University of Illinois - Illio Yearbook (Urbana Champaign, IL)

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account of what was undertaken. The hymn to Apollo is not Homeric, nor are the first and second numbers. The first was inserted for obvious reasons and the second to make a coherent story out of the pictures. The various encores were answered by shifting the scenes slightly, so as to present other moments in the action upon the platform at the time. Some of them were, indeed, quite as effective as the original number. If any regret was felt over the whole matter, it was that circumstances prevented the appearance of other and equally important scenes. The effect of the presentation has been many times heard from the lips of people who were in the audience. It was a distinctly aesthetic one, filling the eye for a time with noble images, and the mind with suggestions of a splendid past. Whether the form of the poses was more advantageous for this end than living pictures would have been, cannot be said. But to have before one ' s mind for an hour representations of a highly artistic type of men and movements in a great drama of the world ' s history, in which the elemental passions of life were so powerfully depicted, constitutes an epoch in the life of anyone. Not only was a new world opened to the gaze of the people present, but even one hour of contemplation of it secures for one a better appreciation of noble things and makes lesser ones assume their right relation thereafter. It was a distinct education upon itsthetic, spiritual lines. The views given below can be traced by referring to the programme. Several are omitted, for one reason or another. programme Hymn to Apollo . . . Prof. Walter Howe Jones {Tableaux I Homer, the Blind Bard II Abduction of Helen by Paris III Council of the Greeks (a) Calchas, the priest, warns Agamemnon (b) Quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles IV Achilles robbed of Briseis (a) Announcement of heralds (b) Departure of Briseis V Thetis at the knees of Zeus VI Olympus VII Helen and Priam watch the Greeks from the walls of Troy VIII Ajax and Odysseus rescuing the body of Patroclus IX Ajax and Teucer defend the ships of the Greeks X Farewell of Hector and Andromache XI Hector dragged at the car of Achilles XII Andromache faints at the sight of Hector ' s death XIII Priam begging the body of Hector at the feet of Achilles XIV Funeral games in honor of Patroclus ( a ) Boxing (b) Wrestling Time may again revive but ne ' er eclipse the charm. — Edith Van Arsdale. 34

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6reek tableaux - r» 5|HE entertainment given on the evening of November u, 1897, was a notable one because of its unique character. So far as known nothing similar has ever been presented. But uniqueness was something the originators did not have in mind, and would have paid no heed to had it been suggested. The purpose they formed was to present to those who might assem- ble a truthful exhibition of scenes portrayed in Homer ' s Iliad, with fidelity to ancient types of clothing, armor, and so on. Their feeling was that the heroic incidents of the Iliad could be made to stimulate literary interest, to cultivate aesthetic taste, and, even in the depiction of martial events, to leave a feeling of serenity in the mind, due to the artistic treatment subduing somewhat the more patent animus of the scenes. No other book lends itself more easily to such representation, partly because the really noble incidents are numerous and parti} ' because they are wrought out by characters of more than human interest. For, although readers of literature think of Achilles and Diomed, Priam and Hector, Helen and Briseis as human beings, they also think of them as possessing human traits in a pneterhuman degree, and hence the quickened interest they feel in them. It is also true that the traditional past has a glamour about it that invites attention and to some degree gives excuse for weaknesses found in the actors. Homer has particular claims upon attention, because he writes in the youth of the world, and has been so fortunate as to send down to posterity an epic that has all the freshness of that day and all the finish of the most advanced literary epoch. For this reason his work stands in a class by itself, unapproached by any subsequent poet However much men may be ignorant of Homer as an author, from any study of him, few would be willing to say that it is not their understanding that he was the chiefest among all epic writers. The inspiration to undertake the task was twofold. The writer had for many years dreamed of such an evening, and, of course, had mentally before him what it should be. But lack of artistic skill lay in the path, and, furthermore, a study of such representa- tions of Homeric scenes as artists had left had long been a damper to any attempt to produce them. Fortunately Mr. N. A. Wells, when approached about it, instantly and cordially agreed to co-operate in placing a series of them upon the stage. His willing- ness had its roots partly in a fast friendship formed when we were in college together, and in his own love for the spirit of the blind poet and his work. He wanted to see what he could do in reproducing the scenes. What was first under- taken as a slight affair, culminated in a more pretentious programme, which caused about six weeks of unremitting labor on his and my part, and the cordial help of a number of members of the faculty, who chiefly made up the ca?t. The programme presented herewith gives a complete Do you not know I am a woman? When I think, I must speak. — Martha Storrs. 33

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V. THETIS AT THE KNEE, OF ZEVS. VI. OLYMPUS.