systematic deviation

Hello, you patient people!

2007-01-04T19:56:00.000-04:00

The exams are graded and the marks available on WebCT. All the assignments I have in hand are graded as well; if you handed something in and there is no mark, get in touch with me a.s.a.p. Ditto if there are any problems with any of the grades entered.

The final grades have been submitted for verification and should be appearing shortly via Datatel. A couple are incomplete for various reasons; if this refers to you and we have not spoken, please get in touch a.s.a.p.

If you have any questions about any of your marks, or anything else, don't hesitate to contact me. Also, though final exams are not usually handed back, if you want to go over your exam I'm happy to do so. (And am I the only one who has Mick Jagger playing over and over in their head??)

I really enjoyed our class. You are a good group and you produced some fine work. I hope to see many of you again in other English courses.

Best of luck in the new year, and in your courses this term!

Third assignments

2006-12-30T00:24:00.000-04:00

Marks for the third assignment, with one or two exceptions, are posted on WebCT and the assignments themselves will be ready to be picked up in HH100 by the start of classes. I did not put scads of comments on these -- though I put some -- because experience has told me that a good proportion of you will not even pick them up. However, I am more than happy to discuss your essay with you in more detail; just drop me a line.

If you don't have a mark but handed in an assignment, get in touch with me.

Email down

2006-12-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

My campus email seems to be down, for the second day. If any of you need to get in touch with me, you could email scribbling at gmail dot com.

Second assignments

2006-12-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

are marked and should be available for pick-up sometime tomorrow in the Humanities and Languages office (HH100) for those of you who did not get them back at the exam. The marks for that assignment are posted on WebCT. If there is not a mark posted for you but you handed in an essay, please contact me, preferably with a copy of the essay attached.

If you want to rewrite this assignment, get the new draft and the original back to me by Thursday of next week (i.e. Dec. 21st) by mid-day. I will average the two marks.

If anyone would like to meet to discuss their paper, I am around; drop me a line.

Sonnet Series to Heroine

2006-12-10T20:08:00.000-04:00

[This is one of several successful assignments that will be posted here. All the posted assignments received an A- or above, and all demonstrate different ways in which the chosen question could have been addressed. The following sonnet series is by Luke MacNeil:]

I.

My heroine, that saviour pure of soul,

Whose love doth pipe throughout my wanting chest

To feed the hungry tips of body whole,

Afore returning calm to sated breast.

Her dark embrace doth wrap me in a cloud,

Like liquid warm, a plume leaked out from lips,

That settles on my soul like soothing shroud,

And in such coaxing spells my reason slips.

All time and thought this spirit doth consume,

Her absence wroth doth leave me wanting more;

In such a void my life I'd loath resume,

Mere shadow to that one whom i adore.

Yet 'tis no woman seen that holds these reins,

For she my heroine rides in my veins.

II.

This truthful verse is for my heroi'd love,

The cankered sore that moulds and rots my life;

That viper black against whom long I've strove,

Who's caused to me a sea of endless stryfe.

How much I hate her cold and plastic frame,

That vile face where love and hate doth mesh;

Whose hollowed tubes do whisper out my name

As they depress into my haunted flesh.

Her poison spewed through long and metal fangs

Doth cloud my thought and ill pollute my veins;

A cure I know not for those rotting pangs,

That horrid joy doth ever cause me pains.

And yet I've not immuned her charms of ill;

Her poison yet ensures I'll see her still.

III.

I bound abound toward the streetlight dim

Where oft I buy my sweet addiction pure;

And to my shock, my merchant Jungle Jim

Is nowhere found; he was arrested sure.

Thus off I go to search 'mongst other men,

So that I might yet sate my large desire;

And yet the blacks do chase me out of den,

And bold latinos do send me off with ire.

And thus I skulked to damn'd and dirty Dwight,

A desperate choice, and one that I shall rue;

For I was not his only guest that night -

A squad of cops chose then to visit too.

And thus my short and ill-bred search did fail,

For seven years I'll spend in public jail.

Few poetic forms can match the short and intimate power of the sonnet. Originally developed in Italy, it came to England in the 16th century, where it was given it's own structure and name: the English sonnet. And while it's popularity has fluctuated since the Renaissance, it nevertheless remains a relevant poetic form. Indeed, the presented sonnets show that it is a viable format for creating poetry on a contemporary subject.

