Myra Fritzie M.

Banguis
Semi Final Exam ENGL110
AFRO ASIAN LITERATURE

1. Write a 3 paragraph discussion about the great epics of India-Mahabharata and

Ramayana.
2. Trace the history of Hebrew literature in a form of an outline.
3. Identify and enumerate the divisions of the Bible and the books under each
division.
4. Choose one and narrate the parables of Jesus.
5. Enumerate the characteristics of Persian literature.
6. Explain the important contributions of Omar Khayyam to Persian literature.

Answers
1. The Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two most prominent. It's
difficult to pinpoint exactly when these epics were written. The epics, according
to popular belief, represent the period of time between the later Vedic and
Buddhist periods.
The Mahabharata is a vast and expansive tale about the five heroic and noble
Panadava brothers and their search for an empire over their evil cousins, the
Kauravas. The epic comes to a close with a massive war that wipes out all of the
world's armies. In addition, the Hindu god Krishna serves as a reference to the
heroes in this epic. The Ramayana is also about a Hindu god named Rama.
Rama is a prince who has to go through exile before claiming his title in this
epic. Ravana, a demon, abducts his wife Sita while he is in exile. Rama and his
brother Lakshman have to go and save her, helped by an army of monkeys.
Along the way, they make allies and friends with a strong monkey called
Hanuman, who is also a Hindu deity.
Despite the fact that they contain a lot of myths and legend, the two epics shed
a lot of light on post-Vedic culture. The most important aspect is the extensive
and reliable information they provide about the social, political, and spiritual
conditions that existed during the epic period.
2.
Hebrew literature
Consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It
is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases
of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews. Hebrew literature was produced in
many different parts of the world throughout the medieval and modern eras,
while contemporary Hebrew literature is largely Israeli literature.
Ancient Hebrew literature
Beyond comparison, the most important such work is the Hebrew Bible
(Tanakh).The Mishna, compiled around 200 CE, and is the primary rabbinic
codification of laws as derived from the Torah. It was written in Mishnaic
Hebrew, but the major commentary on it, the Gemara, was largely written in
Aramaic. Many works of classical Midrash were written in Hebrew.
Medieval Hebrew literature
Many works of medieval rabbinic literature were written in Hebrew, including:
Torah commentaries by Abraham ibn Ezra, Rashi and others; codifications of
Jewish law, such as Maimonides Mishneh Torah, the Arbaah Turim, and the
Shulchan Aruch; and works of Musarliterature (didactic ethical literature) such
as Bahya ibn Paqudas Chovot ha-Levavot (The Duties of the Heart). Many works
of medieval philosophical literature such as the Guide to the Perplexed and The
Kuzari, as well as many works of fiction, were written in Judeo-Arabic. One
work of fiction which was written in Hebrew was the "Fox Fables" by Berechiah
ben Natronaiha-Nakdan, Hebrew fables which resemble Aesops fables. Much
medieval Jewish poetry was written in Hebrew, including liturgical piyyutim in
Palestinein the seventh and eighth centuries by Yose ben Yose, Yanai, and
Eleazar Kalir.[2] These poems were added to the Hebrew-language liturgy. This
liturgy was compiled in book form as "the siddur" by rabbis including Amram
Gaon and Saadia Gaon.Later Spanish, Provençal, and Italian poets wrote both
religious and secular poems; particularly prominent poets were Solomon ibn
Gabirol and Yehuda Halevi.
Modern Hebrew literature
In addition to writing traditional rabbinic literature in Hebrew, modern Jews
developed new forms of fiction, poetry, and essay-writing, which are typically
called "Modern Hebrew Literature.
Eighteenth Century
Moses Hayyim Luzzattos allegorical drama "La-Yesharim Tehillah" (1743) may
be regarded as the first product of modern Hebrew literature. It has been
referred to as "a poem that in its classic perfection of style is second only to the
Bible."[3] Luzzattos pupil in Amsterdam, David Franco Mendes (1713–92), in his
imitations of Jean Racine ("Gemul Atalyah") and of Metastasio ("Yehudit"),
continued his masters work, though his works are not as respected as were
Luzzattos.[4]In the eighteenth century, the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment)
movement worked to achieve political emancipation for Jews in Europe. Moses
Mendelssohns translation of the Hebrew Bible into German inspired interest in
the Hebrew language that led to the founding of a quarterly review written in
Hebrew. Other periodicals followed. Poetry by Naphtali Hirz Wessely such as
"Shire Tiferet," or "Mosiade," made Wessely, so to speak, poet laureate of the
period.
