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Cultural Studies Paper

There exists different versions and elements of the Biblical prophetic tradition, from the patriarchal stories of Abraham and Moses to the exilic and post-exilic prophecies (like prophecies by Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel), to New Testament appropriations. Biblical prophesies in today’s world have become more important as things in the world start to go in a way that is destructive. For instance, with the increase in the cases of wars, earthquakes, famines and drought is the fulfillment of the prophesies in the bible on the last days. Research has proven that there is only a small percentage of born-again Christians that have prophesies that are based on the bible.

There are many groups of people that claim to have prophesies currently. This has led to the rise of a lot of controversy between people. This is because as they argue there are high numbers of prophets who are false. These false prophets use specific verses within the bible to come up with prophesies that will help them benefit in a certain way from the audience. For instance, there has been the emergence of a large number of street preachers.

As much as this argument could be valid, there are prophets who use the bible as the foundation of their prophesies. As stated above, there have been several reasons for the born again Christians to believe that the end of the world is coming. The prophesies of today focus on the events of that occur in the last days as described by the bible. The traditional form of prophecy used by the street prophets is a form whereby they make the audience aware of the illnesses that are ongoing in the society and relate them to the bible. This is only done by a few numbers of street preachers. They often remind people that God is a forgiving God and that if they turn away from the evil deeds, he will not use punishment to destroy them.

There are street preachers today whom their main aim is to con people and to steal from them. The shocking thing is that this was prophesied in the New Testament; that there will be the rising of false prophets. Most of these false prophets make use of threats as they prophesy. For instance, they are quick to judge people, to condemn them, and to frighten them. They do this without convincing people to change their ways to be righteous, and to follow the teachings of the Almighty. These false prophets hurry to complete their false prophesy and do not allow room for discussion with the audience on the implications of their prophesies. Rather, they are out to obtain money from their audience. Some even do this as their source of money.

Mikhail Bakhtin’s essay “Epic and the Novel,” argues that since the novel, all forms of literary expression have changed to become more heteroglossic, intimate, and realistic – that is literature has become less “epic.” He uses the epic genre to compare it with the novel. From this comparison, Bakhtin discovered that the novel is very flexible. He argues this is so due to the fact that epic genres have the flexibility that helps them to adapt to any changes. This is because the novel lacks the lyric poetry that is found in epics. He also discovered that the novel has the capability to attain what other literature forms cannot attain. For an instant, the novel has the ability to present-day authenticity.

His argument has led to the influence of the adaptation of the epic forms. This is because; according to him, the modern day literary expressions have become more intimate, realistic and heteroglossic. A good example of these literary expressions that lacks the epic genre is the films. The contemporary films are created in such a way that they contain a lot of intimacies just as Bakhtin had suggested. There has even been the emergence of pornographic films, which the only component in them is intimacy.

The Ramayana is one of the epics that were present during the same period of the novel. The Ramayana is a collection of many editions of the Indian epic poem. R.K. Narayan has come up with a shortened version of The Ramayana following the comments made by Bakhtin in regards to contemporary literature forms of expression. Narayan comes up with this short form of the Indian epics, which turned out to show modern feelings, and his piece had been greatly influenced by his ideas. Though his interpretation of the epics into prose forms, he made them loose part of their epic genre. In addition, he removed some of the information that was in these Indian epics. With this, Narayan got rid of the lyric poetry that is contained in epics. The original Vamilki Ramayana contained no influence from the writers and did not display any feelings. The original version had the lyric poetry found in literature containing the epic genre.

From Narayan’s edition, it is clear that he novelizes the epics, making them lose their epic nature. Loss of the epic genre in contemporary literature is very common. This is because as observed in Narayan’s edition, modern literature has a lot of emotions and feelings. Moreover, modern literature contains information that represents the feelings of the author. For all these reasons, the contemporary literature expression forms do not have the epic genre in them.

Through art and literature, there are elements that are presented. These are the cry and the vision. The cry refers to the expression of pain, alarm or despair in a non-verbal way that may be individual or collective and which it adds seemingly exceptional dramatic power to a narrative or demonstration. This appears both in the literature and in the art. On the other hand, the vision refers to the internal moment where one is able to see things in an effort that is alienated from the outward appearance of seeing that take place within it. This could take the form of a dream, an actual vision or contemplation of a work of art.

The cry can be demonstrated either as a singular event or as a repeated trope or expressive element. This discussion will focus on the element of the cry as a repeated or expressive element.in the Achilles/Athena’s cry in The Iliad, Archilles and Myrmidons mourn the death of Patroclus. Patroclus had been killed in a battle causing hi friends to mourn his death. Even after Patroclus is buried, still continues to mourn. This shows the pain and lamentation of the gods due to the death of their friend. In this cry by Archilles, there is a lot of poetry but less flexibility compared to the epic.

In the bible, many paragraphs and texts are written on depression and pain. Many people in the bible are said to be lamenting, either for their own afflictions or for the afflictions of others. There are quite a number of people that are mentioned in the bible who are said to be depressed and in pain. This includes King Saul, Jonah, Abraham, Job, Elijah and David. Pain in the bible was also as a result of guilt after sinning against the Lord.

For instance, King David says; “I am troubled I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all day long. …I groan because of the turmoil of my heart” ( HYPERLINK “http://christiananswers.net/bible/psa38.html” l “6” Psalm 38:6, 8). This expressed the depression he was suffering from. Job was also in pain after everything was taken away from him. Abraham also expresses his depression when he cannot bear a child with his wife Sara. Abraham expresses his pain by saying; “And HYPERLINK “http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/abram.html” t “_blank” Abram said, LORD HYPERLINK “http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/god.html” t “_blank” God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this HYPERLINK “http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/eliezer.html” t “_blank” Eliezer of HYPERLINK “http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/damascus.html” t “_blank” Damascus?”

The expression of the cry in the bible resembles the epic. This is because the bible is written in a way that is so close to lyric poetry. Nonetheless, the bible is not as flexible as the epic. For this reason, the biblical prophesies differ to some extent from epics but are similar in other instances. In these two sources of the cry, the authors have used a language that is very convincing to the reader. This makes the reader feel the woes of the characters, just as good writing should be, according to Longinus’s “On the Sublime”.

In conclusion, literature can be analyzed based on whether it contains epic genres or not. Ancient literature from was said to be epic due to the flexibility it had and its ability to achieve factors that other forms of literature cannot manage to obtain. It is also evident that modern literature lacks the lyric poetry that is found in epics. It is also clear that contemporary literature has a lot of emotions and feelings, is more intimate, realistic and heteroglossic.