GOAL: To gain experience with poetic elements in early hymns. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS

The following line-by-line ‘close-reading’ exercise gives students of literary studies a sense of focus to read and identify the initial qualities of a poem: on the ‘what’ it is about and on its poetic devices, and then to determine its theme and even purpose

1. Each line may help you to identify and learn about a claim, as in a rhetorical quality
2. Each line may help you to identify allusions, either religious or cultural
3. Each line may help you to identify and determine indirect qualities of a poem; on the ideals, values, and world views of the community from the poet is part of and represents
4. And lastly, after such close-reading attentiveness, you, as the receivers of a poem, may start to make inquiries concerning how the poem reflects aspects of sustainability that existed during the time of the poet and how future generations, like ourselves,
5. Can gain insights into how such challenges were addressed in the past and perhaps also offer suggestions on how we can approach such challenges today.

Without your consent, no destiny is determined, the most ingenious solution finds no favour. To run fast, to slip away, to calm, to pacify are yours, Inanna, To dart aimlessly, to go too fast, to fall, to get up, to sustain a comrade are yours, Inanna. To open high road and by road, safe lodging on the way, helping the worn-out along are yours, Inanna. To make footpath and trail go in the right direction, to make the going good are yours, Inanna. To destroy, to create, to tear out, to establish are yours, Inanna. To turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man are yours, Inanna.

GOAL: To identify the ‘speaker’ of a poem and rhetorical aspects. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: A close-reading activity. Close one poem by Enheduanna and identify the characteristics of its narrator, any claims made, and the purpose of the hymn. Then, review your annotations and/or written notes from the first activity to begin to identify and understand the rhetorical aim of the poem. What idea is put forward? A Sampling of Hymns by Enheduanna & Other samples of Enheduanna’s hymns

GOAL: To build on previous activity by sharing and exchanging ideas in a discussion forum. To fulfill the outcomes of Chapter One, on critical thinking and identifications of sustainability issues, and to witness how literature is relevant in our own lives. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: Lastly, engage in a discussion forum to inquire and share effort to identify topics in a hymn by Enheduanna that allude to topics on sustainability, such as conflict, gender equality, and human rights. And, to be able to express initial understandings of the role of deities. Sample Discussion Assignment on Enheduanna & Sustainability

GOAL: This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of interpreting a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: Listen to Enheduanna’s hymn & address the following questions: Based on what you have learned about hymns, write two paragraphs explaining your interpretation of Enheduanna’s thoughts about conflict in her time. What aspects of her hymn on war offer ways to think about conflict in our time? Hymn by Enheduanna: Lament Spirit of War & Lament Spirit of War among other hymns

GOALS: This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches. A writing exercise on overall experiences/reflections with the poetry of Enheduanna and on the initial learning process in how works of literature, such as a poem, may help to understand topics that pertain to sustainability.

INSTRUCTION: Here you can begin to compare Enheduanna’s hymns with songs and poems that you know of. For example, Queen Elizabeth’s sonnet questions her cousin’s trust, being of a different faith in her 1568 Sonnet “The Doubt of Future Foes” on Mary Queen of Scots by Queen Elizabeth I of the House of Tudor; and the poetry of Silvia Plath shows the complexities of multigenerational conflict in Daddy (1952): Daddy by Silvia Plath, 1962.

GOAL: To address and understand Enheduanna’s hymns that incorporate deities from other cultures. This short writing activity builds on critical reading and thinking skills to succeed in the learning process of ‘interpreting’ a piece of literature with theoretical approaches.

INSTRUCTIONS: 1) Work with another poem attributed to Enheduanna to identify how the ‘renamed deities’ represent efforts to colonize and take over nearby cultures and their religious idols.

The great-hearted mistress, the impetuous lady, proud among the Anunna gods (Mesopotamian gods: Akkadian: Anunnaki, Anunnaku) and preeminent in all lands, the great daughter of Suen (god of moon and wisdom), exalted among the Great Princes (a name of the Igigi gods – younger deities & servants), the magnificent lady who gathers up the divine powers of heaven and earth and rivals great An, is mightiest among the great gods – she makes their verdicts final. The Anunna gods crawl before her august word whose course she does not let An know; he dare not proceed against her command. She changes her own action, and no one knows how it will occur. She makes perfect the great divine powers, she holds a shepherd’s crook, and she is their magnificent pre-eminent one. She is a huge shackle clamping down upon the gods of the Land. Her great awesomeness covers the great mountain and levels the roads. OER source on Enheduanna’s hymns

2) Then incorporate claims of how Enheduanna’s role as a poet helped to lessen conflict in the region in the article excerpted below by Dr. Sarah Glaz.

Most hymns mention the deity inhabiting the temple by its Sumerian name rather than its Akkadian counterpart, or on occasion a hymn uses both names and reconciles any differences by describing their attributes as a blend of the characteristics of both divinities. This performs, in effect, a unification of the Akkadian and Sumerian religious cultures, as was probably intended. For example, in Temple Hymn 8, dedicated to the temple of the moon god in Ur, Enheduanna’s own domain (see the section ‘‘Measuring the Heavens’’), she calls the moon god by both his Sumerian name, Nanna, and his Akkadian name, Suen. This became a common practice for liturgical hymns throughout the Babylonian period (see, for example, The Herds of Nanna. Temple Hymn 42 is dedicated to Ezagin (‘‘House of Lapis Lazuli’’), the temple of the goddess Nisaba in the city of Eresh. Nisaba, also known as Nanibgal, was the Sumerian goddess of writing and mathematical calculations, patron goddess of learning and creative intellectual achievements in the arts, sciences, and literature” (Glaz 2020).

3) Lastly, address the question, How does Glaz explain hymns that “blend” different deities and does this explanation explain the challenges faced during conflict; how so? Film Clip on Early Gods, Goddesses, Deities of Early Mesopotamia/Summer & On Enheduanna, Her Poetry, & Role as Peacemaker