Miles' Blog

Monday, September 1, 2014

Beowulf Questions

Before Beowulf enters the mere, the group of warriors he is with gathers around the lake and shoot a sea monster dwelling in the water. They drag it out and stab it to death and look at its enormous body in amazement.
To prepare for the battle, Beowulf put on his chain mail armor and his golden helmet. He takes an ancient sword called the Hrunting which has never lost a battle according to legend.
When Beowulf enters the mere, he swims all the way to the bottom only to be seized in the clutches of Grendel's mother. She takes him to a battle arena where all kinds of sea beasts have gathered to watch the battle. It is surprising how they live in a cave which is underwater.
The ancient sword Beowulf borrowed from Unferth could not hurt Grendel's mother because her demonic body could not be sliced by any sword. Beowulf throws it aside and wrestles with her instead.
Beowulf is saved by his chain mail armor from the dagger Grendel's mother attempted to stab him with.
Beowulf spots a giant sword that was made by giants and cursed with magic. He grabs it and cuts off Grendel's Mother's head with it. When she dies, the light from heaven illuminates the lair and he sees Grendel's dead body. He cuts his head off and takes it with him as a trophy to the surface along with many other treasures. The sword he killed Grendel's mother with melted like water, "disappearing like ice."
When Beowulf surfaces, his group of warriors are overjoyed because they thought he died when they saw the blood from Grendel's mother as they thought it was his.
Beowulf gives to Hrothgar the hilt of the sword he killed Grendel's mother with which was bejeweled, and the head of Grendel.
The message Hrothgar has for Beowulf is that he is very wise and strong and he shouldn't let his power be his weakness. The comparison of him to Heremod was to make him realize that sometimes power can cause people to make dumb decisions. Heremod died because he let his power and success take control of him and died by taking on a battle he couldn't win. The lesson is to not let your power get the better of you and to stay humble and wise.
Beowulf returns the sword Hrunting that he borrowed to Unferth.

Chapter 9

Unferth speaks about how he wishes he could be as heroic as Beowulf
Unferth continues to talk about how big of an ego Beowulf has because of him going out to fight Breca in the stormy winter sea
He says that if you couldn't beat Breca, then he won't stand a chance against Grendel
Beowulf replies to Unferth by saying that his version of the story is much different and says that he is getting drunk
Beowulf retells the story but in much greater detail
Beowulf and Breca raced each other in the ocean but the storm was too violent and sea monsters attacked Beowulf
He fended them off with his sword and was protected by his chain mail armor
Eventually, he made it to shore in one piece

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Beowulf Intro Notes

It is difficult to know much about how Beowulf was written because it was written in 1000 A.D.
We don’t know who the author is or the authors exact actual thoughts.
It is strange and familiar due to connections with ancient classical literature such as Homer.
There have been many reworks of it over time, so it is not the exact same.
The Old English used in Beowulf presents a difficult translation to modern English.
Old English is similar to Latin or Russian where grammar is expressed by inflection.
Learning to translate the Old English takes a lot of experience and work.
The story use to be told through oral tradition
The fact that it was mainly used through oral delivery makes it harder to translate.
The historical accuracy of Beowulf is unknown. No one knows if it is true or just a story or mixed.
Beowulf is an icon of their historical culture.

Tristia-Ovid translated by L. R. Lind

Ovid has been exiled by the king of Rome so he is forced to live with the Getae people

He is the only one who speaks Latin

They are in the middle of war so the region he describes is full of fear and he explains that the farmers are on guard all the time in fear they might get attacked.

