Ralph Williams on Oresteia of Aeschylus
UMS
44,653 views
Ralph Williams, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, give a lecture on the Oresteia of Aeschylus prior to a UMS Choral Union rehearsal. The UMS CU performs as part of Darius Milhaud's Oresteia of Aeschylus on April 4, 2013: http://ums.org/performances/darius-mi...
20 Comments
@alexanderthedude5474 3 years ago
sound warning at 17:03 lmaoooo. shit nearly gave me a heart attack😂😂
@blairmacewancrosbie8646 3 years ago
Brilliant,fascinating and utterly compelling...An outstanding lecture/talk by Professor Williams. A true man of knowledge ,wisdom and compassion.... .....I fear humanity cannot ever overcome the compulsion to violence and it will lead soon to our demise. ..And then the endless cycle will begin again.
@efleishermedia 5 years ago
This professor is so obviously in love with literature it's beautiful haha what a character :)
@jills1332 12 years ago
Prof. Williams excellently distilled the main themes and the importance of the Oresteia.
@technosage 6 years ago
The best professor I ever had, bar none. My love of classics is down to him and him alone.
@OxenHandler 4 years ago (edited)
René Girard got me here. I would never have read the Orestia otherwise. See Girard's book "Violence and the Sacred".
@kenbair 4 months ago
The watchman on the walls of Elsinore
called forth Horatio, that he might speak.
Athenians had seen this scene before,
'though Shakespeare can't have read it in the Greek.
Oresteia saw his duty, and just struck;
pained vacillation's for a future Dane.
He won't get mired in introspective muck
when father's blood cries from the bathroom drain.
The terrors young Oresteia knew at night,
are not so obsolete as they might seem
For Hamlet, torments don't dissolve in light
They echo through the Prince of Denmark dreams.
Time-hallowed gem from Greece's Late Bronze Age
the Renaissance recast on London's stage.
called forth Horatio, that he might speak.
Athenians had seen this scene before,
'though Shakespeare can't have read it in the Greek.
Oresteia saw his duty, and just struck;
pained vacillation's for a future Dane.
He won't get mired in introspective muck
when father's blood cries from the bathroom drain.
The terrors young Oresteia knew at night,
are not so obsolete as they might seem
For Hamlet, torments don't dissolve in light
They echo through the Prince of Denmark dreams.
Time-hallowed gem from Greece's Late Bronze Age
the Renaissance recast on London's stage.
@evilwillhunting 3 years ago
Job: "A man rarely observes his neighbor's prosperity with happiness." Aeschylus said that, you know.
Mickey: (sipping from a flask) "Aeschylus? Wasn't he that walrus from the Woody Woodpecker cartoons?"
Job: (sigh) "Sure."
-- State of Decay 2
Mickey: (sipping from a flask) "Aeschylus? Wasn't he that walrus from the Woody Woodpecker cartoons?"
Job: (sigh) "Sure."
-- State of Decay 2
@kenbair 4 months ago
the textile arts proved Agamemnon's bane
instead of robes, he dried out in a net
his life spilled out like water down the drain
immortalized in verse, so none forget
Penelope wrought night-long at her loom
a gorgeous shroud of regal length and breadth
to wrap Laertes in his fam'ly tomb
her virtue's no less certain than his death
her cousin's web was knotted dense with hate
as she slept with his cousin on the sly
to snip off short her husband's thread of fate
surviving war, he came back home to die
no towel greeted Klytemnestra's lord
whose lady-like white hand gripped firm his sword
instead of robes, he dried out in a net
his life spilled out like water down the drain
immortalized in verse, so none forget
Penelope wrought night-long at her loom
a gorgeous shroud of regal length and breadth
to wrap Laertes in his fam'ly tomb
her virtue's no less certain than his death
her cousin's web was knotted dense with hate
as she slept with his cousin on the sly
to snip off short her husband's thread of fate
surviving war, he came back home to die
no towel greeted Klytemnestra's lord
whose lady-like white hand gripped firm his sword
@kenbair 4 months ago
His father's murder cried out from the Earth.
Orestes knew what duty'd bid him do
to prove himself a pious son of worth.
but matricide's a Capital sin, too.
While wise Penelope wove a fair shroud
her cousin Klytemnestra wrought a snare.
The textile-arts such ladies were allowed
Go way past weaving, sewing, and repair.
Hog-tied while stepping out of his warm bath
so like his daughter, on that Aulis pyre
a sacrificial beast beneath the ax,
he conquered Troy, but not his lady's ire.
Immortal poetry preserves their names;
the House of Atreus went down in flames.
Orestes knew what duty'd bid him do
to prove himself a pious son of worth.
but matricide's a Capital sin, too.
While wise Penelope wove a fair shroud
her cousin Klytemnestra wrought a snare.
The textile-arts such ladies were allowed
Go way past weaving, sewing, and repair.
Hog-tied while stepping out of his warm bath
so like his daughter, on that Aulis pyre
a sacrificial beast beneath the ax,
he conquered Troy, but not his lady's ire.
Immortal poetry preserves their names;
the House of Atreus went down in flames.
@kenbair 4 months ago
Poseidon kept sweet Pelos for his bed
once Tantalos' heir had been restored.
He'd seen potential in what he'd been fed
ambrosial boy has ways to please his lord.
Thyestes frolicked with his brother's wife
and Atreus nursed doubts about his sons.
Mycenae's no place for the happy life;
their royals don't know how that would be done.
Aegysthos shirked while all Greece sailed to war
and bedded Klytemnestra on the sly.
When Agamemnon strode through his own door,
the guy who'd won at Troy, came home to die.
Orestes can't shrug off the family weight
Until Athena will adjudicate.
once Tantalos' heir had been restored.
He'd seen potential in what he'd been fed
ambrosial boy has ways to please his lord.
Thyestes frolicked with his brother's wife
and Atreus nursed doubts about his sons.
Mycenae's no place for the happy life;
their royals don't know how that would be done.
Aegysthos shirked while all Greece sailed to war
and bedded Klytemnestra on the sly.
When Agamemnon strode through his own door,
the guy who'd won at Troy, came home to die.
Orestes can't shrug off the family weight
Until Athena will adjudicate.
Ralph Williams on Oresteia of Aeschylus
UMS
44,653 views
Ralph Williams, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Michigan, give a lecture on the Oresteia of Aeschylus prior to a UMS Choral Union rehearsal. The UMS CU performs as part of Darius Milhaud's Oresteia of Aeschylus on April 4, 2013: http://ums.org/performances/darius-mi...