The Artios Home Companion Series L i t e r a t u r e a n d Composition Units 1 - 6: Themes and Essay Writing Confession by Augustine of Hippo Literature for Units 1 - 6 “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” - Confessions 1:1, St. Augustine (Penguin Classics) shares with us the struggles and conflict each person faces on their journey toward God. His honesty and openness will ring true for some and draw sympathy from others. In his title Confessions, St. Augustine does not merely mean confession (Latin for “admitting“). Rather, he means his confessions to do more than admit wrongdoing. St. Augustine titled his work Confessions as a reflection of the Latin word confiteri, meaning, “to acknowledge to God, the truth one knows about God.” (augnet.org) More simply put, St. Augustine wants the readers to hear in his work praise and glory to God. The first nine books of this novel refer directly to St. Augustine’s life and journey to his faith. The final four books in the novel present St. Augustine’s analysis of self. In St. Augustine in His Study, by Sandro Botticelli Book X, St. Augustine analyzes memory; in Confessions chronicles the life and Book XI, St. Augustine introduces his conversion of St. Augustine, a fourth- analysis of time as it relates to creation; in century Christian bishop who is considered Books XII and XIII, St. Augustine one of the great theological fathers of the introduces his interpretation of Genesis, early church. Augustine does not merely ending with a meditation on the goodness of give an autobiography of his conversion, but creation. Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 1 - 6: Literature and Composition Page 372 Unit 1 – Assignments Literature Read Unit 1 – Assignment Background Read Books I & II of Confessions. Activity While Reading: As you read, keep a reading journal, making note of the struggles and ideas St. Augustine reveals. If it helps to have a list of discussion questions to guide your reading, visit: http://www.virtualsalt.com/lit/augustin.htm. Also While Reading: Work on the Composition assignment that is related to your reading. Composition Theme is the underlying message the author is portraying through his work. In Confessions, Augustine presents the themes below and gives examples to illustrate and explain these themes. You should choose one of the following themes to focus on: ▪ Evil in the World ▪ Free Will and Responsibility ▪ Literary Education vs. Moral Education While reading, track examples (quotes or paraphrasing) of that theme: ▪ To quote something, take a moment to write it down word-for-word. Be sure to mark the book/chapter/page where you found it. ▪ To paraphrase something, retell the interesting part in your own words. Do not just rearrange the words the author used. Be sure to retell it using words you would use, words you are comfortable with, words you understand. Then be sure to mark the book/chapter/ page where you found this information. Unit 1 – Assignment Background About the Author – adapted from The Harvard Classics: The Confessions of St. Augustine Aurelius Augustinus, better known as pleading. By the time he was about twenty- Saint Augustine, was born of poor parents seven he had begun to have doubts in North Africa, 354 A.D. His father, regarding the validity of Manichaeism, but Patricius, a pagan, was converted to it was not until 387, while he was Professor Christianity before his death; his mother of Rhetoric in the University of Milan, that Monica, on account of her personal piety he was converted to Catholic Christianity and her influence on her son, is one of the and received baptism. He now gave up his most revered women in the history of the profession and became an ascetic, studying Christian Church. the foundations of the faith, writing, chiefly While at the University of Carthage, against his former sect, and conversing with Augustine joined the heretical sect of the a group of disciples. In 395, he became Manichaeans, who professed to have Bishop of Hippo, an office which he filled for received from their founder, Manes, a the remaining thirty-five years of his life. higher form of truth than that taught by A large part of his literary activity was Christ. At the close of his university career, devoted to controversy with the heretics of Augustine practiced as a teacher of rhetoric, his time, first the Manichaeans, then the training young lawyers in the art of Donatists, and finally the Pelagians. It was Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 1 - 6: Literature and Composition Page 373 in his writings against these last and most protect the peoples who trusted them, and important opponents that he elaborated his goes on to expose the evil influence of the statement of the doctrines of belief in the old