Smith,Dylan

//Overall I thought this class was very insightful and very helpful. It exposed me to a broader view of literature, and opened my eyes to a different type of language used back in earlier times. My favorite reading we did this semester had to be The Canterbury Tales because each story was told in a unique way and wasn't the same kind of story. There was stories about chivarley, knighthood, courtly love, humor, everything you could write a story about is included. Thats why I feel that this book by Chaucer was my favorite of the semester. // //I tried to prepare for this final just like I did the Mid Term which helped a lot. I took whatever readings we covered over the semester and put them on note cards and on the back I wrote the plot, charcters, and themes of each story and reviewed them before. I hope this works again, although having three consecutive finals today didnt help :/. // //So far my essay is going well, I found a lot of articles involving the Millers Tale and the Knights tale in particluar Extimacy in the Miller's Tale by Gila Aloni. In that article it discusses a lot about the Miller's Tale but it also talks about the Knight's Tale as well. In my essay I also plan on comparing the Friar's Tale and the Summoners Tale because both are a lot like the Miller's Tale and the Knights Tale. Both are opposites of each other, whether its the charcters, plot, or theme, so I plan on devoting half of my paper talking about the MIller's Tale/Knight's Tale and the other half talking about the Friar's Tale/Summoners Tale. // //Go Bruins // //The poem I chose was Samuel Daniel from the Delia poem, I chose this one because its the one that stood out to me the most. It stood out because the theme was love and it talked about different principles of love that stood out to me. I thought this poem was pretty difficult because the language was hard to pick up but once I understood the meaning it became clearer what they were saying. //
 * Dylan Smith **
 * Class Reflection **
 * Final Prep (May 17 2011) **
 * Theme Essay (May 6 2011) **
 * Wiki Entry (May 4 2011) **

//I thought the presentation by Kelly Morgan was very intriguing, he was very passionate when speaking making the passages he recited have greater meaning. I also thought the illustration he put on the board was intersting because he talked about God, Satan, and how thier connected. One ancedote I found funny was when he was in Catholic School he would be hit with a ruler because he was left handed resulting in broken knuckles. He said the nuns did that because left handed writers were believed to be related to the devil and satan, I found that a bit odd even for a Catholic School. Overall I thought the presentation went very well and it was neat to hear someone as passionate as Kelly Morgan recite some literature. //
 * Kelly Morgan Presentation (April 27,2011) **

