All Hail Ecclesiastes

Today was a great day, but not just because of the weather. I finally found out the meaning behind a few of my favorite songs. I had no idea the tune "Turn, Turn, Turn" by The Byrds was even remotely related to Ecclesiastes. I'm beginning to become more interested in this famous story. I want to find out why it is so acclaimed and influential in society. Furthermore, I learned exactly what an Oxford comma is and the grammar associated with the term. Subsequently, I discovered the meaning behind Vampire Weekend's song "Oxford Comma". Killed two birds with one stone on that one!

I finally feel like I am learning some real English. I realized how much grammar my brain has been deprived of throughout the years of English classes while going over different grammatical constructions. There is a lot that I don't know! The funny part is the only time I heard about clauses, conjunctions, and phrases was in Spanish with Mrs. Perez!

Ecclesiastes Notes (Cont.)

·      Translation of the Bible

Ø  New Living Translation

Ø  Bible Gateway

Ø  Later scholars broke the Bible up into chapters and verses

·      Ecclesiastes is said to be written traditionally by Solomon

Ø  Solomon is the son of David

Ø  God gave Solomon a choice of wishes and he chose wisdom and subsequently got wealth and power

Ø  King who finished the temple in Jerusalem

·      Today scholars think Ecclesiastes was written anonymously in the 3^rd century BC

Ø  Written for young men going into government work

Ø  “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds was influenced by Ecclesiastes, originally done by Pete Seeger in the 50s but redone in the mid- 60’s

Ø  Fahrenheit 451

·      Ecclesiastes is a philosopher’s book, a questioner’s book

Ø  Lets look at philosophy, what is it?

Ø  Who are some big philosophers?

Ø  Philosophy often contemplates the MEANING of life

·      Why start with Ecclesiastes?

Ø  You are on the cusp of being whom you might want to be

Ø  This book deals with the purpose of life, even of learning

Ø  To challenge those who are rabid about you’re grades

Ø  To better understand the personal struggle of purpose

·      Chapters 1-4

Ø  Basically sets up a thesis: everything is meaningless

Ø  Vanity: meaningless, worthless, excessive pride in oneself

Ø  Structure of prose v poetry

Ø  Are the things the teacher was working for still applicable today?

Ø  What do you think about saying it’s all meaningless?