Nineteenth Century
In nineteenth-century Galicia, poets, scholars, and popular writers who
contributed to the dissemination of Hebrew and to the emancipation of the Jews
of Galicia included:
 Nachman Krochmal (1785–1840), a philosopher, theologian, and
historian.
 Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport (1790–1867), a rabbi, poet, and
biographer
  Isaac Erter (1792–1841), a satirical poet, whose collection of essays, "Ha
Tzofeh le-Bet Yisrael," is one of the purest works of Modern Hebrew
literature, attacking Hasidic superstitions and prejudices in a vigorous
and classical style.
 Meir Halevy Letteris (1800–1871), a lyric poet also known for his
adaption of Goethes Faust into Hebrew.
In Amsterdam, a circle of Hebrew-language literary artists emerged in the
nineteenth century, including the poet Samuel Molder (1789–1862).
Prague became an active center for the Haskalah in the nineteenth century, and
the best known among the Haskalah writers there was Jehudah Loeb Jeiteles
(1773–1838), author of witty epigrams ("Bene ha-Neurim") and of works directed
against Hasidism and against superstition. In Hungary, Hebrew-language
authors included Solomon Lewison of Moor (1789–1822), author of "Melitzat
Yeshurun"; Gabriel Südfeld, a poet who was the father of Max Nordau; and the
poet Simon Bacher. A notable Jewish author in Romania during the nineteenth
century was thephysician and writer Julius Barasch. Italian Jews of the
nineteenth-century who wrote in Hebrew included I. S. Reggio (1784–1854),
Joseph Almanzi, Hayyim Salomon, Samuel Vita Lolli (1788–1843). Another
figure of note was Rachel Morpurgo (1790–1860), who was one of the few female
writers in the Haskalah movement, and whose poems have been described as
characterized by "religious piety and amystic faith in Israels future."The best
known Italian writer was Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–65) was the first
modern writer to introduce religious romanticism into Hebrew and to attack
northern rationalism in the name of religious and national feeling.”
Twentieth Century
As Zionist settlement in Palestine intensified at the start of the twentieth
century, Hebrew became the shared language of the various Jewish immigrant
communities. Eliezer Ben-Yehudain particular worked to adapt Hebrew to the
needs of the modern world, turning to Hebrew sources from all periods to
develop a language that went beyond the sacred and was capable of articulating
the modern experience. Hayim Nahman Bialik (1873–1934) was one of the
pioneers of modern Hebrew poets and cameto be recognized as Israels national
poet. Bialik contributed significantly to the revival of the Hebrew language,
which before his days existed primarily as an ancient, scholarly tongue. His
influence is felt deeply in all modern Hebrew literature. Bialik, like other great
literary figures from the early part of the 20th century such as Ahad Ha-Am and
Tchernichovsky, spent his last years in Tel Aviv, exerting a great influence on
younger Hebrew writers.[11]The foundations of modern Israeli writing were laid
by a group of literary pioneers from the Second Aliyah including Shmuel Yosef
Agnon, Moshe Smilansky, Yosef Haim Brenner, David Shimoni and Jacob
Fichman. In contrast, Yitzhaq Shami, was a native of Palestine, and he holds a
unique place in Hebrew literature, since his work is also recognized as
Palestinian literature. In1966, Agnon won the Nobel Prize for Literature for
novels and short stories that employ a unique blend of biblical, Talmudic and
 modern Hebrew. Literary translators into Modern Hebrew, most notably Leah
Goldberg among others, also contributed a great deal to Israeli-Hebrew
literature through bringing international literature and literary figures into
Hebrew circles through translation. Goldberg herself was also noted for being a
prolific writer and pioneer of Israeli children’s literature as well.
