Teaching Ancient Biography
by Dr. Margaret Cotter-Lynch, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Original text © 2005. Margaret Cotter-Lynch.
Discussion Section: Plutarch’s “Life of Pompey” and “Life of Antony”
- How do you choose what to include (as a writer)?
- How do you tell what’s important (as a reader)?
For our first discussion section on Plutarch, I ask my students to get into pairs and pick one specific passage or event, from one of the two “Lives” we have read, which they don’t understand. Their lack of understanding can be either
1) they don’t get what Plutarch is saying, or
2) they don’t get why Plutarch is telling us this
I ask each pair to write down, on a piece of paper, a specific question, with reference to a specific page number and/or quote, about the difficult passage they have picked. Then I ask each pair to swap questions with a neighboring pair, and then work to develop an answer to their neighbors’ question.
During the second half of the class period, I ask each pair to present the work they have done on their neighbor’s question. Their presentation should begin by rereading the relevant section, then situating it within the larger context of the Life and/or Plutarch generally, and finally explaining how this passage fits into Plutarch’s argument about his protagonist. If they were unable to answer their neighbor’s question, I ask them to explain why: what specifically makes this passage difficult or puzzling?
These presentations should lead into a larger discussion based upon the following questions:
- What makes a good argument?
- What constitutes:
- evidence?
- relevance
- connections made/explanations
This lesson plan is based upon my experience that freshman, upon their first exposure to Plutarch, often find him difficult and overwhelming, or at a minimum a radical change from what they are used to reading (at this point of my course, we’ve just finished reading the Aeneid). My goal is to teach them to read closely, to work on formulating their own questions, and finding answers to their questions. My goal is to teach them not to throw up their hands and say “I don’t get it!”