The presented poems display all of the structural characteristics of a typical English sonnet. They are written in iambic pentameter, with ten syllables per line, and a stress on every second syllable. They each consist of three quatrains, and end in a rhyming couplet that displays a sharp thematic change from the rest of the poem. Also, the rhyme scheme is a standard a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g, which is typical for an English sonnet.

The poems also display another characteristic that was common in Renaissance poetry - they comprise what is known as a sonnet sequence. A sonnet sequence is a group of sonnets that contain a similar thematic element. They might be written on the same subject, for instance, or devoted to the same person. These sonnets can be read together as a longer work, or separately as individual poems. Shakespeare, for instance, wrote 126 love sonnets to a person known as "the fair youth," and a further 26 love sonnets to "the dark lady," many of which stand on their own as celebrated poems. The unifying theme in the presented sonnet series is (similar to Renaissance sonnets) love, albeit of a very different kind than Shakespeare wrote about. In this case, the love is not for a lover, but rather for the drug heroin.

This love for heroin is represented differently in each poem, and each of these depictions find their basis in the traditional English sonnet (where love was portrayed as being positive, negative, humourous, etc.). In the first sonnet, heroin is compared to a "heroine," a woman (and saviour of sorts) that holds some sort of enchanting power over the author. The tone of the poem is wistful and yearning, and the author seems to relish this love. This is in sharp contrast to the second poem, where the heroin is compared to a viper (and to add a third layer, it could even be compared to a vindictive woman). Just as a heroin needle would inject heroin into a vein, so too would a snake inject it's poison, and a woman (metaphorically) her love. In this case, the love is reviled and hated, and yet a sense of hopelessness pervades, as if (despite recognizing the evil of the love) the author is resigned to it. The third sonnet in the sequence is very different in tone and style from the first two, being more of a straightforward narrative than the metaphorical sonnets. It also presents another common element from the English sonnet: the chase. Usually, these poems involve the author searching for a classical subject, such as a lover, or a hunted animal (the animal being representative of the lover). In this case, the subject of the chase is heroin. While there is very little metaphor or subtext in this final sonnet, it effectively takes the concept of the chase, and updates it with a modern theme.

The English sonnet reached the height of its popularity during the Renaissance, and because of this it is sometimes considered a classical and slightly outdated form of poetry. Yet the presented sonnets show that it is still a viable form of poetry that can be used to discourse on a more modern subject, love or otherwise. Indeed, the English sonnet remains a vital part of modern poetry.

Works Cited

Black, Joseph, ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press. 2006. LXXVII-LXXX.

Jones, Miriam. Class Lectures. Saint John Campus, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, 10/12/24 October 2006.

Items no lady should be without

2006-11-29T23:47:00.000-04:00

Exam

2006-11-28T13:52:00.000-04:00

To reiterate what was said in class:

• You may bring in one sheet of paper to the exam, 8 x 11, written or printed on one side only. I would strongly advise a list of titles, authors, and dates; I would advise against trying to fit everything in.

• Format of the exam: a mix of questions, short (true/false, multiple choice, or something similar), shortish (definitions), middling (short answer questions), and longer (essays). In most cases, you will have a choice of questions.

• Make outlines for essay questions; they will help you to write and may earn you some points if you don't finish the question.

• Please bring your uni I.D. Feel free to bring a drink. I.D., drinks, writing implements, and your one sheet of paper are all that will be allowed on the desks.

• The exam is scheduled for Friday Dec. 8 at 9am. You will have three hours, though I doubt you will need all of it.

All the class presentation notes are posted up to and including today's.

Bring any questions or concerns to class on Thursday, post them here in the comments, or contact me directly.

See you Thursday.

Back to the time of Beowulf

2006-11-26T14:06:00.000-04:00

What's the point of a college education?

2006-11-23T02:07:00.000-04:00

Discuss.

Think you know how to read?

2006-11-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

Here is a useful post that purports to present "a system of reading for Slow Readers with Busy Schedules and Faulty Memories." I would not recommend it for literary texts – for any text in which the writing itself is important – but it provides some good advice when you are reading mainly for content.

