The Odyssey Cross-Genre Study and Prezi Assignment

While reading The Odyssey and later viewing O Brother Where Art Thou, you will be responsible for tracking answers to one focus question (list follows). While you have studied theme before, this assignment moves a bit beyond theme. Typically when academics study literature, the true reason is to explore not only our own belief-systems, but also those of other cultures. The more literature you read, the more you will begin to realize that while our technology may advance, the aspects and qualities of humanity largely remain the same despite the passing centuries.

The Odyssey focus questions (Select one from the following list):

1. Examine the multiple perspectives on women as seen in both The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou. What attitudes do you find common in both works, despite the time difference? What does this consistent message say about the advancement of our culture? (Pull work from suggested feminist texts) In what ways has our culture progressed in its treatment of women?

2. Examine the role of religion/spirituality in both texts. Is religion a necessary component for success in Odysseus or Everett’s journey? What accounts for these differences or similarities? WHY are there differences (or similarities)

a. Deeper Option: Why is Everett painted as such a cynic? Is he representative of common trends in society’s perceptions today? At the end of the movie, Everett prays for rescue, but when he is rescued he immediately calls it a coincidence. Why might the author have included this? Consider the story from Odysseus perspective on religion. The gods and goddesses of his time were very REAL for the people living in them, yet Odysseus seems to be the “cynic” of his day. What similarities are there in attitudes between Odysseus and Everett? Are both stories trying to show religion is hokey? OR is it an important aspect of success? Have we lost our respect for religion (today) compared to in Odysseus’s time?

3. Examine the concept of civilization and what it means to be civilized in each story. (Consider what traits people believe reflect a “civilized” behavior). What similarities and differences exist in these ideas? Are there any instances of irony in the character’s beliefs on civilization? Are Odysseus, Everett, or even ourselves as civilized as we believe we are?

4. Examine leadership in the story. Why might the producer have picked a hero who is a criminal to fulfill the same role as Odysseus, who was supposed to be a perfect Greek? What do these discrepancies reveal about our society’s view of leadership? What kind of leader do we value today compared to the leader valued in Greek times? Are there really any differences?

The TaskWhile reading each section of The Odyssey you will be expected to track quotes that help you answer your focus question. During Part I, some guiding questions will be given to you to help you find the appropriate quotes for your focus. Future parts will be read

independently, or in groups with those who have similar focuses. You will also be given the opportunity to discuss your reading with others who have a similar focus. At the conclusion of your reading, we will watch O Brother Where Art Thou. You will again be expected to track events and choices made by the producer that relate to your focus question. Finally, you will create a Prezi presentation that synthesizes this information, projecting the messages of both authors and showing the transformations in opinion (if applicable) in our cultures.

The directions for your Prezi are attached to this assignment.

Questions by Focus for Part 1:THESE QUESTIONS ARE MEANT TO DIRECT YOU TO QUOTES YOU NEED! The questions are designed to get you THINKING in the direction you should when answering your focus question. In other words, they’re designed to help you develop your commentary. The answers to the questions are not necessarily an end, they are the beginning of your thinking.

1. Women Studies: Describe a muse and what a muse does. What beliefs about women might this reveal? Would the “ability” of a muse be as valued in Greek culture as one’s ability with a sword? What kind of person is Calypso? What makes her desirable? What makes her “not right” for Odysseus? Odysseus says “in my heart I never gave consent” line 55, which absolves him of guilt. How is this absolution different from how a woman in a similar predicament would be treated? (consider Medusa). ALWAYS what do we learn about women and women’s role in society from these portrayals?

2. Religion/Spirituality Studies: Describe Odysseus’ attitude towards Poseidon. What does it suggest about man’s relationship with the gods? Describe Poseidon’s reaction to Odysseus’s blasphemy. Is his response warranted or petty? Why does man rely on a muse? What does this suggest about man’s relationship with the gods? Throughout the text, Odysseus frequently references the gods (“by the gods” line 392). What do these references reveal about his relationship with the gods (is this a respectful overture? A statement of culture rather than belief like saying “God bless you”? A belief that man can only do things with a gods help? A dramatic interruption?) ALWAYS what does we learn about faith’s role in society from these portrayals?

3. Civilization Studies: At the beginning of the book, Odysseus compliments his host, Alkinoos for his hospitality. What features seems to create a “nice” host? Are these features similar today? How relevant are these things to being civilized? What makes the Lotus eaters so vile to Odysseus? What does this suggest about being civilized? Next Odysseus describes the Cyclops and Cyclopes Island. What makes them ignorant in Odysseus mind? What makes a person human according to this description? Describe the interactions between the Cyclops and Odysseus. Is one more civil than the other? Do they behave similarly? What seems to be the one defining trait separating Odysseus and the Cyclops? Examine the details shared in

the defeat of the Cyclops. ALWAYS what makes a group of people civilized in society from these portrayals? Are these truly representative of our beliefs of civilization?

