LUCRETIUS, FROM ON THE NATURE OF THINGS (through the literary criticism: FEMINIST)

Lucretius, From on the Nature of Things is a short epic reading from the text that explains how Lucretius feels about the creation and constant livelihood of the universe. This epic written by Lucretius is the only surviving work of an Epicurean Roman poet. The text emphasizes how the authors’ philosophy was to emphasize tranquility and peace of mind as the primary goal of human life. The author’s culture and way of life teaches that “false beliefs – about the origins and nature of the universe and about death – and false fears about the gods are the primary sources of human anxiety”. The people, including the poet of this epic, were not atheists but they denied that their Gods has anything to do with the creation or direction of the universe, instead the Gods just lived at the edge of the universe in a state of perfect peace to which humans should aspire to achieve. Lucretius states that “the workings of the world, which most humans falsely ascribe to divine intervention, can all be explained in material terms; matter is composed of atoms, which are in a constant state of random motion, and this in itself is sufficient to explain the phenomena that we see around us”.

Looking at this text through the Feminist literary criticism point of view is very relevant and helps readers understand more of why the author of this poem, Lucretius, believed that the Gods did not create the universe but instead that it is all a matter of scientifically data, however, how he also believed that the universe stays in constant livelihood because of the Gods presence as well. According to the text from the book Lucretius believes that the goddess Venus controls every aspect of life on Earth. This Greek goddess (who is a woman) controls everything on earth with her beauty and grace. According to the text by Lucretius he believes that Venus’ presence on earth “sends up sweet flowers, the ocean laughs, and the calm skies shimmer in a bath of light, and when the gates are wide for spring and its splender and the west wind, fostering life, blows strong and free pricked in their hearts by your power, the birds of the air give the first sign, goddess, of you and your entering”. From this quote we can tell the Lucretius feels very strongly about the goddess Venus’ presence has to do a lot with keeping the universe in a stable living condition. The text also shows how the author, Lucretius, portrays women in this epic short story. Lucretius portrays Venus as a beautiful and graceful women who has this power to make mountains move, give things life, and help the universe stay in motion and grow as a whole. With her beauty and grace she can basically do anything or make anything happen because she has that power over all the creations in the universe. So looking at this text through the feminist literary criticism point of view, it helps us to understand that Lucretius sees woman as beautiful, graceful, powerful, and very self-independent women who can control everything in the universe with just their personality traits.

 Esolen, M. Anthony. “Lucretius, From on the Nature of Things.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 51-56. Print.

EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY: THALES, HERACLITUS, EMPEDOCLES, ANAXAGORAS (through the literary criticism: MARXISM)

Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras is a reading from the text that combines different aspects of the four different “pre-socratics” philosophers. These four philosophers were some of “the earliest ‘scientific’ thinkers of ancient Greece and they are known as the pre-socratics because historians have seen a sharp break between their interests and those of philosophers after Socrates”. Most of these four philosophers that are quoted in this text lived in the Greek-speaking cities of Ionia, in modern Turkey. However, these four philosophers’ writings in this text are not completely their own work. Instead, many people after their time period were able to keep track of ‘fragments’ of the philosophers words/ideas, and this usually means “that they were quoted or paraphrased by much later ancient authors”. Even though these four philosophers’ ideas come from a paraphrased or fragmented piece of their works, it is still clear that their ideas were revolutionary.

Looking at this text through the Marxism literary criticism point of view is very relevant and helps readers understand more of why these four philosophers believed in what they believed in. For example, reading through the entire text itself it is evident that each philosopher; Thales. Heraclitus, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, all have their own personal beliefs and theories as to what made up the earth as a whole and what are the primary reasons for earth’s sustainability. Basically, these four scientific philosophers wanted to get to the bottom of what the earth was made of and how it keeps surviving… and they had some pretty interesting theories! Thales believed that the earth was made up of a single underlying substance: water. Heraclitus believed that change is the fundamental principle of the universe and it operates with a continual process of opposites turning into each other. Empedocles believed that the world works by a combination of love and strife, so the four elements – air, earth, water, and fire – are constantly being conjoined and separated from one another. Finally, Anaxagoras believed that the parts of the universe are in a constant process of separation and mixture, controlled by an underlying principle of intelligence or mind. From this text it is obvious to tell what these four scientific philosophers believed in, however, why did they believe in it? Well, looking at it through the Marxism point of view that becomes very obvious as well. These four scientific philosophers believed in these theories of what made up the universe because they lived in a social setting of ancient Greece/Greek-speaking cities, and there economic class just so happened to be that they were average people with no real power or anything. It was not until they began to question earth’s existence and make theories/discoveries as to why earth was here that they became very honorable scientific philosophers who went down in history and their beliefs went on to other people. I believe that due to their economic standing of when they first became ‘scientific philosophers’, these four have given themselves more credit to be believed and not misjudged. They are definitely not some rich, powerful individuals who just came up with these theories/discoveries out of thin air… no. Instead, they did their research and came to the most reasonable conclusion they could as to why the earth exists and how it remains stable in its existence!

Barnes, Jonathan. “Early Greek Philosophy: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. 3^rd ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 48-51. Print.