Gulliver's Travels

2006-11-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to a free download (as well as a streaming version) of Max Fleischer's 1939 animated version. Nothing like the book, so you still have to read it. But a lot of fun; a real classic from the golden age of animation.

Like the card says

2006-10-31T07:06:00.000-04:00

Robert Moore

2006-10-25T00:09:00.000-03:00

who teaches English here at SJ, will be reading from his new collection of poetry this Friday evening. He is a marvellous reader; it would be well worth your coming out even if I weren't offering bonus marks for a short review.

Untitled Poem

2006-10-22T23:26:00.000-03:00

[This is one of several successful assignments that will be posted here. All the posted assignments received an A- or above, and all demonstrate different ways in which the chosen question could have been addressed. The following poem, by Luke MacNeil, is written in the style of Beowulf:]

A Note on the Translation
The following poem, titled Untitled Poem, was discovered within the cell wall of an abandoned sanitarium in Lower Upperton, New Brunswick. The author is unknown, though evidence suggests that the piece was written by a male patient of voting age, most likely a student who was interred at the sanitarium for a length of time. Attempts to date the poem have also met with a measure of difficulty. Most experts agree that the manuscript was written in late September, 2006, though a few notable scholars maintain that it could date back as far as mid-September, 2006.^[1]

Rather than being written in Modern English (in the style of the time), Untitled Poem is instead written in a wholly unique script, a derivation of Modern English dubbed "Deviare English." It was deciphered in October 2006 by the Welsh linguist Sir Arthur Puffington, a man of questionable intelligence and sanity, and a professed schizophrenic (an assertion disputed by doctors). The script itself is of particular note. As described by Puffington in his journals, "...the penmanship is meticulous, however the paper is littered with various marks and scribbles, which seem to indicate an unsettled mind. In addition to this, the piece is scratched out on delicate carbon paper, somewhat odd for the time, given the relative abundance of ink and white paper." A portion of the original manuscript has been reproduced and directly follows this note (see page 3).

The following Modern English translation by A. L. MacNeill is generally considered of higher quality than Sir Arthur Puffington's original translation. There are, however, a few points of note. While the original manuscript was written in an alliterative verse based on stresses (a curious structure, more in the style of Old English than any modern poetry), MacNeill has formed his translation into a far more rigid structure, incorporating tetrameter to form a consistent beat and rhythm. Nevertheless, he manages to preserve much of the alliteration and caesura division that characterize the original piece. In addition to this, there is a small portion of the poem (several lines directly preceding the dream sequence) that were rendered unreadable through water damage. This has been noted in the text.

The culmination of two work-intensive days, the MacNeill translation has gained great esteem in literary circles. Indeed, most scholars agree that it will stand to be the definitive version of our time.

^[1]See H. L. Puntiglio's paper "A Few Weeks, Does it Really Matter?" for more insight on this debate.

Reproduction of original manuscript page. Note that the poem is scratched out on carbon paper, a rather unconventional medium for poetry at the time.
(Reproduced by permission of the Royal Puffington Society, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada)

