Sursum Corda – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

The phrase “sursum corda,” Latin for “lift up your hearts,” is written three times on the blast door in the hatch. Yes, it’s also part of church liturgy – different versions for different churches – so I read some of those versions, too. But I’m going with the Emerson poem because, well, it’s literature, and that’s what I’m reviewing in this blog.

Thoughts:

The poem deals with predestination, a Lost theme. I like that the poem’s short, and to honor that achievement, I’ll keep my review short:

It had a couple good phrases but was largely unimpressive. Emerson had better (but this was one of his early poems, after all).

On the Debuts of the Misses Rachel and Pauline Garcia – Alfred de Musset

Rating: 3/5

Lost References:

Locke draws what he remembers of the writing from the Swan’s blast door on a page with this (French) poem.

Thoughts:

I like what it says about people bickering about the arts when they should just sit back and enjoy them like children do. It may seem like this is the opposite of what I’m doing here, but I’m not arguing with anyone about the books; putting some thought into them doesn’t damage them at all. Unless I think about them too much…For more on this, see Lord of the Flies.

The Odyssey – Homer

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

Desmond goes on a sea voyage and gets lost for years. When he finally gets back, he marries Penelope, which is the name of the wife Odysseus finally comes home to after his years lost at sea. This book is also in the Lost game Via Domus (which is particularly fitting, since the name translates to “The Way Home”).

Thoughts:

It’s more entertaining than the Iliad, for those of you who read that one and were bored by Homer (even I thought it dragged). For starters, there’s more of a storyline. It’s not just a big, long battle. It’s a string of adventures that take cleverness as well as strength. Though still present and meddling, the gods aren’t as involved as they are in the Iliad, either. I should also mention that the whole style is so different that some scholars speculate that Homer didn’t write it, and I tend to agree with them. (If you’re interested, read up on Robert Graves’s theories.) The one thing I don’t like about the Odyssey book is how Odysseus keeps forgetting about Penelope. Still, it works out in the end.

Above: Left, screencap of Desmond and Penny’s reuinion and right, detail of Odysseus Returns to His Wife Penelope by Isaac Taylor.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Rating: 2/5

Lost References:

Locke works on a crossword puzzle in the Swan hatch. Question 42 is “Enkidu’s friend” Locke writes “Gilgamesh” as the answer (though Lostpedia guesses that this is incorrect) The Epic of Gilgamesh centers on an ancient hero who, after some adventures with Enkidu, watches his friend die and then goes on a quest for immortality. Lost, meanwhile, has three immortal-ish characters: Jacob, the Man in Black, and Richard. By the end, none of them are immortal anymore, but, hey, they had a good run. Oh, and Gilgamesh never gets that immortality, either.

Thoughts:

The text, being so fragmented, is hard to read. Then it repeats itself extensively. As a result, I went back and forth between not knowing what was happening to knowing far too well. I guess the characters want everyone on the same page, because when they tell a story, it’s duplicated at least once, word for word. As fans of ancient literature will know, other cultures use this literary technique, not just the Mesopotamians. I suppose it served them well, but it doesn’t work for a modern audience. That said, it’s a decent adventure, and it’s one of the oldest surviving works of literature, so props for that.

Tianmu Mountain Ascended in a Dream – Li Bai

Rating: 4/5

Lost References:

In flashbacks of Sun and Jin’s home, this Chinese poem is there in calligraphy. (Yes, they’re Korean, but they can still like the poem.)

Thoughts:

When I showed this poem to my sister, who has her degree in East Asian Studies, the first thing she did was nod and say, “Mm. Li Bai.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is the name of the poet, and apparently he’s very important as an ancient Chinese poet.

Personally, I enjoyed the images of nature and mythos that populated the poem. Then the last two lines contained a moral that came almost out of nowhere, ruining the effect of the mountain imagery. My sister admonished me that it’s been around for over a thousand years, so I shouldn’t be too critical. I can see the truth in that, but that doesn’t change my reading of it.