Prometheus? Beethoven? Shelley? Keats?

Having a guest Lecturer for today’s lecture gave me a new perspective on the history of journalism. In today’s lecture, Dr Gary Fennell explained how poetry, music and literature played a vital role in the development of what we call ‘journalism’ today.

A key point of his lecture was the mythological figure that is Prometheus. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, was the ‘Titan’ who created mankind. This was a task given to him by Zeus; he was to create a ‘being or person’ with clay and water in the image of the gods that could have a spirit breathed into it. Prometheus taught man to hunt, how to read and heal themselves if they were unwell. But Prometheus tricked Zeus into believing that mankind would be able to give the gods some sort of offering, Zeus kept fire from mankind. Prometheus, being the creature, took back the fire from Zeus to give to man. This is where he gets the name ‘Bringer of Fire’. Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock where a vulture would slowly peck out his liver for an eternal sentence, only would he be free when Hercules released him. Because Prometheus was one of the gods, he was immortal; therefore his liver would grow back each day for the vulture to peck away. Some see Prometheus as the champion of oppressed human kind and he was the saviour, liberating the people by giving them fire. The story of Prometheus is a central part in most important literature and musical works.

Beethoven, the German Composer, wrote a ballet called Creatures of Prometheus in 1801. This particular Ballet was highly regarded in the Romantic period. Some called it a master piece others said it lacked originality. The combination of devices that expressed classical style and devices that a commonly found in the Romantic period, I feel, links it to Prometheus because it is an expression of freedom and that is what Prometheus did for the people by giving them fire, even though the action of doing so got him severely punished. Beethoven could have ruined his musical reputation by experimenting in this way, but it didn’t stop him.

Mary Shelley was a substantial part of influencing writing throughout British history. Her famous novel Frankenstein was highly influenced by the Greek myth that is Prometheus as it is considered as a ‘modern’ Prometheus (it’s also the novel’s subtitle). This is due to the ‘warning’ that Shelley is alluding to throughout this novel to the Industrial Revolution and how intelligent mankind will become. This sort of intelligence is similar to that in which we gained form Prometheus giving us fire. Prometheus in the stories parallels Victor Frankenstein. Victor's work by creating man by new means reflects the same innovative work of the Prometheus in creating humans. Victor, in a way, stole the secret of creation from God just like Prometheus stole fire from Zeus to give to man. Both Prometheus and Victor were punished for their creations. Victor loses people close to him as a result of his ‘monster’ and has to suffer a death by him.

Mary’s father Percy Shelley was also an influential writer of this period. One of his famous works is the sonnet Ozymandius. Although this has nothing to do with Prometheus, Ozymandius was a powerful man and Shelley’s writings about him influenced journalism today. Ozymandius, or as we know him Rameses II, was an Egyptian ruler from the 13^th Century BC. He was a proud “King of Kings”. The British museum has sculpture of Ozymandius which was the inspiration for Shelley’s Sonnet. Because the statue in the museum is broken in places, this symbolises Ozymandius’ empire not being his anymore. It is a common quality of a sonnet to celebrate a subject, the celebration in this sonnet links to the irony that his empire is now a blank and empty landscape. Parts of this poem also allude to the power of the British Empire. The inspiration for this poem came from the British Museum, where this statue, a symbol of power has been encased like a prisoner, showing more power by the British. Lines such as “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” could also be linked to the events in Egypt today with the Egyptian Revolution and the fall of the Egyptian Dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Thanks to another visit to the British Museum we have another influential piece of poetry, this time from the famous English poet John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn. This time however, the inspiration for this poem came from The Townley Vase, a Roman vase from the 2^nd Century BC found in a Roman Villa in Monte Cagnolo. The poem is written in the form of an Ode, divided into five stanzas made up of ten lines each. The ode contains a person’s perspective on a series of designs on the urn. A common quality of an Ode is to signify a self conscious cleverness and wit through artistic creation, it takes a great deal of skill to write a good one and Keats used this one as an opportunity to write a piece of poetry that would have the same value or purpose as a painting or work or art and demonstrate his poetic skills. The poem ends with the notion of beauty and truth. These last two lines are as if the urn is talking to the reader. And on a final point about the poem, it is, similarly to Mary Shelley’s poem, it is a response to the Industrial Revolution.