MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Curriculum and Instruction Division of Language Arts/Reading English Language Arts (ELA) Exemplar Lesson

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1 MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Curriculum and Instruction Division of Language Arts/Reading English Language Arts (ELA) Exemplar Lesson GRADE 10 ELA EXEMPLAR LESSON Teacher Copy Quarter 1, Week 8: 10/08/12 10/12/12 Learning Objectives The goal of this exemplar lesson is to conclude a close analysis of Sophocles drama, Antigone. Through repeated readings of targeted sections and the effective use of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led), students recognize complex relationships and dramatic themes in this classical drama. Varying the length and purpose for writing (paraphrasing, objective summarization, literary analysis of evolving themes, use of graphic organizers) provides time for evidentiary writing tasks that support deeper understanding of text. Teachers may need to further scaffold activities to address individual students needs depending on the intent of the lesson and specific learners needs. Rationale: This lesson focuses on Scenes 4 and 5 of Antigone and guides students through activities that center on the extent to which Creon and Antigone control their own fates. Are they victims of the whims of the gods, or are their actions the result of their own free will? The lesson culminates in a response to literature focused on the nature of Creon's and Antigone s tragic flaw, explaining his or her values and justifying his or her actions. Text Title(s): Antigone - Sophocles McDougal Littell Literature, pp Genre/Text Structure: Classical Drama Greek Tragedy Targeted Text Selection SCENE 4 and SCENE 5 Pages Common Core State Standards (CCSS) RL.9 10; W.9-10; SL Lesson Sequence PERFORMANCE TASK/CULMINATING INDEPENDENT WRITING ASSESSMENT: How does the character of Creon from Sophocles Antigone a man of simplicity and banal happiness reflect conflicting motivations of political and social order through his decision to sentence Antigone to death in the classical tragedy? Articulate how Creon s commitment to acts he finds loathsome and Antigone's insistence on facing the power of the state both advance the plot of this tragedy and develop themes. Write a response to literature in which you analyze the nature of Creon's and Antigone s tragic flaw. Identify errors in judgment or weaknesses in character and indicate how this flaw brings about death and affects all of Theban society. Who better fits the definition of a tragic hero, Antigone or Creon? Support your statements with examples and quotations from the play. Activity 1: GUIDING QUESTIONS: To what extent do Creon and Antigone control their own fates? Are Creon and Antigone the victims of the whims of the gods, or are their actions the result of their own free will? In what ways are Creon and Antigone similar? Different? In what ways is Antigone a threat to Creon? What is the major theme of the play? 1. The students will independently read Scene 4 and Scene 5 of Antigone on pages The sections of the play may be aloud or played on audio in its entirety. Rereading on day one is embedded in the text-dependent questions. 2. Using collaborative conferences (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) students should discuss and respond in writing to the initial meaning they have made from reading this section of the play. 3. Close analytical reading will be conducted on 4 targeted sections (lines in Scene 4, Ode 4 in Scene 4, lines in Scene 5, and lines of Exodos). Activities 2, 3 and 4: 1. Returning to the text, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding questions about the targeted sections (lines in Scene 4, lines in Scene 5, and lines of Exodos). The targeted text should be in front of the students as they engage in their discussions. 2. Returning to the text for close analysis of Ode 4, the teacher asks students a small set of guiding questions. 3. Continue to use the open mind graphic from week 6 and the cluster diagram from week 7 to analyze the moral conflict faced by each of the characters in the play. 4. Tell students that they should draft a clear statement of this conflict and include it in the introduction to their response for the culminating writing task. 5. The statement should describe the situation, the dilemma, possible courses of action, and explain the character s actions