Contemporary Hebrew literature
Israeli literature
A new generation of Hebrew writers emerged with the establishment of the State
of Israel in1948. This new generation included the novelists Aharon Megged,
Nathan Shaham, and Moshe Shamir, and the poets Yehudah Amichai, Amir
Gilboa, and Haim Gouri. The novels My Michael (1968) and Black Box (1987) by
Amos Oz and The Lover (1977) and Mr. Mani (1990) by A. B.Yehoshua describe
life in the new state. These works also explore topics such the as conflict
between parents and children and the rejection of some once-sacred ideals of
Judaism and Zionism. Many Hebrew writers in the late twentieth century dealt
with the Holocaust, womens issues, and the conflict between Israelis and
Arabs. Another topic was the tension between Jews of European origin, the
Ashkenazim, and Jews of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin, the
Mizrahim and Sephardim. Modern Hebrew authors include Ruth Almog, Aharon
Appelfeld, Yitzhak Ben-Ner, DavidGrossman, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, Etgar
Keret, Savyon Liebrecht, Sami Michael, YaakovShabtai, David Shahar, Meir
Shalev, and Tseruyah Shalev.Hebrew poets include David Avidan, Maya
Bejerano, Erez Biton, Yitzchak Laor, Dan Pagis,Dalia Ravikovitch, Ronny
Someck, Meir Wieseltier, and Yona Wallach.Contemporary Israeli authors
whose works have been translated into other languages andattained
international recognition are Ephraim Kishon, Yaakov Shabtai, A. B. Yehoshua,
Amos Oz, Irit Linur, Etgar Keret and Yehoshua Sobol. Today thousands of new
books are published in Hebrew each year, both translations from other
languages and original works by Israeli authors.
3.
Law books
These are the first 5 books of the Bible that are believed to have been
written by Moses. These are:
 Genesis
 Exodus
 Leviticus
 Numbers
 Deuteronomy
They are also referred to as the Torah or Pentateuch or Mosaic
Law.
Historical Books
They are 12 Historical books and they record the history of the
Israelites from the time they entered Canaan and settled until after
the Babylonian exile.
These are:
 Joshua
 Judges
 Ruth
 1st and 2nd Samuel      
 1st and 2nd Kings
 1st and 2nd Chronicles
 Ezra
 Nehemiah
 Esther
Poetic Books
They are 5 and contain words of wisdom. They are poetic in nature
and these are:
 Job
 Psalms
 Proverbs
 Ecclesiastes
 Songs of Songs
 Prophetic books
They contain the prophecies of the people of Israel.   They are
further sub-divided into two i.e.
a. Major Prophets
They are referred to as Major Prophets because their
messages cover a longer historical period and are 5 in
number i.e.
 Isaiah
 Jeremiah
 Lamentations
 Ezekiel
 Daniel
 Minor Prophets
The messages of this prophets cover a shorter historical
period. They are twelve i.e.
 Hosea
 Nahum
 Joel
 Habakkuk
 Amos
 Zephaniah
 Obadiah
 Haggai
 Jonah
 Zechariah
  Micah    
 Malachi
Biographical Books
They are referred to as Gospels.
These Gospels were written by the disciples of Jesus Christ.
They tell the life story and ministry of Jesus Christ.
They are 4 in number i.e.
 Mathew
 Mark
 Luke
 John
The first three books in the New Testament are also
referred to as the synoptic Gospels.
Historical Books
It outlines the history and development of the church after Jesus’ ascension.
It is one book namely:
 Acts
The author is Luke.
It deals with the history of the early church after the ascension of Christ.
Pauline Epistles
These are 13 letters written by Paul to the congregation and
individuals to address certain problems that arose among them.
They are:
 Romans    
 Colossians
 1st and 2nd Corinthians
 1st and 2nd Thessalonians
 Galatians
 1st and 2nd Timothy
 Ephesians
 Titus
 Philippians
 Philemon
General Epistles
These letters are not addressed to specific churches or individuals
but to all Christians to encourage them.
Are eight namely:
 Hebrews
 James
 1st and 2nd Peter
 1st, 2nd and 3rd John
Jude
Prophetic Books
 There is only one book i.e.  Revelation.
It presents God’s will for the future.
