AUDIO REVIEW #3

“HEBREW BIBLE- SONG OF SONGS”

SUMMARY:

This book is a love song that describes the wooing and wedding of a lowly but very comely
shepherdess to the great king Solomon. It speaks of the joys of love as well as its heartaches.
This was started when Kings journey to the north of his kingdom. The king had come to neighborhood
of Shulam, when some in his trail found in a nut garden an attractive maiden in a condition of
delighted ecstasy and the king desires to have her for his harem. With this first encounter, she states
that she has given her heart to a shepherd of her own home to whom she will be true, in spite of all
the allurements of the kings and of his surroundings. The conflict intensifies as the suit of the king
becomes more eager and pressing. While the king praises her, she only answers with eulogies of her
beloved. In this elevated state of feelings, she hopes to see him and to hear his voice; in her dreams
she seeks him in the street of Jerusalem until she finds him. The climax reaches when King Solomon
makes her the offer of his throne, as his queen in due right and carries her to his capital, but even this
offer fails of its purpose, since in her vision her true loves return. Then the king makes his final
attempt to win her by the influences of magical words. But as her longings for her home becomes
more irresistible, he renounces her and dismisses her in peace to her love ones. In the last act, when
she arrives home with her friends, the love bonds are sealed.

AUTHOR:

The Song of Songs is the twenty-second book of The Bible and was authored by King Solomon.
In some translations, this book is entitled The Song of Solomon. It is also known as the Best Song . He
is the son of King David with Bathsheba. Consider as the greatest and the wealthiest king that ever
lived.

CONTEXT:

How the Song of song is to be understood, the last act teaches. The love of bride with its
longing and hopes, its search and discovery, its dillusioning and surprises , the pure love which has a
divine spark, suffers nothing impure and through its might overcomes all earthly obstacles. Its moral
piece is that love is unconquerable, inextinguishable, and unpurchasable. True love wins victory.
Although this reading was performed by a single male voice, the book has three main speakers: the
Shulamite shepherdess, King Solomon and a chorus by the daughters of Jerusalem. Biblical scholars
also note the allegorical depictions of God as King and the bride as Israel. In New Testament doctrine,
the bride is thought of as the Church and Christ as King.

CRITICISMS:

It cannot be denied that this hypothesis is very attractive but perhaps not all the endings are
favorable and fictitious, in the life of the splendor loving king. As the audio review per se, peculiarities
of speech abound from beginning to end. And there are characteristic expressions which repeat
themselves with slight variations throughout; many parts are parallel. The piece cannot be taken as
purely lyrics; it is dramatic poetry which also found in the book of Psalms.
AUDIO REVIEW #4

“THE PRINCE”

SUMMARY:

The Prince is full of different attitudes a ruler must have to make his country stable. In chapter
7 of the said novel, the prince said that being too generous will mean losing all wealth and property.
Liberality is dangerous but necessary to be taught. When you practice it, you lose the power to
practice it. On the next chapter he focused on what is better, to be feared or to be loved? The answer
is, both. A prince should make himself feared but in some ways, be loved. Chapter 18 talks about
acting like a beast and a man. Two different creatures or personalities portrays by one person.
Fortunately the most important topic in the selection can be found in chapter 25, wherein he stated
that fortunes changes. Success comes when ruler adapts method. An example for this would be King
David and King Solomon who are lucky to succeed as a ruler. At the latter part, he concluded that
since fortune is valuable, they are successful when they are in harmony with fortune and unsuccessful
when they disagree with her. Yet, his opinion is, it is better to be rushed and over cautious because
fortune is a woman and if you wish to keep her down, you must beat her and pound her, it is evident
that she allows herself to overcome by men and treat her that way. For that reason, like a woman, she
is always the friend of young men because they are less cautious and more courageous.

AUTHOR:

Niccolo Machiavelli, is the author of the famous “The Prince” in 1513. He is the most famous
and controversial political writer from Florence, Italy. Born on 1469 and became a model of efficient
and moral ruler; in fact he worked in the Florentine Republic where he was exiled, imprisoned and
tortured. He is also wrote the history of Florence and gave it to the Pope.

CONTEXT:

The Prince has 26 chapters. The first 11 chapters depict the types of preservation, the next 3
chapters are about the military power problems and the remaining 12 chapters explain the virtues of
a prince or a ruler. The author here wants to imply the proper standard of a ruler. The importances of
the novel gives relevance to politics in the modern era are contrast with political idea and concrete
reality.

CRITICISMS:

The novel and the author had a similarity with our very own Jose P. Rizal and his Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, wherein the author depicted and condemned the way they rule the
country. They used their pens to give education and widened the eye of the world about the
sufferings of the people under a certain ruler. They both exiled and imprisoned. Over all, I like and
admired their courageous act for writing such a wonderful and sensational novel worldwide.
AUDIO REVIEW #5

“CHINESE MIDDLE PERIOD SELECTION”

SUMMARY:

During Middle period, poetry is tremendously important in all aspects of life. In the European
tradition, poetry or poems are only fictional; it means neither true nor false. In Tank dynasty it
becomes a requirement for examination in government services. It usually consists of 5 to 7 syllable
lines arranged in couplets. The first syllable of the couplet often rhymes with the last syllable of the
other couplets in which parallelism is emphasized. Another commonly used word is “SHER” which
sometimes associated with poetry. But the Chinese defends that sher is literally as speaking intensely
what is on the mind. Huang Wei, a poet from 699-761 A.D. who wrote in simple lines but they often
detects some strange in his vision. In his short poem “Ritim crossing the yellow river to Ching Ha”, it
obviously shows that the poet is making a journey, sailing across the river and feeling a sense of lost.
Another poet is Shan from around 600-800 A.D. and his major theme is about Buddha’s
enlightenment.

AUTHOR:

Huang Wei is one of the Chinese middle period writers who were detected to have a different
vision and even a kind of cinematic perspective. Shan on the other hand is directed to a kind of
spiritual and physical journey. Perspective is commonly emphasized in his works.

CONTEXT:

The speaker started to introduced the title of the audio by stressing out that the word
“middle” here does not imply as the Middle Ages but more on central. At around 4 th to 12th century,
thoughts and literature became the highest form of communication and its peak reaches during the
Thong dynasty (618-907 A.D.) A sort of history was also explained wherein in the 3 rd century, china has
3 kingdoms but divided in the 4 th century by Northern which was ruled by Non-Chinese invaders and
the Southern by the short lived Chinese dynasty. The importance of poetry was elaborated. Poetry at
that time is so important because it is very social. Everyone writes it. And some particular poets and
their works are critically analyzed and compared to see what their culture is about during those times.

CRITICISMS:

I have picked this audio review to visualize the Chinese civilization. Although it is ironic to see
how important the poetry to them, I realized somehow that it helps a lot to develop the
communication skills and social life of a Chinese individuals as they progress throughout this modern
times. Over all the impact of the poets and their works portrays the life and journey of the Chinese
citizenry as they surpassed the millennium period.