Literature.....

Literature is a creative work the medium of which is language having its own convention.

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language, such as sound symbolism and metre to evoke meanings in addition to or in place of the prosaic ostensible meaning (wikipedia).

Dalam makul Literature secara umumnya membahas tentang Poetry, Fiction and Drama. “Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling” (Wordsworth in “Preface to the Lyrical Ballad”).

Saya jadi ingat puisi yang dibaca dosen pak Thoy dengan gaya khas suaranya yang penuh penghayatan saat mata kuliah Literature dulu. Dosen saya sangat menyukai puisi tersebut mungkin hohoho. Saya sampai hafal dulu, karena beliau selalu mengulang-ngulang puisi tersebut bahkan meminta para mahasiswanya untuk menirukannya ntah apa maknanya saya sendiri sampai sekarang masih kurang paham hahaha. Begini bunyinya, A red red rose by Robert Burns (1759 – 1796),

O my luve is like a red, red rose,

That’s newly sprune in June.

O my luve is like the melodie

That’s sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

So deep in luve am I,

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry.

 Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee well my only luve!

And fare thee well a while.

 And I will come again my luve,

 Tho it were a thousand miles.

Sebuah puisi yang penuh interpretasi mungkin, saya selalu pusing mengerjakan test semesteran padahal open book saat itu tetapi kenapa justru lebih sulit daripada close book.

Dosen saya itu memang mempunyai kharisma walaupun sudah tidak muda lagi. Bahkan teman-teman saya mengatakan dosen yang menawan hohoho. Biasanya dosen memberikan tugas seperti ini (dosen tidak menawan lagi kalau begini):

General Instructions:

1. Write a brief essay in which you analyze Partition books or movie based on one of the theories that you have learned in accordance which you belong.

2. Write the essay in your own words and sentence constructions.

3. Cite and make quotations when necessary.

4. Organize the ideas based on the following outline.

A. Title

B. Introduction (15%)

C. Analysis and Discussion (75%)

D. Conclusion (10%)

E. Bibliography

Ada mata kuliah yang menarik yaitu Background of Western Cultural. Mata kuliah yang membahas tentang sejarah kebudayaan asing. Ada beberapa bab materi yang dipelajari:

1.    Greek Mythology

     Mythology is the study of stories that were used to explain the world and other human experiences. Membahas tentang sejarah mitologi manusia dari bangsa Yunani yaitu God and Goddesses (dewa dan dewi Yunani).

·         Zeus is one of Cronus and Rhea’s children. Rhea pretended to give Cronus a child to eat, but it was really a stone. She took Zeus away and raised him secretly. Zeus grew to be a mature Titan. He challenged Cronus, won, and freed his brothers and sisters from Cronus’ belly. This was the start of the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses that we know today. King of the gods, Symbol: lightning bolt, Roman: Jupiter.

·         Poseidon is One of Zeus’ original siblings. God of the oceans, Symbols: trident and horse, Roman: Neptune. He is a difficult god, changeful and quarrelsome, but created many curious forms for his sea creatures. He built an underwater palace with a great pearl and coral throne.

·         Hades is One of Zeus’ original siblings. God of the Underworld, Symbol: helmet of invisibility, Roman: Pluto. He was the jealous brother to Zeus and Poseidon. He made Persephone his wife after stealing her from her mother, Demeter, who was his sister. Because he was a violen god, who was also very possessive of every new soul, he rarely left his underworld domain.

·         Demeter is One of Zeus’ original siblings. Goddess of the harvest, Symbol: sheaf of wheat, Roman: Ceres (like cereal). She was the goddess of growing things. She was the mother of Persephone, whose father was Zeus. Her daughter was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld for six months of the year causing the change of seasons.

·         Hera is wife of Zeus. Goddess of marriage and family, Zeus’ queen, Symbol: cow, rainbow, peacock, Roman: Juno. She was the protector of marriage and the home. She was associated with the peacock, because of her great beauty. She and Zeus were always quarreling. She was called the queen of intriguers, a vindictive and jealous wife, who frequently outwitted her husband, Zeus.

·         Hestia is One of Zeus’ original siblings. Goddess of the hearth, Symbol: hearth, fire, Roman: Vesta. She was the sister of Zeus and the daughter of Cronos and Rhea. She represented personal and communal security and happiness. She was thought of as the kindest and mildest o the goddesses. She was of little mythological importance, appearing in only a few Stories.

·         Athena is Zeus’ daughter - sprang from her father’s head. Goddess of wisdom, war, and weaving, Symbols: owl, olive tree, helmet and spear Roman: Minerva. She was born full grown out of the head of Zeus. She taught man to use tools and taught his wife to spin and weave. She was the best-loved goddess on Olympus. She hated Ares, god of war, often besting him in battle. The Greek city of Athens is named after her. She was said to have created the spider.

·         Ares is God of War, Son of Zeus and Hera, Bloodthirsty and merciless, Symbols: weapons, armor, and vulture, Roman: Mars. He was a ruthless and murderous god, who displayed the worst of humanity’s traits. He, along with grief, strife, panic, and terror, roams the earth. Ironically, he was a coward, who fled the field of battle.