4. The Parable of the Good Samaritan
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he
asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength and with your entire mind’; and, ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when
he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and
went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same
road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a
Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw
him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring
on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an
inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two Denair and gave them to
the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you
for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the
hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (TNIV, Luke 10:25-37)
"Love your neighbor as yourself" was part of the Old Testament law (Leviticus
19:18). But the Jewish teachers had often interpreted "neighbor" to include only
people of their own nationality and religion. The expert in the law was looking to
Jesus for justification for that interpretation, so he asked Jesus, "And who is
my neighbor?" In response, Jesus told His famous Parable of the Good
Samaritan.
Samaria was a region of central Palestine that was once the capital of Israel.
The Assyrians captured Samaria in 721 B.C. They deported many of the
inhabitants and replaced them with foreign colonists (2 Kings 17:24-33). The
colonists were pagans who eventually intermarried with the remaining Jews.
They adopted the religion of Israel, but they also continued to worship their
pagan idols. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be religious heretics of a
foreign nationality and inferior race. The Samaritans offered to help rebuild the
Jewish temple, but their offer was rudely rebuffed (Ezra 4:1-3). Finally the
Samaritans built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim and proclaimed it, rather than
the Jewish temple, to be the true house of God. By the time of Jesus, the Jews
and Samaritans had hated each other for hundreds of years.
With that background, it is easy to understand that there was no one that the
Jewish expert in the law would have considered to be less of a "neighbor" than a
Samaritan. If a Samaritan man could be a "neighbor" to the Jewish man who
was robbed and beaten, then the definition of "neighbor" would have to
include all people of the world. In this parable, Jesus tells us that anyone in
 need is our neighbor, regardless of race, religion, nationality or any other
artificial distinction.
5. Persian literature too has a number of noteworthy characteristics, the most
striking of which is the exceptional prominence of poetry. Until quite recently
there was practically no drama, and no novels were written; prose works were
mostly confined to history, geography, philosophy, religion, ethics and politics,
and it was poetry that formed the chief outlet for artistic expression. Classical
Persian literature was produced almost entirely under royal patronage whence
the frequency of panegyric verse. An influence of at least equal strength was
religion, and in particular Sufism, which inspired the remarkably high
proportion of mystical poetry.
Persian literature characteristics:
 One of the world’s oldest literatures.
 Not all Persian literature is written in Persian language, as some works
written in Arabic and Greek.
 Not all literature written in Persian is written by Persians/Iranians as
Turkic, Caucasian and Indic writers also used Persian language.
  Main issue of Pre- Islamic culture was wisdom and a kind of
rationalism.
 Goodness and evil was a principle issue -Appeared in books and
independent treatises.
 Classical Persian poetry is always rhymed.
6. Omar’s poems had attracted comparatively little attention until they inspired
FitzGerald to write his celebrated The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, containing
such now-famous phrases as “A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou,”
“Take the Cash, and let the Credit go,” and “The Flower that once has blown
forever dies.” These quatrains have been translated into almost every major
language and are largely responsible for coloring European ideas about
Persian poetry. Some scholars have doubted that Omar wrote poetry. His
contemporaries took no notice of his verse, and not until two centuries after his
death did a few quatrains appear under his name. Even then, the verses were
mostly used as quotations against particular views ostensibly held by Omar,
leading some scholars to suspect that they may have been invented and
attributed to Omar because of his scholarly reputation. Each of Omar’s
quatrains forms a complete poem in itself. It was FitzGerald who conceived the
idea of combining a series of these robāʿīyāt into a continuous elegy that had
an intellectual unity and consistency. FitzGerald’s ingenious and felicitous
paraphrasing gave his translations a memorable verve and succinctness. They
are, however, extremely free translations, and more recently several more
faithful renderings of the quatrains have been published. The verses translated
by FitzGerald and others reveal a man of deep thought, troubled by the
questions of the nature of reality and the eternal, the impermanence and
uncertainty of life, and man’s relationship to God. The writer doubts the
existence of divine providence and the afterlife, derides religious certainty, and
feels keenly man’s frailty and ignorance. Finding no acceptable answers to his
perplexities, he chooses to put his faith instead in a joyful appreciation of the
fleeting and sensuous beauties of the material world. The idyllic nature of the
modest pleasures he celebrates, however, cannot dispel his honest and
straightforward brooding over fundamental metaphysical questions.