Epiphany: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 12:06, 16 February 2006

A Christian festival. Cuddondefines epiphany as the term primarily denotes the festival which commemorates the manifestation of christ to the Geniles in the persons of the Magi. The feast is observed on January 6th,'Twelfth Night',the festival of the 'Three Kings'. (277).Cuddon alsostates " More generally, the term denotes a manifestation of God's presence in the world". (277). A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality or the essential meaning of something, often initiated by some simple, commonplace occurance.

The term "epiphany" was "taken over by James Joyce to denote secular revelation in the everyday world, in an early version of his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Baldick, 84) written in 1916. "Joyce defined an epiphany as a sudden spiritual manifestation in which a 'whatness' of a common object or gesture appears radiant to the observer" (Baldick 84).

Literary Terms

Works Cited

Cuddon, J. A. Literary Terms & Literary Theory. Penguin Books, Ltd. 1998.
Baldick, Chris. Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press, 2004.

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-A Christian festival. Cudden defines epiphany as the term primarily denotes the festival which commemorates the manifestation of christ to the Geniles in the persons of the Magi. The feast is observed on January 6th,'Twelfth Night',the festival of the 'Three Kings'. (277). Cudden also states " More generally, the term denotes a manifestation of God's presence in the world". (277).
+A Christian festival. Cuddondefines epiphany as the term primarily denotes the festival which commemorates the manifestation of christ to the Geniles in the persons of the Magi. The feast is observed on January 6th,'Twelfth Night',the festival of the 'Three Kings'. (277).Cuddon alsostates " More generally, the term denotes a manifestation of God's presence in the world". (277).
+A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality or the essential meaning of something, often initiated by some simple, commonplace occurance.
+The term "epiphany" was "taken over by James Joyce to denote secular revelation in the everyday world, in an early version of his novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (Baldick, 84) written in 1916.  "Joyce defined an epiphany as a sudden spiritual manifestation in which a 'whatness' of a common object or gesture appears radiant to the observer" (Baldick 84).
-A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality or the essential meaning of something, often initiated by some simple, commonplace occurance.
-The Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature states "A literary representation of an epiphany, or a symbolically revealing work or part of a work." (383). " The use of the word in relation to literature is associated particularly with James Joyce because of description of the concept in a draft of the work that became ''A Portrait of the Artist as as Young Man''." (383).
+[[Literary Terms]]
-Cudden states " Joyce elaborates this theme at considerable lenght. The epiphany is a symbol of a spiritual state.This aspect of aesthetic theory is left out of ''A Portrait'', but a knowledge of it is essential for an understanding of Joyce as an artist." (277).
+==Works Cited==
+*Cuddon, J. A. ''Literary Terms & Literary Theory''. Penguin Books, Ltd. 1998.
+*Baldick, Chris.  ''Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms''. Oxford University Press, 2004.