Hooray for Hesiod!

Hello everyone –

Spring is a great time to (re)discover the magic and music of poetry! Here’s a reading suggestion for you, which combines agriculture with mythology and the sciences with the humanities!

“The Greek Poet Hesiod: An Ancient Artist and Agriculturalist”

By Rob Chappell, M.A., Assistant to the Honors Dean

Reprinted from Cursus Honorum XIII: 1 (Fall 2013)

Translations from Greek by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (1914 – Public Domain)

                The practice of agriculture and the art of poetry are as old as human civilization itself, and many writers of the ancient Mediterranean countries composed works of poetry dealing with agricultural subjects. One of the earliest agricultural poets known to us is Hesiod, a Greek sage who flourished in the eighth century BCE. He is best remembered for two major poems that he composed: the Works and Days and the Theogony (Birth of the Gods).

                The Works and Days is an agricultural almanac in verse, addressed to Hesiod’s brother Perses, who managed their family farm. The poem goes through the cycle of the four seasons, explaining what kind of agricultural work needs to be done at any given time of year. Since Hesiod and his contemporaries lived long before the invention of atomic clocks and desktop calendars, the poet described how to keep track of time by watching the stars:

“When the Pleiades, Atlas' daughters, start to rise, begin your harvest; plough when they go down. For forty days and nights, they hide themselves, and as the year rolls round, appear again when you begin to sharpen sickle-blades; this law holds on the plains and by the sea, and in the mountain valleys, fertile lands far from the swelling sea.” -- Works and Days: Lines 383 ff.

In addition to agricultural advice and astronomical lore, the Works and Days also includes retellings of some famous Greek myths (e.g., “The Five Ages of Humankind” and “Pandora’s Box”), along with witty proverbial sayings, which ensured its popularity among rural and urban audiences alike for centuries to come.

                The Theogony contains traditional stories about the beginning of the world and the origins of various members of the Greek pantheon in a brilliant synthesis of epic mythology and philosophical allegory. The poem opens with the tale of how Hesiod, while still a shepherd, became a poet:

“From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing, who hold the great and holy mount of Helicon. … Thence they arise and go abroad by night, veiled in thick mist, and utter their song with lovely voice. … One day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon. … They plucked and gave me a rod, a shoot of sturdy laurel, a marvelous thing, and breathed into me a divine voice to celebrate things that shall be and things there were aforetime.”

-- Theogony: Selections from Lines 1-35

                Hesiod’s poems are wonderful food for thought, not only because they are highly edutaining, but also because they show that at an early stage in the development of Western civilization, the arts and the agricultural sciences were very closely linked together in the seamless web of everyday life. Hesiod, the master poet of his age, grew up on his family’s farm, worked as a shepherd, and earned national acclaim as a poet (although he probably didn’t quit his “day job” as a shepherd). J

                Across a gulf of 27 centuries, Hesiod presents us with a timely challenge: to “think outside the box” of our individual academic disciplines to create a holistic worldview that satisfies both the mind and the heart.

Further Reading

·         Works by and about Hesiod are available from

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Hesiod.

Until next time –

Rob :)

The Sciences and the Humanities: Partners in Poetry & Time!

Hello everyone –

As many subscribers may already know, I’m a lifelong fan of both the sciences and the humanities. Here are two articles on this theme from years gone by that might be of interest to you…

“The Sciences and the Humanities: Partners in Time”

An Interview with Rob Chappell by Kelly Scott, Sophomore ACES James Scholar in NRES

Reprinted from Cursus Honorum VI: 2 (September 2005)

            Let’s stop and think for a moment. Is there really any linkage or relationship between the sciences and the humanities? They seem so different. For example, a major in the sciences such as Biology seems so unrelated to an English major in the field of the humanities. Yet after interviewing Rob Chappell, they seem so connected and dependent on one another.