mythology, in a minute Predestination, Irresistible Grace, and Final examination of it traditions and mysteries. Perseverance, through which he has left his The second part of the book deals with the chief mark upon the creeds of later times. history of the “City of Man,“ founded upon The theology of the Schoolmen, such as love of self, and the “City of God,“ founded Thomas Aquinas, and of the Calvinists of upon love of God and contempt of self. This the Reformation, is built upon an work is a vast storehouse of the knowledge Augustinian basis. of the time, and is a monument not only to His two most important books are The Augustine’s great learning, but also to the City of God and Confessions. The former of keenest metaphysical mind of the age. these was provoked by the attacks upon The Confessions speaks for itself. The Christianity, roused by the disasters that earliest of autobiographies, it remains began to fall upon the Western Empire in unsurpassed as a sincere and intimate the beginning of the fifth century; and record of a great and pious soul laid bare Augustine replies by pointing out the failure before God. of the heathen gods in former times to http://augnet.org/default.asp Things to Know You should have at least a brief knowledge of the stories of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid. These are the works to which Augustine refers when pointing out the flaws in his early education. Summary of the Iliad: www.gradesaver.com/iliad/study-guide/short-summary/ Summary of the Odyssey: www.gradesaver.com/the-odyssey/study-guide/short-summary/ Summary of the Aeneid: www.gradesaver.com/the-aeneid/study-guide/short-summary/ Unit 2 – Assignments Literature Confessions is a study in St. Augustine’s search for God. Before you read the assigned books for this unit, review the summaries for Books I & II on this site: http://augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=245&iParentid=959 Read Books III & IV of Confessions. Activity While Reading: As you read, keep a reading journal, making note of the struggles and ideas St. Augustine reveals. If it helps to have a list of discussion questions to guide your reading, visit: http://www.virtualsalt.com/lit/augustin.htm. Also While Reading: Work on the Composition assignment that is related to your reading. Using the context resources, write an Author Profile on St. Augustine. See the Resources section at www.ArtiosHCS.com to view the format for this paper. Medieval to Renaissance: Middle School Unit 1 - 6: Literature and Composition Page 374 Composition As you read use your journal to track examples (quotes or paraphrasing) of the theme you chose in Unit 1. Share the information you are finding. As you talk about your discoveries, you will be more comfortable communicating this theme in discussion and on paper. Read Unit 2 – Assignment Background. (The notes and projects from this unit should be used as a resource for the remainder of the year.) On a loose-leaf sheet of paper, create a Resource Document for writing. Include, in your own words, the reasons why we write essays and the three divisions the essays must contain. You will be using this Resource Document as a reference when you start writing your essay in Unit 5 so develop it with that in mind. Unit 2 – Assignment Background Adapted for Middle School from: Introduction from Essay Writing For Schools by Leslie Cope Cornford First of all, what is an Essay? . An thing really is, by proving, testing, or Essay is the setting forth, the making clear, examining it; by (as the Latin verb exigo the illustration of a particular fact, idea, suggests) the driving — or separating — truth, or emotion, or of a particular group of out the different things of which it is facts, ideas, truths, or emotions in a short composed (called its ingredients) . Thus, written composition. when you are endeavoring to find out and to For instance, the dictionary definition of make clear the nature of a subject, what it is, the word essay is itself a little essay on the you are essaying to do so; and when have word, an explanation of it. “A composition done all you can, you have made an essay. on some special subject, commonly briefer Here, the question naturally arises, and less complete and formal than a What is the object of writing essays at all? treatise,” says the dictionary; also, “an Why (you ask) should you, a person of endeavor to do something; attempt or effort humble pretensions, take the trouble to find made; also, sometimes, a trial or test, an out and to express your views upon subjects experiment:” and the dictionary goes on to which have already been treated, many tell us that the word is derived through the times, by the wise and famous? The reasons Old French assay, from the Latin exigo, are simple and sufficient.