Leary,Colleen

__January 21__
===On Monday our class was to go to two different presentations that where done by the Artist Garth Hines. I liked how while he was waiting for people to get seated he entertained himself and his audience in both of his lectures with an illustration although I was more intrigued by the second one he created using the computer. I have never seen anyone illustrate that way other than just using the painting tool on normal computer. Garth made it look very easy.=== === During the 11 o'clock lecture he spoke mainly about Beowulf which benefitted me because he was actually explaining things from the text that I found difficult to understand while reading. He went into some details that he included in his drawings that I hadn’t noticed while reading. By recognizing the smaller details that he pointed out the story became more intriguing. Everything that he included in his illustrations had a purpose or a reason behind each element representing various things such as death, time period or even setting. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his job working in video games. I never made the connection between video games in art but now I can see where it is not just composed of graphics and things created only with computers or other technology but its underlying components really serve as a form of art. The author of this depiction of Beowulf obviously loves and is very good at what he does. ===

__Febuary 3__
=== Hi everyone, I'm Colleen Leary and am from Tyngsboro MA. I’m going to Fitchburg State to get my license in Special Education with severe disorders and elementary education. My minor is in Literature, which is the reason I am taking this course. I enjoyed my other two English courses here at FSU and hope to like this one as well. I have never really read any British literature that I know of but hopefully I’ll learn to understand the different texts as we read them. ===

__ Febuary 6 __
=== There were a few lines in the Exeter Book elegies that I liked alot. One of the pieces from The //Wanderer// that i really felt was meaningful was lines 65-72 which says, " A wise man must be patient, neither too hot-hearted not too hasty with words, nor too weak in wat not too unwise in thoughts, wealth never eager for boasting before he truely understands; a man must wait, when he makes boast, until the brave spirit understands truly whither the thoughts of his heart will turn. " As I continued to read the next poem The Seafarer, I felt as if I was reading the bible or listening to a sermon. ===

__Febuary 7__
===I liked this take on Beowulf. It pretty much gave us the jist of what the epic poem was about. During the music video she wore a unique outfit with make up on her face and she acted out some of the actions that occured during the song. Songs are like poems so the original and this version are similar in that respect. I came in during the middle of it but the part that I really heard was the ending and the singer actualy taked about Beowulf's death and how he was put into the water after he died. I liked how they included the lyrics at the bottom of the page so if you couldnt hear the words or understand them you could read them instead. This songs sounds like 99 ballons.===

Febuary 8 I just read the text Marie de France and I actually really liked it. I like that before you read the differnt types of stories or poems the book provides you with some of the history behind the writing like who wrote it. I think that this background piece before the actualy story is sometimes even more interesting than the stories themselves. I think that it is funny and interesting how Marie puts herself in her writing and then states where she is from, you dont really see that in literary works these days other than in the bio at the begining or end of texts. I also think that its ironic how her name if Marie de France but she isnt really from there. When I was reading the poem Lanval that she created, I felt as if the mysterious women that he fell in love with, wouldnt come back to save him. I also predicted that all the events that occured with the queen like him insulting her was a test for him to see if he would say something about his secret lover. When he did I thought that it would be completely over for them but at the end of the story, from what I got fromt he text, the two left together for Avalon. I think that it is really odd that the queen would be throwing herself at Lanval like that when she is suppose to be with the king. It just seems wrong and I feel like the king should have been more upset with his wife for throwing herself on anther man rather than angry with Lanval for regecting her and insulting her.

Feb 14 "It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing. " I do not agree with this statement, I believe that love is either increasing or decreasing. I dont think that it stays the same from day to day. Those in a healthy relationship will increase thier love for one another as they learn more about the other, go through different obsticles, experience things and make memories together. I do believe that people can fall out of love the same way they fall in. "Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity. " I completely agree with this statement, there are so many examples of this at college. Boys, in my own opinion, need to learn whats important in their own life before they fall in love. I think that some may love themselves too much or the single life to want to give part of themselves or their life for another so until they have reached a point of maturity where they can put anothers needs and wants before their own they will not beable to fall in love completely althought they may belive that they are in love. "A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved." i do support this rule. I believe that for someone to truely love another, they would never desire another woman/ man. The love of thier lives should be the only one whom they desire or want to be with.