2 Activity 5: 1. Use the Carol Booth Olson s writing activity at as a culminating assessment. Writing Situation In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced they are living their lives the best way they can in the world as they see it. Virtually every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of another character. Writing Directions Write a response to literature in which you analyze the nature of Creon's and Antigone s tragic flaw. Identify errors in judgment or weaknesses in character and indicate how this flaw brings about the causes of death and affects all of Theban society. Who better fits the definition of a tragic hero, Antigone or Creon? Support your statements with examples and quotations from the play. Targeted Text Selection - SCENE 4 and SCENE 5 Pages Vocabulary underlined words: insufficient contextual clues Teacher Activities and Techniques Text-Dependent Questions Lines p Chorus. Yet not unpraised, not without a kind of honor, You walk at last into the underworld; Untouched by sickness, broken by no sword. What woman has ever found your way to death? 15 Antigone. How often I have heard the story of Niobe, Tantalus wretched daughter, how the stone Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say The rain falls endlessly And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done. 20 I feel the loneliness of her death in mine. Chorus. But she was born of heaven, and you Are woman, woman-born. If her death is yours, A mortal woman s, is this not for you Glory in our world and in the world beyond? 25 Antigone. You laugh at me. Ah, friends, friends, Can you not wait until I am dead? O Thebes, O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune, Dear springs of Dirce, sacred Theban grove, Be witnesses for me, denied all pity, 30 Unjustly judged! and think a word of love For her whose path turns Under dark earth, where there are no more tears. Chorus. You have passed beyond human daring and come at last Into a place of stone where Justice sits. 35 I cannot tell What shape of your father s guilt appears in this. Antigone. You have touched it at last: that bridal bed Unspeakable, horror of son and mother mingling: Their crime, infection of all our family! 40 O Oedipus, father and brother! Your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine. I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life The blasphemy of my birth has followed me. Ode 4 p Chorus. All Danae s beauty was locked away In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come: A small room, still as any grave, enclosed her. Yet she was a princess too, 5 And Zeus in a rain of gold poured love upon her. O child, child, No power in wealth or war Or tough sea-blackened ships Can prevail against untiring Destiny! 10 And Dryas son also, that furious king, Bore the god s prisoning anger for his pride: BOLD words: Tier Two words lines Niobe: queen of Thebes whose children were killed by the gods because she had boasted that she was greater than a goddess. After their deaths, she was turned to stone but continued to shed tears. line 40, Oedipus line 44 blasphemy of my birth: Antigone is referring to her father s marriage to his own mother, an incestuous relationship that resulted in her birth. This type of relationship was considered a sin against the gods. lines 1-5 Danae: The princess Danae was imprisoned by her father because it had been predicted that her son would one day kill him. After Zeus visited Danae in the form of a shower of gold, she gave birth to his son Perseus, who die eventually kills his grandfather. GUIDING QUESTION: To what extent do Creon and Antigone control their own fates? (Q1) Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the play? Possible answer. Antigone is the protagonist because the play opens with her, she has the most tragic fate, and she is the title character. Creon is the antagonist because he is clearly Antigone s enemy and he has many negative qualities. (Q2) How does the chorus view Antigone s punishment for her act of conscience and loyalty? Possible answer. The chorus says that her punishment comes with praises and honor (lines 11-12), though they suggest fate may have played a part (lines 35-36). (Q3) How does Antigone show qualities of a tragic hero? Possible answer. Antigone faces death with courage, still insisting on the justness of her actions. Like a tragic hero, she is dignified, with a tragic flaw the blasphemy of *her+birth (line 44). (Q4) What is Antigone s highest loyalty? Possible answer. Antigone s highest loyalty is to the principles of conscience and the laws of the gods, not to the laws made by people. (Q5) What insights into Antigone s situation do you get from the myths that this ode alludes to? Possible answer. Each myth alluded to in the ode involves someone imprisoned like Antigone, either by the will of the gods or though the gods failure to interfere. The first myth suggests that locking someone up cannot circumvent destiny. The second

