BTLEW Lesson 10 – Diogenes and Alexander Part Three ENTER.

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Lesson 10 – Diogenes and Alexander

Part ThreePart Three

ENTER

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Text Text AppreciatioAppreciationn


I. Text Analysis

II. Writing Devices1. Diction2. Contrast3. Analogy4. Transferred Epithet

III. Sentence Paraphrase

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Plot of the story

Setting of the story

Protagonists of the story

Writing techniques of the story

Theme of the story

I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisHave you

got the key elements in the essay?

For reference

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Plot: description of two legendary figures, Diogenes the beggar and Alexander the Conqueror, and their encounter

Setting: in a little square in Corinth, Greece

Protagonists: Diogenes and Alexander

Writing techniques: go to Writing devices

Theme of the story: go to the next page

I.I. Text AnalysisText Analysis

For reference.

To be continued on the next page.

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Men should live a free life, a life free from the dependencies introduced by culture, society, civilization and opinion. Men are free when they stop toiling and sweating only for themselves. Great men are free and they are few in number.

Theme of the storyThe theme is summed up at the very end.


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Part 1 (paras. 1—9) about:

Part 2 (paras. ) about:

Part 3 (para. ) about:

Part 4 (paras. ) about:



Structure of the text

10—11

12

13—17

Portrait : Diogenes the beggar

Diogenes’ response (as compared to the other people’s ) to the coming visit of Alexander

Portrait: Alexander the Conqueror

Alexander’s call on Diogenes


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Part 1 (para. 1)




Topic


Supporting details

Appearance of a beggar

Daily life typical of a

beggar

Attitude&behavior of a

beggar

Sanity of a philosopher

Diogenes, a beggar, not a lunatic

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Part 1 (paras. 2-3)

Part 1 (para. 4)




topics

Diogenes’ doctrine on house & the reason he chose to live in a cask


topic

Diogenes, a philosopher, who preached his theory of life by his personal practice of doggishness

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Part 1 (paras. 5-9)

Part 1 (para. 10)(Transitional Paragraph)




topics

Diogenes, a missionary, an actual public practitioner of cynicism, who was different from hermits or other great philosophers of his time


topic

Diogenes, in his natural state of a free man, to receive his visitor

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Part 1 (para. 11)




topic

The preparation for the arrival of Alexander by his myrmidons


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Part 1 (paras. 12-13)

Part 1 (paras. 14-17)




topics

Greatness of Alexander, a young but powerful,wise and mature Conqueror, who determined to visit Diogenes

topics

Even with a sharp contrast between the ascetic philosopher and the all-powerful king, the two figures had something in common—freedom


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Reactions to the dialogue

When Alexander asked Diogenes to request a favour from him, Diogenes said: “ Stand to one side. You are blocking the sunlight.”


Kept silent and concluded they were the only free men alive

Greeks

Tittered

Macedonian officers

Guffawed and nudged

Alexander

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What did Diogenes value most in life?Why was Diogenes called “the Dog” by his contemporaries? What was Diogenes’ rationale (principle) for living so humbly? What is Cynicism? How do people understand Cynicism today?


Further discussion about the story


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• What characteristics did Diogenes and Alexander share? In what way were they different?

• What is the author trying to contrast in this essay? How does he do it?

• This is an essay about two legendary figures. But how would you describe the language style of the essay? Is it heavy, abstract and abstruse? Above all, is it boring? How does the author achieve this?


Further discussion about the story


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Retelling & summary

Try to use all the words provided to complete the task.


Retell a typical day in Diogenes’ life with the help of the following words and phrases.

scratch, do his business, beg, squat, scoop, stroll, scant thanks, a shower of

stones and abuses, mock, satire, convert, barrel, inhabit, lighted lamp

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Retelling & summary



Retell one of the anecdotes of Diogenes with the help of the following words.

war scare, drill, clean, weapons, fortifications, old cask, roll up and down

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Retelling & summary



Retell the encounter of the Diogenes and Alexander with the help of the following words and phrases.

move, contented, circle, tottering drunks, realm, congratulate, employment, kennel,

rise, respect, sit up on the elbow, bow, acclamation, silence, block, titter, guffaw,

nudge Please discuss

in groups!