Feb 22 The last two parts of SGGK were as odd as the first two. I felt like I knew something bad was going to happen with Gawain where he would do something to upset the host, I just didn’t know what was going to happen. I predicted that he was going to get distracted and would leave the hosts house later than he was suppose to and would not show up for the meeting with the Green Knight, this didn’t happen though. I had not predicted that the wife would try to seduce him. She was a very different character, even though Gawain kept saying no, she would still persist then would make him question his character when refusing to kiss her. I also felt that it is odd that Gawain was to give the kisses that he won to the king, it is probably the time period that this poem takes place were that sort of thing is common. I believe that a lot of the events that occurred in this piece were games, everything was a game. The first encounter with the Green Knight there was a game where Gawain hit the GK in the neck. King Arthur was playing a game where he would be the last person to eat and would let everyone else start before him. During Gawains time at his host’s house, he participated in a game with the host where the host would go out and kill animals then bring them back for Gawain and Gawain would stay at the castle and collect kisses.

Feb 23 I belive that the most important or key passage from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was on page 209 lines 2505-2512. I belive that this passage in one of the most important passages in this text because it shows how Gawain's character has changed. Gawain contronts his sins that occured while at the hosts house where he recieved kisses and a girdle from the hosts wife without telling him. In this passage he explains what has happened to him on his journey and tells those of his town what he learned. He tells them the reason for his scar and the symbol behind the girdle. In the passage he says the belt caused the scar but what he really means is that the action in which he recieved the belt/ girdle was how he recieved it which was by deceitfullness, lying and cowardice. He goes on to say that he will wear the belt for the rest of his life. I believe that he says this becasue he wants to remember his sins and maybe by remembering what happened with the wife and host it will help him be a better man and more loyal to those in his life. He is not forgetting his past and letting his mistakes be a part of his life and change his character. The last line in the passage that i selected supports this fact.

Feb 28 I argee with alot of what roo says in this text. One of the things that this author discusses in this piece is how Sir Gawain responds when he is comfronted with his sins, he says that he reacted how many of us would where we would first be shocked then we would start to creat reasons for our actions or blaim others but like sir Gawain in the end with all the facts against us we then forget to our sins and confess. I think that it was good that the author discusses the part of the peom where.......

March 7 My favorite pilgrim from the Canterury tales is Miller. Due to the language used in the text it is difficult to understand all that is said about each character but following the reading in the the text as well as viewing intenet resources I can conclude that it is Miller whom i enjoy the most. I favor Miller because the tale that he presents to the other pilgrims when someone passes up thier chance. His tale was very funny and interesting. I like how he chose to have Nick pretend to be sick so he would be able to have a pretend forsight into the future that there would be a flood he told the husband of the pretend flood in order to sleep witht he wife. In the end the husband falls asleep in a tube while Nick and the wife sleep together then Nick gets branded on the butt by another lover of the wife.

After the class discussion I Feel like I enjoy the Wife pilgrim from the text. I like that she does what she wants to do and is straight forward in the text oppossed to the other characters who pretend to be someone that they are not. March 20 I just finished my paper for this class i wrote it on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I actually really liked the article that I wrote to write about. Now when i think of the poem its more than just a poem writen in some foreign lanugage now it has some religious purpose behind it which is what the author of my article explained. Some of the things things that he said that i agreed with him on was that some of the events related to those that occured in the bible, one that I added to the mix was Adam and Eve and how they dont rely on god and eat from the forbidden tree and then are sent away and live with the knowledge of thier sin just as Gawain is tempted in the same way by satan but through the wife of the host. When he takes the girdle its like Adam taking from the fruit. God as believed by the writer of the article and I, is the host. This article dicusses the symbolism behind the sash and the pentangle which i also support.

March 21 The "Miller's Tale" is considered a fabliaux or farce because it is a humorour tale that satarizes something elese it also contains events that are highly unlikely to occur in real life. The Millers tale uses the character Johnathan to make fun of those who go to church every week even though they do know understand waht is said. The author the Canterbury tales, when writing the Miller's Tale, insults in a way the tale that the knight made insulting the aspects of courtley love and callenges the knights story. There are two different ways these stories can go which we learned in class, they can either involve tragedy or they can be comical this one opposed to the Knights Tale is a comedy. The Millers tale discusses cuckholds who are men that have younger wives who cheat on them but turn their backs and pretend that they do not know that thier wives are doin. These husbands feel that its better that they pretend that they dont know rather than awkknowledge that the wife is cheating and fail to stop her from doing so. The Miller himself is a drunken man which is another reason why this tale is considered a farce. One of the really comical pieces from this tale is how Nick. tells the husband to prepare for the flood by bringing tubs upstairs and hang them from the rafters. He also tells he that he and his wife cannot share the tub because it would allude to sex which god does not like. This way when Alison and Nick want to sneak off at night to sleep together they can do so without waking the husband. Lastly, when Absolom goes to kiss allison fromt eh window she puts her butt out and he kisses it, the next time he asks for a kiss Nick sticks his but out and Absolom burns his but with a hot pole.

