Roy,+Kathleen

Hello! Just experimenting to make sure I can use this correctly.

2/7 - Rumination on the end of Beowulf

2/14 - Read and React

Love can arguably be a selfless feeling, but it is also said that one must love his/herself before they could love another. The items listed make it seem as though if you are truly in love every action or thought is made to please or support the person with whom you are in love. One of the interesting things abut love is that I'm not sure you can define it in the same way for every person or every couple. Everyone experiences love in a different way, looks for, wants, and values different qualities in another person, it's certainly not cookie cutter.

2/23 - pick an important/key passage from Fitt 3. Analyze. (Sir Gawain)

This excerpt is quite lengthy it goes from page 191 onto 192 lines 1817 - 1864. The "lady" is trying to convince Gawain to accept a token of gratitude from her so he will not forget her. At first she offers him an expensive fancy ring which he declines to accept. She then insists that Gawain take her girdle. Gawain accepts the girdle which becomes problematic later. Since Gawain had made a deal with Bertilack to give him anything that he received during the day, and Gawain does not give the girdle to him he has broken his promise. Later, when Gawain faces the Green Knight he learns that Bertilack is really the Green Knight, and that he and his wife (the person who gave Gawain the girdle) were tricking him. The Green Knight does not kill Gawain for what he did, but Gawain chooses to keep and wear the girlde as a symbol or reminder of his sin.

There is a show on PBS kids called "Between the Lions" it's supposed to support early literacy skills. There is a segment on the show called "Gawain's Word" in which Gawain is hosting a jousting match. A word is broken up into its onset and rime, one knight says the onset, one knight says the rime, and they joust at each other in order to form the word. This really has nothing to do with Gawain and the Green Knight, but I couldn't resist posting this silly video...

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2/28 - respond to 'Undressing Lady Bertilack"

3/2 - Sir Orfeo

Although I now understand that the Faery King is not supposed to be an omniscient being similar to that of God, I can't get over the fact that he was unable to predict or discern that Sir Orfeo was in this Celtic underworld in order to retrieve his wife. Wouldn't it be abnormal for a regular living person to enter the underworld just to play the Faery King a song? I think the King should have at least made more of this oddity, and thought about why this intruder was there. Although this story is not realistic, fantasy (in the world of the faeries) must at least be grounded enough in reality for the reader to accept the ridiculous fact that the Faery King, the man who can invade people’s dreams, "rules the land of the dead," and take people into the faery world by some sort of disappearing act, could not determine that the strange bearded mortal person was Sir Orfeo coming to bamboozle him and steal his wife back!

3/6 - Chaucer I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but I can't seem to figure out what Chaucer is trying to say. This particular style/spelling, although english, is difficult for me to decode. By the time I've finished decoding the words, I've lost pretty much all of what I was trying to comprehend in the first place. I've tried reading only a few pages at a time thinking this would lessen the frusteration level. I've also tried reading larger amounts of the text at once hoping the flow of the words/language would start to become more understandable. Anyone have any advice? How are you managing to read, but more importantly, to understand this text?

3/7 - Pick your favorite pilgrim. Why?

Madame Eglentyne, the nun, is my favorite. I am particularly drawn to her personal characteristics.

3/19 - Midterm Paper

I have chosen to write my midterm paper on "Sir Orfeo." The article I have chosen is a chapter or section of a thesis paper written for The Graduate Institute of Foreign Languages and Literature entitled, " 'Her Quen Awede Wold': Female Polyphonic Voices and Madness in Sir Orfeo."

The author, Blythe Hsing-wen Tsai, argues that each of Heurodis's vocalizations (screaming (self mutilating) under the ympe-tre, crying in the woods, and her silence at the end of the lay represent Heurodis's attempts at communicating authoritatively in the best way a woman of the medieval time can. While the author focuses on three aspects in her thesis, I am choosing to focus on the ideas in chapter one. Below is a quick outline of the author's arguments.