He talks down to the people believe in that the Roman race is far superior

Far Corners of Earth by Tu Fu translated by David Hinton

Once again it describes exile
He describes everything as gloomy and there is much sorrow in him words

About Beowulf

Beowulf by the Anglo Saxons is a story about a monster slaying hero
Beowulf aids King Hrothgar by slaying the evil monster Grendel
it was passed down orally and wasn't written down until the 11th century
carries many similar elements of Celtic and Scandinavian folklore; thought to have taken place in southern Sweden
later versions were influenced by Christianity

The Wrath of Grendel

God drove out the demons to exile
They split into a thousand forms of evil
When darkness dropped Grendel went up to Herot to find the warriors sleeping
Grendel killed thirty men in their sleep
Hrothgar, lord of Herot, mourned for the loss of his men
He feared the demon would come back
Grendel came back the next night
Warriors fled because Grendel attacked while they slept
Grendel took over Herot and ruled over it for years
He continued to kill
Didn't dare to touch Hrothgar's throne due to it being protected by God
The Coming of Beowulf
Far away Beowulf heard of Grendel's horrors
Beowulf got a crew together and sailed to Hrothgar
Hrothgar's men question Beowulf and his men
Beowulf tells them why he is there and is escorted to Herot to meet the King
Beowulf ask for permission to kill Grendel

The Battle with Grendel

Grendel enter Herlot looking for victims to attack
Beowulf caught Grendel and began to battle him
Grendel scared only wanted to flee
Beowulf injured Grendel badly enough that the demon escaped to go die in his hole
The Monster's Lair
Grendel's mother attack Hrothgar's closest friend and took his kid
Hrothgar tells Beowulf about the lair in the swamp

The Battle With Grendel's Mother

Beowulf talks about how sad he is about Hrothgar's death
He swears that he will have vengeance over Hrothgar's death and declares his revenge with Unferth
Beowulf jumps into the lake where Grendel's mother lives and finds her at the bottom
She contains him by holding him tight so he could not get out his weapon and carries him to a fighting arena
A witch-like creature rings an iron bell to signify the start of the fight
Beowulf's chain mail armor keeps him from being torn apart by Grendel's mother and he tries to cut her with his sword, but the sword will not have any affect on her
Beowulf becomes enraged and decides to fight with his bare hands and attacks Grendel's mother by throwing her to the ground
Grendel's mother replies by tackling him to the ground and trying to stab him, but Beowulf's armor saves him
Beowulf got up and found a sword crafted by giants with magical properties and slew he by cutting off her head
People were at the surface of the lake seeing bubble and feeling tremors from the fight, worried that Beowulf was being killed
After killing Grendel's fierce mother, he took the sword and her head to the surface
The Geats help him out of the lake and back to the royal hall where Beowulf is honored, becomes King, and shows off Grendel's Mother's skull to the Danes

The Final Battle

Beowulf has aged to an old man and a dragon threatens the well being of his kingdom
Beowulf pursues the dragon and goes to strike it with his sword
As he stabs the dragon, it hits him with a blast of fire and mortally wounds him but a loyal warrior named Wiglaf comes to help him and the two of them fight the dragon and kill it

The Spoils

as Beowulf dies, he asks Wiglaf to get the treasure the dragon was protecting
Wiglaf hurries to grab the treasure and sprints back to make sure he can back before Beowulf dies
He gets back just in time to hear Beowulf's final words which thanked God for his life and wonderful adventures

The Farewell

The Geats burn Beowulf's body and mourn his death
They leave all of the treasure and his battle gear with his ashes

Question 1

I would describe Eliot's view of old leisure as a normal day. My intro would be about how we all get into a routine in our lives and that's is what Eliot describes when he writes about leisure. The body of the essay would talk about what we perceive as leisure and what we perceive as work. I would also talk about how those who love their job never work a day in their life. My thesis would be this: What some people perceive as a stressful job, others could perceive as a leisurely activity.

Question 2

For this essay I would choose "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck because it is the only book I have read on that list. I would talk about how Steinbeck promotes the immigrations of new people to new areas by showing the struggle they much overcome. Through ethos, he reveals how courageous the "Okies" had to be to travel all the way across the country to look for jobs only to be discriminated everywhere they went. My thesis would be: Through ethos and the revealing of courage, Steinbeck shows how he advocates the immigration of minorities to new areas.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

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