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I.I. Text AnalysisText AnalysisRetelling & summary

Give your summary by contrasting the two legendary figures.

The end of Text Analysis.

summary

Diogenes chose to live a completely natural life. He refrained from luxury and all of the other dependencies introduced by culture, society and civilization. He often ridiculed civilized life. Through his own actual practice,

he preached his philosophy of cynicism—the belief which disregards all the social institutions insofar as

such institutions hindered one's freedom and independence. His encounter with Alexander, a

powerful monarch with divine status, further defines what freedom actually is and at the same time reveals

the greatness of the two legendary figures.

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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevices

Diction

1. Negative words

2. Complimentary words

3. Lexical repetition

4. Formal and informal words

5. Synonym

6. Antonym

7. Polysyndeton

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Diction

Negation

Lying on the bare earth, shoeless, bearded, half-naked, he looked like a beggar or a lunatic.

The author uses many negative words and expressions to show Diogenes’s denial of civilization and social conventions.

More examples


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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesDiction: more examples

Having no work to go to and no family to provide for, he was free.


Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometime a mischievous pebble, and got a show

of stones and abuses.

They were not sure whether he was mad or not.

Negation

Affirmative in form but negative in

meaning

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Negation

It was not a house, not even a squatter’s hut.

No one needs privacy; natural acts are not shameful; we all do the same thing, and need not hide them.

Affirmative in meaning but

negative in form

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His home was not a barrel made of wood; too expensive.

The end of Negative Words.

.

It was a storage jar made of earthenware, no doubt discarded because a break had made it useless.

Affirmative in form but negative in meaning

Negation

Live without conventions, which are artificial and false; escape complexities and extravagances:

only so can you live a free life.

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Diction

Complimentary words

… toward women, he was nobly restrained and chivalrous.

Complimentary words are used to describe Alexander’s greatness.

More examples


Only twenty, Alexander was far older and wiser than his years.

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Complimentary words

He was the man of the hour, of the century; he was unanimously appointed commander-in-chief of a new expedition…


Like all Macedonians, he loved fighting; he was a magnificent commander, …

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Complimentary words

With his handsome face, his fiery glance, his strong body, his purple and gold cloak, and his air of destiny, he moved…

The end of Complimentary Words.

With that generosity which Aristotle had taught him, Alexander determined to call

upon Diogenes.

Symbol of royal origin

Symbol of wealth

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Diction

Lexical Repetition

Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometimes a mischievous pebble, and got a shower of stones and abuse.


They would throw sharp questions at him and get sharper answers.

Root repetition for emphasis

Lexical repetition: repeating words in different positions in a sentence or

paragraph

Intermittent repetition, in which words repeated are separated from each other by syntactic

elements of varying length

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Diction

Lexical Repetition

The end of Lexical Repetition.

He was not the first to inhabit such a thing. But he was the first who ever

did so by choice, out of principle.

Lexical repetition

Like all macedonians he loved drinking, but he could usually handling it; …

Like all macedonians he loved fighting; …

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Diction

Formal & informal words

So he had one blanket—to dress him in the daytime and cover him at night—and he slept in a cask.

The end of Formal &Informal words.

He was not the first to inhabit such a thing.

Formal word

Mixed use of formal with

informal words creates stylistic effect, stressing

the contrast.

Informal word

Please find more examples

in the text.

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Diction

Synonyms

stone pebble

mad lunatic

live inhabit

house hut shelter kennel

barrel cask jar

Clothes garment cloak

get procure


General words

Specific words

In what way does the author

choose to use these synonyms?

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Synonyms

broken rugged

labor toil

laugh titter guffaw

The end of Synonym.

General words

Specific words

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Diction

Antonyms

The end of Antonym.

perishable everlastingrough handsomedrunk sober

… …

Opposite words

emphasizingcontrast

Please find more examples

in the text.

