Encapsulations

How are poems structured? And prose? And drama? Where does their strength lie? In the previous session we approached characters as the strongest element in a text. Now the focus is shifted to the structure itself: how the choice of the final word in a line, or the division between lines can make a poem affect the reader in a certain way. Although during this fifth session the girls worked with different poems, their final production was much freer. We played with intertextuality, identifying the central elements around which a text is constructed to create a whole different one. With the encapsulation technique, and following the example of the Greek myth of Icarus and Iron Maiden's song Flight of Icarus, two students created great pieces from ancient legends. Eugenia Stancich took the story of Hercules to write a poem, and Cristina Reyes imagined a dialogue out of the myth of Arachne. Read and enjoy!

Hercules was the Roman name for the greatest hero of Greek mythology -- Heracles. Like most authentic heroes, Heracles had a god as one of his parents, being the son of the supreme deity Zeus and a mortal woman. Zeus's queen Hera was jealous of Heracles, and when he was still an infant she sent two snakes to kill him in his crib. Heracles was found prattling delighted baby talk, a strangled serpent in each hand.

Reach out

Searching for something we haven’t found before,

Light fades away as the sound of his voice,

Darkness around the sun is all we could get,

Dancing around the boy who couldn’t forget.

Inocence may be the engine that moves him,

But soon he’ll find out the power inside him,

And none would dare his virtues ignore

As Hercules is what we are looking for.

Eugenia

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Arachne was a peasant girl who became an expert spinner and weaver of cloth. No human could spin or weave as well as Arachne or produce finer cloth. She became famous throughout Greece.

Arachne grew arrogant about her skill, boasting that she was better than Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who invented spinning and weaving. At first, Athena laughed off Arachne's claims. Then many people began to believe them and to stay away from Athena's temples and from festivals held in her honor. Athena decided she had to teach the boastful girl a lesson.

Disguised as an old woman, the goddess came to earth and challenged Arachne to a weaving contest. The cloth that Athena wove showed the power of the gods and the fate of humans who dared to challenge them. Arachne's tapestry contained scenes of the foolish romantic misadventures of the gods. Arachne's work was the equal of Athena's, and the goddess was impressed by its quality. However, Arachne could not resist boasting that her weaving surpassed that of Athena.

At that moment, the goddess revealed her true identity. She tore apart Arachne's weaving and beat her with the shuttle from her weaving loom. In despair, Arachne took a rope and hanged herself. Out of pity, Athena changed the rope into a web and turned Arachne into a spider, an animal known for its spinning and weaving skills.

Athena: So, you think you’re a better weaver than I? People have been commenting that you believe you’re better than I…

Arachne: Yes, of course! As you see, I’m not the only one who thinks that; many people have appreciated my beautiful work since I’m a better weaver than you.

Athena: How dare you say that?! I’m a talent goddess, everybody knows that!. You can’t compare yourself to me.

Arachne: I don’t need to be a goddess to have such talent.

Athena: Stop being so arrogant! Now, apology to me or you’ll regret it.

Arachne: Why should I do it? I’ll go on weaving better than you anyway.

Athena: OK. I won’t put up with your hubris any longer! If you want to weave, do it for the rest of your life…!!!

And Athena turned Arachne into a spider.

Cristina