Rough Class Notes from Friday the 15th of JanuaryWe are reading the texts for class through the lens of the aesthete. The aesthetic of the epiphany.
We have a working definition of epiphany that we will add to throughout the semester.
"An epiphany is something that is seen"
Realizing that you left your keys at home is a modest epiphany.
An epiphany is not necessarily a big showing, rather the lotos quietly rises.
Epiphany is a showing, phanos = to show.
An epiphany is overwhelming. Actaeon becoming what he already was, rather he becomes a stag. Zeus revealing himself to a lover and she blows up.
And if it really is your favorite poem it should be in your head, memorized. 'take us there'
"The Far Field" by Theodore Roethke
From the Online Etymology Dictionary
vision
late 13c., "something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural," from Anglo-Fr. visioun, O.Fr. vision, from L. visionem (nom. visio) "act of seeing, sight, thing seen," from pp. stem of videre "to see," from PIE base *weid- "to know, to see" (cf. Skt. veda "I know;" Avestan vaeda "I know;" Gk. oida, Doric woida "I know," idein "to see;" O.Ir. fis "vision," find "white," i.e. "clearly seen," fiuss "knowledge;" Welsh gwyn, Gaulish vindos, Breton gwenn "white;" Goth., O.Swed., O.E. witan "to know;" Goth. weitan "to see;" Eng. wise, Ger. wissen "to know;" Lith. vysti "to see;" Bulg. vidya "I see;" Pol. widzieć "to see," wiedzieć "to know;" Rus. videt' "to see," vest' "news," O.Russ. vedat' "to know"). The meaning "sense of sight" is first recorded late 15c. Meaning "statesman-like foresight, political sagacity" is attested from 1926.
Things to do:
"An epiphany is something that is seen"
Realizing that you left your keys at home is a modest epiphany.
An epiphany is not necessarily a big showing, rather the lotos quietly rises.
Epiphany is a showing, phanos = to show.
An epiphany is overwhelming. Actaeon becoming what he already was, rather he becomes a stag. Zeus revealing himself to a lover and she blows up.
And if it really is your favorite poem it should be in your head, memorized. 'take us there'
"The Far Field" by Theodore Roethke
From the Online Etymology Dictionary
vision
late 13c., "something seen in the imagination or in the supernatural," from Anglo-Fr. visioun, O.Fr. vision, from L. visionem (nom. visio) "act of seeing, sight, thing seen," from pp. stem of videre "to see," from PIE base *weid- "to know, to see" (cf. Skt. veda "I know;" Avestan vaeda "I know;" Gk. oida, Doric woida "I know," idein "to see;" O.Ir. fis "vision," find "white," i.e. "clearly seen," fiuss "knowledge;" Welsh gwyn, Gaulish vindos, Breton gwenn "white;" Goth., O.Swed., O.E. witan "to know;" Goth. weitan "to see;" Eng. wise, Ger. wissen "to know;" Lith. vysti "to see;" Bulg. vidya "I see;" Pol. widzieć "to see," wiedzieć "to know;" Rus. videt' "to see," vest' "news," O.Russ. vedat' "to know"). The meaning "sense of sight" is first recorded late 15c. Meaning "statesman-like foresight, political sagacity" is attested from 1926.
Things to do:
- Read all the blogs, including Nick and Adam. Robert (box circle). Pat (he's taking us to the dark side of epiphany). Brianne received a rare gold star for the best blog names.
- Read The Wind in the Willows. Where is the epiphany? There are minor explosions throughout, but there is one phenomenal epiphany, clue: Pink Floyd
- Blog: revisit your life as an English Major, perhaps create a list or chart of the classes you've taken
- Four Quartets should be on your person at all times.
Internet Resources for the class:
Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3)
The Magi & the Star (Matt 2: 1-12)
"The Windhover" by GM Hopkins
Proust and the Cookie(from Remembrance of Things Past)
"Tintern Abbey" William Wordsworth
The Whirlwind (Job 38)
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