·         Hephaestus is God of Fire/Forge, Son of Zeus and Hera, Kind, unlike his brother, Symbol: anvil, forge, Roman: Vulcan. He was the ugliest of the gods, who was rejected by his mother, Hera, when she hurled him off of Mount Olympus crippling him. He fashioned the armor and tools of the gods on a broken mountain near Mount Olympus. He made beautiful jewelry for the goddesses.

·         Apollo is God of sun, music, poetry and medicine, Brother of Artemis, Symbols: lyre, golden bow, island of Delphi, Roman Name: Apollo. He was the twin brother of Artemis and the most handsome of the gods. He was also the god of the healing arts and of medicine. He drove his chariot across the sky to pull the sun each day. His son, Phaethon, drives Apollo’s sun chariot with disastrous results.

·         Artemis is Goddess of the Moon and hunting; patroness of maidens Sister to Apollo Symbols: silver bow, deer Roman: Diana. She was the twin sister of Apollo, whose mother was Leto and father was Zeus. She was a chaste huntress, who always carried a silver bow and arrows. She ruled over the untamed places of the earth.

·         Hermes is Messenger of the gods, Appears in more myths than any other character, Symbols: winged sandals and helmet, magic wand, Roman: Mercury. He was the precocious son of Zeus and Maia, a Titaness. As a baby, he made a lyre and pipe for his halfbrother, Apollo. He carried Apollo’s golden staff and flew around the heavens and earth on winged sandals.

·         Aphrodite is Goddess of Love and Beauty Sprang from the ocean foam, Symbols: Cupid (son), dove, Roman Name: Venus. She is the goddess of desire born from sea foam. Another myth credits her mother as Dione and her father as Zeus. After all the gods on Mount Olympus courted her, she married Hephaestus, the ugliest of the gods. Because she was judged the most beautiful of all the goddesses on Mount Olympus by Paris, the other goddesses envied her.

·         Dionysus is God of wine, Patron god of the Greek stage, Roman Name: Bacchus. He is said to be the only god on Olympus with a mortal parent. His creation of wine brings ecstasy and drunkenness to his revelers. Much of the ancient world’s greatest poetry was created in his honor.

2.    Roman Mythology

Membahas tentang mitologi bangsa Romawi. Melanjutkan keturunan bangsa Yunani penjelasannya materinya sangat panjang hohoho. (silahkan baca literary books of western)

3.    Christianity

Bab ini membahas tentang sejarah Christianity (seingat saya tentang Anglican, Orthodox, Catholic dll). The religion is universal, walaupun saya muslim tetapi juga mempelajari tentang christianity untuk menambah pengetahuan saja dalam mata kuliah ini.

4.    Scientific Revolution.

     Ini bahan presentasi saya.  Pembahasan revolusi ilmiah para ilmuwan dunia mulai dari Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Hobbes, John Locke, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Tycho Brahe, Copernicus dll. Penjelasan tentang teori-teorinya dan ada satu yang masih saya ingat tentang teori Geocentric, the Earth is at the center of the universe; all heavenly bodies move around the Earth (Bumi adalah pusatnya dengan semua benda-benda langit yang mengitari termasuk bumi). Heliocentric, the Sun is at the center of the universe; all heavenly bodies move around the Sun including the Earth (Matahri adalah pusatnya dengan semua benda langit yang mengitari termasuk bumi).

5.    Industrialization (Land, Labor and Capital).

     Sejarah dan perkembangan industri di dunia, masih berhubungan dengan temuan mesin industri. Misalnya: The Flying Shuttle, The Spinning Jenny, Water Frame, Spinning Mule, Power Loom, Rise of Factories, Cotton Gin, Steam Engine, Steamboat, Roads / Turnpikes, Rocket dll.

6.    Capitalism is defined by production for the market (for profit), private ownership of the means of production, and wage labour. In capitalism, production is for the market (for exchange, rather than use); what is produced is therefore a commodity. In capitalism, the “means of production” are owned privately (by individuals). In capitalism, labour is carried out for a wage (rather than out of duty, etc.). In capitalism, the private owners of the means of production (capitalists) earn money from the exploitation of those who don’t own the means of production (workers): they sell commodities for more than they paid workers to make them. Private property and wage labour go hand-in-hand: it is because the means of production are monopolized that some people have to work for wage (and create profits for someone else).

7.    Socialism is an economic and political system that places more value on common property than on private property. Socialism was a reaction to the social consequences of the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th Century and the economic liberalism that accompanied that period. Karl Marx is considered the father of scientific socialism; his book “The Communist Party Manifesto” proposes the revolution of the proletariat (workers/working class) over the bourgeoisies (owners/ruling class). Socialism supports the abolition of social classes.

Itu secuil materi kuliah yang bisa saya bagikan just to reminder to me too. Mungkin tiap kampus berbeda materi makulnya. 4 tahun kuliah masih sama saja belum terlalu paham hahaha, Fakultas Keguruan makulnya tidak selalu tentang teaching learning tetapi juga membahas tentang literature world dan saya lebih passion ke literature’nya. Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry (Cassandra Clare).