Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem by Michael Schmidt

Free ebooks for phones to download Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem


Download Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem PDF

  • Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem
  • Michael Schmidt
  • Page: 192
  • Format: pdf, ePub, mobi, fb2
  • ISBN: 9780691195247
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press

Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem




Free ebooks for phones to download Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem

Reflections on a lost poem and its rediscovery by contemporary poets Gilgamesh is the most ancient long poem known to exist. It is also the newest classic in the canon of world literature. Lost for centuries to the sands of the Middle East but found again in the 1850s, it tells the story of a great king, his heroism, and his eventual defeat. It is a story of monsters, gods, and cataclysms, and of intimate friendship and love. Acclaimed literary historian Michael Schmidt provides a unique meditation on the rediscovery of Gilgamesh and its profound influence on poets today. Schmidt describes how the poem is a work in progress even now, an undertaking that has drawn on the talents and obsessions of an unlikely cast of characters, from archaeologists and museum curators to tomb raiders and jihadis. Fragments of the poem, incised on clay tablets, were scattered across a huge expanse of desert when it was recovered in the nineteenth century. The poem had to be reassembled, its languages deciphered. The discovery of a pre-Noah flood story was front-page news on both sides of the Atlantic, and the poem's allure only continues to grow as additional cuneiform tablets come to light. Its translation, interpretation, and integration are ongoing. In this illuminating book, Schmidt discusses the special fascination Gilgamesh holds for contemporary poets, arguing that part of its appeal is its captivating otherness. He reflects on the work of leading poets such as Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky, and Yusef Komunyakaa, whose own encounters with the poem are revelatory, and he reads its many translations and editions to bring it vividly to life for readers.

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Character List - SparkNotes
The The Epic of Gilgamesh characters covered include: Gilgamesh, Enkidu, He travels to the ends of the Earth in search of answers to the mysteries of life and death. Lugulbanda is the hero of a cycle of Sumerian poems and a minor god. Gilgamesh - Ancient History Encyclopedia
Gilgamesh is the semi-mythic King of Uruk in Mesopotamia best known from 2150 - 1400 BCE) the great Sumerian/Babylonian poetic work which friend, Enkidu, to find the mystical figure Utnapishtim and gain eternal life. The Epic of Gilgamesh Poem Review | 123HelpMe.org
Only females have the ability to create a life, which makes them an important part of humanity. According to the poem the Epic of Gilgamesh, a goddess (a  Epic of Gilgamesh: Summary in 10 Interesting Points
It is an epic poem which narrates the story of the life of a man named Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was the King of Uruk, a majestic Sumerian city that  The Epic of Gilgamesh: Context - SparkNotes
A short biography describes 's life, times, and work. Also explains the historical and literary context that influenced The Epic of Gilgamesh. The most complete known version of this long poem was found in Nineveh, in the ruins of the library   Examples of Heroism in the Epic of Gilgamesh | Pen and the Pad
Gilgamesh was two-thirds human and one-third god, so the struggle to find everlasting life was a recurring theme throughout the poem. During his journeys, he  The Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablets XI and XII, page 3 - SparkNotes
The main body of the poem ends here. Tablet XII is Gilgamesh asks Enkidu what life is like in the underworld, and Enkidu gives a bleak account. He says that   Stuart Kendall: from “The Epic of Gilgamesh - Poems and Poetics
The originality of this Gilgamesh, I hope, consists in its poetics and work of the leading scholars of ancient Mesopotamian life and language. why Gilgamesh search of everlasting life | The Epic of Gilgamesh
The major theme of the poem is that of mortality. Gilgamesh must learn the difficult lesson that, even as a king, he too must face the reality of his