The School “Strumienie”
The school for girls “Strumienie” [“Streams”], one of “Sternik” [“Helmsman”] Association’s schools, has been in existence already eleven years. It is an educational complex, located in Józefów near Warsaw, composed of kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and, for the last five years, also high school. For more information see the school’s website.
Chasing Beasts of Roman and Greek Mythology:
Posters and Emblems
One of the aims of a project, in which we were invited to participate, was to investigate different plots from mythology. We were to explore them, and describe the meanings they carry in various children’ books.
The special challenge of our School “Strumienie” was to find connections between Greek mythology – heroes and scenes in Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Our schoolgirls came with an idea to enrich it by showing different mythical plots in the form of emblems which combine the contemporary poster with the 16th-century emblem. In order to achieve this our students prepared a presentation and led a lesson for pupils of our primary school during which they explained the aims of the project and asked younger colleagues to make drawings to illustrate selected topics of mythical tales of Narnia.
When the drawings were done we proceeded with implementation of the next stage of the project, e.g., composing the emblem. It was not an easy task even for students at secondary school level. The emblem’s idea contains three important elements: i.e., an inscription, an image, and some text connected as a comment. It seemed that the difficulty lay in finding and formulating a concise message. We wanted the posters to show that this inscription together with an image and text refer us directly to the Greek mythology. We have also tried answer the following questions: Why Lewis introduced so many mythical beasts in Narnia? Is Narnia just a collection of fairy tales with a new meaning?
After discussions during the lessons on mythology we came to the conclusion that ancient Greeks’ mythology in Chronicles of Narnia can still capture the imagination of young readers for whom it can have a new, contemporary meaning. Composing emblems and drawings enabled us to understand and present how young people understand mythology now. For them that mythical Faun can sometimes be like a friend from the neighborhood and another time like someone with whom they can drink a cup of tea, or have a chat. It seems that for the young ones our world and that of ancient Greeks are not so far.
The project gave our students and teachers an opportunity to cooperate and to show the results of our work at a special conference planned for May 2016. The conference will be organized by the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” of the University of Warsaw. The result of our research will be presented in the form of posters.
We are happy that this project helped us to chase, catch, and domesticate different beasts of Roman Greek mythology.
Barbara Strycharczyk
Teacher of Latin and Ancient Culture at High School Strumienie
Students and abstracts
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Kazimiera Bąkowska
School „Strumienie”
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Who are Centaurs?
Centaurs in mythology are presented as wild and brutal creatures. In Narnia the evil picture of centaurs has been completly reversed.
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Weronika Grudzień
School „Strumienie”
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Is the Faun still intriguing?
Faun – half man and half animal. Well-known from mythology, as dancing with dryads. But in Narnia as a true gentleman it doesn’t leave the house without an umbrella.
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Magdalena Janik
School „Strumienie”
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Do nymphs have souls?
Nymphs live in the trees; indeed, they are the trees. When we cut down the trees, do we also kill their souls and thus the dryads?
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Paulina Montewka
School „Strumienie”
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Silenus – crazy old man or cheerfull sage?
Silenus – crazy old man or cheerful sage? Silenus – according to ancient Greeks’ beliefs he was Dionysus’s tutor. Although he appears only episodically in Narnia, he is always presented as an ally of Aslan.
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Zofia Szular
School „Strumienie”
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Maenads bringing joy
The amok of Bacchus’ companions turns into a dance of exhilarated abundance before Aslan. The maenads, which were insatiable with the god of wine, rest now.
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Zofia Szular
School „Strumienie”
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The Power of Centaurs
Halfhorses, spending their lives hunting, these are the mythological centaurs. They once were capable of abducting women but now want to join the ranks of Caspian’s army.
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Zuzanna Waszkiewicz
School „Strumienie”
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The Giants of Greece and Narnia
Powerful mythical giants are not similar to the giants from the world of Narnia. What is the difference?
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Katarzyna Wąsowska
School „Strumienie”
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Dancing Faun
In mythology the faun is described as half- human and half- animal, but its features resemble an animal more. On the other hand, in Narnia fauns’ appearance as well as behaviour is described more like a human.
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Monika Wójcik
School „Strumienie”
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Pegasus – the winged Messenger
In mythology the faun is described as half-human and half-animal, but its features resemble an animal more. On the other hand, in Narnia fauns’ appearance as well as behaviour is described more like a human
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Teresa Wyszomierska
School „Strumienie”
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Indomistable sage or quick – witted warrior?
Mythical centaurs – half human, half horses. As efficient hunters they often went hunting and ate raw meat. In Narnia they are the most noble creatures which Caspian has ever seen.
Teachers
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Barbara Strycharczyk, she graduated from Polish Philology & Classical Philology at the University of Warsaw. Since 1982 worked as a teacher of Classics at Mikołaj Rej XI High School and “Strumienie” in Józefów. Coordinator of School Children Activities. |
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Agata Płotczyk – teacher of Polish literature
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Magdalena Kozłowska – teacher of English
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Hazel Pearson – teacher of English
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Joanna Jarząbek – teacher of art
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Monika Nagórko – teacher of mathematics and ICT
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