Review of Week 2: Aug 28, 30 (10:50)

Overview: Tuesday, August 28 (10:50)

by Desirée Wilson

[Note to everyone: The overview should be written in sentence form, in paragraphs, for all future Review of the Week submissions. Only the Terms and Quotes sections should make use of lists.]

Middle ages- in contrast to the medieval and the renaissance

Middle ages (the early Middle Ages are the so-called “dark ages”)

-not interested in a central authority

-anglo-saxon period, more local = lords

– social exchanges tend to be formal and ritualized

 

-“wyrd”- fate, “what happens”

Individuals don’t have complete control over what’s going to happen in life

 

-“gnomic passage”- Wisdom passed along (through a poem, among other ways)

Wisdom poetry

 

-“hagiography”- stories about saints

Examples of good Christian behavior

Models for living

 

-“Scop”- the story teller, singer, representative of the community

Often accompanied by a harp

 

-“appositive style”- used to describe poetry, relationship between words and phrases

Ex: Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow

King of the Geats

Friend of the Danes

Slayer of Grendel

Happens throughout the poem

 

-“Kennings”- Old English language, descriptive phrase, where something stands in for something else

Circumlocution, talk around the subject

Describes it in different nouns

Whale road= ocean, life dwelling= body

Battle net= armor, war shaft= arrow

Feature of Germanic language (old English)

“Litotes”- understatement, especially in relation to death

Ex. The swimmer was a slow swimmer when death took him away pg 83 line 1435

By saying something he is not, it is dark and humorous

 

“The Wanderer”

 

Separated from his lord and his men

Identity has evaporated

No community, exiled

 

ubi sunt motif: Where is this? Where is the horse? Where is the rider?

Line 92 pg. 53

Longing for past greatness

Items represent this glorious past (horse, cup)

Last two lines – turns to future rewards, kind of spiritual

-lamenting about earthly experiences in beginning

Christian culture, but copying and preserving pagan/non-christian poems and literature, values

-Beowulf harmonizes the Christian and non-Christian points

Moral lessons- ex. Line 65- 70

-Training, education on how to be successful

-Wiseman has experienced, therefore he teaches

He buried his lord, his lord died, he has no lord now

His job was to defend his lord

No longer performing his duty

Focuses on the notion that life is temporary

We don’t have control over what happens in life, we can only react to it

Earthly things pass

 

Manuscript culture- Invention of printing press, allowed shift of how to distribute and tell stories

-Scripture helped out literacy

-Church was very concerned with scripture being printed and distributed to the community

 

Primarily an oral culture before

Writing was more for things that needed to be preserved for the future

Literature used to be more of an oral text than written

Until the 1100’s books are more held by the church or monasteries

In the 12th century more people start owning their own books. (and by Chaucer’s time there are what we would recognize as bookshops)

 

Phrase commonly used in Beowulf: “_____ under the clouds” – formula

To help fill lines

People are often introduced by their name and their father’s name

Ex. Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow

 

 

The Dream of the Rood

In a manuscript called Vercelli Book

A dream of the cross

-Really popular idea that the time that the story is about a dream

The cross is telling his life story

Narrator is very hopeful, positive

Trying to see the truth that is revealed

Story about Christ but told from the perspective of the cross

Cross becomes something powerful, very honored

-The cross is like an extra appendage of Christ

-Cross is drenched in blood, attacked like Christ is attacked

Represents the experience of the hero

Covered in blood/ gems/golden

Poem about making Christians see something differently, not about converting

 

The Wife’s Lament

Riddles were a form of instruction

Feeling of being betrayed, losing faith

 

Beowulf

Danes- Hrothgar’s people are being attacked by Grendel

Grendel hates hearing all the music and drinking from the hall

-Under attack for twelve years

Grendel is acting out of jealousy because he is not human

Grendel attacks and kills people then eats them

Comes in at night, outside the bounds of human violence

-Offspring of Cain’s evil/violence/hatred

Source of shame for Hrothgar not being able to stop Grendel alone`

Beowulf looking for chances to prove his identity/ status

-Gain some street cred

-Hrothgar and Beowulf’s father knew each other

Fight with Grendel’s mother starts because she wants revenge on Grendel’s death

Beowulf kills him and ripped off his arm

Mom gets Grendel’s hand

-Kills Hrothgar’s favorite Dane and leaves his head

-Beowulf dragged under water to her hall

-Knows to use the sword he finds there that he is the only one who can use it because it is too heavy for anyone else.