Untitled Poem
Hear now the tale of the student,
Frustration-filled and anger-fed,
His project due yet started not,
The young fellow at loss for words.
For weeks he walked his blank white halls,
And snapped the stalks of pencils slim
That cleave and splint like spines of slight
And fragile beasts; and crushed the
The poles of plastic pens, their blue
Ink fountained, and flood the floor
To soil and stain his sole-spent socks.
A hoard of holes did rent the walls,
And scores of blood-soaked bandages
Did bind his broke and trembling hands.
For days on days he paced those halls
Neglecting sleep, his thoughts silent,
His mind muted, capacity blocked.
His project due on the morrow
Without a word to show for it.
At last he sat at working desk,
Produced a pile of pure white sheets,
And moon-clothed pen, passed down to him
From father old, he who wrested
The silver stalk from claws yet stiff,
Those the family's fiendish banker,
While cold dead corpse lay untended
On top of its full funeral pyre.
The student thus, he settled down,
Did think of those fine writers past,
Of heroes old, long passed away,
Who wrestled might with writer's block.
Sir James the Joyce, of Irish birth,
A scribe of scarce but seven words
(Just seven words!) in but a day,
Those words well wrought from weighted mind;
He wrote the words on paper fair,
And copied there, confusion cried
For their order did him escape.
And then he thought of Henry Roth,
Whose pen was plagued with sixty years
Of quiet calm; call it sleep,
In a manner, of his lame brain -
Other organs were more awake,
And filled with flights of foul incest;
His pent-up pen which stayed his page
Discharged (its said) by dullard sis,
And ill-bred ink which once ran dry
Unloosed unto his willing cos;
And woe it was, his body well,
But mind maligned by selfsame act.
And then he thought of villain famed,
Mad Jack Torrance, whose old hotel
O'erlooked a leering length of maze
As twisted as his tortured brain;
When his writing had lost its way
He tried to tame his wife and son,
With winking edge of well-stoned axe;
He would not write in lieu of that,
And blamed them both for such his state;
For too much work and not much play
Made mad Jack Torrance a dull (brained) boy.
And thus he thought, the student still,
Of people past who've suffered same,
Until he fell beneath the spell
Of deep deceived and drowsy sleep.
[...]^[1]
The pictures played across his mind.
He dreamt himself a whitened sheep
With hollowed head, held in a pen,
His body bent upon a trough.
He chewed and spat and chewed again
His projects past, the papers mashed.
In time he tired of tripe-filled sup;
He gained some ground and hopped the fence,
And found his form in land of night,
Where star-strewn sky ruled over sun.
In dim-lit dales he saw the forms
Of suffering souls, like Sisyphus,
Rolling their rocks up rambling hills,
To have them roll back down again;
And faint-lit forms for freedom reached,
They clinched by chains to mountain tops
Where monkeys met with caps and wings
Did stab and slash with red-inked pens.
The sheep then saw a skull-capped sign,
Its arrow aiming down gold-bricked road.
For time on time, the sheep traveled
Until it came upon a field.
The fractured form of critic there
Did till the field with pole of wood,
She bent and browned with years of age
And wrapped in rags of words and text,
Her dress designed from sheaves of books.
Not crop of corn nor leaf of green
Did critic cull, but she instead
Grew crops of brain, round mounds of meat,
They fleshed and formed by craggy hand.
And all about the mind-full field
Some scarecrows sat, to scare the birds,
Their cratered crowns bereft of brain,
And filled instead with heaps of hair.
"Ho there," hollered the critic hag.
"A finer fleece I've never seen."
"I'd sell the stuff," (so said the sheep)
"But for a brain, as such you've sown."
"It's done,"she said, the deal declared.
The critic culled a ripened brain
From darkened deepness of the dirt,
And showed the sheep into her home,
And there the trade would consummate.
She strapped the sheep on stony slab
And split the skull with scalpel blade;
Then fixed the flesh into the head
And sewed the skull, now stitched and scarred.
She spun some gears and turned some cranks,
And sent the slab into the sky
Where lightning lived and lit the night;
Bold bolts caressed the bright device
'Till jagged jolt did strike the sheep
And leapt to life the planted brain.
And so the slab, its service done,
Did then descend back to the floor,
And then 'twas time for sheep to fill
Its end agreed to bargain full.
And so the sheep was shorn its wool,
But garish gleam did gilt the eyes
Of critic lean; she leched and leered
And drew from drawer a carving knife,
Then nicked the nose of naked sheep,
And put the piece into her mouth.
"Your wool is well," the critic said,
"But mounds of meat would fill my frame.
I'll cook you yet, and feast my fill."
From place to place the sheep did dart,
And critic chased, her knife o'erhead.
The house outgrown, outside they ran,
Where spark-filled sheep, still yet aglow
From lightning bolt, did light the night;
Jumped back and forth o'er garden fence.
The critic chased, did count the jumps;
Her eyelids fell with every leap
Till down she dropped, a dam asleep.
And sure the sheep did bound away,
With not its nose, nor still its wool,
Yet bountied brain made up the rest.
The student thus did wake from sleep,
His languid limbs yet still a-tingle,
And found his mind to be unblocked,
His project pent lay all exposed
To freshened frames of now-clear mind.
And so in such a schizoid twist
That thus recalls poor Philips Dick,
The student makes his laboured verse
An essay on it's own creation.
Do students dream of 'lectric sheep,
And wake to find their problems solved?
It seems that such was here the case.

