57 pages • 1 hour read
The Tale of Sinuhe: and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940-1640 B.C.
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Part 4, Chapter 14Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4: “Phrases and Fragments”
Part 4, Chapter 14 Summary: “Phrases and Fragments”
This section presents a selection of fragments of Middle Kingdom texts that Parkinson finds of interest. Some hint at lost tales: He translates an episode in which a water being tempts a herdsman with her beauty. A second fragment describes a rendezvous between lovers, a third an encounter between a king and a ghost.
Parkinson then shares lines from other discourses and teachings that echo and reinforce “the etiquette and eternal principles” (291) upheld in the existing work. While the Middle Kingdom did not leave behind any lyric poetry, a handful of fragments suggest there were other literary genres circulating besides those included in the book, many of them sharing the same images and thematic concerns.
Part 4 Analysis
While the styles, structures, techniques, and subjects of the previous 13 pieces seem largely representative of a coherent and shared literary style and philosophical worldview, the phrases and fragments hint at a larger corpus of literary compositions and oral literature. These fragments both underline the cultural concerns of these works and also hint at a broader cultural imagination that did indeed have room for magic, love and passion, and occasionally humor. These fragments gesture toward an impressively lively literary corpus circulating in the Middle Kingdom, reminding us not only of how astonishing it is that so much has survived for so many thousands of years, but also holding out hope that there is yet more to be discovered.
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