A Rabbit Trail of Thought - Zelda Peach
I decided to blog on Book VI as I felt there was a lot there and would like clarification.
First of all, I have so many questions. 1. Who is this Sibyl person and why are they so creepy? Maybe I am not keeping the right image in my mind but every time I picture the Sibyl talking I think of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. 2. Aeneas's father is in Heaven? I didn't see that one coming.
3. What are Aeneas's feelings towards Dido? Because he seems to flip-flop his emotions towards her in this book verses book IV. If someone could get back to me with answers to all of those questions that would be great, thanks. Alright, maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but I am curious! I think this book possibly just requires a better background and understanding of greek and roman gods than I have to offer. There was one thing Aeneas's dad said though that really caught my attention. At the top of page 185, Anchises states...
"Souls for whom
a second body is in store: their drink
Is water of Lethe, and it frees from care
In long forgetfulness. For all this time
I have so much desired to show you these
And tell you of them face to face- to take
The roster of my children's children here,
So you may feel with me more happiness
At finding Italy".
What does he mean by this exactly? This quote enchanted me upon reading it and I have been pondering it inside my head for a while now. I think that it is talking about the peace of heaven and how by forgetting the past we can let everything go and come to our own internal peace. It reminds me of how people always say "forgive and forget". While it is always necessary to forgive others sins against us, we do not always need to forget. We can learn a lot about ourselves and others by remembering what has happened in the past. I am not saying that we should hold on to our pasts with a grudge, but simply remember what has happened so we do not make the same mistakes again. By simply forgetting everything, then we have no baseline to go off of when making important decisions. Maybe this is just some long rabbit trail line of thought and it doesn't really matter, but maybe it does. Does anyone else feel the same way?
P.S I commented on Moriah and AnnaKate's posts.
First of all, I have so many questions. 1. Who is this Sibyl person and why are they so creepy? Maybe I am not keeping the right image in my mind but every time I picture the Sibyl talking I think of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. 2. Aeneas's father is in Heaven? I didn't see that one coming.
3. What are Aeneas's feelings towards Dido? Because he seems to flip-flop his emotions towards her in this book verses book IV. If someone could get back to me with answers to all of those questions that would be great, thanks. Alright, maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but I am curious! I think this book possibly just requires a better background and understanding of greek and roman gods than I have to offer. There was one thing Aeneas's dad said though that really caught my attention. At the top of page 185, Anchises states...
"Souls for whom
a second body is in store: their drink
Is water of Lethe, and it frees from care
In long forgetfulness. For all this time
I have so much desired to show you these
And tell you of them face to face- to take
The roster of my children's children here,
So you may feel with me more happiness
At finding Italy".
What does he mean by this exactly? This quote enchanted me upon reading it and I have been pondering it inside my head for a while now. I think that it is talking about the peace of heaven and how by forgetting the past we can let everything go and come to our own internal peace. It reminds me of how people always say "forgive and forget". While it is always necessary to forgive others sins against us, we do not always need to forget. We can learn a lot about ourselves and others by remembering what has happened in the past. I am not saying that we should hold on to our pasts with a grudge, but simply remember what has happened so we do not make the same mistakes again. By simply forgetting everything, then we have no baseline to go off of when making important decisions. Maybe this is just some long rabbit trail line of thought and it doesn't really matter, but maybe it does. Does anyone else feel the same way?
P.S I commented on Moriah and AnnaKate's posts.
I agree with what you said about "forgive and forget" and that it is important to remember certain events for context. Also I agree with the whole "whaaatttt" aspect lol. I do think that this was the easiest book to understand honestly, but there are still so many questions that need to be answered.
ReplyDeleteI had trouble understanding Aeneas` feelings toward Dido as well. It seemed that he had basically moved on from her when he left her, but when he sees her in the underworld when he cried for her it seemed like he liked her and maybe still cared for her.
ReplyDeleteI actually went the completely opposite direction with this than you did when I read it. I guess I misread it, but I thought it was talking about reincarnation. But after reading this, it makes more sense to me that it would possibly be about heaven. But anyways, I definitely do agree that we should not focus on our past in a way that it brings us down, but that we should realize what it is we have done to try and attempt from making the same mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the "forgive and forget" comparison you mentioned. I see that making sense in the quote from the book. Also, I felt as if all my thoughts while reading this book was like me following some habit trail. Also i also had a funk image of Sibyl while reading. I do not know why i imagined the oracles from Hercules while reading, but i found it quite funny.
ReplyDelete