Heurodis' screaming and self mutilation represent her feelings of frustration at her inability to fulfill her duties as Queen by not being able to bear children (supported by the fact that Orfeo chooses a successor who is not his son because he cant have any). The author suggests that the maidens reaction to Heurodis's screaming, announcing that the Queen has gone mad, is a reflection of the medieval expectations of the Queen's role (she is to be calm and collected, pure, gentle, good mannered, etc.). The Queen chooses to go away from the kingdom as she has disgraced her husband with her unruly "mad queen" behavior brought on by her feelings of frusteration at being unable to bear children.

While I think that the author is quite creative in organizing her argument, and is able to support it logically, I do not agree with the argument. My paper will briefly describe the position of the author who wrote "Her Quen Awede Wold," and then describe (with support from the text of the lay) my own position - I do not feel that Heurodis "choose to leave" I do not feel that her screaming is representitive of her frusteration at not being able to bear children, etc.

__ //Rough// Outline __

Intro: working thesis: Although Tsai makes a clear argument regarding Heurodis's actions, the supporting details are quite imaginative and do not represent accurate assumptions about her character.

Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence - According to Tsai, Queen Heurodis's makes a conscious choice to leave Sir Orfeo's kingdom as her inability to produce children does not allow her to fulfill her duties to society or to her husband. - screaming and self mutilation were the only ways the Queen could express her frustration at being unable to bear an heir (motivation for her choice to leave) -based on social thought of the time, Queen Herodis would be considered a disgrace as she could not do the one important thing women were suppsed to do, have kids

Counter arguments -The Queen is forced to leave, her screams and self mutilation are evidence of her grief -There is no evidence in the poem to suggest that Orfeo or the people of the kingdom disliked her or resented her for not being able to have children

Paragraph 2 Topic Sentence -

Link to the article: []

4/11 - Ruminate on "To the Troops at Tilbury"

Quite emotional, probably a political statement to ease the worries of her warriors, and to solidify their ideas about the faith she has in them. Seems like a motivational speach considering the affirmations she makes to her troops about their obedience, valor, honor, etc. It's interesting that she compares herself to a King, makes it seem like people need convincing that as a woman she could do as equal a job as any man could.

4/24 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (notes)

Beginning reminds me of The Miller's Tale "we must perform the form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad"

Doctor Faustus - born in Rhodes Germany, studied Theology at Wittenburg, became interested in magic (devilish exercise) doesn't want to be a medical doctor because they just mess around with people's health, and eventually everyone dies anyway isn't interested in studying liberal arts as it is too common and boring

Wagner - servant to Faustus

good angel vs. bad angel (evidence of the conscience)

Valdes - a friend skilled in magic Cornelius - a friend skilled in magic

First and Second Scholar - concerned that Faustus has taken and interest in magic and want to have the Rector try and help him see the error of his ways

Faustus uses magic to summon Mephastophilis, servant to the devil, and asks him to work for him instead of the devil

Wagner convinces a clown, an uneducated man to serve him in return for teaching him how to transform himself. Interesting that the uneducated man is "preyed" upon to "follow the ways of the devil." I think Catholics cautioned about becoming educated so as not to be tricked by the devil. Robin steals one of Fautus's books and he and his friend Rafe tend to use them to conjure devils and the like Faustus doubts his decision to follow the devil and ponders repentance. Lucifer tells him he can't be saved now seven deadly sins, pride, covetousness, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth, lechery Emperor and Faustus meet, emperor ants Faustus to prove his skill in magic and Faustus conjures people from the dead... Interestingly, at the end Faustus sits in fear bargaining with God to save his soul. In a sense he has created his own hell out of fear of suffering.

4/27 - Response to Guest Speaker Kelly Morgan

The first aspect of his lecture that really stood out to me was his ability to captivate his audience. As someone who is studying education along with effective methods of instruction, I found his technique to be somewhat unique and extremely effective. I was impressed by his ability to take his passion for acting into the classroom along with an abundance of subject knowledge on a subject that can be daunting and famously uninteresting to some and really make it come alive.

5/2/11 - Analyze a Sonnet

Shakespeare Sonnet138

This sonnet speaks to the idea of ignorance is bliss. He writes about truth and lies, that when his lover swears to him that she is telling the truth, he knows that really she is lying. He chooses to believe her anyway, all the while both knowing they are decieving each other. Specifically, the lie is about age, she tellng him that he is not very old, when they both know he is clearly older.