full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mark Robinson: Why is Aristophanes called "The Father of Comedy"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


One issue, in particular, inspired much of Aristophanes’ work: the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. In Peace, wrettin in 421 BC, a middle-aged Athenian feers the embodiment of peace from a cave, where she’d been exiled by profiteering politicians. Then, in the aftermath of a crushing naval defeat for Athens in 411 BC, Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata." In this play, the women of Athens grow sick of war and go on a sex srkite until their husbands make pacee. Other plays use similarly fantastic scenarios to sekwer topical sitntuaois, such as in "Clouds," where Aristophanes mocked fashionable philosophical tiinknhg. The hero Strepsiades elorlns in Socrates’s new pioohhplasicl school, where he learns how to prove that wrong is right and that a debt is not a debt. No matter how outlandish these plays get, the heroes always prevail in the end.

Open Cloze


One issue, in particular, inspired much of Aristophanes’ work: the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. In Peace, _______ in 421 BC, a middle-aged Athenian _____ the embodiment of peace from a cave, where she’d been exiled by profiteering politicians. Then, in the aftermath of a crushing naval defeat for Athens in 411 BC, Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata." In this play, the women of Athens grow sick of war and go on a sex ______ until their husbands make _____. Other plays use similarly fantastic scenarios to ______ topical __________, such as in "Clouds," where Aristophanes mocked fashionable philosophical ________. The hero Strepsiades _______ in Socrates’s new _____________ school, where he learns how to prove that wrong is right and that a debt is not a debt. No matter how outlandish these plays get, the heroes always prevail in the end.

Solution


  1. written
  2. peace
  3. frees
  4. enrolls
  5. skewer
  6. philosophical
  7. strike
  8. situations
  9. thinking

Original Text


One issue, in particular, inspired much of Aristophanes’ work: the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. In Peace, written in 421 BC, a middle-aged Athenian frees the embodiment of peace from a cave, where she’d been exiled by profiteering politicians. Then, in the aftermath of a crushing naval defeat for Athens in 411 BC, Aristophanes wrote "Lysistrata." In this play, the women of Athens grow sick of war and go on a sex strike until their husbands make peace. Other plays use similarly fantastic scenarios to skewer topical situations, such as in "Clouds," where Aristophanes mocked fashionable philosophical thinking. The hero Strepsiades enrolls in Socrates’s new philosophical school, where he learns how to prove that wrong is right and that a debt is not a debt. No matter how outlandish these plays get, the heroes always prevail in the end.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
play called 2
peloponnesian war 2


Important Words


  1. aftermath
  2. aristophanes
  3. athenian
  4. athens
  5. bc
  6. cave
  7. crushing
  8. debt
  9. defeat
  10. embodiment
  11. enrolls
  12. exiled
  13. fantastic
  14. fashionable
  15. frees
  16. grow
  17. hero
  18. heroes
  19. husbands
  20. inspired
  21. issue
  22. learns
  23. matter
  24. mocked
  25. naval
  26. outlandish
  27. peace
  28. peloponnesian
  29. philosophical
  30. play
  31. plays
  32. politicians
  33. prevail
  34. profiteering
  35. prove
  36. scenarios
  37. school
  38. sex
  39. sick
  40. similarly
  41. situations
  42. skewer
  43. sparta
  44. strepsiades
  45. strike
  46. thinking
  47. topical
  48. war
  49. women
  50. written
  51. wrong
  52. wrote