testagrossa,+kristina

Kristina Testagrossa major: professional writing minor: art other interests/studies: video games, music, being awesome, food, living life

5/9/11- HAVING SO MUCH TROUBLE FOCUSING ON THIS PAPER/ FRAMING MY ARGUMENT/ FINDING SOMETHING TO COMPARE THE MILLER'S TALE TO. help?

5/4/11- Describe your final project I am going to use 3 of the canterbury tales and their events to compare to the themes and events of the tales to the big hit movies and hollywood headlines of this century. sort of a combination of the creative option and the paper. i chose the miller's tale, the wife of bath's tale, and the knight's tale

4/29/11- Sources for final paper Leicester, H. Marshall, Jr. "Of a Fire in the Dark: Public and Private Feminism in //The Wife of Bath's Tale//." //Women's Studies// 11.1-2 (1984): 157-178. Rpt. in //Poetry Criticism//. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale, 2005. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 9 May. 2011.

Gallacher, Patrick J. "Perception and Reality in 'The Miller's Tale,'." //Chaucer Review// 18.1 (1983): 38-48. Rpt. in //Poetry for Students//. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.

4/27/11- Today's class was awesome! not only because i can barely engage myself in discussion at the end of the semester and it was sort of a break but ALSO because Kelly Morgan's presentation of shakespeare really brought a new light to the colorful language for me. Although his words are some of the most beautiful i have ever read i do have a terrible time really putting it all together and making sense of it. If school didnt rush through the texts so often one could take the time to decipher and translate Shakespeare's heavy meanings. I also found it interesting that he mentioned that these texts werent meant to be studied or read, but performed! I enjoyed the sonnets that we had to read for this class, they are some of the most beautifully composed words ive ever read though it was hard for me to grasp the full message or story. two quotes really struck my interest from Rine sparse lines 10 thru 15 and the very famous shakespeare quote "shall i compare thee to a summer's day..."

4/13/11- Today i have alot to say, first of all i'm pretty sure my paper topic will be about the canterbury tales, the questions they raised in me and how they coincide with the gossip and events of today.

also, i am going to put up what we did for classwork my group had canto 4 to analyze. This canto's plot was mostly based on the knights entrance to hell and the descriptions of whom and what he sees there.

characters- Red cross knight: holiness, england, protestant una: lady he loved who was seperated from him by duressa lucifera/Pride: queen of hell elegantly dressed; first of 7 DEADLY SINS Idleness/sloth: sluggish on slow donkey Gluttony: hater, ugly horse, fat, also indulges in booze, monsteresque Lechery/lust: rides on bearded goat rough and filthy, green gowns holding burning heart, lusted all he saw Avarice/Greed: riding camel covered in gold, material posessions, no end to greed, gout on foot? Envie: malicious, chewing guts, jealousy, multicolored cloth tunic, held a snake, *accuses those who give to the poor of hiding their lack of faith Wrath: riding a lion burning sword eyes red always angry Satahn: whip, leader of pack although at end Sans Joy: Sans Foy: without faith

4/11/11- Queen elizabeth is just ranting about how she will be more forgiving and a better queen than mary. which isnt a hard act to follow ;)

4/6/11- One significant difference in the language of the biblical readings Surprisingly i found all four to be nearly the same. There were very subtle changes in which words were italicized or in what order they go in. However after doing the class excercise we found many differences. The geneva bible seemed the oldest simply because of its use of "th" at the end of many words. The one my group had in class was the Duay Rheims Bible which i found to be the least formal and most straight forward. the differences i put in my notes are as follows -"void and empty" rather than "without form" "let us make man TO our image" rather than IN "increase and multiply" rather than be fruitful -uses He more than God -uses You rather than Ye -Instead of "bless them that hate you," it says "do good to them that hate you" -less italicized words -takes gender specific pronoun out -uses justice instead of righteousness at least twice

4/4/11- The changes in life going from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period were vast. First and foremost was the revolution of religion in England after Henry the 8th's exocommunication and the rise of the Church of England and Protestant religions. "humanism" Another huge advancement was in science and medicine. The interest and belief in astrology, alchemy, and demonology went up.Copernicus and Galileo solidified the theory that the cosmos do not revolve around Earth and furthermore Kepler founded that earth's path was an ellipse. On the medical side of things William Harvey discovered how blood circulates through the body. After the whole Henry the 8th fiasco and him trying to attain a male heir to the throne he was followed by his own daughter to rule. Mary I got the nickname "bloody mary" for brutally killing protestant leaders as she remained roman catholic. Elizabeth I came soon after making the issue of gender roles. She was a protestant and not as volatile as Mary. Also in English Literature the development of same sex eroticism becomes present. Civil wars erupt between England while James of Scotland came into throne. the most relevant change to the class was the development of literature! the printing press was developed. Books mostly published in Latin in the late 15th early 16th centuries. Utopia, by sir thomas more gave birth to the utopian genre or works presenting an imagined world in such a way as to prompt reflection upon the inadequacies and absurdities of the present world. Another important prose style was religious non fiction works, poetry and dramas.

