Our Seven Elements of Western Literature
We can all be a part of the process of adding text and links here to explain how these major elements of Western literature will
be illuminated throughout the academic year.
Why are the following passages of Greek literature good examples of Greek Humanism?
* The Encyclopedia of Philosophy generally defines humanism as a "philosophy which recognizes the value and dignity of man and makes him the measure of all things or somehow takes human nature, its limits, or its interests as its theme."
* Pindar, Pythian Odes: Pythian 8, from the Perseus page at Tufts University.
[epode 5]
[line 95] Creatures of a day. What is someone? What is no one? Man is the dream of a shadow. But when the brilliance given by Zeus comes, a shining light is on man, and a gentle lifetime. Dear mother Aegina, convey this city on her voyage of freedom, with the blessing of Zeus, and the ruler Aeacus, [line 100] and Peleus, and good Telamon, and Achilles.
Click here for a link to commentary notes from the Perseus page to read a famous passage from Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes; number 8, line 95 which is a part of Epode 5.
* Protagoras: Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.
NB: Protagoras (c. 481–411 B.C.), Greek sophist. Fragment cited by Plato, p. 60, Philosophers Speak for Themselves, T.V. Smith, University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1934). Found on bartleby.com
Click here for some reading prompts for Sophocles:
Old & New Testament:
- Where in Abraham's story do we see the ritual of hospitality play an influence in the story?
- Do we need to review poetic devices for Job? Click here for poetic terms on the English III web page. Should we make our own literary terms web page?
Click here for full part one of Beowulf
ca. 450: Anglo-Saxon Conquest.
597: St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity.
ca. 700-750 scholars claim that Beowulf was probably composed in the first half of the eighth century.
871-899: Reign of King Alfred
1066: Norman Conquest
ca. Beginning so Middle English literature
1360--1400: The summit of Middle English literature: Geoffrey Chaucer, Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
1485 William Caxton's printing of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, one of the first books printed in England.
NB: above dates from Fourth Edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Abrams editor.
What are Heroic qualities of Beowulf?
- The Heroic Ideal: E. Talbot Donaldson notes that to "Germanic peoples the ideal of kingly behavior was enormously important--indeed, it was the chief spiritual force behind the civilization they developed, the creative power that, in their earliest periods, shaped their history and their literature. It is generally called the heroic ideal; and put most simply, the heroic ideal was excellence. The hero-king strove to do better than anyone else thing things that an essentially migratory life demanded: to sail a ship through a storm, to swim a river or bay, to tame a horse, to choose a campsite and set firm defenses, in times of peace even to plow a field or build a hall, but always and above all, to fight. Skill and courage were the primary qualities of a king who should successfully lead his people in battle and sustain them during peace" (Donaldson, Norton).
- E. Talbot Donaldson's concept of the heroic paradox. Donaldson reflects that "cultures whose religion, unlike Christianity, offers no promise of an afterlife, a name that will live on after one's death serves as the closest substitute for immortality. From this arises the heroic paradox, still latent in our civilization, that by dying gloriously one may achieve immortality. The poet who could sing the story of his heroic life was, of course, the agent upon whom the hero depended for his fame, and a good poet--or bard, to use the customary term for the poet of heroic life--was a valued member of a primitive court. Alexander is said to have expressed envy of Achilles because he had had a Homer to celebrate his deeds" (Donaldson).
- Notice elements of the warrior code in the poem. Let's find and collect sections of the poem where Beowulf is referred to as a protector of his men and a dispenser of gifts and spoil to them. This bond between King (saxon word) and the warrior (thane) resulted from the warrior serving the lord in battle and then in turn being rewarded spoils.
- How much mentioning do women get in this epic? Why?
How can we separate the christian and pagan elements in the text?
- What parts of the Bible are used by the poet?
- What is on Grendal's mother's sword that Beowulf finds in the monster's lair?
- How does fate seem to resemble God's will in the poem?
NB: the above is copied and gleaned from the Fourth Edition of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Abrams editor.
Old English Audio
Other useful links: The Old English Web Page at UVA: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/OE/index.html
Havelok the Dane
NB: Character chart may help give shape to the romance:
Denmark
Birkabeyn (Havelok's father)
Havelok (rightful heir)
Swanborow (sister of Havelok)
Elfled (sister of Havelok)
Godard Judas figure; killed Havelok's sisters, and asks Grim to toss Havelok in the sea.
|
England
Athelwold
Goldborough, daughter of Athelwold
Godrich Judas Figure; promised on Mass book to give her to tallest, fairest and bravest man alive.