March 28 I am trying to study for the MIdterm. I'v been going over all the differnt texts that we have read so far this semester while going over some of my notes from class. Alot of the notes that I took in class I am having trouble finding the meaning to them because some of them were short and just relating to brief aspects fo our entire discussion for a text we read. I have noticed that we did not discuss the entiredy of some of the things that we were to read for class. To prepare for this midterm, I looked up how to analyze a passage on line and found this website along with many others. [] One of the parts that i found useful was this, along with the principals of analyzing a text.

April 6 Differences between Medival time period vs. Renn. Medival- males always ruled, had 100% of the power, priests only controlled what is heard, if you were to suffer it was gods will for you to suffer ( you would not question your illness or why you are sick, let it be) Rennissance- Single female had power, people questioned the church, the bible is now being published so that people can now have the pwer to read it on their own, they are now studying science and with that the study of medicine, they are beginging to question why things happen, they are becoming more resourceful( rich people are begining to let tenants use their land instead of letting it sit there untouched, they have more human concerns, there are new developments in the English language, Free will rather than focusing everything on the church, the class structure also has changed and there is a new type of sexuality that is coming about (Homoerotica)
 * 1) Read or reread the text with specific questions in mind.
 * 2) Marshal basic ideas, events and names. Depending on the complexity of book, this requires additional review of the text.
 * 3) Think through your personal reaction to the book: identification, enjoyment, significance, application.
 * 4) Identify and consider most important ideas (importance will depend on context of class, assignment, study guide).
 * 5) Return to the text to locate specific evidence and passages related to the major ideas.
 * 6) Use your knowledge following the principles of analyzing a passage described below: test, essay, research, presentation, discussion, enjoyment

Identify one significant difference between language in biblical passages. When looking at the 4 different types of biblical passages I can see a few small differences between them. One of the differeneces that I see when reading the different versions is that the Douay Rheims Bible uses justice in thier translation for Mathew chapeter 5 opposed to righteousness in the other versions. I believe this to be true because the DR. version is focusing on the law or government aspect oppose to the other verions which are directing it towards the individual.

April 24 Ruminate( think about/ brian storm) on the "Troops at Tilbury" (687). I believe during this section they are afrain of treachery because they are all armed and if it does occur it will be hard to catch the person who turned and it could lead to many deaths. The Queen doesnt want to seem like she distrusts her soldiers she wants them to have faith and trust in her and believe that she is as strong as any men. She wants them to have faith in her judgement and unsedstand that she will not give way to other countries and that she will battle to the end. She displays her religious values and faith in god and his protection. She makes a point to show her men that she isnt just stopping to meet them to filll her time, she has a reason, she doesnt do anything out of the blue or without purpose. She wants them to see how concerned she is about what is taking place at the battle field and wants to show them how dedicated she really is. She shows she has the characteristics of a man and she will rule in that manner.

Faerie Queene was a very difficult piece of literature to read. I went on spark notes and can now understand it alot better, from what i got from what i read there interested me. The stroy seems very intreguing and eventful, something like Harry Potter or something like that. I liked how Edmund Spencer used alot of metaphors in his writings. The metaphors relating the red cross to holliness/ purity and goodness. Through this sections we see how holliness battles evil and how it is appauled by sin. Duchessa i find appealing becasue she has two differnt sides to her: one side, the bad parts of the church like giving money to the poor yet the church doesnt seem to do the same and witchcraft. Witch craft is an act against god and many do not know that. As we discussed in class, when they turn wine and bread into the blood and body of christ, they are performing magic.

May 4 Describe your final project. For this project I have a few differnt ideas which I am considering I was thinking about writng the creative piece for the final essay but i was wondering if it would be ok to write it as a few letters that i have writen to my sister following my "marrage to my cousin". I would incorporate things that occured during this time period If not I would write the thematic essay on either the misconceptions of the society of the century such as impurity of the church, adultery, and lack of morals or the Misconceptions of the church in gereral. My original idea was to discuss the sexual nature of those living in this time period where sex had 2 purposes to bear chlidren ( with wife) or for pleasure ( with mistress). I am having a horrendous time trying to find sources due to the lack of usefull books and journal articles that the library has. Most of the books are not in order at all. The source that i will be using alot for this paper is the text book.