3 Sealed up by Dionysus in deaf stone, His madness died among echoes. So at the last he learned what dreadful power 15 His tongue had mocked: For he had profaned the revels And fired the wrath of the nine Implacable sisters that love the sound of the flute. And old men tell a half-remembered tale 20 Of horror done where a dark ledge splits the sea And a double surf beats on the grey shores: How a king s new woman, sick With hatred for the queen he had imprisoned, Ripped out his two sons eyes with her bloody hands 25 While grinning Ares watched the shuttle plunge Four times: four blind wounds crying for revenge, Crying, tears and blood mingled. Piteously born, Those sons whose mother was of heavenly birth! Her father was the god of the north wind, 30 And she was cradled by gales; She raced with young colts on the glittering hills And walked untrammeled in the open light: But in her marriage deathless Fate found means To build a tomb like yours for all her joy. lines in Scene 5 p No man can defile the gods. Do what you will; Go into business, make money, speculate 50 In India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis, Get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him. Teiresias, it is a sorry thing when a wise man Sells his wisdom, lets out his words for hire! Teiresias. Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world 55 Creon. To do what? Come, let s have the aphorism! Teiresias. No man who knows that wisdom outweighs any wealth? Creon. As surely as bribes are baser than any baseness. Teiresias. You are sick, Creon! You are deathly sick! Creon. As you say: it is not my place to challenge a prophet. 55 Teiresias. Yet you have said my prophecy is for sale. Creon. The generation of prophets has always loved gold. Teiresias. The generation of kings has always loved brass. Creon. You forget yourself! You are speaking to your king. Teiresias. I know it. You are a king because of me. 60 Creon. You have a certain skill; but you have sold out. Teiresias. King, you will drive me to words that Creon. Say them, say them! Only remember: I will not pay you for them. Teiresias. No, you will find them too costly. Creon. No doubt. Speak: Whatever you say, you will not change my will. lines Scene 5- Exodos p Messenger. Her curse is upon you for the deaths of both. Creon. It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty. I know it, and I say it. Lead me in, Quickly, friends. lines Dryas: King Lycurgus, son of Dryas, was driven mad and eaten by horses for objecting to the workshop of Dionysus. The nine implacable sisters are the Muses, the goddesses who presided over literature, the arts, and the sciences. Once offended, they were impossible to appease. lines king: These lines refer to the myth of King Phineus, who imprisoned his first wife, the daughter of the north wind, and allowed his new wife to blind his songs from his first marriage. line 48 defile: to make dirty, unclean, or impure. myth suggests that terrible punishment awaits those who offend the gods. The third myth suggests that sometimes the gods allow innocent people to suffer unjust imprisonment and brutal crimes. (Q6) What is the major theme of the play? Possible answer. A person s future is determined by fate, not by his or her own efforts. People cannot predict or control the future because it is in the hands of a higher authority. (Q7) What does Creon s exchange with Teiresias reveal about Creon s view of himself and others? Possible answer. Creon insults and threatens Teiresias and finally says, you will not change my will (line 69), revealing once again his belief that he is right and that he knows the will of the gods. The fulfillment of Teiresias prophecy is foreshadowed through Creon s death, Haemon s death, or worse. (Q8) How and why does Creon s attitude toward Teiresias change during the scene? Possible answer. Creon becomes hostile and angry, leveling charges of corruption against the prophet (lines 49 53) because Teiresias has told Creon what he does not want to hear; that he should bury Polyneices. (Q9) Why does Creon level charges of corruption against an acknowledged wise man? Possible answer. This is Creon s normal response when he hears unwelcome news or information. He seems to be paranoid and impulsive. (Q10) To what extent does Creon assume responsibility as a tragic hero? Possible answer. Answers may vary. Some may say Creon s realization of his guilt makes him a tragic hero. Others may suggest that he has not displayed enough greatness and nobility to be considered heroic

