British Literature Day 5 British Literature 1 2
British Literature: Day 5 British Literature 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Ticket in: Three minutes to write summary of “The Seafarer” (no notes, no books, no computers…. . please) Load Beowulf worksheet, parts 1 & 2, to Moodle or turn in to you class period’s tray. Review Beowulf = 1 st epic from oral tradition. • Review epic, epic plots, epic heroes. • Themes of heroism, bravery, loyalty, good vs. evil, etc. • Review “EPITHET” via definition Discuss: “The Seafarer” pages 74 -78 (reading guide due ____) “Values across Cultures” assignment explained (if time allows) Beowulf quiz on Moodle • Time to complete Moodle post “Values across Cultures” Lit terms to add to log Brief introduction to The Canterbury Tales Homework: Read “The Pardoner’s Tale” pages 117 -122 and complete study guide for story BY NEXT CLASS.
Learning Targets • Students will learn how Anglo-Saxon beliefs influence an author’s tone and its resulting mood on the reading audience.
An EPIC Review! • Beowulf is an EPIC: A long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a larger-than-life hero. • EPIC poems involve: supernatural events, long time periods, distant journeys, life and death struggles between good and evil. • EPIC HEROES are important to the history of the people, represent good, and supply their qualifications by flyting (resume, present promise) • EPITHET:
“The Seafarer”: An Anglo-Saxon Poem • Unknown writer • Grim Anglo-Saxon world-view – Fate (wyrd) was against the people • Word choice is very important in establishing MOOD (the emotional quality of a work…what the reader feels) – Mood is established through writer’s tone, which is created by their choice of words, subject matter, setting, etc. • Look at page 75, stanza 1, lines 1 -12: • Does the writer try to establish a positive or negative mood? • How do we know? Specifically? • Post “The Seafarer” reading guide by ____
“The Seafarer”: An Anglo-Saxon Poem • First line establishes credibility • Subject matter: The powerful sea • Nature is all-powerful. People are unable to fight against it or make any kind of significant difference. Wyrd…fate will unwind as it must. • Line 12+: “No man sheltered/On the quiet fairness of earth can feel/ How wretched I was, drifting through winter/ On an ice-cold sea, whirled in sorrow, / alone in a world blown clear of love, / Hung with icicles. ” • Line 17: “The hailstorms flew. / The only sound was the roaring sea, / The freezing waves. ” (What type of MOOD is established from these lines? ) – The emotional quality of a work of literature, created by choice of language, subject matter, setting, tone, sound devices.
“The Seafarer”: An Anglo-Saxon Poem • Line 31: “Night would blacken; it would snow from the north; / Frost bound the earth and hail would fall, / The coldest seeds. ” • Men are real…men are scared, afraid of the sea (lines 39 -46) BUT men love the sea and long for the torture of the adventure, “Who could understand, / In ignorant ease, what we others suffer/ As the paths of exile stretch endlessly on? ” (lines 55 -57) • Lines 58 -60…literary devices? “And yet my heart wanders away, / My soul roams with the sea, the whales’/ Home, wandering to the widest corners/ Of the world, returning ravenous with desire, / Flying solitary, screaming, exciting me/ To the open ocean, breaking oaths/ On the curve of a wave. ”
“The Seafarer”: An Anglo-Saxon Poem • Big change coming up…line 64+ may have been added by monks to create a more religious tone? • Lines 64 -66…what does this mean? “Thus the joys of God/ Are fervent with life, where life itself/ Fades quickly into the earth. ” • Line 68+: “No man has ever faced the dawn/ Certain of which of Fate’s three threats/ Would fall: illness, or age, or an enemy’s/ Sword, snatching life from his soul. ” • Lines 80+: Life is different now. Kingdoms do not flourish in glory. Victory is fleeting. “The weakest survive and the world continues, / Kept spinning by toil. ” • Fear God…good men do. Courage and strength and belief are provided by God’s angels. • These are instructions on how to live a proper Anglo-Saxon life…(according to multiple [? ] authors)
“The Seafarer”: An Anglo-Saxon Poem • Line 109+: “A man must conquer pride, not kill it, / Be firm with his fellows, chaste for himself, / Treat all the world as the world deserves, / With love or with hate but never with harm…” (encouraging how people should live) • Line 115 -16: “Fate is stronger/ And God mightier than any man’s mind. / Our thoughts should turn to where our home is, / Consider the ways of coming there, / Then strive for sure permission for us/ To rise to that eternal joy. ” • The poem ends by praising God…possibly a different piece of A/S literature in its firm Christian ideals from the first two pages. • We will write about beliefs and values of the AS society…a mixture of pagan and Christian ideals, balanced by fate/wyrd.
Journal: Values across Cultures • After reading Beowulf and "The Seafarer, " what are some of the values held by the Anglo-Saxon people? How do these values compare to ours today? Why might there be similarities or differences? Explain your answers. • All Moodle forum posts should be thorough, thoughtful, and detailed, and should contain support from the literature (quotes, paraphrases) whenever possible.
