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Welcome to Week 2 of the Big White Farmhouse’s Summer Integrated Humanities program! This week, we’re really digging into the human condition and diving deep into the concepts of revenge vs. justice.
Just jumping in? You can find the links to the previous weeks here: Week 1
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: CARAVAGGIO
“Caravaggio was a leading Italian painter of the late 16th and early 17th centuries who became famous for the intense and unsettling realism of his large-scale religious works.” (via)
I love the way Caravaggio uses darkness and light to highlight important parts of his paintings. Your eye is drawn immediately to one spot, both by the direction of the light as well as way the characters are looking. So interesting and powerful.
A FABLE FROM AESOP
The Farmer and the Fox
A Farmer was greatly annoyed by a Fox, which came prowling about his yard at night and carried off his fowls. So he set a trap for him and caught him; and in order to be revenged upon him, he tied a bunch of tow to his tail and set fire to it and let him go. As ill-luck would have it, however, the Fox made straight for the fields where the corn was standing ripe and ready for cutting. It quickly caught fire and was all burnt up, and the Farmer lost all his harvest.
AESCHYLUS’ “AGAMEMNON”
Agamemnon is the first play in a trilogy, the Oresteia, which is considered Aeschylus’ greatest work.
“It details the homecoming of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, from the Trojan War. After ten years of warfare, and Troy fallen, all of Greece could lay claim to the victory. Waiting at home for Agamemnon is his wife, Queen Clytemnestra, who has been plotting his murder. She desires his death to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia, to exterminate the only thing hindering her from taking the crown, and to finally be able to publicly embrace her good-time lover Aegisthus.” (via)
Watch Part One and Part Two of this 1983 adaptation…with subtitles!
LOOK UP AT THE NIGHT SKY
There’s nothing like looking up at a dark sky on a warm, summer night! What can you see?
Things to Do…
- Have a bonfire at dusk and observe the light vs. dark.
- Start a phenology wheel, tracking the moon phases, weather, and other natural world observations.
- Learn the full moon names.
- Put the next full moon on your calendar: July 10 is the Buck Moon!
“EVENSONG” BY C.S. LEWIS
Evensong is a poem that reflects on day turning to night and the assurance of God’s safekeeping during sleep. I chose it to continue the theme of light turning to dark, day into night.
Now that night is creeping
O’er our travail’d senses,
To Thy care unsleeping
We commit our sleep.
Nature for a season
Conquers our defences,
But th’ eternal Reason
Watch and ward will keep.All the soul we render
Back to Thee completely,
Trusting Thou wilt tend her
Through the deathlike hours,
And all night remake her
To Thy likeness sweetly,
Then with dawn awake her
And give back her powers.Slumber’s less uncertain
Brother soon will bind us
—Darker falls the curtain,
Stifling-close ’tis drawn:
But amidst that prison
Still Thy voice can find us,
And, as Thou hast risen,
Raise us in They dawn.
MISCELLANEOUS RABBIT TRAILS…
+ Homer’s The Iliad is an excellent choice for thinking about the ideas of revenge vs. justice. Does revenge give us peace? What lengths will we go to achieve that revenge? Are we happier or more content after?
+ Read Medea by Euripides for an ancient Greek tragedy that you could easily imagine hearing about on the latest true crime show. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Medea’s dramatic decision for revenge is tragic. You can also watch the play here.
+ Discover what Thomas Aquinas said about justice in this video from The Thomistic Institute.
+ Picture study is a common subject in some homeschool curriculums. This Caravaggio Picture Study playlist walks you through the process and is helpful for both kids and adults alike.
Thank you so much for doing this; there are so many gems on here! I’m glad you linked to the phenology wheel. I recall having seen that on your site long ago, and was trying to find it once and couldn’t. Now I can find out more about it. It looks like a lovely way to do nature journaling.