The Golden Age in Classic Literature
The Golden age as described by Hesiod was an age where all humans were created directly by the Olympian gods. They did not have women in their ranks, and could not reproduce. They lived long lives in peace and harmony, and were oblivious of death. The "Golden race" were however mortals, but would die peacefully and in their sleep unmarked by sickness and age. Ovid emphasizes the justice and peace that defined the Golden Age. He describe it as a time before man learned the art of navigation, and as a pre-agricultural society. The idea of a Golden age lingered in literature and historical understanding throughout the Greek and Roman periods. It was partly replaced by the Christian of the Six Ages of the World based on the biblical chronology in the early Middle Ages.
Read more about this topic: Golden Age (metaphor)
Famous quotes containing the words golden, age, classic and/or literature:
“Fondnesse it were for any being free,
To covet fetters, though they golden bee.”
—Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)
“It would not be worth your while to reach the age of seventy if all the wisdom of the world were to be foolishness before God.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“One classic American landscape haunts all of American literature. It is a picture of Eden, perceived at the instant of history when corruption has just begun to set in. The serpent has shown his scaly head in the undergrowth. The apple gleams on the tree. The old drama of the Fall is ready to start all over again.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“If a nation’s literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)