4. Leadership Studies: How does Odysseus handle the situation with the Lotus eaters? What personality characteristics does this reveal? What strengths are valued in a Greek leader according to this? What do you make of Odysseus’s journey to Cyclopes Island? On one hand he is endangering the lives of his men, on the other, Greek culture would have felt a level of admiration for someone who is bold and daring. How does Odysseus beat the Cyclops? Does he make any special considerations for his men? How does his behavior reflect his leadership traits? At the end of the story, Odysseus mocks the Cyclops. Again, Greeks value boldness, but is Odysseus “overdoing” it here, or is he continuing to fulfill the Greek ideal? What sort of leader is Odysseus? Why do you think these traits would be valued by Greek culture? ALWAYS what does Odysseus’s leadership style and characteristics reveal not only about what Greeks WANTED in a leader, but what they valued?

WOMEN FOCUS RESOURCES

Circe's TormentI regret bitterlyThe years of loving you in bothYour presence and absence, regretThe law, the vocationThat forbid me to keep you, the seaA sheet of glass, the sun-bleachedBeauty of the Greek ships: howCould I have power ifI had no wishTo transform you: asYou loved my body,As you found therePassion we held aboveAll other gifts, in that single momentOver honor and hope, overLoyalty, in the name of that bondI refuse youSuch feeling for your wifeAs will let youRest with her, I refuse youSleep againIf I cannot have you.

Louise Gluck

Circe’s Power

I never turned anyone into a pig.Some people are pigs; I make themLook like pigs.

I'm sick of your worldThat lets the outside disguise the inside. Your men weren't bad men;Undisciplined lifeDid that to them. As pigs,

Under the care ofMe and my ladies, theySweetened right up.

Then I reversed the spell, showing you my goodnessAs well as my power. I saw

We could be happy here,As men and women areWhen their needs are simple. In the same breath,

I foresaw your departure,Your men with my help bravingThe crying and pounding sea. You think

A few tears upset me? My friend,Every sorceress isA pragmatist at heart; nobody sees essence who can'tFace limitation. If I wanted only to hold you

I could hold you prisoner.

Louise Gluck

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?Delivered 1851Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp

Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603)Delivered 1588

My loving people, we have been persuaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good will of my subjects. And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood, even the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which, rather than any dishonor should grow by me, I myself will take up arms; I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, by your forwardness, that you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble and worthy subject; not doubting by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and by your valor in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over the enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.

Shirley Crisholm

Delivered: May 21, 1969

Mr. Speaker, when a young woman graduates from college and starts looking for a job, she is likely to have a frustrating and even demeaning experience ahead of her. If she walks into an office for an interview, the first question she will be asked is, "Do you type?"

There is a calculated system of prejudice that lies unspoken behind that question. Why is it acceptable for women to be secretaries, librarians, and teachers, but totally unacceptable for them to be managers, administrators, doctors, lawyers, and Members of Congress?

The unspoken assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional.

It has been observed before, that society for a long time, discriminated against another minority, the blacks, on the same basis - that they were different and inferior. The happy little homemaker and the contented "old darkey" on the plantation were both produced by prejudice.

As a black person, I am no stranger to race prejudice. But the truth is that in the political world I have been far oftener discriminated against because I am a woman than because I am black.

Prejudice against blacks is becoming unacceptable although it will take years to eliminate it. But it is doomed because, slowly, white America is beginning to admit that it exists. Prejudice against women is still acceptable. There is very little understanding yet of the immorality involved in double pay scales and the classification of most of the better jobs as "for men only."

More than half of the population of the United States is female. But women occupy only 2 percent of the managerial positions. They have not even reached the level of tokenism yet. No women sit on the AFL-CIO council or Supreme Court There have been only two women who have held Cabinet rank, and at present there are none. Only two women now hold ambassadorial rank in the diplomatic corps. In Congress, we are down to one Senator and 10 Representatives.

Considering that there are about 3 1/2 million more women in the United States than men, this situation is outrageous.

It is true that part of the problem has been that women have not been aggressive in demanding their rights. This was also true of the black population for many years. They submitted to oppression and even cooperated with it. Women have done the same thing. But now there is an awareness of this situation particularly among the younger segment of the population. …

It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has been before every Congress for the last 40 years and that sooner or later must become part of the basic law of the land -- the equal rights amendment.

Let me note and try to refute two of the commonest arguments that are offered against this amendment. One is that women are already protected under the law and do not need legislation. Existing laws are not adequate to secure equal rights for women. Sufficient proof of this is the concentration of women in lower paying, menial, unrewarding jobs and their incredible scarcity in the upper level jobs. If women are already equal, why is it such an event whenever one happens to be elected to Congress?