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Diction

Polysyndeton

No one needs beds and chairs and such furniture.

He was welcomed and honored and flattered.


As the market place filled up with shoppers and merchants and slaves and foreigners,

he had strolled through it for an hour or two.

Stress each detail

Polysyndeton: repetition of

conjunctions in close succession,

which has a cumulative effect

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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesDiction : more examples

Polysyndeton

He was a philosopher who wrote plays and poems and essays expounding his doctrine.

He spent much of his life in the…, mocking and satirizing its people, and occasionally

converting one of them.

The end of Diction.

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II. Writing II. Writing devicesdevices

Contrast


The use of as, while, like, whereas to

show contrast. Like Diogenes, he admired the heroic figure of

Hercules, who labored to help mankind while all others toiled and sweated only for themselves.

He understood Cynicism as the others could not.

When a king approaches, all rise in respect. Diogenes merely sat up on one elbow. When a

monarch enters a place, all greet him with a bow or an acclamation. Diogenes said nothing.

conventional conduct

Diogenes’ conduct

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Appearance manner

Diogenes

like a dog scratching, doing business in public etc

Alexander

youthful,handsome, strong body, purple and gold cloak, with an air of destiny

Nobly restrained and chivalrous

Contrast: Diogenes and Alexander

old, beggarly living on bare earth, shoeless, half-naked, with single ragged garment


Contrast: Contrast is to set in opposition two

objects of like nature to show their

different qualities and compare their

superiorities.

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attitude behaviour

Diogenes

Lying on the ground when visited by the king… …

ALexander

… … Air of destinyGenerous, kind

Kindly greeting… …

Contrast: Diogenes & ALexander

free and self-sufficient austere & naturalistic indifferent to power Bold, composed, frank … …

Scan the text and list out the related information.


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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesContrast: Diogenes & ordinary people

ordinary Diogenes People

A mischievous pebble A shower of stones and abuse Bits of food


Scant thanks

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II.II. Writing Writing DevicesDevicesContrast: Diogenes & ordinary people



Living elaborately, expensively, and anxiously in a house (furniture, clothes, horses, servants, bank accounts)

Living in a earthenware jar, shoeless, half-naked

Rich, lazy, corrupt, profit-happy, stirring, drilling, rebuilding

Sober, taking his cask and rolling it up and down

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Contrast: Diogenes & ordinary people



Crowding to congratulate, seek employment, rise in respect, bowing, acclaiming, tittering…

Lying in the sunlight, contented, happy, sitting up on one elbow, remaining silent…

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Contrast: Diogenes & beggars

Diogenes

Beggars


Inhabiting in a discarded earthen storage jar by his own choice, out of principle

Sleeping in a cask because they could not afford to live in a house

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Contrast: Diogenes & hermits

Diogenes

hermits


Retreating to persuade or convert others to his own doctrine

Living in a cask on the street

Retreating to live simply because they grew tired of human society with its complications

Living on a small farm, in a quiet village, or in a hermit’s cave

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Contrast: Diogenes & other philosophers

The end of Contrast.

Diogenes Talking to or teaching those who ever cared to listen to, or admired him

A crowd of ordinary people could serve as laboratory, specimens, lecture halls and pupils.

Other famous philosophers

Teaching their own private pupils

Private pupils were taught in lecture halls etc.

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AnalogyAnalogy chiefly used for the purpose of persuasion

The end of Analogy.

His life’s aim was clear to him: it was “to restamp the currency”: to take the clean metal of human life, to erase the old false conventional markings, and to imprint it with its true va

lues.

Analogy developed through parallel similarities

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… sometimes a mischievous pebble…

Transferred epithet: an adjective transferred from the noun it should modify to another to which it does not belong

Transferred epithet

“Mischievous” modifying the person who threw a pebble

The end of transferred epithet.

There was an amazed silence.