4 I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in. g 125 Choragus. You are right, if there can be right in so much wrong. The briefest way is best in a world of sorrow. Creon. Let it come; Let death come quickly and be kind to me. I would not ever see the sun again. 130 Choragus. All that will come when it will; but we, meanwhile, Have much to do. Leave the future to itself. Creon. All my heart was in that prayer! Choragus. Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf. Creon. Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. 135 I have killed my son and my wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust. (As Creon is being led into the house, the Choragus advances and speaks directly to the audience.) Choragus. There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; 140 No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise. Cross Genre Connections OR Across Non-Text Sources: Media Media Smart DVD: Compare Film and Written Versions (Q11) What theme does the choragus express in the final words of the play? Possible answer. The choragus expresses the theme that the gods punish arrogant pride until the guilty person recognizes and regrets his presumption. Locate and analyze similarities between Antigone and the movie Whale Rider. Look for characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have similarities. Use the chart below to record the parallels you can find. Find at least 10 items. OR Compare Antigone (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz s poem Antigone in terms of attitudes toward the sufferings of the past. What picture of Antigone is created in this poem? Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone s or Ismene s? Whose is more realistic? What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem? Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers in 1949? Formative Assessment/Rubrics, if applicable Summative Assessment/Culminating Independent Writing Task Class discussion(s) on text-dependent comprehension questions OR writing responses (graphic organizers, reader response journals, or prewriting activities) serve as formative assessments. Carol Booth Olson lesson plan found at Writing Situation In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced they are living their lives the best way they can in the world as they see it. Virtually every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of another character. Writing Directions Write a response to literature about one of the characters explaining his or her moral conflict, possible courses of action, and motivations. Include quotations and other details from the play to support the character s statements

5 Extension Activities/Further Resources Technology: (see links embedded in pacing guide) Cross Genre Connections OR Across Text or Non-Text Sources: Content Knowledge Outdated Forms/Archaic Language Graphic Organizers at English Language Learner (ELL) Resources and Strategies Use the following Discovery Education media links to build content background on Greek Mythology. D3D2-424B-AF57-85BDB62948FA Mention that some words in this translation of Antigone are no longer used in modern English. Write the expressions on the board and ask students to provide their definitions. Then have students reread the lines, substituting the definitions for the words or phrases: especial province (line 41), special target a sorry thing (line 52), a terrible or unfortunate thing let s out his words for hire (line 53), sells himself or his work my mind misgives (line 106), I am not thinking clearly. Vocabulary Idioms/Figurative language/sayings Writing Task Assist students in understanding the following allusions to Greek mythology and examples of personification of Death. Ask them to paraphrase and write these expressions. Now sleepy Death (personification) Summons me down to Acheron, that cold shore (allusion, line 9) How often I have heard the story of Niobe, Tantalus wretched daughter, how the stone Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say The rain falls endlessly And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done. I feel the loneliness of her death in mine... (allusion, lines 15 20) O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune (personification, line 27) Into a place of stone where Justice sits... (personification, line 34) One theme from the play Antigone that has relevance today is: Excessive pride can lead to one s downfall. Write a paragraph where you consider why this theme still holds interest for modern audiences

6 Student Copy Text Title(s): Antigone - Sophocles McDougal Littell Literature, pp Genre/Text Structure: Classical Drama Greek Tragedy Targeted Text Selection SCENE 4 and SCENE 5 Pages [RL.9 10; W.9-10; SL.9-10] Targeted Text Selection - SCENE 4 and SCENE 5 Vocabulary Pages lines p Chorus. Yet not unpraised, not without a kind of honor, You walk at last into the underworld; Untouched by sickness, broken by no sword. What woman has ever found your way to death? 15 Antigone. How often I have heard the story of Niobe, Tantalus wretched daughter, how the stone Clung fast about her, ivy-close: and they say The rain falls endlessly And sifting soft snow; her tears are never done. 20 I feel the loneliness of her death in mine. Chorus. But she was born of heaven, and you Are woman, woman-born. If her death is yours, A mortal woman s, is this not for you Glory in our world and in the world beyond? 