//Go Bruins //

//Compare the different charcters in the Canterbury Tales. // //I would like to explore the Canterbury Tales and the themes that each charcter displays, I hope to find 2-3 sources that analyze the charcters and thier stories. For example I wouldn't mind comparing the Knight and the Miller's tale because they are so different in contrast and I would like to see if there are any more differences or themes. // //I believe in Troops in the Tilbury the Queen is making the people believe in something that she doesn't believe in, because she says she can run the country but in actuality she doesn't think she can. Doing this makes it appear that she is powerful, confident and in control when in actuality she is the opposite, fearful that her reign could end soon. I can see simliarities in todays society because when a important figure in the public says something your not sure if there telling the truth, for example Barry Bonds, Manny Ramierez and Roger Clemens all said they didn't do steriods when there are test results that say other wise. I'm not sure why people do this, it doesn't help anybody because eventually the truth will come out just like it did in Troops in the Tilbury. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One difference I noticed in the bible passages was the language because it seemed like in some of the bibles they would choose different words to describe the same thing. For example on page 540 it says "And God said, let the water bring forth creatures that move and have life, and fowls for to fly over the earth under the firmanent of heaven." (Tyndale), and in King James Bible it says, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmanent of heaven (King James). I thought it was obvious they were saying the same thing, but just in a different way and I think the reason they did that was because of translation differences. Whenever you translate something your not always going to find the exact word that matches, so you have to implement new words or new phrases. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Studying for the midterm I thought was a bit tough because there were a lot of texts we've covered this semester. What I did to study was I took notecards, and I wrote the names of each of the texts we've read this semester and on the other side I would put 4 different things. One being the theme of the story, so that way I can the similiarties and differences between texts. The next line I would put the plot summary so that way I had a general idea what the text was about and how the story finished. The third line was a list of charcters and something about them, this makes them easier to identify and thier charctersitics are more memorable. The last line would be a quote so I had a idea how the text was written so I can identify the type of language that was being used. After taking the midterm I feel I was fufilly prepared for the test, because I remembered the themes and the language of the text. I feel those were the two things that help me the most, and I will deftinley use this form of studying for our final exam. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Miller's Tale can be seen as a farce because of the outlandish plot it deals with. The story deals with a Nicholas who is a clerk and his mission to sleep with the John, the carpenters 18 year old wife, Alisoun. This story is a farce because of the amount of men that envy Alisoun and in fact how they go about swaying her. For example Absolon gave her gifts each night and even gives her money even though he gets rejected each time. Eventually Nicholas sleeps with Alisoun after tricking John to go on the roof in preperation for a major flood, I found this to be very humours but unbelieveable. Absolon sees this and tries to get a kiss from Alisoun but instead he gets his buttocks branded by a hot skillet, which again I found humours and a little believeable. So reading this story was a little unbelievable but it makes sense because Miller was setting up the story to be a satire because of the previous Knights Tale. // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//My favorite pilgrim was the Friar because he was very happy and festive, he also married multiple women. He would arriagned many of these marriages by paying for the women, which I thought was interesting for the time period. In class we've heard about arriagned marraiges before, so it wasn't a suprise but it was intersting how he would pay just cash for the marraige of women. I also found it humorus that he offers penance to those who need it and in return he asks for money, seen in this example. "And plesaunt was his absolucioun. He was an esy man to yeve penaunce, There he wiste to have a good pitaunce" (222-224).// //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I thought the reading this week was very intersting, however I thought the General Prolouge was a little boring. I found it boring because it felt like the narrator was just naming off charcters, and thats it. While that is important in a story I feel like that it could have been delievered in a different manner so it was more intersting. However I found Millers Tale to be quiet intersting just because of the creativeness of it. I found the whole story to be funny and witty which personally adds to the story, its another added element that makes the story that much more interesting. I found certain parts funny like when Nicholas stuck his rear end out towards Absolon wipped out a red hot iron and branded him, I found that personally hilarous. Miller's Tale was defintley funny, and insightful, the text was a little hard to read but once I understood it, it was very good and funny. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I agree what Roo states in his text because he states that parts of the poem are sexist and I thought that was pretty interesting. That’s not the first time I’ve read a piece where the author incorporates some of his personal believes or characteristics into the piece. Last semester I took an Approaches To Literature class and we read a few feminists, Marxist, and sexist papers, and I found it shocking how authors can alter a story just to fit their personal beliefs. // //For my project I think I would be interested in doing my project on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I feel that was my favorite this semester and also because I feel I can write a effective critical response paper. For SGGK I was thinking about the roles of Gaiwain and the Kings wife, because the wife made advances towards the knight which I thought was interesting for that time period. I also feel like the role of a knight was introduced in a different way.// //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think the passage where Gaiwain is awoken by the fair lady (starting at line 1208), is very intersting becuase its the first time that the lady appears to make any advances towards Gaiwain. In the begenning Gaiwain appears to shoot down those advances, he says that he is unworthy and wants to be loyal to the king. He even tries to hide under the covers hoping that the lady would get a hint and stop with the advances, but that doesn't work. The reason the fair lady keeps advancing towards Gaiwain is because the King and his men are out hunting and nobody is at the castle, even then Gaiwan still shoots her down. I find that to be very loyal towards the King because the oppertunity was there and he would have gotten away with it fairly easy. But his loyalty and devotion to the King proved to be too much. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I found that SGGK was a real good text because it gave a glimpse of what life was like in a kingdom during 14th century England. After the Green Knight and challenged someone to a game, the King initially accepted the offer, but Gawain stepped up to prove to his master his bravery. I thought this was real interesting because it was a glimpse of chivalry from Gawain because after he accepted the offer to axe the head of the Green Knight, he would receive the same fate in one year. The first few months after Gawain is confident that he will not have to honor his end of the deal because the Green Knight has died, but as the months grow nearer he begins to worry. For a knight I thought this was quite opposite of what a knight should symbolize, I never pictured a knight that was afraid of a opponent. I thought they always be brave and do anything to honor the king and prove his loyalty. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Looking at the list, I found one bullet that I found interesting and it was, "When made public love rarely endures". The reason I chose this was because in today's pop culture society we tend to hear about problem marriages and divorces then ever. I believe its because of the technology we have today, everyone has a phone with a camera, we can tweet, Facebook, we can do a lot of things on the go. The reason I feel love can't endure in public is because everything in their private life is revealed, including intimate details which should remain private. one modern day example I can think of is Tiger Woods, even though he cheated on his wife, their love was quickly tumbling because of his popularity and ego. He even said that his big ego caused him to cheat but I believe if his life was more private things might have been different. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the Exeter Book Elegies there are four manuscripts that were featured, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Ruin. All four were poems that all had a common theme of religion and suffering. My personal favorite was the Seafarer because it had a lot of verses which stood out to me. “A man must steer a strong mind and keep it stable, steadfast in its promises, pure in its ways…” (109). This stood out to me because its saying for men to stay strong and stable under difficult circumstances, which I found very real. Everyone goes through difficult situations in life and this line can keep a person focused to remain calm and stable. // //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I thought the end of Beowulf was very unique and interesting because the last few pages the color scheme changed to a light purple. Everything on the page was a purplish color which I found very interesting design seeing as the hero dies and maybe Hinds was trying to set the mood of a depressed setting. I found the ending to be tragic because it was the death of a king and the monster had won, and usually the hero always wins so its unique to see the monster prevail and to see the hero vanquish. //
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Final Project (April 25, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Entry (April 24, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assignment (April 6, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Midterm Prep (Mar 30, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assignment **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assignment (Mar 7, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chaucer Canterbury Tales (Mar 6, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assigment (Feb 28, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Project Brainstorm (Feb 23, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assigment (Feb 23, 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Feb 16 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki Assigment (Feb 14 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Exeter Book Elegies (Feb 8 2011) **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ruminate on the end of Beowulf (Feb 7 2011) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On January 24, 2011, I came and listened to Gareth Hinds present about Beowulf.