3/28/11- The character of Mak can only be described as a stealthy thief! He steals a sheep when the shepherds are sleeping and passes it off as a baby...who does that :D

3/21/11- Why is The Miller's Tale a fabliaux/farce: Today i learned that what we have thought for so long about the days of old are not entirely true. They got as drunk as us, had as much sex and controversy as we do, and they had as much humor about it as we do, the only difference is it being broadcasted over facebook :D. The Miller's Tale is considered a fabliaux. A fabliaux or farce is defined as "a short, usually comic, frankly coarse, and often cynical tale in verse popular especially in the 12th and 13th centuries" (merriam-webster.com) The qualities that make the Miller's tale a fabliaux are its satyrical representation of love and relationships of the time like the ones in the Knights Tale. None of the relationships presented in this tale are based on love. John could possibly love Allison but i have my suspicions he marries her based on her appearance, Allison, who is in the middle of both love triangles (tramp) married her husband john who is much older than her probably for his stability and money, Nicholas sleeps with her for fun, Absolem wants her for her beautiful figure, strictly lust. The whole story has jokes and tricks that wouldnt typically occur in a courtly love story or romance.

3/7/11- who is your favorite pilgrim? why?

Before the discussion in class my favorite pilgrim was the physician. There was a lengthy and favorable discussion about how He was wealthy but not greedy and watched over his patients well, using natural magic rather than black magic with evil spirits. However, after the class discussion I'm leaning more towards the wife who was beyond her time in using men and treating them like nothing as they did to women in that time.

3/5/11- Today i found my article for the paper due march 21st! The story i chose is Lanval. I loved the romance of it all and the happy ending where Lanval is finally rewarded for living a chivalrous life. the scholarly article i found was this one Title: Chivalry and Prowess in the //Lais// of Marie de France Author(s): [|Glyn Burgess] Publication Details:  French Studies  37.2 (Apr. 1983): p129-142. Source: **//[|Poetry Criticism]//**. Ed. Carol T. Gaffke and Anna J. Sheets. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. From //Literature Resource Center//. Document Type: Critical essay Bookmark: [|Bookmark this Document] **Full Text:** COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Research, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning

2/28/11-

2/23/2011-Howdy.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Fitt 3 analyze passage. The passage i've chosen for fitt 3 is lines 1934 to 1951. Starting with "now i shall first carry out the terms of our covenant"...Gawain first offers what he recieved that day rather than recieving the meat first as he did the other two days. In my mind, this shows the guilt he is feeling towards recieving the gift of the girdle from the lady earlier that day. Gawain kept that gift for i suppose selfish reasons in that the lady told him that as long as he wore the girdle (which happens to be green) that no man would strike him down. Considering the quest that lie ahead of him which he was sure to lose without it. He is such a "good" knight that he is attempting to remain faithful and loyal to both parties who have opposing demands, which is impossible even for a courteous knight such as he. Furthermore the Lord goes to feel bad about only giving him a fox pelt when he recieved three sweet kisses that day, really sticking it to Gawain's conscience.



2/14/2011- HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. yes, it's a real holiday.

These statements about love are all ironic and ridiculous at first glance… Love is not something that can be expressed in one simple statement. #2, 21 and 22’s statements particularly caught my eye. Jealousy is the reason for many relationships ending, not necessary to love or be loved. My current boyfriend is the least jealous boy I know and have ever been with and it only makes me love him more. I suppose for girls that like that attention of their boyfriend going into a rage over them.. its not my thing. These are clearly very old fashioned statements because number 11 refers to not loving someone because of their social class. However I suppose some of these are true. Such as number 12. " A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved." This SHOULD be true in a lasting relationship. There will always be attraction to other people but the thought and action should go no further than that. All in all these "rules" gave me a good chuckle. They are all a bit obsessive :)

2/7/2011- Ruminate the end of Beowulf: -The end of Beowulf in this translation in the book is not far from Gareth's version in the graphic novel, but in a more colorful language and without the colorful illustrations. This version goes more into Wiglaf's experience of Beowulf's death and a bit of the aftermath. In this version in the fight with the dragon; wiglaf aids Beowulf in killing him. Wiglaf actually rants about how he is one of the few who steps up to the plate and says " all the happy joys of your homeland shall end for your race; empty-handed will go every man among your tribe, deprived of his land rights when noblemen learn far and wide of your flight, your inglorious deed. death is better for any earl than a life of dishonor!" I was confused at a point on page 93. I was under the impression that they used "wyrd" in place of fate. yet both terms were used on this page. Perhaps to prevent using the same word too often? not sure. also, there is a long dialogue at the end of ongentheow and haethcyn. I didnt really understand why this was put here. The end concludes it properly with Beowulf's funeral and the building of his burial monument

1/26/2011- So far i am enjoying this class and think i will learn a lot from it. on the first day I was overwhelmed with all of the information being recited to us and looking at the schedule on the back of the syllabus, but ive programmed all of the assignments into my phone with 24 hour reminders. In other classes I admit I slack heavily on reading assignments and used them only before tests or skimmed them. However it is clear to me that I will need to keep up with these readings to really get the most of them and i plan to! I also feel we started the semester off right with Gareth Hinds' translation of Beowulf. It made much more sense and was so aesthetically pleasing that I got into it. I've written and revised the first page of my Beowulf paper, going to start writing the 2nd page now. Later!

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