^[1]At this point in the text are four lines which are not readable.

Similarities of Untitled Poem to Beowulf
Over the past several years, the epic Old English poem Beowulf has gained an increasingly larger distinction in our culture, its influence seen in everything from film to comic books. Nowhere is this influence more evident than in Untitled Poem, the subject of this project. Nearly every aspect of the poem, from its grammatical structure, to its lengthy digressions on mythic heroes of old, to its epic storytelling, has been clearly influenced by the literature of Old English, and its greatest debt is unquestionably owed to Beowulf.

The most curious influence of Beowulf on Untitled Poem can be found in its literary structure. Beowulf was written in an alliterative verse with four stresses per line, two stresses on each side of a dividing caesura. Where Untitled Poem has a more modern rigid structure (in this case composed in tetrameter), most of the other Beowulf features are present. Nearly every line has four stresses, divided in the middle by a distinguishable caesura. Alliteration has been used throughout the piece, generally following the style of Beowulf (with the alliteration on the first and second stresses, and the third and fourth where possible). In addition to this, the poem mimics Beowulf's sporadic use of kenning - hybrid words that are usually metaphoric in nature. Examples include "sole-spent"(used to describe the worn bottoms of the protagonist's socks) and "moon-clothed" (used to describe the silver coating on a pen). With all of these distinct grammatical features being relatively rare in modern poetry, it's fair to say that the poem has been influenced by Beowulf in most, if not all, of these aspects.

Grammatical similarities aside, more obvious comparisons can be seen in the content of the text itself. Just as the Beowulf poem contains numerous historical references and digressions, so too does Untitled Poem refer to its own "heroes of the past," figures who have faced a struggle comparable to that of the protagonist (in this case writer's block). Many of the references in Beowulf are somewhat vague and obscure (this is perhaps owing to the fact that people of the time were already somewhat familiar with the referenced stories, and did not need expansive digressions). This is mirrored in Untitled Poem, where only brief but suggestive explanations are given. The first "hero" mentioned is the Irish author James Joyce, who was notoriously finicky when it came to writing. A well-known anecdote is relayed in the poem, in which Joyce spends an entire day labouring over the writing and ordering of seven words.^[1]

Following Joyce, there is a mention of American author Henry Roth. After writing his first novel, titled Call of Sleep (obliquely referred to in the line: "call it sleep, / In a manner, of his lame brain" ), Roth sustained a bout of writer's block that lasted for nearly sixty years. This is attributed (at least in part) to his admitted incestuous relationships with his sister and cousin (and the subsequent mental fallout that followed). The third reference in the poem moves away from the real-life literary "heroes" presented in the previous examples, and instead presents a fictional villain: Jack Torrance, the antagonist of Stephen King's novel The Shining. In the novel, Jack's struggle with writer's block is the catalyst for his descent into madness (a catalyst that is exploited by the novel's haunted Overlook hotel - the hotel itself is given an oblique reference in the line "whose old hotel / O'erlooked a leering length of maze / As twisted as his [Jack's] tortured brain). Finally, there is an obscure reference to author Philip K Dick in the poem's final lines. Dick spent much of his life battling mental illness, most notably schizophrenia. As a result of this, most of his novels and short stories deal with themes of alternate realities (including one of his more widely-read novels, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which is also referenced in the poem's closing lines). Dick's themes have a twofold application in the poem. First of all, the writer enters an alternate reality (in this case a dream world) where, after a series of bizarre occurrences, he manages to solve his problem. The other influence can be seen in the fact that the project being laboured over in the poem is, in fact, the very poem itself (a meta-construct not unfamiliar to several works of literature, one of the best examples being Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle).

