Arghya Jana Literature Guide

Hero and Leander were famous lovers in Greek mythology. Hero, who lived in the town of Sestos, served as a priestess of the goddess Aphrodite* (Venus). Leander was a youth from the nearby town of Abydos, located across a narrow strip of water called the Hellespont. Hero and Leander met at a festival and fell in love. However, because she was a priestess of Aphrodite, Hero had to remain a virgin and was forbidden to marry. The two lovers decided to see each other secretly. Each night Hero would leave a lamp burning in a window of the tower in which she lived, and Leander would swim across the Hellespont, using the light to guide his way. One winter night, the wind blew out the flame in the lamp, causing Leander to lose his way and drown. The next morning, when Hero saw his lifeless body washed up on the shore, she killed herself by jumping out of the tower. Several ancient poets, including Ovid* and Virgil*, told the tale of Hero and Leander. In 1598 the English author Christ...

Dionysus or Dionysos was the god of wine and inspired madness, and a major figure of Greek mythology. He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. The geographical origins of his cult were unknown, but almost all myths depicted him as having "foreign" (i.e. non-Greek) origins. He was also known as Bacchus and the frenzy he induces, bakcheia. He is the patron deity of agriculture and the theatre. He was also known as the Liberator (Eleutherios), freeing one from one's normal self, by madness, ecstasy, or wine. The divine mission of Dionysus was to mingle the music of the aulos and to bring an end to care and worry. Scholars have discussed Dionysus' relationship to the "cult of the souls" and his ability to preside over communication between the living and the dead. In Greek mythology Dionysus is made to be a son of Zeus and Semele; other versions of the myth contend that he is a son of Zeu...

  Greek Name Transliteration Latin Spelling Roman Name Διονυσος Dionysos Dionysus Liber Βακχος Bakkhos Bacchus Bacchus Dionysus, also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus, appears to be a god who has two distinct origins. On the one hand, Dionysus was the god of wine, agriculture, and fertility of nature, who is also the patron god of the Greek stage. On the other hand, Dionysus also represents the outstanding features of mystery religions, such as those practiced at Eleusis: ecstasy, personal delivery from the daily world through physical or spiritual intoxication, and initiation into secret rites. Scholars have long suspected that the god known as Dionysus is in fact a fusion of a local Greek nature god, and another more potent god imported rather late in Greek pre-history from Phrygia (the central area of modern day Turkey) or Thrace. ...

   It was midday, and the sun stood equally distant from either goal, when young Actæon, son of King Cadmus, thus addressed the youths who with him were hunting the stag in the mountains:—       "Friends, our nets and our weapons are wet with the blood of our victims; we have had sport enough for one day, and to-morrow we can renew our labours. Now, while Phoebus parches the earth, let us put by our implements and indulge ourselves with rest."       There was a valley thick enclosed with cypresses and pines, sacred to the huntress queen, Diana. In the extremity of the valley was a cave, not adorned with art, but nature had counterfeited art in its construction, for she had turned the arch of its roof with stones, as delicately fitted as if by the hand of man. A fountain burst out from one side, whose open basin was bounded by a grassy rim. Here the goddess of the woods used to come when weary wit...

The One-Act Play, very popular in the 20 th century, is regarded by many as a modern product. But this is far from the truth. One-Act Plays were written and staged throughout the 18 th and the 19 th centuries, as “The Curtain Raisers” or “The After Pieces”. They were chiefly farcial and served to amuse the audience before the commencement of the actual drama or were staged for their amusement, just after it had come to an end. The famous One-Act Play “Monkey’s Paw” was first staged as a “Curtain Raiser” and it proved to be more entertaining than the main drama. It may be said to mark the beginning of the modern One-Act Play. It was great Norwegian dramatist Ibsen that gave to the One-Act Play its modern touch. It was he, who, for the first time, introduced the minute stage-directions into the One-Act Play. Before him one act plays were written in poetry, but he made prose the medium of his one act plays. In short he made the drama, simple and real, and brought it nearer...

        The role and character of Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, is not only entertaining but quite useful.         William Shakespeare seems to have created the character of Puck from his own childhood.  In Shakespeare's  time it was believed that fairies and little people did exist.  Whenever something went wrong around the farmyard or house or village, incidents such as buckets of milk ‘accidentally' spilling over, or tools suddenly disappearing, or doors opening for no reason,  it was blamed on ‘ those damn little people!'.    The idea of Puck's character is a lovely one.  One can't help but be attracted to him and his innocent, little pranks.   He is also known by the name Robin Goodfellow.  The audience can only see this ‘Robin Goodfellow' side of Puck when he is trying to fix something he disrupted, hence the name Goodfellow....

There are two very simple rules about word stress: 1.     One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.) 2.     We can only stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. 1 Stress on first syllable rule example Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy 2 Stress on last syllable rule ...

Modern English is an analytic language . It primarily makes meaning by word order. To show that a word is in the nominative case, (i.e., the word functions as the subject of a clause), modern English speakers put that word in front of a verb. To show that a word is in the accusative case (functioning as a direct objective), modern English speakers put that word after the verb. For instance, The teacher (nominative) graded the tests (accusative/direct object). Word order thus becomes very important in analytic languages. However, Anglo-Saxon (Old English), Latin, Greek, and many other languages are or were synthetic . These languages require that the case or function of each word be visibly marked through inflections or declensions . In synthetic languages, word order does not matter. Synthetic languages primarily show case by inflecting words (i.e., changing the form of the words in pre-established patterns called inflections. Often this takes the form of some spe...

Adventure novel. A novel where exciting events are more important than character development and sometimes theme. Examples: H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo Allegory. A figurative work in which a surface narrative carries a secondary, symbolic or metaphorical meaning. In The Faerie Queene , for example, Red Cross Knight is a heroic knight in the literal narrative, but also a figure representing Everyman in the Christian journey.  Many works contain allegories or are allegorical in part, but not many are entirely allegorical. Some examples of allegorical works include Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress Dante, The Divine Comedy William Golding, Lord of the Flies (allegorical novel) Herman Melville , Moby Dick (allegorical novel) George Orwell , Animal Farm (allegorical n...