It is obvious that discrimination exists. Women do not have the opportunities that men do. And women that do not conform to the system, who try to break with the accepted patterns,

are stigmatized as "odd" and "unfeminine." The fact is that a woman who aspires to be chairman of the board, or a Member of the House, does so for exactly the same reasons as any man. Basically, these are that she thinks she can do the job and she wants to try.

A second argument often heard against the equal rights amendment is that is would eliminate legislation that many States and the Federal Government have enacted giving special protection to women and that it would throw the marriage and divorce laws into chaos.

As for the marriage laws, they are due for a sweeping reform, and an excellent beginning would be to wipe the existing ones off the books. Regarding special protection for working women, I cannot understand why it should be needed. Women need no protection that men do not need. What we need are laws to protect working people, to guarantee them fair pay, safe working conditions, protection against sickness and layoffs, and provision for dignified, comfortable retirement. Men and women need these things equally. That one sex needs protection more than the other is a male supremacist myth as ridiculous and unworthy of respect as the white supremacist myths that society is trying to cure itself of at this time.

Read more: Equal Rights For Women http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/equal-rights-for-women/#ixzz2Qqps3r7j

Religion/Sprituality/Superstition Resources"Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, so there is one true and perfect religion, but it becomes many religions as it passes through the human medium. The one Religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men and women put it into such language as they can command and their words are interpreted by others equally imperfectly. Hence the necessity of tolerance, which does not mean indifference to one's own faith, but a more intelligent and purer love for it. True knowledge of religion breaks down barriers between faith and faith."Mahatma Gandhi

HOLY SONNETS.

XIV.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for youAs yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bendYour force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,Take me to you, imprison me, for I,Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

John Donne

The Divine ImageTo Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too.

The Divine ImageCruelty has a Human Heart,And Jealousy a Human Face;Terror the Human Form Divine,And Secrecy the Human Dress. The Human Dress is forged Iron,The Human Form a fiery Forge,The Human Face a Furnace seal’d,The Human Heart is hungry Gorge.

By: William Blake

“We will each write a ghost story,” said Lord Byron, and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us. The noble author began a tale, a fragment of which he printed at the end of his poem of Mazeppa. Shelley, more apt to embody ideas and sentiments in the radiance of brilliant imagery and in the music of the most melodious verse that adorns our language than to invent the machinery of a story, commenced one founded on the experiences of his early life. Poor Polidori had some terrible idea about a skull-headed lady who was so punished for peeping through a key-hole - what to see I forget: something very shocking and wrong of course, but when she was reduced to a worse condition than the renowned Tom of Coventry, he did not know what to do with her and was obliged to dispatch her to the tomb of the Capulets, the only place for which she was fitted. The illustrious poets also, annoyed by the platitude of prose, speedily relinquished their uncongenial task.

I busied myself to think of a story— a story to rival those which had excited us to this task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature and awaken thrilling horror - one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not accomplish these things, my ghost story would be unworthy of its name. I thought and pondered - vainly. I felt that blank incapability of invention which is the greatest misery of authorship, when dull. Nothing replies to our anxious invocations. “Have you thought of a story?” was asked each morning, and each morning I was forced to reply with a mortifying negative.

Everything must have a beginning, to speak in Sanchean phrase; and that beginning must be linked to something that went before. The Hindus give the world an elephant to support it, but they make the elephant stand upon a tortoise. Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void, but out of chaos; the materials must, in the first place, be afforded: it can give form to dark, shapeless substances but cannot bring into being the substance itself. In all matters of discovery and invention, even of those that appertain to the imagination, we are continually reminded of the story of Columbus and his egg. Invention consists in the capacity of seizing on the capabilities of a subject and in the power of moulding and fashioning ideas suggested to it.

Many and long were the conversations between Lord Byron and Shelley to which I was a devout but nearly silent listener. During one of these, various philosophical doctrines were discussed, and among others the nature of the principle of life, and whether there was any probability of its ever being discovered and communicated. They talked of the experiments of Dr. Darwin (I speak not of what the doctor really did or said that he did, but, as more to my purpose, of what was then spoken of as having been done by him), who preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary motion. Not thus, afterall, would life be given. Perhaps a corpse would be reanimated; galvanism had given token of such things: perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth.

Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had gone by before we retired to rest. When I placed my head on my pillow I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw - with shut eyes, but acute mental vision - I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an

uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror-stricken.

