Textbook Notes (p.4-14)

Historical Background

• Britain was conquered by many civilizations. First the Celts who were overpowered by the technologically advanced Romans who remained the rulers of the land for over 300 years
• Britain was then conquered by the Anglo-Saxons from Germany
• The Romans adopted Christianity as the religion of their civilization
• A long time after the Romans, the Danes from the east made their way through England and conquered the northern, eastern, and central regions of England
• The Normans also squeezed themselves in England and when King Edward died, William of Normandy took the throne
• Britain took on a feudal society :
• 
• The plantagenets ended up taking over the rule of England and kept feudalism as the structure of the government
• as time went on, the lower classes began to revolt and gain some respect and at least money for the jobs they were doing

Literature of the Period

• Anglo-Saxon literature was mainly poetry
• A popular example would be Beowulf but the author is unknown due to poor record keeping
• Many different works were produced from the Anglo-Saxons in mainly Latin and some in Old English
• Geoffrey Chaucer was a great poet from the Medieval Ages, he produced works that portrayed the life and times of the Middle Ages, knights doing good deeds, and romance
• Many plays were made after stories from the bible
• Johann Gutenburg created a printing press through typing which sparked new literary works
• Chaucer was just below and aristocrat in terms of social class which gave him a great viewpoint for his poetry
• Chaucer changed the game of literature for the Middle Ages
• He wrote about things that were compassionate and included humor in his work
• A great Celtic Hero named King Arthur was highly written about in Medieval Times as a heroic and courageous icon
• Historians aren't completely sure if King Arthur ever existed and some think he was just a fictional character like Spider-Man or Huckleberry Finn
• Tales of King Arthur spread all throughout Europe, changing the image of him
• the ballad was another popular expression of love or admiration
• A famous ballad is of Robin Hood, a bandit-like character that robbed the rich to help the poor

The Changing English Language

• around 449 B.C., the Celts, Danes, Angles, Normans, and Romans all occupied around the same area in Britain began mixing their languages together in a Frankenstein-like creation called "Englisc"
• After about 100 years, the Normans took over more of England and introduced more French influences on the growing language

Preparing to Read The Seafarer, The Wanderer, The Wife's Lament

• Britain's Anglo-Saxon's period had lots of entertainment in the forms of plays or storytellings
• many stories came about from legends or tall tales told down from generation to generation like the Native Americans
• In the Anglo-Saxon society, women had few rights, and men were the more dominant gender

"Blurred Lines" Parody

Thoroughly enjoying Weird Al Yankovic's new album. So educational! "Word Crimes" By Weird Al Yankovic

MY OPINION ISN'T (A) RIGHT

"Right to Your Opinion" Socratic Seminar Notes

• Though you may have an opinion, it is never valid to the argument
• You don't have the right to your opinion because what matters in an argument are facts
• Anytime someone tries to argue with you by using opinions, just be like:

• Other rights such as your rights to life is very debated
• people have a right not to kill others, but does that mean that they also have to make sure you are healthy, well-nourished, safe, ect.?
• if someone starts to cross the street while a car is speeding down the road at them, is it your duty to save them? 
• I believe yes in the moral sense but perhaps in this discussion over rights, no
• You would not only put yourself at risk, you would be "intruding" on their opinion that it is a safe time to cross the street
• Then again, the facts matter, not the opinions, therefore, you should save them
• BUT
• it is not your duty to do so
• Question: If someone starts to cross the street while a car is speeding down the road at them, should you save them or watch them get splattered all over the road?
• Answer: Yes
• Matters concerning the right to health are very similar 
• If someone enjoys injecting themselves with heroin, why shouldn't he/she be allowed to do so?
• The argument here is "It's my body I can do what I want with it."
• The law says no though, and society wants some freedom
• These kinds of things intrigue me because I think that you should be able to do whatever you want with your body because nobody makes the choices other than you, and you aren't affecting others by doing it
• Furthermore, you have to pay the consequences of your choices, no one else does