Notes from the Textbook (64-82)

Connections: Literature Around the World

  • heroic stories sung and chanted by poet performers (Early Heroic Tales)
  • epics- long narrative poems about the adventures of legendary heroes
  • Some of the greatest being Beowulf, Gilgamesh and the Iliad
from Gilgamesh: The Prologue 
  • this journey in comparison to Beowulf? (heartbroken/reconciled)
  • Uruk- ancient Sumerian city (footnote that is important to understanding the setting)
  • who is Anu and Ishtar and why did Gilgamesh build a city for these two?
  • remember the family introductions in Beowulf is similar to that in Gilgamesh
  • Utnapishtim is the the survivor of the great flood why would Gilgamesh go in search for this man?
  • how else is Gilgamesh like other epic heroes (look at lineage)
from the Iliad

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