He would hope that, left to itself, the slight spark of life which he had communicated would fade, that this thing which had received such imperfect animation would subside into dead matter, and he might sleep in the belief that the silence of the grave would quench forever the transient existence of the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as the cradle of life. He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold, the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains and looking on him with yellow, watery, but speculative eyes. I opened mine in terror. The idea so possessed my mind that a thrill of fear ran through me, and I wished to exchange the ghastly image of my fancy for the realities around. I see them still: the very room, the dark parquet, the closed shutters with the moonlight struggling through, and the sense I had that the glassy lake and white high Alps were beyond. I could not so easily get rid of my hideous phantom; still it haunted me. I must try to think of something else. I recurred to my ghost story – my tiresome, unlucky ghost story! Oh! If I could only contrive one which would frighten my reader as I myself had been frightened that night!

Civilization ResourcesXVII. MEDITATION.John Donne (1572-1631)

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that. The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member. And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another. As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness. There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is. The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it. Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

Chief Powhatan

Address to Captain John Smith

delivered in 1609

I am now grown old and must soon die, and the succession must descend in order, to my brothers, Opitchapam, Opechancanough, and Kekataugh, and then to my two sisters, and their two daughters.

I wish their experience was equal to mine, and that your love to us might not be not be less than ours to you. Why should you take by force that from us which you can have by love? Why should you destroy us who have provided you with food? What can you get by war? We can hide our provisions and fly into the woods. And then you must consequently famish by wrongdoing your friends.

What is the cause of your jealousy? You see us unarmed and willing to supply your wants if you come in a friendly manner; not with swords and guns as to invade an enemy. I am not so simple as not to know that it is better to eat good meat, lie well, and sleep quietly with my women and children; to laugh and be merry with the English, and, being their friend, to have copper, hatchets, and whatever else I want than to fly from all, to lie cold in the woods, feed upon acorns, roots and such trash, and to be so hunted that I cannot rest, eat, or sleep. In such circumstances, my men must watch, and if a twig should but break, all would cry out, "Here comes Captain Smith." And so, in this miserable manner to end my miserable life. And, Captain Smith, this might soon be your fate too through your rashness and unadvisedness.

I, therefore, exhort you to peaceable councils, and above all I insist that the guns and swords, the cause of all our jealousy and uneasiness, be removed and sent away.

Darkness

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the starsDid wander darkling in the eternal space,Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earthSwung blind and blackening in the moonless air;Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day,And men forgot their passions in the dreadOf this their desolation; and all heartsWere chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,The palaces of crowned kings--the huts,The habitations of all things which dwell,Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,And men were gathered round their blazing homesTo look once more into each other's face;Happy were those who dwelt within the eyeOf the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;Forests were set on fire--but hour by hourThey fell and faded--and the crackling trunksExtinguish'd with a crash--and all was black.The brows of men by the despairing lightWore an unearthly aspect, as by fitsThe flashes fell upon them; some lay downAnd hid their eyes and wept; and some did restTheir chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled;And others hurried to and fro, and fedTheir funeral piles with fuel, and looked upWith mad disquietude on the dull sky,The pall of a past world; and then againWith curses cast them down upon the dust,And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'd,And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutesCame tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'dAnd twined themselves among the multitude,Hissing, but stingless--they were slain for food.And War, which for a moment was no more,

Did glut himself again;--a meal was boughtWith blood, and each sate sullenly apartGorging himself in gloom: no love was left;All earth was but one thought--and that was death,Immediate and inglorious; and the pangOf famine fed upon all entrails--menDied, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;The meagre by the meagre were devoured,Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,And he was faithful to a corse, and keptThe birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,Till hunger clung them, or the dropping deadLured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,But with a piteous and perpetual moan,And a quick desolate cry, licking the handWhich answered not with a caress--he died.The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but twoOf an enormous city did survive,And they were enemies: they met besideThe dying embers of an altar-placeWhere had been heap'd a mass of holy thingsFor an unholy usage; they raked up,And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton handsThe feeble ashes, and their feeble breathBlew for a little life, and made a flameWhich was a mockery; then they lifted upTheir eyes as it grew lighter, and beheldEach other's aspects--saw, and shriek'd, and died--Even of their mutual hideousness they died,Unknowing who he was upon whose browFamine had written Fiend. The world was void,The populous and the powerful--was a lump,Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless--A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay.The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still,And nothing stirred within their silent depths;Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'dThey slept on the abyss without a surge--

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,The moon their mistress had expir'd before;The winds were withered in the stagnant air,And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no needOf aid from them--She was the Universe.

Lord Byron (1788 – 1824)

"The Chimney Sweeper," from Songs of Innocence

When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!' "So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his headThat curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said,"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bareYou know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, & that very night,As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight!That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned & Jack,Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,And he opened the coffins & set them all free;Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run,And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind.And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

The Chimney Sweeper," from Songs of Experience

A little black thing among the snow,Crying " 'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!"Where are thy father and mother? say?"—"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

"Because I was happy upon the heath,And smiled among the winter's snow,They clothed me in the clothes of death,And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

"And because I am happy and dance and sing,They think they have done me no injury,And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,Who make up a heaven of our misery."