            Rob began by explaining the history of this relationship. During the Middle Ages, there was no clear demarcation between the sciences and the humanities. All educated people during this time period studied all the “liberal arts,” which included sciences and humanities alike. But upon the rise of the Scientific Revolution, they began to separate from one another, making it seem as though they were completely disassociated altogether. Rob feels that we need to continue to work towards a day when the sciences and humanities are no longer seen as two different fields. We need to get back to the ideals of the Middle Ages when the two seemed compatible and held an essence of togetherness.

            After discussing the history of this relationship, Rob provided some very interesting examples of how the sciences and humanities work together. In the first example, Rob explained how we study the Universe through science by using telescopes and different scientific means to learn. Yet, if we think about it, the storytellers and mythmakers who lived centuries ago named the stars and planets. This inspired us to dream and wonder about space travel, which in turn has helped us learn more about our Universe scientifically. Rob illustrates the relationship well in this example.

            Another example that Rob conveyed was the relationship between scientists and authors. More specifically, Rob described how his favorite genre, science fiction, has helped scientists through the ages. Well-known science fiction authors such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells have written many books, which have then given scientists ideas for experiments after reading their books. Rob really makes a strong and solid point when he says, “Humanities provide context, enrich life, make life more interesting, and make YOU more interesting.”

            So what does all this mean for us as students at the U of I? Well, Rob explains the importance for us to understand and embrace this relationship. He says that employers are looking for well-rounded employees. When we graduate and go looking for a job, there is a much better chance that we will get hired if we know and have taken classes in both the humanities and the sciences. Rob tells us, “Don’t look at the humanities classes as a burden, but as an opportunity.” Most parts of our lives merge the sciences and humanities: “Everything is interconnected, because the sciences ask how and why things happen the way they do, but the humanities ask what those facts mean for us,” Rob says. I hope that we all can recognize the great importance of this relationship between the sciences and the humanities. In the end, this recognition will help to make us holistic and well-rounded people.

“Two Scientific Poets: Aratus and Lucretius”

By Rob Chappell, M.A., Assistant to the Honors Dean

Condensed from Cursus Honorum IX: 10 (May 2009)

            The sciences and the humanities walked hand-in-hand during Classical antiquity as early researchers observed the natural world and poets popularized those discoveries by turning them into epic verse and singing them for interested audiences. Greek and Latin scientific poems could be regarded as the precursors of modern popular science writing. Two of the most notable versifying popularizers of ancient science whose works have been preserved for us are Aratus (ca. 315-240 BCE) and Lucretius (ca. 99-55 BCE).

            Aratus of Soli was a Greek poet from Anatolia (modern Turkey), and his most famous work is the Phenomena, a versified tour of the stars and constellations, which concluded with a description of “signs” that could be used to make weather predictions. His descriptions of the stars, their characteristics, and their apparent motions across the sky are considered to be extremely valuable. Aratus’ retellings of well-known astronomical myths and legends are very engaging, as his poetry turns the night sky into a cosmic storybook for everyone to enjoy.

            Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet who wrote his Latin masterpiece, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), to explain his understanding of the Universe. Lucretius expounded the atomic theory of matter, described the unfolding of life on Earth through eons of time, proposed that the Universe was infinite and contained countless inhabited worlds, and used logic and reason to refute common superstitions of his time. Lucretius’ teachings on atomism and the infinity of the Universe were widely discussed and debated during the European Renaissance, as they helped to inspire many pioneers of the Scientific Revolution like Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).

            Across a gulf of more than two millennia, Aratus and Lucretius present us with a timely challenge: to “think outside the box” of our individual academic disciplines to envision a holistic worldview that satisfies both the mind and the heart. They also show us how rewarding a career in science education or scientific writing can be – and how edutaining it is to learn about scientific subjects in epic verse!

Until next time --

Rob :)

My Upcoming Presentation @ the Center for Children's Books!

Waiting for Springtime with Poetry :)

Hello everyone –

The peoples of the ancient world looked forward to the arrival of springtime just as much as we do in our technomagical age. Although the spring equinox is still a few weeks away (on March 20^th), here are some poems (with commentary) to help you celebrate the changing of the seasons in the month of March.

