Brekalis,+Kristin

==== I'm **Kristin Brekalis** and I'm a sophomore! I'm an elementary education major minoring in english. I'm familar with british literatire because I took this course back in high school and I was interested in taking it again in college. I'm excited that were starting the course off with Beowulf because I read the epic poem in the past. I think that the graphic novel is going to be very interesting because I expect it to help me understand the story much clearer. ====

**//﻿//**
**//May 2, 2011//** Ben Jonson was a very interesting poet. He was the first Englishman to edit and publish his own poetry and dramas. King James I awarded Jonson with a royal pension and he became England's Poet Laureate. In 1598 Jonson got into a fight with an actor and ended up killing him. As a result, he was sent to prison and while he was in prison he became Catholic. On behalf of his royal pension from the king, he got out of jail in 1616 and he died in 1637. Jonson uses the poetry forms: ode, epistle, epitoph and epigram in his poetry.

Ben Jonson's On My First Daughter: This poem is about the death of his infant daughter who passed away at 6 months of age. This poem is written with a AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF line scheme. This poem expressed his feelings and grief about the death of his daughter. He also has a poem called On My First Son expressing his feelings about the death of his son, who passed away when he was seven years old.

**//April 28, 2011//** One of the sources that I'm going to use for my final paper is the article "Undressing Lady Bertilak: Guilt and Denial in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

Kelly Stowell acted out two shakespeare characters in today's class session. The first character she acted out was the nurse from Romeo and Juliet and the second character was Queen Margaret, the wife of King Henry. Her presentations of these characters showed that she knew a great deal about both characters and that she did the proper research in order to get the characters monologue just right.
 * //April 27, 2011// **

For my final paper, I am interested in writing about two stories from the semester. The first story that i was very interested in was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I liked the fact that the Knight had to analyze Gawain's motived and decided to spare him his life. The second story I'm going to consider to write about is Dr Faustus. I enjoyed the courtroom excercise we did in class and sparked an interest for me.
 * //April 25, 2011// **

**//April 13, 2011//** Edmund Spenser's //The Faerie Queen//: - Medieval Story - Practical Patronage - Agenda: Politics & Religion - Metaphor Allegory

**//April 11, 2011//** In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I delivered an inspirational speech **to the troops at at Tilbury** while they were preparing for an invasion from Spain. Her famous quote "I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but i have the heart and stomach of a king" shows her strength and determination as a woman leader during this time.

//** April 6, 2011 **// After reading the biblical passages, I noticed that all the passages are alot like Tyndale's English translation. However, Tyndale's version stresses the word "God" many times throughout the passage. The King James' bible also stresses the word "God" and italicizes smaller words like "was" & "and". The Geneva bible stresses words like "Let" and "Heaven" throughout the passage by capitalization. The Douay-Rheims bible is alot like the other translations but passages from this bible include colons : and words are stressed by capitalization as well.

//** March 28, 2011 **// **The Second Shepherd's Play** is a story about three shepherds named Coll, Gib, and Daw, and a devlish, thief named **Mak**. The three shepherds hate their jobs and make a list of complaints about their lives. Also, they are aware that Mak is a thief and tell him to leave. Mak refuses to leave and begs the shepherds to let him stay until they agree. After they allowed him to stay, Mak cast a spell on the shepherds that put them to sleep. While the shepherds were asleep under his spell, Mak steals a sheep and takes it home. When the shepherds showed up looking for their sheep, Mak and his wife dressed the sheep up as their baby. This is a metaphor to the birth of christ and the sheep represents the lamb of god.

//** March 21, 2011 **// ** The Miller's Tale ** is a fabiliaux/farce because its a short story that presents a serious matter in a comical way. The Miller's Tale is a story about a love affair between the carpenters wife and a clerk. John, the carpenter, is an older man married to Allison, his eighteen year old wife. Nicholas, the clerk, is in love with Allison. During the day when John is at work, Allison spends time with Nicholas and they become lovers. The Miller tells the ta﻿le of this jealous love affair and turns the story into a comedy.

//** March 7, 2011 **// My favorite pilgrim from the //Canterbury Tales// is the **Wife of Bath**. Her numerous marriages and affairs in her youth lead you to think that her marriages failed because of her wrong-doing. However, when i thought about her character, i considered that fact that her past marriages could have failed because of her husbands. I give her the benefit of the doubt and seee her as a hopeless romantic who cant find the right man for her.

*From **good to bad**, this is the order I think the pilgrims belong on the scale* Knight, Prioress, Parson, Physician, Summoner, Shipman, Friar, Reeve, Wife, Monk, Miller, Pardoner

//** March 2, 2011 **// **Sir Orfeo** is the story of Sir Orfeo and his wife, Heurodis. The fairy king steals Heurodis and as a result, Sir Orfeo leaves to look for her in the forest. After ten years, Sir Orfeo finally sees Heurodis and in order to get her back he plays his harp for the fairy king. The king is impressed with his music and offers him a prize (he chooses Heurodis). The plot of Sir Orfeo is alot like the story of Orpheus and Euridice. However, Orpehus fails rescuing Euridice because he looks back to see her. Sir Orfeo is a great story about true love.

//** February 28, 2011 **// **"Undressing Lady Bertilak"** gives you a better understanding of what goes on between Sir Gawain and Lady Bertilak in the story. In **Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,** Gawain ends up escaping death due to his honesty. However, he commits a few sins throughout his quest. For example, Sir Gawain kisses Lady Bertilak and doesnt tell Bertilak about the Girdle he received from his wife. On the //medieval sin scale// I believe that Gawain is a __3__.. Although he kissed Lady Bertilak he refused to sleep with her and he gave Bertilak the kisses he received from his wife. Also, the Green Knight spares him his life so he must have throught that Gawain deserved to live.

// **February 14, 2011- Happy Valentines Day!** // **The Art of Courtly Love** by Andreas Capellanus includes a list of the rules of love. These rules explain how to love and what it means to be in love. In my opinion, these rules are an accurate description of how love is meant to be and what it feels like to be in love. Love is a powerful thing and can sometimes to be hard to find. If your lucky enough to be in love, it's a great thing.


 * // February 9, 2011 //**
 * The Wife's Lament ** is one of the poems in the exeter book of elegies. In this poem, the wife shows alot of grief and dispair. From the way I interpreted the poem, I got the impression that the wife cheated on her husband while he was away and as a result, was exiled for her actions. For example, when she says "My lord commanded me to live here" and "They forced me to live here... in an earthen cave." At the end of the poem she refers to "the young man" and i think she is talking about the man she had the affair with, not her husband. I liked reading this poem and i liked how there are several different ways you can interpret the meaning. This is just what i got out of it.

After Beowulf defeats Grendel by ripping off his arm, Grendel's mother seeks revenge on him for killing her son. Beowulf fights Grendel's mother and defeats her as well. Beowulf then becomes King and after many years a dragon threatens him and his people. Beowulf slays the dragon but crticially wounds himself in the processs. The story ends with the death of Beowulf but his bravery and strength will be never forgotton by his people.
 * // February 7, 2011 //**

I really enjoyed **Gareth Hinds'** presentation during class because his story was very interesting to listen to. I look forward to reading the graphic novel because I read the epic poem and i enjoyed it. Hinds is a great artist and his graphic novel version of Beowulf looks like it's going to be really fun to read. Also, I thought it was interesting that he used to work as a video game artist who worked on many popular games, like Cars.
 * // January 26, 2011 //**