QUESTIONNAIRE # 3 (SHORT PAPER)
NO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. TURN IN A PAPER COPY BY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16 AT 5:00. YOU MAY GIVE IT TO ME IN PERSON, PLACE IT IN THE TRAY ON THE DOOR OF MY OFFICE, OR TURN IT IN TO A STAFF MEMBER IN ROOM 413AH. LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE PENALIZED
HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER
READ THE TRANSLATION BY GREGORY NAGY (WITH NOTES) AVAILABLE IN DIOTIMA
For general information on the mysteries
of Demeter at Eleusis, read T. Martin's Overview of Classical Greek History,
especially 10.1.7.
Read Morford and Lenardon, chapter 12.
Look for more information on names mentioned
in the HHD in Morford
and Lenardon online (Glossary). Do not believe the etymologies!
INSTRUCTIONS
Choose at least four of the following questions and answer them, first separately, then integrating them in your paper. There are connections between them which will become apparent to you. Please do not transcribe my questions. Write continuous prose. Substantiate every statement you make by referring in parentheses to line numbers in the Hymn. Refer to other texts by citing author and line numbers or, if you found them on the web, by the url. Abbreviate Homeric Hymn to Demeterin the references as HHD. Put those references in parentheses rather than in footnotes or endnotes.
How are gender roles portrayed in this text? Who has authority in the Olympian family? From which point of view (feminine or masculine; parent or child) is the story of Persephone represented? What parallels can you mention in other myths, where deprivation and sorrow turn into anger? Does the HHD justify the privilege of the families that will provide priests for the rituals at Eleusis? How does the HHD support the heroic stature of Triptolemos, Why did the initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries have such a stronghold in antiquity? What did the people who went through all the rituals, took part in the procession, and finally heard or saw something extraordinary expect to have acquired? How did Athens manage to appropriate this important occasion and turn it into an Athenian annual festival?
ORGANIZATION OF THE
MATERIAL
Organize the issues you have chosen to address in a meaningful whole, so that your paper makes sense from beginning to end. PLEASE do not begin with the famous "introduction" that says nothing; do not end with an empty "conclusion." Especially, avoid general philosophical considerations on the function of myths, on the legacy of the Greeks, etc., etc.
In your first paragraph state your intentions, e.g. "In this paper I examine / seek to understand/ study, etc. Homeric Hymn to Demeter with special consideration of / focusing on / discussing, etc. The issues I address are...
NOTE: it is not a crime to use the first person singular! Refer to what you do in the paper using the present tense.
DO NOT TELL THE MYTH. CITE LINES FROM THE POEM ONLY TO SUPPORT YOUR OPINIONS.
If you so refer to the story, do so IN THE PRESENT. YOU STAND RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORY AS IT UNFOLDS. The past should be used only for events prior to other events in the storyline.
GUIDELINES ON FORM
Do not copy the texts that you find unless they are very brief, but give references; do not print out the vase paintings that you find in Perseus, but give as a reference the url (the electronic address) shown on the screen.
[If you need to refer to a secondary source,
cite it as follows (or according to another generally accepted convention):
Doniger O' Flaherty, W. Other Peoples'
Myths : The Cave of Echoes, Chicago 1995.
Titles of books must be either italicized
or underscored, not enclosed in quotation marks.]