検索キーワード： 古代・古典・中世の文学

Antigone is a famous Greek tragedy attributed to the ancient playwright Sophocles at around 440 BCE. The play expands on the Theban legend of Oedipus that predates it, dealing with Antigone’s burial of her brother Polyneices in defiance of the law and the tragic results of her act. On another level, the play exposes the dangers of the absolute ruler or tyrant in the character of Creon. No one speaks freely to him, so he makes a series of mistakes, illustrating the folly of tyranny.

Digger Smith is an Australian soldier who has fought at Gallipoli. An old mate of Ginger Mick's (The Moods of Ginger Mick), he returns from the war to visit the family of a fellow solder, Jim Flood. Narrated by Bill (the protagonist of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke and a neighbour of the Floods), the story is woven together with sobering reflections and emotive dynamics expressed within a community of neighbours - friends and families of Australia's soldiers.

The work opens with Serenus asking Seneca for counsel, and this request for help takes the form of a medical consultation. Serenus explains that he feels agitated and in a state of unstable immobility, "As if I were on a boat that doesn't move forward and is tossed about." Seneca uses the dialogue to address an issue that cropped up many times in his life: the desire for a life of contemplation and the need for active political engagement. Seneca argues that the goal of a tranquil mind can be achieved by being flexible and seeking a middle way between the two extremes.

Odysseus has been away from Ithaca, the Greek city-state under his rule, for ten years while fighting in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, Odysseus begins the long journey home to his wife and son; however, his journey is plagued by misfortune as the gods feud over his fate, leaving the Ithacans to believe that he has died. In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery.

The Iliad. Join Achilles at the Gates of Troy as he slays Hector to Avenge the death of Patroclus. Here is a story of love and war, hope and despair, and honor and glory. The recent major motion picture Helen of Troy starring Brad Pitt proves that this epic is as relevant today as it was twenty five hundred years ago when it was first written. So journey back to the Trojan War with Homer and relive the grandest adventure of all times. The Odyssey.

"Les Métamorphoses" d'Ovide (43 avant J-C-7 après J-C) constituent une œuvre épique de douze mille vers composée en 15 Livres. Deux cent quarante-six fables racontent les transformations d'hommes, de dieux ou de héros en animaux, plantes ou minéraux par la magie ou la volonté des dieux. On y reconnaît des légendes antiques, comme le jugement de Pâris, ou les mythes de Phaéton conduisant le char du Soleil, celui de Persée et Andromède, ou encore ceux des Argonautes et du roi Midas.

"Les Métamorphoses" d'Ovide (43 avant J-C-17 après J-C) constituent une œuvre épique de douze mille vers composée en 15 Livres. Deux cent quarante-six fables racontent les transformations d'hommes, de dieux ou de héros en animaux, plantes ou minéraux par la magie ou la volonté des dieux. On y reconnaît des légendes antiques, comme le jugement de Pâris, ou les mythes de Phaéton conduisant le char du Soleil, celui de Persée et Andromède, ou encore ceux des Argonautes et du roi Midas.

King Claudius, when a young man, wrote a five-act tragedy which was damned, and all reference to it forbidden under penalty of death. The King has a son - Hamlet - whose tendency to soliloquize has so alarmed his mother, Queen Gertrude, that she has sent for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to devise some Court revels for his entertainment. Rosencrantz is a former lover of Ophelia, to whom Hamlet is betrothed, and they lay their heads together to devise a plan by which Hamlet may be put out of the way. Some Court theatricals are in preparation.

Of a Happy Life is an essay written by Seneca around the year 58 AD. It was intended for his older brother Gallio, to whom Seneca also dedicated his dialogue entitled De Ira (On Anger). It is divided into 28 chapters that present the moral thoughts of Seneca at their most mature. Seneca explains that the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of reason - reason meant not only using logic, but also understanding the processes of nature.

The first book in the essays of Seneca deals with good and evil. The dialogue is opened by Lucilius complaining with his friend Seneca that adversities and misfortunes can happen to good men too. How can this fit with the goodness connected with the design of providence? Seneca answers according to the Stoic point of view.

A collection of eclectic poetry penned by three kings of Pulp fiction from the 1930s. Songs of Giants: The Poetry of Pulp is a collection of 26 poems by writers H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard. Inspired by the illustrated book of the same name by artist Mark Wheatley.

The Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, which records his private notes to himself and his ideas on Stoic philosophy. A major theme of Meditations is the importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others, and the development of a cosmic perspective.

This Greek tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who, in defiance of the gods, gives fire to mankind, an act for which he is subjected to perpetual punishment.The play consists almost entirely of speeches since the protagonist is chained throughout.

The Greek poet, Hesiod, stands out as the first personality in European literature. The Theogony contains a genealogy of the gods from the beginning of time and an account of their violent struggles before the present order was established. The Works and Days, a compendium of advice for a life of honest husbandry, shines a unique and fascinating light on archaic Greek society, ethics, and superstition. Hesiod's poetry is the oldest source of the myths of Prometheus, Pandora, and the Golden Age.

One of the finest German medieval epic poems, The Lay of the Nibelungs is perhaps best known now as one of the principal sources for Wagner’s four-part music drama The Ring of the Nibelung. It is easy to see how Wagner was enthralled by the story and the poetry for the power of the tale drives the narrative: intense love, loyalty, jealousy, murder, duty, honour and massacre are all interwoven into a classic.

"Les Métamorphoses sont composées au début de l'ère chrétienne par le poète latin Ovide, juste avant sa relégation sur les rives de la mer Noire. Ce recueil est constitué d'une multitude de courts récits inspirés des mythologies, des épopées et des tragédies grecques et romaines. Un livre-monde, tour à tour édifiant, galant et burlesque dont la voix inspirée de Michel Vuillermoz, sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, révèle l'esprit et les saveurs." Claude Colombini Frémeaux

Doreen is a verse-novel by renowned Australian poet, C.J. Dennis (1876-1938). As one of the sequels to the 1915 verse-novel, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, it continues to follow the family capers of Bill and Doreen along with their young son. Originally published in 1917, Doreen is a classic work of Australian poetry.

Jenny Lewis relocates Gilgamesh to its earlier, oral roots in a Sumerian society where men and women were more equal, the reigning deity of Gilgamesh’s city, Uruk, was female (Inanna), only women were allowed to brew beer and keep taverns and women had their own language - emesal. With this shift of emphasis, Lewis captures the powerful allure of the world’s oldest poem and gives it a fresh dynamic while creating a fast-paced narrative for a new generation of listeners.

Educated in Lebanon, United States, and France, Gibran was influenced by the European modernists of the late 19th century, but even more by Francis Marrash, who introduced poetic prose and prose poetry in the Arab world. Gibran's style of writing and ideas he wrote about are believed to have been greatly influenced by Marrash, particularly the concept of universal love.

Wilde's first collection of verse, published in 1881, contains many poems which had already been published individually. Among the 61 poems can be found four major works, "The Garden of Eros", "The Burden of Itys", "Charmides", and "Humanitad". Although the initial critical reaction was not particularly enthusiastic, Wilde's poetry aroused enough attention for him to become the object of ridicule in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Patience, in which he is characterized as the "fleshly poet", Reginald Bunthorne.