25 Antigone. You laugh at me. Ah, friends, friends, Can you not wait until I am dead? O Thebes, O men many-charioted, in love with Fortune, Dear springs of Dirce, sacred Theban grove, Be witnesses for me, denied all pity, 30 Unjustly judged! and think a word of love For her whose path turns Under dark earth, where there are no more tears. Chorus. You have passed beyond human daring and come at last Into a place of stone where Justice sits. 35 I cannot tell What shape of your father s guilt appears in this. Antigone. You have touched it at last: that bridal bed Unspeakable, horror of son and mother mingling: Their crime, infection of all our family! 40 O Oedipus, father and brother! Your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine. I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life The blasphemy of my birth has followed me. Ode 4 p Chorus. All Danae s beauty was locked away In a brazen cell where the sunlight could not come: A small room, still as any grave, enclosed her. Yet she was a princess too, 5 And Zeus in a rain of gold poured love upon her. O child, child, No power in wealth or war Or tough sea-blackened ships Can prevail against untiring Destiny! 10 And Dryas son also, that furious king, Bore the god s prisoning anger for his pride: Sealed up by Dionysus in deaf stone, His madness died among echoes. So at the last he learned what dreadful power allusions lines Niobe, line 28, Dirce, line 40, Oedipus lines 15 20, Niobe: line 28, Dirce: line 40, Oedipus line 44 blasphemy of my birth: lines 1-5 Danae: lines Dryas: Teacher and Student-Generated Text-Dependent Questions GUIDING QUESTION: To what extent do Creon and Antigone control their own fates? (Q1) Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist in the play? (Q2) How does the chorus view Antigone s punishment for her act of conscience and loyalty? (Q3) How does Antigone show qualities of a tragic hero? (Q4) What is Antigone s highest loyalty? (Q5) What insights into Antigone s situation do you get from the myths that this ode alludes to? (Q6) What is the major theme of the play?

7 15 His tongue had mocked: For he had profaned the revels And fired the wrath of the nine Implacable sisters that love the sound of the flute. And old men tell a half-remembered tale 20 Of horror done where a dark ledge splits the sea And a double surf beats on the grey shores: How a king s new woman, sick With hatred for the queen he had imprisoned, Ripped out his two sons eyes with her bloody hands 25 While grinning Ares watched the shuttle plunge Four times: four blind wounds crying for revenge, Crying, tears and blood mingled. Piteously born, Those sons whose mother was of heavenly birth! Her father was the god of the north wind, 30 And she was cradled by gales; She raced with young colts on the glittering hills And walked untrammeled in the open light: But in her marriage deathless Fate found means To build a tomb like yours for all her joy. lines in Scene 5 p No man can defile the gods. Do what you will; Go into business, make money, speculate 50 In India gold or that synthetic gold from Sardis, Get rich otherwise than by my consent to bury him. Teiresias, it is a sorry thing when a wise man Sells his wisdom, lets out his words for hire! Teiresias. Ah Creon! Is there no man left in the world 55 Creon. To do what? Come, let s have the aphorism! Teiresias. No man who knows that wisdom outweighs any wealth? Creon. As surely as bribes are baser than any baseness. Teiresias. You are sick, Creon! You are deathly sick! Creon. As you say: it is not my place to challenge a prophet. 60 Teiresias. Yet you have said my prophecy is for sale. Creon. The generation of prophets has always loved gold. Teiresias. The generation of kings has always loved brass. Creon. You forget yourself! You are speaking to your king. Teiresias. I know it. You are a king because of me. 65 Creon. You have a certain skill; but you have sold out. Teiresias. King, you will drive me to words that Creon. Say them, say them! Only remember: I will not pay you for them. Teiresias. No, you will find them too costly. Creon. No doubt. Speak: Whatever you say, you will not change my will. Lines Scene 5- Exodos p Messenger. Her curse is upon you for the deaths of both. Creon. It is right that it should be. I alone am guilty. I know it, and I say it. Lead me in, Quickly, friends. I have neither life nor substance. Lead me in. g 125 Choragus. You are right, if there can be right in so much wrong. lines 18 nine Implacable sisters: lines king: line 48 defile: (Q7) What does Creon s exchange with Teiresias reveal about Creon s view of himself and others? (Q8) How and why does Creon s attitude toward Teiresias change during the scene? (Q9) Why does Creon level charges of corruption against an acknowledged wise man? (Q10) To what extent does Creon assume responsibility as a tragic hero?