Kills her, stabs her with the sword

Chops of Grendel’s head, dishonors his body

Takes the head back to the hall

 

Overview: Thursday, August 30 (10:50)

by Teajay Johnson

 

Class began on Thursday with Dr. Seaman helpfully informing us that the RAP quizzes are cumulatively worth about half a letter grade and that should we forget one in the midst of a hectic week, we shouldn’t spaz out.

Dr. Seaman also gave us an update on how our class blogging is to work this semester. We may comment on any blog question, including those posted by the 9:25 class. However, remember to keep up with the questions from both Tuesday and Thursday. Altogether, there will be eight questions each week and we are obligated to respond to at least two.

Furthermore on blogging,, if comments have been posted to a blog question before your own, make sure to read through them so that your response isn’t repeating what someone else has already expressed. If we find ourselves agreeing with a former comment, we are encouraged to reply to that response and then build upon what that classmate has already said. Finally, give specifics. Have textual support for your answer. This does not necessarily have to be lines from a text, but at least refer to specific events. Be as specific as possible.

Last note from Dr. Seaman, next time you log in to the class blog, please change your name to your actual name so that other classmates are not confused as to whom they are responding to.

In class, we began our discussion of the second half of Beowulf with some specific years which are relevant to the poem.

1000 C.E.: Give or take fifty years, this is when historians believe that the lone-surviving manuscript of Beowulf was copied, almost necessarily in a monastery.

700 C.E.: The approximate time from which our remaining few, earliest samples of Old English writing came.

520 C.E.: The estimated time during which the culture that originally orally circulated Beowulf probably existed.

It is good to note here that there are many references made in Beowulf to stories, events, and figures found in ancient literature. Thus, the culture of Beowulf and his kinsmen may be understood as not simply legendary, but historical.

597 C.E.: St. Augustine begins the reconversion of England from paganism to Christianity, and so Christianity becomes widespread on the island.

After determining how those dates are relevant to our reading, we reviewed and found examples of the three terms we considered on Tuesday:

Kenning: sea cloth (sail, line 1906), wave-floater/sea-goer (1907-1908)

Litotes: “… the wind over the sea did not hinder at all/the wave-floater…” (The wind actually very much helped the ship move along the water, lines 1907-1908), “Thus… in words or facts…” (He was telling the truth, lines 3028-3030), “There was little lament…” (They were actually very excited about the dragon’s treasure, lines 3129-3131).

Appositive style: The restatement of “sail” as “sea cloth” in lines 1905-1906. Also, the poem consistently refers to different characters using their paternity, social status, deeds accomplished, etc., instead of excessively repeating their names.

We discussed how, by simply examining the first three lines of Beowulf’s prologue, we can infer that the culture in which the poem originated believed that the past was a time of glory and that glory is achieved by doing “great” things, such as conquering neighboring territories, etc., deeds that our culture may consider fairly not honorable; that Beowulf is a tale of nobility—i.e. kings, lords, thanes—accomplishing great things; that the focus of the poem is on the Danes; and that by paying attention to the first word, “Listen!”, we can infer that the story is supposed to be related orally.

The story of Scyld Scefing and his reign as king of the Danes following the first three lines of Beowulf relates to us what is considered a “good” king. Scyld Scefing is depicted as conquering many peoples, striking fear into others, and making those he conquers pay money to him. Ultimately, we as modern readers can see how vulnerable those people who did not have a reputation of great strength or fearlessness must have been.

Then, we examined the role of boasting in Beowulf’s society. When Beowulf arrives at Heorot and is graciously received by Hrothgar, Hrothgar’s thane, Unferth, reacts unhappily to Beowulf’s presence, as shown in lines 501-505. He is jealous that Beowulf revels in gaining glory as much as he, Unferth, does. And so, Hrothgar’s honored thane calls Beowulf “proud” and “foolish,” taunts the warrior with the story of Breca beating him in the swimming race, and projects that Beowulf can’t handle Grendel.

Beowulf defends himself by explaining that he and Breca were very young and foolhardy, but that they swam together fighting sea monsters for five days until he, Beowulf, was dragged under the sea and it was “given to him” to stab a sea monster (line 572). As the poem progresses, Beowulf often implies divine intervention and a wise acceptance of fate when referring to his own glorious deeds. Beowulf’s subtle rhetoric is that he does not act alone, but that wyrd controls what he must face throughout life.

