Selections from Popol Vuh

Preamble
The Primordial World
The Creation of the Earth
The Creation of the Animals
The Fall of the Animals
The Creation of the Mud Person
The Creation of the Effigies of Carved Wood
The Fall of the Effigies of Carved Wood
The Creation of Humanity (180)
The Discovery of Maize
The First Four Men
The Miraculous Vision of the First Men
The Displeasure of the Gods
The Creation of the Mothers of the Quiche Nation
The Nations are Humiliated (233)
The Nations are Defeated
The Deaths of the Four Progenitors

In the Preamble, we learn that the Quiche is a place and a people, one that means “many trees” or “forest” and that the dawn of humanity is known as the “sowing” and was done by the Framer and the Shaper.

The Primordial World was silent and placid, only the sky existed at first and then the sea. Then in the Creation of the Earth, we learn that the word created the Earth by emptying out some of the sea and then leveling it, then the mountains were formed by the water, then covered with trees.

The Creation of the Animals were seen as guardians of the forest and populated the mountains. The Framer and the Shaper wanted them to speak and call out to worship them, but the animals could only moan and growl, so they were seen as insufficient and from that point on only useful as food.

The Framer and the Shaper tried again with the Mud Person, but it fell apart and dissolved. It spoke, but without knowledge. It dissolved in water and so it was unmade.

They tried again in Carved Wood. These effigies looked like people and spoke like people, and they populated the earth, but they did not have hearts or minds. They did not remember their Framer or Shaper and walked without purpose. They had no blood or oil or sweat, and they were stiff and rigid. They were killed by a flood, crushed, and ruined.

Then humanity is created, after they thought and pondered for a good long time in the night, thinking and shifting. Maize is then discovered and this becomes the flesh of the people. Water becomes their blood.
The first men were given frame and shape, but had no mother and no father. They were brought about by the spirit essence of the Framer and the Shaper. They were able to speak and converse, listen, look, and they had breath and became people with vision.

They were asked by the Framer and the Shaper what the nature of their existence was, and whether or not they could see, which they could. They could see everything, but the Gods were unhappy with this and so removed their vision because it was a mistake to let them see everything and be so close to Gods.

The Gods then created their companions, and their hearts rejoiced.

The Nations are then humiliated in their attempts to take over the Gods and in their hubris of wealth and beauty find themselves stripped of their gold and precious metals. Then they are defeated by “the warriors and the killers”. Rather than being completely killed they are made to be servents

A King and No King - Beaumont and Fletcher

This play deals with questions surrounding human nature, power, authority, and cowardice. After winning a war against the Armenians, Arbaces, king of Iberia, takes Tigranes, king of Armenia, prisoner. Tigranes’s lover, Spaconia, asks Bessus, a captain of Arbaces, if she can accompany them and work for a lady of Arbaces house so she can be close to Tigranes and convince him to not love Panthea, the princess of Armenia (sister to Arbaces). We find out that Arane has attempted to kill Arbaces multiple times, but has always been stopped by Gobrius, the lord-protector. There’s an interesting scene, in Act II, where the “citizens” of Iberia show up and act both as a comedic relief, but also to show that Arbaces is out of touch when he addresses them as “united”. In spite of that, the citizens do appreciate Arbaces as their king. Act III is when the crux of the play happens, as Arbaces finally sees his sister after several years apart and falls in love with her. The rest of the play deals with the consequences of this sinful love while simultaneously questioning the nature of manhood (with Bessus’ cowardice) and other familial ties such as father/mother and children (with Lygones wanting to disown Spaconia and with the final reveal that Arbaces is Gobrius’ son and not related to Panthea). At the height of their passion, Arbaces asks Panthea if it is only the words “brother and sister” that stop them from loving freely, meaning, is there something more intrinsic in their relationship.

Arbaces compares his sinful desire to that of beasts frequently in the play. And nature is often used as a metaphor for his emotional state.ac

Ben Jonson Poems

Epigrams

The epigram style was usually a short and witty poem written in heroic couplets that had a pithy turn at the end.

“To Fine lady Would-Be”

A poem about abortion and the reasons why a “lady” would use an apothecary to bury her “not born” children. The end of the poem almost seems as if her body itself is the tomb for the buried. Jonson claims that the reasons why she wouldn’t want a child, the world thinks she’s barren, but he speculates it could be pain, loss of complexion, her figure, and loss of time and sport.

“On Something that Walks Somewhere”

A poem about an “it” but one that doesn’t even seem to be about a person. It’s just a social type as pure materiality, and bad materiality at that. Rather than an indictment against a particular person, it’s a poem that criticizes a type of behavior and social relations. The line, “and such from whom let no man hope least good” shows the reader that there’s a social ecology of value.

“Inviting a Friend to Supper”

A very long epigram with Epicurean ideals, trying to convince his patron and friend William Herbert Earl of Pembroke to come to dinner. In fact, the poem itself serves not only as an invitation, but a meal itself as it is laid out before us. The event is at Jonson’s “poor house”, but Jonson says it is the entertainment (and company) that make the evening, not the quality of the food. Nevertheless, Jonson’s meal plan is in the poem, as long as its affordable its possible, but in the middle of the poem he writes, “I’ll tell you of more, and lie, so you will come: / Of partridge, pheasant, woodcock, of which some/ May yet be there…” Everything that follows the “lie” seems questionable then, including whether or not they’ll be sad the following morning. Implicit in the poem is almost a sense of melancholy because all of the mirth and enjoyment happen during the dinner, but what of before and after?

“On My First Son”

Following the death of his firstborn son, Jonson wrote this poem. Jonson claims that his biggest sin was hoping for more out of his son’s life than just seven years. He wishes that he wasn’t a “father” at all anymore or maybe that he didn’t encounter any other fathers? In any event he wants it to be known that his son was his best creation and best “piece of poetry.”

“On my first Daughter”

Following the death of his first daughter, Mary, at 6 months old, Jonson wrote this poem about how his daughter is in “safety of her innocence” because she died so young, and will go join Queen Mary in heaven as part of her virgin train.

“To William, Earl of Pembroke”

Jonson writes about his patron and friend that William is an epigram in and of himself, one that should be studied if people want to know how the Commonwealth and public good will survive.

“To Mary, Lady Wroth”

Mary Wroth is so wonderful that her true internal Sidney-ness shines out from her “noted for what flesh such souls were framed, / Know you to be a Sidney, though unnamed”. Jonson doesn’t even need to write this poem for her, because she’s so good and wonderful that she doesn’t need his praise.