8 The briefest way is best in a world of sorrow. Creon. Let it come; Let death come quickly and be kind to me. I would not ever see the sun again. 130 Choragus. All that will come when it will; but we, meanwhile, Have much to do. Leave the future to itself. Creon. All my heart was in that prayer! Choragus. Then do not pray any more: the sky is deaf. Creon. Lead me away. I have been rash and foolish. 135 I have killed my son and my wife. I look for comfort; my comfort lies here dead. Whatever my hands have touched has come to nothing. Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust. (As Creon is being led into the house, the Choragus advances and speaks directly to the audience.) Choragus. There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; 140 No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise. (Q11) What theme does the choragus express in the final words of the play? PERFORMANCE TASK: CULMINATING INDEPENDENT WRITING ASSESSMENT Media Media Smart DVD: Compare Film and Written Versions Locate and analyze similarities between Antigone and the movie Whale Rider. Look for characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have similarities. Use the chart below to record the parallels you can find. Find at least 10 items. OR Compare Antigone (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz s poem Antigone in terms of attitudes toward the sufferings of the past. What picture of Antigone is created in this poem? Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone s or Ismene s? Whose is more realistic? What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem? Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers in 1949? Writing Situation In his tragedy Antigone, Sophocles portrays a variety of characters who are convinced they are living their lives the best way they can in the world as they see it. Virtually every character reaches a point where his or her sense of morality conflicts with that of another character. Writing Directions Write a response to literature about one of the characters explaining his or her moral conflict, possible courses of action, and motivations. Include quotations and other details from the play to support the character s statements. For further information regarding this document contact the Division of Language Arts/Reading, Secondary District Instructional Supervisors, Dr. Erin Cuartas, Ms. Laurie Kaplan or Dr. Sharon Scruggs-Williams, ; for ELL questions, contact the Division of Bilingual Education and World Languages District Supervisor, Ms. Caridad Perez,

9 Antigone and Whale Rider Activity Directions: After viewing the film Whale Rider, find similarities between Antigone and the movie. Look for characters, symbols, and events in the play and movie that have similarities themes, motifs, and symbolism. Use the chart below to record at least 10 parallels you can find. Antigone Whale Rider 1. Vengeance 1. Vengeance Antigone defies the king to do what she believes is right. Kahu defies her grandfather to learn about her culture. 2. Leadership 2. Leadership 3. Fate/Prophesy 3. Fate/Prophesy 4. Family 4. Family 5. Respect for the Dead 5. Respect for the Dead 6. Pride 6. Pride 7. Gender 7. Gender 8. Filial Piety 8. Filial Piety 9. Curses 9. Curses

10 10. Divine Law 10. Divine Law Antigone - Czeslaw Milosz In the following poem by Czeslaw Milosz, Antigone and Ismene from Sophocles play reappear in Hungary in Hungary was one of the countries that suffered terribly during and after World War II. In March 1944, Hitler seized Hungary, shipping more than 500,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. Later that same year, Stalin s troops invaded the country. By 1949, a political takeover occurred in which communists fashioned a new constitution patterned on that of the Soviet Union. This fragment, written in 1949, is in remembrance of the Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers. ANTIGONE: 1 Accepting everything in this way, as one accepts Summer after spring, winter after fall, Accepting man s lot in the same way As one accepts the seasons, without thought? 5 As long as I live, I will cry out: no Do you hear, Ismene? I cry out: no. And I do not want any of your consolations, Not flower of the spring night, nor the nightingale, Sun nor clouds, nor pleasant rivers. 