For the love of learning

I certainly hope it is not pretentious of me to post a homework assignment of mine online and think you might like to read it, but that is what I am about to do. I was so enlightened by Dominican University's recent Caritas et Veritas Symposium that I just wanted to share some of what I learned.

The Caritas et Veritas Symposium was a fascinating day for me and I enjoyed exploring the meaning behind Dominican University’s motto. I had the privilege of attending three sessions in which speakers applied the meanings of “caritas” and “veritas,” the latin words for “love” and “truth” to their fields of knowledge. I was especially moved by the English department’s presentation called “A Gradual Dazzling: The Nature of Truth in Literary Studies.” This took place in the beautiful Noonan Reading Room, which I thought was a perfect setting for such a topic. The presentation explored how literature often uses a “slant view” of truth, using Emily Dickinson’s poem “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” to present the idea. Four professors spoke about writings in their fields of expertise to describe this further and explore the role of love and truth in literature.

Professor Warren Green, a teacher of ancient literature, spoke about the Greek tragedies of the 4^th and 5^th centuries BCE. He explained how the role of theater in Athens during the 5^th century BCE was very central to society, though I was disappointed to learn that only men were permitted to attend theatrical events. I was fascinated to learn that the theater of Dionysus was large enough to seat the entire male population of Athens, and it did so during a four day theater festival that took place every year. Theater-going was therefore a communal experience, in which men of all social classes and roles were brought together to observe and participate in a parade and as many as 12 plays in 36 hours. The great playwrights Euripides, Sophokles, and Aeschylus wrote the tragedies to show the men of Athenian society “how to be an active citizen in a democracy at war” (Green). The tragic stories of Antigone and Polenyssius offered play-goers a view of the consequences of greed, pride, and willfulness, as well as an argument for finding a balance between the laws of the state and the laws of heaven. I found it ironic that although the plots were often extreme and included elements of the divine, these seemingly unrealistic pieces of the story became ways to explain the troubled political situations of the times. The men who attended the plays were brought together in community and were inspired to discuss justice and mercy. The tragedies of ancient Greece can therefore be understood when they are presented in the context of the era. Through a knowledge of ancient Greek democracy, history, and the theater experience, we as 21^st century Americans can better understand why ancient Greek tragedies could become a means to understanding of the truth. I believe theater continues to confront societal issues and inspire dialogue that finds solutions and cooperation.

The next speaker, Professor Mickey Sweeney, brought us further through history as she presented a mesmerizing look at the Romance genre of literature. The Romantic era of story-telling, writing and poetry came about during the Medieval Era in the 13^th and 14^th centuries CE. Such writing, mainly by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes stories of knights, kings, and magicians. Professor Sweeney explained how collective learning was often done through the distribution of manuscripts, which were both entertaining and informing, for they attempted to convey the truths of history and human flaws while maintaining an audience. Histories and tales of adventure were often stretched to grand, unrealistic proportions, such as the passionate story of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere. I related this fact to current media techniques, which continue to stretch the truth in order to keep consumers interested. However, I noted a difference in the role of God and religion today than in the Romantic era. Whereas people of the time believed in God’s control over history, writers viewed their historical stories as “records of God’s divine history” and as “tools to tell moral lessons” (Sweeney). Kings and nations would prevail because of their moral strengths, and individuals would fall because of their moral weaknesses. The supernatural elements of some stories, including the magical character Merlin, were often criticized by Geoffrey’s contemporaries as being heretical, yet “magic” has always existed in history as a human explanation of the mysterious things of the world. It seems that God has taken a secondary role to science as the modern world’s source of reason. In ways similar to modern media, the stories of the Romantic era were told on a “slant,” with the purpose of conveying the importance of history and an explanation of why things happened as they did.

The third presenter, Professor Joseph Heininger, used the work of two contemporary Irish writers to show how poetry is a complex and profound way to respond to world events. I was especially captivated by this presentation because I have not studied much modern poetry. Heaney’s poem “Punishment” contains the heart-wrenching observation of an adulteress who suffers a horrible punishment from the IRS, which dominated Northern Ireland at the time. Following this retelling, Heaney explores the complexities of the event. While he sees the woman as a victim of scapegoating, Heaney also understands the human desire for revenge. Longeley’s poem “Ceasefire” also explores a historical event, but in a different way. His poem is an analogy of the ancient Trojan Wars to modern Irish conflicts, from which Professor Heininger concludes that “nothing erases killing, but there is atonement when the cycle of violence is ended with love and self-surrender” (Heinenger). I am delighted that poetry continues to be a valuable source of truth, for I love reading and analyzing the works of Longfellow, Sandburg, and St. Vincent Millay. I shall certainly continue to look into modern publications, for these works show how poetry may better contain the breadth of human emotion than other genres of literature.

By looking into the “slant truths” of literature throughout history, these speakers showed how such “lies” lead readers to the truth. To discover the truth, however, it is necessary to find the intended meaning of the literature through an understanding of the writings’ contexts. Greek tragedies of the 5^th century BCE, Romantic writings of the Middle Ages, and poetry of the modern era played and still play important roles in history, not only in the preservation of historical events, but also in the explanation and interpretation of these events. Furthermore, the exploration of society and how it should be is a constant theme of literature, which makes it a valuable tool in the classroom and in life.

P.S. The picture is from a prayer service for Sudan. Keep on praying!