Beowulf Quiz Key noun: ________ • 1. excessive pride or self-confidence. – synonyms: arrogance, conceit, haughtiness, hauteur, pride, self-importance, egotism, pomposity, superciliousness, superiority; More
After the Beowulf quiz: • Complete writing (FRIDAY): Values across cultures • Add to Literary Terms Log: FRAME STORY/FRAME TALE, ROMANCE, BALLAD, IAMBIC PENTAMETER, RHYMED COUPLET, IRONY (dramatic, situational, verbal), HUMOR • Read “The Pardoner’s Tale” p. 117 -122 and complete study guide
The Canterbury Tales Author: Geoffrey Chaucer First thing written in English There is nothing “lost in translation” Entertaining parables…retelling of old stories, learning morals through stories • Frame tale: A tale within a tale • Historical basis: Visiting the tomb of the slain Thomas Beckett to show piety and dedication • Read webpage “The Murder of Thomas Becket” • •
Canterbury Tales: Introductory Notes The Tales and The Prologue
Meet Geoffrey Chaucer more info on page 92 • • • Son of vinter (wine maker) Held civil service positions Well-travelled Read English, Latin, Italian, and French His work was popular He was praised for making English suitable for poetry • Wrote the first authored work in English • Nothing is lost in translation because it’s not a translation
The Canterbury Tales (in general) • Chaucer presents the world as he sees it • Began to write it in 1387 (he had written a large number of works prior to this) • Incomplete (Chaucer died in 1400). “The General Prologue” and only 22 tales completed; there were supposed to be 120 total • Shows a cross section of Medieval society • Stories are not original to Chaucer, but are retellings of popular parables of the time (stories that teach a moral lesson) • The Prologue is ALL Chaucer’s original work, however.
The Tales (cont) • It is a frame story of the pilgrimage to Canterbury (80 miles from London) to visit the tomb of the martyr Thomas à Beckett (killed in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170) • Pilgrimages to shrines were mass activities in the Middle Ages, partly because they were as likely to be vacations as religious observances • Historical background
The Tales • 26 pilgrims actually described; 29 referenced. Chaucer is one of the pilgrims for total of 30. • Plan was to tell two tales each on the way to Canterbury and two more tales on the way back (30 pilgrims x 4 tales=120 total tales planned). Chaucer died and had only 22 completed. • A tale is often so well fitted to a pilgrim’s character and opinion that the tale and teller illuminate each other • The Tales are distinguished from other similar types of the period because of the realism of the characters; they are more than types.
General Information • Tabard Inn (leave from here) • The owner is Harry Bailey (he is the host who established the contest---winner gets a free dinner paid for by other pilgrims) • Bailey will be the judge of the best tale • The telling of the tales will help to pass the time more quickly • Written in iambic pentameter • Lines written in rhymed couplets
The Writing of the Tales • Narrative POV • Narrator is actually a character • Creates multiple levels of irony…story told as he sees things, as he is hearing them and understand them, and includes his interpretation of the characters (reflective of Chaucer’s knowledge of types of people in the Middle Ages) • Suspicions that author does not agree with narrator • Written in iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line, with 5 stressed beats and 5 unstressed beats) • Lines rhyme in couplets
The Prologue • Opening lines provide a setting and motivation for the Canterbury pilgrimage • Prologue contains all levels of English life • The order of the introduction of each pilgrim is important because it provides the social standing of the different occupations; it begins with the highest social rank and descends in order.
The Prologue: Characters • • Highest rank is aristocracy or nobility Knight and his household, including Squire (his son) Prioress Monk Friar (should be in lower class but begged so well he is now in the company of nobles)
The Prologue: Characters • • Commercial Wealthy class Merchant (illegally makes his money from selling French coins) Sergeant of Law (used knowledge of law to buy up foreclosed property) Clerk (good manners, knowledge of books) Franklin (made enough money to be a country gentleman and push for a place of nobility)
The Prologue: Characters • • Guildsmen Similar to specialized unions of craftsmen or guilds Haberdasher (makes men’s accessories) Dyer (dyes fabric) Carpenter (works with wood) Weaver (makes fabric) Tapestry-maker (makes rugs/carpets/wall hangings none of them tells a tale
The Prologue: Characters • • Middle-class group Cook (ranked too high, but he is master of his trade and respected) Shipman (knowledge of and travels in the world) Physician (doctor of medicine[much less revered in Middle Ages than today]) Wife of Bath (included here because of her knowledge and deportment [demeanor; behavior; mannerisms])
The Prologue: Characters Virtuous poor or lower class • Parson • Plowman (very poor but represents all of the Christian virtues)
The Prologue: Characters • • • Immoral lower class Manciple (profits from buying food for the lawyers in the Inns of Court) Miller (vulgar, steals from his customers) Reeve (tells dirty stories and cheats his trusting young master Summoner (corrupt, takes bribes) Pardoner (corrupt: sells fake pardons and fake relics)
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