Celebrating Springtime with Orphic Poetry

By Rob Chappell (Reprinted from Cursus Honorum’s March 2007 Issue)

            The annual cycle of the seasons and its effects on our natural surroundings are recurring themes throughout world literature. The Orphic poets – a guild of ancient Greek philosopher-bards named after their legendary founder, Orpheus – celebrated the changing of the seasons, the wonders of the natural world, and their lofty ideals in poetic chants, several dozen of which were preserved in written form after centuries of oral transmission. In the poetic forms of their prescientific age (ca. 1000-500 BCE), the Orphic poets chose to personify the forces of Nature, the celestial orbs, and abstract ideals in order to explain how and why the natural world and the human social order function in the ways that they do.

            Here is an example of Orphic poetry to welcome in the springtime – a poem to the seasons (here personified as the daughters of Zeus/Jupiter):

Orphic Hymn #42: “To the Seasons”

(Translated by Thomas Taylor, 1792)

Daughters of Jove and Themis, Seasons bright,

Justice, and blessed peace, and lawful right,

Vernal and grassy, vivid, holy powers,

Whose balmy breath exhales in lovely flowers;

All-colored Seasons, rich increase your care,

Circling forever, flourishing and fair:

Invested with a veil of shining dew,

A flowery veil delightful to the view:

Attending Proserpine, when back from night,

The Fates and Graces lead her up to light;

When in a band harmonious they advance,

And joyful round her form the solemn dance:

With Ceres triumphing, and Jove divine,

Propitious come, and on our incense shine;

Give Earth a blameless store of fruits to bear,

And make a novel mystic’s life your care.

“Orpheus” by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Orpheus with his lute made trees

And the mountain tops that freeze

Bow themselves when he did sing:

To his music plants and flowers

Ever sprung; as Sun and showers

There had made a lasting spring.

Everything that heard him play,

Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads and then lay by.

In sweet music is such art,

Killing care and grief of heart

Fall asleep, or hearing, die.

Further Reading on the Orphic Tradition

•       The extant collection of 86 Orphic Hymns is archived @ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/index.htm.

•       The Middle English poem Sir Orfeo – a medieval retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus (with a happy ending!) – is available (with annotations) @ http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/orfeo.htm.

“O Nobilissima Viriditas” (“O Very Noble Greenness”)

Latin Text from Hildegard of Bingen’s Symphonia, Translated by Yours Truly

        Note: Magistra Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a natural philosopher, pharmacologist, musician, and artist who disseminated her teachings about viriditas (the vivifying “greenness” in Nature) through her extensive Latin writings, which included scientific texts, medical treatises, and polyphonic musical compositions. In “O Nobilissima Viriditas,” Hildegard identifies the source of viriditas as something “rooted in the Sun” – that is, in the life-giving energies radiating from our parent star that make life possible on Earth. In modern scientific terms, we would say that solar radiation is the catalyst for photosynthesis in green plants, which form the base of the food chain.

O nobilissima Viriditas, quae radicas in Sole,

Et quae in candida serenitate luces in rota,

Quam nulla terrena excellentia comprehendis!

Tu circumdata es amplexibus divinorum mysteriorum.

Tu rubes ut Aurora et ardes ut Solis flamma.

O very noble greenness, you are rooted in the Sun,

And you shine in bright serenity in a circle

That no terrestrial excellence comprehends!

You are enclosed by the embrace of divine mysteries.

You blush like the Dawn and burn like a flame of the Sun.

“Welcome to the Sun”

Anonymous – Collected in Scotland (19th Century)

Editor’s Note: In the Germanic, Keltik, and Slavic languages – as well as in Japanese – the Sun is feminine and the Moon is masculine.

Welcome to you, Sun of the seasons’ turning,

In your circuit of the high heavens;

Strong are your steps on the unfurled heights,

Glad Mother are you to the constellations.

You sink down into the ocean of want,

Without defeat, without scathe;

You rise up on the peaceful wave

Like a Queen in her maidenhood's flower.

Until next time –

Rob :)