Yet for all of this, the poem's most obvious similarity to Beowulf is its theme of a hero undergoing a journey and overcoming an epic obstacle. In this case, the struggle is a more modern one than Beowulf faced (and one that was a non-issue in Beowulf's time): writer's block. The student's internal struggle is evident from the beginning (he stalks the halls, destroys writing utensils, rends holes in the wall, etc.). His quest to solve this problem is embarked upon once he enters the dream realm, where he overcomes various obstacles to regain his brain (thereby solving his writer's block). Yet rather than modeling the quest specifically on ancient mythological themes and subjects (swords, dragons, etc.), much of the dream is taken from relatively recent sources that have entered into our modern mythology: elements from L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz (flying monkeys, the yellow brick road) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (various elements of body-horror) can be clearly seen in the protagonist's dream.

Despite these similarities, there are still a few points in which Untitled Poem differs from Beowulf. For instance, Beowulf's journey is a far more epic one, where he must overcome three obstacles instead of just one (the "rule of three," where the protagonist must overcome three obstacles, is a staple of literature, and one not evident in Untitled Poem). Also, Untitled Poem is treated with a far lighter and more comedic hand than was the epic Beowulf. Nevertheless, it's debt to Beowulf, whether looking at style, composition, or content, cannot be denied. The poem presents a credible example of a modern subject intentionally written in the classic Old English Beowulf style.

^[1]There are several slightly different versions of the tale, though they typically go like this:
One day Joyce sat in his study, sprawled over his desk in a distraught state. A friend came in and asked what the matter was.
"I only wrote seven words today," said Joyce.
"But James," said the friend, "For you, seven words is superb!"
"Yes," said Joyce, cradling his head in his hands, "But I don't know what order they go in!"

Works Cited
Black, Joseph, ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Medieval Period. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press. 2006. 36-37.

"Henry Roth." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 30 September 2006. 1 October 2006.

Jones, Miriam. Class Lectures. Saint John Campus, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, 14/19/21 September 2006

"Rule of Three." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 10 Septemeber 2006. 1 October 2006.

Psychomachy

2006-10-20T11:49:00.000-03:00

Psychomachy: a battle for the soul. The term comes from the Latin poem Psychomachia (c.AD400) by Prudentius, describing a battle between virtues and vices for the soul of Man. This depiction of moral conflict had an important influence on medieval allegory, especially in the morality plays.

from Chris Baldick, The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms (1990)

War Medals

2006-10-20T10:16:00.000-03:00

[This is the first of several successful assignments that will be posted here. All the posted assignments received an A- or above, and all demonstrate different ways in which the chosen question could have been addressed. The following is an ekphrasis:]

The kin crowded the laid out feast,
‘Round the heavily laden table
With men and boys boasting of a week’s worth
Of stories of working late and school mates
And all the endless toils.
Women working busily laying out the wares,
Refilling mugs and modestly accepting
Compliments on the full feast before them.
This is the way of the great gathering on Sunday,
A feast worthy of the working men it feeds, and the
Pride of the women who fashion it
After the group gathers in the sitting room around the
Roaring fire and with flames blistering and blazing
There heard beloved and ancient,
The story:
1917 was of the years
Men died for peace and glory.
My great uncle dear,
Lost his life, leaving us his story.

“Papa please show the medals,” an eager boy would say.
And always the dull, dirty tokens would be produced
And passed among the audience.
The ribbon on one is tattered and torn
But the red, white and blue stripes are clear.
The heavy, dull bronze is beaten and broke
Yet the strength of its meaning maintains,
For the family gathering ‘round to hear, its
History and heritage, a pride which none contains.
Looking now at its size, the medal fits neatly in
My glove
With a laurel wreath round the year,
The imperial crown above
Two crossed swords help form the star,
Was given to soldiers loved.

“Canadians serving overseas were granted such a token,”
Papa says, as his waiting family listens,
And again draws attention to the heirloom decoration.
On reverse, regiment written in stone, paired with the number
Of each war hero, proudly presented.
“The battle that beat our brave ancestor, gainer of such prize,
Was catastrophe like no other.
Trenches traced the battlefield, dirty dungeons for the soldiers
Sentenced to fight the German enemy.
Smoke, and shells thickened the air and choked the defenders.
The earthen holes, dug to shield our heroes, cave and collapse.
My great uncle and yours, lost his life in that dirty crypt.
He sailed,
November 1917, battle not won
To a field in Passendale.
We lost our beloved champion
And left only with his tale.

