojan War
commander to his wife Clytemnestra, who would eventually kill him. Most of Aeschylus's
plays were centered on Greek myth, portraying the suffering of man and the justice of the
gods. His works were among the first to have a dialogue between the play's characters.
Sophocles (c. 496 - c. 406 BCE) was the second of the great tragic playwrights. Of
his 120 plays performed in competition, only 20 were victorious, losing far too many to
Aeschylus. Only three of his seven surviving plays are complete. His most famous work,
part of a trilogy, is Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the King, a play written 16 years after first of
the three, Antigone, a play about Oedipus' daughter. The third in the series was Oedipus
at Colonus, relaying the final days of the blinded king. The tragedy of Oedipus centered
on a prophecy that foretold of a man who would kill the king (his father) and marry the
queen (his mother). Unknowingly, that man was Oedipus. However, the tragedy of the
play is not that he killed his father and married his mother but that he found out about it; it
was an exploration of the tragic character of a now blinded hero.

Euripides (c. 484 - 407 BCE), third great author of Greek tragedy is an Athenian.
Unfortunately, his plays - often based on myth - were not very successful at the
competitions; his critics often believe he was bitter about these losses. He was the
author of 90 plays, among which are Hippolytus, Trojan Women, and Orestes. Euripides
was known for introducing a second act to his plays, which were concerned with kings
and rulers as well as disputes and dilemmas. He died shortly after traveling
to Macedon where he was to write a play about the king's coronation. His
play Medea speaks of a bitter woman who took revenge against her husband by killing
her children.

Another playwright of the era was the Athenian author of Greek comedy,
Aristophanes (c. 450? - c. 386 BCE). Author of Old Comedy, his plays were satires of
public persons and affairs as well as candid political criticisms. Eleven of Aristophanes'
plays have survived along with 32 titles and fragments of others. His plays
include Knights, Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazusae, The Frogs, and The Clouds, a play that
ridiculed the philosopher Socrates as a corrupt teacher of rhetoric. His actors often wore
grotesque masks and told obscene jokes. Many of his plays had a moral or social lesson,
poking fun at the literary and social life of Athens.

C. Hellenistic and Greco-Roman (3rd century BC onward)

The Hellenistic period produced its share of poets, prose writers, and historians.
Among them were Callimachus, his student Theocritus, Apollonius Rhodius, and the
highly respected historian Plutarch. Unfortunately, like the previous eras, much of what
was written remains only in fragments or quoted in the works of others.
The poet Callimachus (310 – 240 BCE) was originally from Cyrene but migrated to
Egypt and spent most of his life in Alexandria, serving as a librarian under both Ptolemy
II and III. Of his over 800 books, 6 hymns, and 60 epigrams, only fragments remain. His
most famous work was Aetia (Causes), which revealed his fascination for the great
Greek past, concentrating on many of the ancient myths as well as the old cults and
festivals. His work heavily influenced the poetry of Catullus and Ovid's Metamorphoses.
His pupil Theocritus (315 – 250 BCE) originally from Syracuse also worked in the library
at Alexandria, producing a number of works of which only 30 poems and 24 epigrams
exist. He is said to be the originator of pastoral poetry. Like his teacher, his work
influenced future Roman authors such as Ovid. Apollonius Rhodius (born c. 295 BCE)
was, like the others, from Alexandria, serving as both a librarian and tutor. Historians are
unsure of the origin of the “Rhodius” attached to his name; some assume he lived for a
time in Rhodes. His major work was the four books of the Argonautica, a retelling of the
story of Jason's travels to retrieve the fabled Golden Fleece. And, like Callimachus and
Theocritus, his work influenced Catullus and Virgil.
Besides poetry and prose, the best-known playwright of the era, the Athenian
Menander (342 – 290 BCE), must be mentioned. Menander was a student of philosophy
and leading proponent of New Comedy, authoring over 100 plays,
including Dyscolus, Perikeiromene, and Epitrepontes. He was the master of suspense.
His plays were later adapted by the Roman authors Plautus and Terence.

The Hellenistic world produced a few notable historians, too. Polybius (200 -118
BCE) was a Greek who wrote on Rome's rise to power. Denounced as too friendly to
Rome, he was a proponent of Greek culture in Rome. Of his Histories, only the first five
books remain of the 40 written. Lastly, Plutarch (born c. 45 BCE) was one of the most
famous of the Greek historians. Originally from Chaeronea, he was a philosopher,
teacher, and biographer. Although he spent time in Egypt and Rome (where he taught
philosophy), he spent most of his life in his home city. Later in life, he served as a priest
at the oracle at Delphi. His most famous work Parallel Lives provided biographies of
Roman statesmen as well as such Greeks as Alexander, Lycurgus, Themistocles,
and Pericles. Unlike other histories, he chose not to write a continuous history but
concentrated on the personal character of each individual. He also wrote on ethical,
religious, political, and literary topics of the day.

In general, to fully understand and appreciate Greek literature one must separate it,
divide the oral epics from the tragedies and comedies as well as the histories from the
philosophies. Greek literature can be divided into distinct periods: Archaic, Classical,
and Hellenistic, which were all discussed. The literature of the Archaic era mostly
centered on myth; part history and part folklore. Homer's epics of the Iliad and
the Odyssey and Hesiod's Theogony are significant examples of this period. Literary
Greece begins with Homer. Since writing had not yet arrived in Greece, much of what
was created in this period was communicated orally, only to be put in written form years
later. The Classical era (4th and 5th centuries BCE) centered on the tragedies of such
writers as Sophocles and his Oedipus Rex, Euripides's Hippolytus, and the comedies
of Aristophanes. Lastly, the final period, the Hellenistic era, saw Greek poetry, prose,
and culture expand across the Mediterranean influencing such Roman writers
as Horace, Ovid, and Virgil. Unfortunately, with only a few exceptions, much of what was
created during the Archaic and Classical period remains only in fragments.

Sources :
Robert and Lucas, . Donald William (2019, June 20). Greek literature. Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/Greek-literature

Wasson, D. L. (2017, October 11). Ancient Greek Literature. World History

Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Literature/Mackridge, P. A. , Browning, .