Both Hrothgar (lines 608-610) and Wealhtheow (lines 639-640) respond positively to Beowulf’s boasting, as though it reassures their faith in his abilities as a great warrior.

We also looked at where women stand in Beowulf’s culture. The author uses a kenning in line 1942, describing Wealhtheow as a “peace-weaver,” which accurately sums up the societal purpose of females. For example, after Beowulf’s initial triumph against Grendel, Wealhtheow wanders through Heorot passing the mead cup to different individuals and finally to Beowulf; here, she is symbolically acting as Hrothgar’s representative to include Beowulf in their community. Women often served the purpose of representing their lords. Hrothgar’s daughter also bears the mead cup around the hall, to which Beowulf later refers around line 2020. At this juncture, he reflects that the daughter, Freawaru, is promised to a thane of another lord, so as to bring peace between that people and her own. However, Beowulf also notes that this sort of “peace-weaving” is nearly always temporary. Thus, women act as conveyors of peace or as instruments to establish peace.

Still, Wealhtheow does break that limited image somewhat when she advises Hrothgar against taking Beowulf as a son and instead expresses the opinion that Hrothgar’s kingdom should remain be inherited by his kinsmen upon his death for the sake of upholding traditions and preserving their culture. This demonstrates that Wealhtheow, and hence probably other women, are astutely politically aware.

From women, we moved onto the symbology of gift-giving in Beowulf’s society. For his defeat of Grendel, Hrothgar bestows on Beowulf four gifts fit for a warrior (lines 1024-1038). However, when Beowulf returns to Hygelac, his own king, he turns over his gifts from Hrothgar as a demonstration of whose service in which he actually stands (section 31). Hygelac then presents to Beowulf his own gifts for Beowulf’s glorious accomplishments; he gives to his thane a generous expanse of land and a princely throne, among other things, publicly recognizing Beowulf’s loyal service and his standing as a prominent member of the community.

So, in the culture of the Danes, how one accepts gives exhibits one’s honor and validity as a warrior, and gift-giving exemplifies who holds the true power. The having of material things in general is important in Beowulf’s society; wealth is symbolic of power.

This is directly relevant to our last discussion, Beowulf’s final battle against the dragon which, angry that a thief stole one of the jeweled cups he’s hoarded for three hundred years, has been terrorizing Beowulf’s people. We talked about each plot device’s motivation; it is the dragon’s nature to find treasure and sit on it; the thief’s motivation was opportunistic, and he stole the cup to present to his lord in order to avoid the lash; and the reader also gets the sense that the narrator views the dragon’s treasure hoard as having value which is not being used and should be restored to the economy.

Note that Beowulf became king following Hygelac, but he did it rather reluctantly, knowing that he is a truly a warrior.

Beowulf, of course, believes he’s done something to offend God in having this dragon sent upon his kingdom. There is nothing else in the text to suggest that Beowulf has erred, but once again, he accepts wyrd and eventually slays the dragon with the assistance of only one of his thanes, Wiglaf. Here, near the end of the poem, it seems as if glory is waning or winding down. Beowulf brought a dozen thanes to help defeat the dragon, yet only one was courageous enough to jump into the heat when Beowulf needed him. The text refers to the other thanes as traitors (line 2847), and Wiglaf later laments that they will live lives of dishonor (line 2884). The theme of glory waning is an oft-found theme in Old English literature; poems begin reflecting on a glorious past, tell the stories of glorious deeds, and in the end, seem to imply that human wickedness will ensure that glory does not last. Beowulf’s awareness of this impermanence is a key sign of his wisdom.

Key Terms

Kenning

Litotes

Appositive style

Wyrd

 

Preview of Week 3 (September 4, 6)

We will be shifting from Anglo-Saxon England to Anglo-Norman England, after the Norman conquest of 1066 at the Battle of Hastings. We will examine the French influence on English and how French rather abruptly became the prestige language—the language of the courts, church, and aristocracy. Most of the writing in England at the time was done in French (whatever wasn’t in Latin), so we will be reading some work by Marie de France, who penned Arthurian short stories in Anglo-Norman around the late 1100s. We will also be looking at the work of Thomas Malory, who collected together Arthurian stories that had long been circulating, in the late 1400s. He is, thus, writing in English. There will be a RAP for Tuesday and another for Thursday, when we’ll discuss Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, another Arthurian poem, this one written around the same time Chaucer was writing in the late 1300s.

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