10 Nothing. May it persist unappeased This, which remains and this, which will remain Is the one thing worthy of memory: our hurt. The rusted ruins, Ismene, Know everything. With its black wing the raven 15 Death separated us from those years When we thought that our country Was like other countries, our people The same as other people. Fate s curse demands a victim. 20 The victim returns fate s curse. When this happens, it is not the time To preserve one s own insignificant life And it is not the time to weep for oneself. There is time for nothing. May devastation 25 Engulf the entire pitiless world, May those who laugh at our sorrow Turn their own cities into ashes. Creon s law! And Creon s command! What is Creon, when the world is disappearing? ISMENE: 30 Yes, but our parents are dead And our brothers are dead. And their revolution And within this is a rhythm, believe me, a compelling rhythm, Sorrow mingled with rapture as though Persephone 45 Were newly returned to the world. ANTIGONE: Fools believe that when they sacrifice Memories of the past, they will live contentedly. And fools believe: the death of one city Is not a sentencing for other cities. ISMENE: 50 Do not make light of the difficulty, Antigone, With which we force our lips and hearts Into silence. For this kind of triumph Is also a triumph and gives hope. ANTIGONE: I do not need your hope. 55 For I saw the remains of Polynices There, on the threshold of the crumbling cathedral. This skull, small as a child s, With a strand of light hair. A handful of bones Wrapped in crumbling, dark cloth 60 And the stench of a corpse. This then is our brother, Whose heart beat like ours, Who was happy and sang songs And knew fear before death, because in him the same voices Called that call within us. 65 And he conquered the voices summoning him To life s bright, remote expanses, And he went willingly to the sacrifice, Faithful to his word and oath

11 Will not return. Why reach out to the past? The old man with a cane cannot find his way Vainly seeking slain sons in the deaf city 35 Old women, quiet mourners, Pace in the dust with bowed heads. But already the greenery of dark places Wormwood, thistle, is forcing its way through the smoldering ruins, The butterfly, like a paper wafer in the inferno, 40 Flies among sheared stony chasms, Tattered children again are going to school, Lovers again are entwining hands, Are lavish in praise of villains. And so he departs, exiled from legend Into the oblivion of eternity traitor or hero? ISMENE: 85 Words can enflame the hurt. One who remains silent does not suffer less, perhaps more. ANTIGONE: Not only words, Ismene, not only words. Creon will not build his kingdom On our graves. He will not establish his order 90 With the power of the sword. Great is the power of the dead. No one is safe. Even though he surrounds himself Twenty years old, beautiful and high-spirited, 70 How many plans, unspoken thoughts By strength of will he offered up for destruction. And this was the man who, by Creon s command Was proclaimed a traitor. For him Some dark corner in a barren place outside the city 75 And in an empty helmet a moaning wind. But for others, for the glory of villains, Monuments will be erected Young girls will place wreaths on their grave The luster of torches illumines their names. 80 Here nothing, here darkness. With frightened hand Writers, compelled by fear With a crowd of spies and a million guards, The dead will reach him. They await the hours. 95 They are ironic, laughingly striding Around the lunatic, who does not believe in them. And when he adds up his accounts Suddenly the mistake is obvious. A little mistake, but multiplied, 100 Enough! And this mistake grows in magnitude, Villages and cities are consumed by the fire of iniquity. Blood! Blood! With crimson ink, he strives To eradicate the mistake. Too late. It is finished. Hapless Creon in this way intends to rule 105 As though we were a barbaric country. As though here every stone did not remember Tears of sorrow and tears of hope. Compare Antigone (Sophocles) to Czeslaw Milosz s poem Antigone in terms of attitudes toward the sufferings of the past. What picture of Antigone is created in this poem? Whose attitude toward life do you think is more positive, Antigone s or Ismene s? Whose is more realistic? What points about the hardships and horrors experienced by Hungarians during the 1940s does Milosz make in the poem? Why do you think Milosz used the ancient legend about Antigone in a poem dedicated to Hungarian workers, students, and soldiers in 1949?