|
| Grim becomes an interesting character who shares heritage with Havelok and becomes Havelok's helper. |
Grim's sons help out Havelok in England: Robert the Red; William Wendut; Hugh Raven. |
Some terms helpful to understanding Havelok:
- Romance: "By the end of the Middle Ages, the word roman, or romance, had become restricted to something like its modern meaning: a tale of knightly prowess, usually set in remote times or places and involving elements of the fantastic or supernatural" (x, Introduction, Medieval Romances) . The Norton Anthology expands romance as having "certain typical features: it generally concerns knights and involves a larger amount of fighting as well as a number of miscellaneous adventures; it makes liberal use of the improbable, often of the supernatural; it is often—thought not always—involved with romantic love; characterization is standardized, so that heroes, heroines, and wicked stewards could easily move from one romance to another without causing any disturbance in the narrative; the plots generally consist of a great number of events, and the same event is apt to occur several times within the same romance; and the style is apt to be easy and colloquial—not infrequently loose and repetitious" (N.A.Eng Lit, Fifth Edition).
- Chivalric code:
- Others?
- NB: the Havelok poet includes all layers of his culture; how does this journey compare to other tales and epics?
Tristan and Isolt prompts for reading:
Who is the best liar in all literature?
Who are the best lovers in all literature?
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
- Structure: note our introduction delineates three types of plot woven together here: Challenge, Temptation, and Exchange of Winnings.
- Why is Morgan le Fay trying to disrupt King Arhur's court?
- What are the typical connotations for the color green? It is also interesting to know that there is an ancient Celtic sense of the color green being the opponent to order.
- What role does Sir Bercilak's wife play in this romance? What do you make of the passage on page 386, first paragraph?
- Note that Gawain's virtues are courage and chastity. How are these virtues developed in the story? Do these virtues help or fail him?
- Why does Arthur's court honor Gawain for the deeds of which he is sorely ashamed?
Here are the last ten lines from The University of Virginia Electronic Text page. Open our modern translation to the last ten lines of the story and decipher. Let's focus on the last line.
For þat watz acorded þe renoun of þe Rounde Table,
And he honoured þat hit hade euermore after,
As hit is breued in þe best boke of romaunce.
Þus in Arthurus day þis aunter bitidde,
Þe Brutus bokez þerof beres wyttenesse;
Syphen Brutus, þe bolde burne, bo3ed hider fyrst,
After þe segge and þe asaute watz sesed at Troye,
iwysse,
Mony aunterez here-biforne
Haf fallen suche er þis.
Now þat here þe croun of þorne,
He bryng vus to his blysse! AMEN.
HONY SOYT QUI MAL PENCE.
English: Shame on whoever thinks ill of this.
Chaucer:
Links and Definitions:
- Our Chaucer web page;
- Chaucer Meta Page: http://academics.vmi.edu/english/audio/audio_index.html
- The General Prologue; The reading is by Linda Ehrsam Voigts, Curators' Professor,
Department of English, University of Missouri - Kansas City. http://www.umkc.edu/lib/engelond/prologue.htm
- Fabliau: Medieval literature includes a great variety of comic tales, in both prose and verse, and in a variety of more or less distinct genres. For students of Chaucer, the most important comic genre is the fabliau (fabliau is the singular, fabliaux the plural). Chaucer's Miller's tale, Reeve's Tale, Shipman's Tale, Summoner's tale, and the fragmentary Cook's Tale are all fabliaux, and other tales -- such as the Merchant's Tale -- show traces of the genre:
"A fabliau is a brief comic tale in verse, usually scurrilous and often scatological or obscene. The style is simple, vigorous, and straightforward; the time is the present, and the settings real, familiar places; the characters are ordinary sorts -- tradesmen, peasants, priests, students, restless wives; the plots are realistically motivated tricks and ruses. The fabliaux thus present a lively image of everyday life among the middle and lower classes. Yet that representation only seems real; life did not run that high in actual fourteenth-century towns and villages -- it never does -- and the plots, convincing though they seem, frequently involve incredible degrees of gullibility in the victims and of ingenuity and sexual appetite in the trickster-heroes and -heroines. (The Riverside Chaucer , p. 7.)
- Breton lay/lai: "The Breton lays are short romances, often (but not always) based on the earlier French lais of Marie de France. Most often they involve love and the supernatural; Chaucer calls his Franklin's Tale a Breton lay but it is a very unusual example of the genre" From the Chaucer page at Harvard).
These olde gentil Britouns in hir dayes
Of diverse aventures maden layes,
Rymeyed in hir firste Briton tonge,
Whiche layes with hir instrumentz they songe
Or elles redden hem for hir plesaunce
(Franklin's Prologue. V.709-10)
English Renaissance
Elizabethan Drama
Christopher (Kit) Marlowe:
Stuart Time Period
The Lyric Tradition