Reflection on the speech with Kelly Morgan I really enjoyed the speech with Kelly Morgan. I am actually signed up for his modern drama class next semetser in the fall. This lecture got me alittle excited for that class becasue we got to know him alittle bit. He was very enthusiastic about Drama. He did go through alot of information and topics that Shakespear discusses in his pieces. many of the things that he wrote about can relate to things that occur in 2011 which is very interesting. I feel that many of the pieces that we have read this year can also be related to things that occur in our time period such as lying ad cheating. THere is alot of contient in the text that relate to god and Kelly touched upon that also. He discussed the chain of heararchy and made it interesting as he related it to our world today.

Choose a poem that was assigned for today and analyze it. The Nymph's Reply to the Shephard Not just he, but every man would love to begive in to pleasure and be loved without care for the way life is/ the way they should act/ they way society beleives things sould be Stanza 2&3 Time causes the hopeful and romanitic people to give way to the pleasures of society to marry for social standing or financial well being rather than love. Your desires and morals fade away because everyone just cared about being provided for. 4th Discusses desires but all those earthly desires fade over time they get old and wither away. You will then forget that you wanted it in the first place. 5th happy marrages and love with ones wife fades and they become unruly wives. 6th You dont want to become bitter towards your other for your poor decisions, you may love one and only one.

May 16 There were a few websites that i have come across when working with various pieces during this class, on eof them was crossref-it.info/textguide this website provided one perspective of differnt pieces writen by differnt authors during the Renaissance period. Another site that i found when studying for the final was gradesaver.com/dr-faustus /study-guide/ major themes. To study for this final exam I have gone through the various texts that we have read this semester and writen some of the key points or events that occur in each. While I am writing those things down i am also creating a list of differnt themes and as i go through the different text I determining which theme the poem or the text would fit. Some of the pieces fall into a few categories like Utopia, which is satarizing differnt aspects of renaissance society then Fairie Quene. SIr Walter Ralegh discusses various themes in his pieces also. SOme of the themes that I have come up with are equality of women, travel, gluttony, education, warfare, multiple religions, power of the piests, sinfulness of the church sex, separation from the church( protestant reformation), Praising false idols (not god), Theift, Pride, damnation, battle between good and evil, questioning of the church, and power of the upperclass. Some of the poems are difficult to classify because the metaphors and the language used in this time period is unlike ours in 2011. My favorite pieces that I have read and enjoyed were Hero and Leander, Utopia, Fairie Queene, The lie, Dr. Faustus and some of the poems that we disucsses near the end of the semester. The more I repeatidly reread the pieces that i did not understand the more i begin to like them.

Last essay The paper topic that i ended up choosing to write about was the issues that related to religion that drove the people away from the Roman Catholic church. Some of these issues were the new ideals of the renaissance where people began to focus more on themselves rather than their souls. Anther reason why people turned away fromt eh church is the fact that the bible was not writting in a language that the general population comprehended, it was writen in latin, in addition to this, they bible was not distributed to everyone only the very very rich and powerful people obtained a bible outside those who where incharge of religious leadership. The sinful behaviors of those within the church drew people away fromt the Roman Catholic Religion, some of these behaviors were gluttony, creating false idols, the creation of indulgences to steal money from thier congregation. People were opposed tot he fact that the church had so much power and control over their own lives. The protestant reformation drew many away following marthin Luthers posting of the 97 greievances. King henry the VII also forced people to separate from the church ans swear allegiance to his new Church of Engand after the RCC would not allow him to participate in communion after the church wouldnt allow his divorece of his wife to marry another women whom he impregnated. some of the sources that i used were... Works Cited Black, Joseph Laurence. //The Broadview Anthology of British Literature//. Ed. Leonard Conolly, Kate Flint, Isobel Grundy, Don LePan, Roy Liuzza, Jerome McGann, Anne Prescott, Barry Qualls, and Claire Waters. Concise ed. Vol. A. Peterborough, Ontario, 2008. Print. Cole, Alison. //The Renaissance: [the Essential Guide to the Art of the Northern and Italian Renaissance, from the 14th to the 16th Century].// Dorling Kindersley in Association with the National Gallery, London, 1994. Print. Krensky, Stephen, and Bonnie Christensen. //Breaking into Print: before and after the Invention of the Printing Press//. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1996. Print. Langley, Andrew. //Renaissance//. New York: Knopf, 1999. Print. Meltzer, Milton, and Bethanne Andersen. //Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power//. New York: Dutton Children's, 1998. Print. // New Internation Worship Bible //. New York: Zondervan, 2005. Print. Wilson, Derek. "King's Good Book." //History Today// 16.1 (2011). Print. Wooding, Lucy. "Henry VII and Religion." //History Review// 62 (2008). Print.