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An annonymous (the author is referred to as the Gawain-poet) alliterative poem of the Romance genre, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in Middle English and later translated into modern English. It’s set in the mythical past of King Arthur‘s court, in Camelot, the wilderness, Bertilak’s castle and the Green Chapel, and the protagonist is Sir Gawain.
Themes: The nature of chivalry, the letter of the law.
Motifs: The seasons, games.
In class today we read how Gawain accepts the Green Knight’s covenant and chops off his head, but he survives the blow. Almost a year later, Gawain sets out through the wilderness in search of the Green Chapel. He happens upon a castle, where he stays until he must leave for his challenge. At the castle, Gawain’s courtesy, chastity, and honesty are all tempted.
Tomorrow we will read how Gawain then journeys to confront the Green Knight at the Green Chapel.
Meanwhile, watch this video animation:
What did you think? How is it different from what you imagined when we read it together?
Today we read the beginning of the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, in class. Here’s a short plot overview of today and tomorrow’s reading:
At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a company of twenty-nine pilgrims. The pilgrims, like the narrator, are traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims, including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk, Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not describe the Second Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.) The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride together and entertain one another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s tavern, courtesy of the other pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the first tale.
You can go to this site to read key facts about this work.
(Remember to hand in the first character descriptions in your notebook tomorrow!)
Today we read Lord Randall, Edward, Edward, and Get Up and Bar the Door.
If you want to read more ballads, this collection contains some of the best known English folk lyrics. Some of these ballads go on for dozens of verses, and form complete short stories. If your only experience with this genre is through modern folk-song renditions (or, as you said in class, rancheras and bachatas), you owe it to yourself to sit down and get the whole story!
Did you know?
During most of the Middle Ages, few people, including kings and emperors, were able to read or write. The clergy were virtually the only ones who possessed those skills.
A plague of drunkenness settled over Europe to match the plague of the Black Death in the mid-1300s, and remained after the disease was gone. The theory at the time was that strong drink acted as a preventive against contagion. It didn’t, but it made the drinker less concerned, which was something.
In the Middle Ages, the skulls of saints were used as drinking cups on ceremonial occasions.
In 582, it rained “blood” on Paris. The terrified population believed this to be a sign of divine displeasure, and responded by indulging in an agony of repentance. The true cause of this weird event was the sirocco, the wind that sometimes blows from the Sahara across the Mediterranean into Europe. It is laden with a fine red dust from the desert interior, and this had dyed the rain that fell on Paris.
Many peasants in the Middle Ages believed that pebbles and rocks littering a field actually grew there.
Thirteenth-century etiquette books cautioned people against actions such as gnawing bones and putting them back in the dish, “falling upon the dish like a swine while eating”, and spitting on the table (which means that many people probably did these things).
In case you wanted to know, here’s some information about what you’re reading in class:
Beowulf
Herot, the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, is abandoned for twelve years following a series of murderous assaults by a slimy monster called Grendel. Beowulf, a noble Geat warrior, learns of the king’s plight and arrives in Denmark with fourteen of his ablest men. After Beowulf fatally wounds Grendel, he hangs Grendel’s severed arm from the rafters of Herot. Grieving for her son, Grendel’s mother attacks Herot and carries off Grendel’s arm as well as Hrothgar’s closest friend. Armed with a legendary sword named Hrunting, Beowulf confronts Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair and kills her. In his final adventure, fifty years later, Beowulf fights a dragon and is abandoned by his warriors in the heat of battle. With the assistance of Wiglaf, the one remaining loyal warrior, Beowulf slays the dragon. Beowulf, however, is mortally wounded. The Geats cremate Beowulf’s corpse and place his ashes with the dragon’s treasure in a huge memorial tower by the sea.
Key Literary Elements:
Protagonists: Beowulf, Hrothgar, Wiglaf
Antagonists: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, the dragon
Conflicts: person vs. self (self-doubt); person vs. monster, good vs. evil
Point of view: third person-limited
Setting: northern Europe, mid-eighth century or earlier
Significant techniques: characterization, imagery, symbolism, conflict, theme, point of view, kenning, alliteration, caesura, song, epic hero
The purpose of this blog is for you to express yourselves. Think of it as a traditional journal with a technological twist… I’ll be checking it regularly so make sure you don’t miss any assignments. You will get a grade at the end of the marking period, and I will take into account completeness, creativity, clarity, and how well you follow instructions. Good luck, and enjoy!
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