“Amazed” describing the people who were amazed

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III.III. Sentence Sentence Paraphrase Paraphrase 11

He had opened his eyes…, done his business like a

dog at the roadside, … eaten them squatting

on the ground, and washed them down with a

few handfuls of water scooped from the

spring. (1)

“-ful” is used as a noun suffix.

lifted out as if with a ladle

had answered nature’s call like a dog

go to 2

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Everybody knew him or knew of him. (1)

was familiar with

go to 3

was told or read or heard about the person

“know” and “know of” are used together to show the contrast.

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Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometimes a mischievous pebble, and got a shower of stones and abuse. (1)

A pebble (a small round stone, indicating the teasing manner of the pitcher) is sharply contrasted with a shower of stones.

A pebble playfully thrown by a naughty person

Repetition, the second is followed by a paralleled structure

go to 4

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It was not a house, not even a squatter’s hut. (2)

A crude or makeshift dwelling or shelter

A general term for a dwelling place for a man or his family

He did not live even in a deserted hut.

go to 5

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He spent much of his life in the rich, lazy, corrupt Greek city of Corinth, mocking and satirizing its people, and occasionally converting one of them. (2)

He chose to live among the wealthy, lazy and dishonest citizens of Corinth, spent much of his time ridiculing them and occasionally persuaded one of them into adopting his belief.

Appositive phrase

go to 6

More examples


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III.III. Sentence Sentence ParaphraseParaphrase

a piece ofbits of a few handfuls ofa crowd ofa quantity ofa large corps of hundreds of

back to 5

air of destinyman of the century man of the hourfigure of Hercules

use of “of”

the trouble of kickingthe city of Corinth

amount typical of

that is

citizens of the world

possession Please find more uses of

“of” in the text.

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He was not the first to inhabit such a thing. (3)

He was not the first man who had lived in such a storage jar.

the+ordinal number used as a noun

go to 7

More examples


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III.III. Sentence Sentence Paraphrase Paraphrase

But he was the first who ever did so by choice, out of principle.

Come and play bridge with us. We need a fourth in the game.

back to 6

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But he was the first who ever did so by choice,

out of principle. (3)

Based on a principle

But he was the first to do so because he wanted to.

go to 8

More examples


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III.III. Sentence Sentence Paraphrase Paraphrase

back to 7

I opened the box out of curiosity.

She began to learn to cook out of interest, not out of necessity.

He paid a visit out of respect.

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Live without conventions, which are

artificial and false; escape complexities and

extravagances: only so can you live a free

life. (4)

Only when you live without artificial and false

conventions and avoid complex lives can you

live a free life.go to 9

Inverted order

More examples


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III.III. Sentence Sentence ParaphraseParaphrase

back to 8

Only in this way can we learn English well.

Only if all their conditions are met will the strikers go back to work.

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In order to procure a quantity of false,

perishable goods he has sold the only true,

lasting good, his own independence. (4)

People get only some false and easily spoiled material goods at the cost of their own everlasting independence.

Antonyms to show contrastantonyms

go to 10

Root repetition

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His life’s aim was clear to him: it was “to restamp the currency”: to take the clean metal of human life, to erase the old false conventional markings, and to imprint it with its true values. (5)

Diogenes and his father were once convicted for defacing the coins.

Life is like a metal marked with false and conventional values. His life task is to remove those false markings and imprint a true value on it.

go to 11

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The other great philosophers of the fourth

century B.C., such as Plato and Aristotle,

taught mainly their own private pupils. (6)

Other Greek philosophers of the time, such

as Plato and Aristotle, gave lessons only to

their own pupils.

go to 12

Contrasting the other philosophers of his time with Diogenes himself

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III.III. SeSentence ntence Paraphrase Paraphrase 1212

Diogenes took his old cask and began to roll it up and down. “When you are all so busy,” he said, “ I feel I ought to do something!” (9)

When the Corinthians were busy preparing for the coming war, Diogenes rolled his cask up and down to ridicule their silly behavior.

The end of Sentence Paraphrase.

Sharp contrast between Diogenes and the Corinthian people attitudes and behavior

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BTLEW Lesson 10 – Diogenes and Alexander Part Three ENTER.

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