“So Papa, is his story all that is left?”
“Definitely not, my dear,” came a resonant reply.
“Bravery, duty and sacrifice are the life lessons learned.
Those virtues follow family through all weary and woe.
And though hardships may sometimes follow,
We have history and heritage to remind us that our
Path has been harder, and
Not only
Dirty tokens left behind,
From that grave cold and stony,
But a life kept in mind,
So we are never lonely.”

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is written in the stock, bob and wheel form with deliberate use of alliteration throughout. “War Medals,” above, is written in an attempt to adhere to that form with the long, unrhymed verse as the “stock,” and the two syllable “bob” serves as an introduction to the four lined “wheel.” The “bob” and “wheel” follow the rhyming pattern ababa and tend to be much shorter lines than the “stock” portion. “War Medals,” contains random alliteration but Sir Gawain’s poet uses it skilfully and intentionally. The anonymous poet wrote during the alliterative revival and, “followed Anglo-Saxon poetic traditions, which used heavily stressed words at irregular intervals and alliteration” (Sir Gawain, 1). Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is highly structured and each word is deliberately written.

The poet elaborately describes material decorations and wealth by using an ekphrasis. An ekphrasis fully explains the detail and tangible aspects of the object but the poet’s purpose for using it is as layered and complex as the poem itself. The poem has meaning and symbolism layered so that the audience learns not to trust their instincts or initial response to events. The ekphrasis is a literary technique used for several different reasons. The obvious reason is to set a scene and describe people and the environment as a means of distinguishing class, wealth, and position. This is apparent through descriptions of Sir Gawain’s expensive shield and lavish environments displayed in his assigned room at the host’s castle. The more subtle and significant purpose of an ekphrasis is to symbolically remind the reader of predominant themes carried through the text. The description of Sir Gawain’s shield is heavily laced with religious reference and the moral code which he should be living by. The poet uses lengthy descriptions to reinforce the messages of good versus evil, worldly versus spiritual temptations, and the importance of virtue and community. The description of the luxurious furnishings of the guest chamber mirror the tempting wife’s beauty and symbolize that lush, tangible things can be deceiving. Religious reference and imagery subtly contrast greed, wealth, adultery and worldly goods which are all representative of mortal sin.

“War Medals,” explicitly describes the visible aspects of the war medals, their size, ribbons, texture, and emblem; but it also shows how a material thing can unite family and strengthen moral lessons taught in the past. The family gathers together carefree and happy to share a meal, as does King Arthur’s court in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. After their meal, they all gather around the patriarch and wait for stories to unfold and their relative’s heroic deeds to be praised. The war medals were chosen as an appropriate contemporary object because they represent valour, sacrifice, and duty. Sir Gawain’s tangible token is a green girdle which represents his own fallibility and weakness; but ultimately serves as a badge of wisdom, caution and humility for the community he returns to. In the “War Medals,” the tokens represent the death of a loved one, but also symbolize the strength to overcome obstacles and personal strife for the family who revere them.

The moral lessons and themes presented in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are intricate and embody the spirituality of the time it was written. The themes are sometimes subtly layered and deliberate distracted away from, and other times blatantly presented. The “War Medals,” although secular and obvious, presents the message that hard times can be over come and good deeds live through the lessons they provide to the people aware of them. This message is delivered through the use of ekphrasis in describing the war medals.

References:

Baker, Chris. “The Long, Long Trail: The British Army in the Great War 1914-1918.” 1996. 22 September 2006.

Bradbury, N.H. “Memories & Diaries: A Gunner's Adventure.” First World War.Com: The War to End All Wars. September, 2001. 23, September 2006.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Ed. Joseph Black, et al. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006. 235-304.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Introduction." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 0. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 23, September 2006.

“V.A.C Canada Remembers.” Veteran Affairs Canada. March, 2001. 22 September 2006.

First Assignment

2006-10-18T12:37:00.000-03:00

is marked and waiting to be picked up in the main Humanities and Languages office, Hazen Hall 100. I will bring them to class tomorrow, but in general, marked assignments will be on the shelf set aside for our class in HH100.

Marks are posted on WebCT.

If you handed in an assignment but have no mark, contact me.

Any questions, please contact me. I am happy to meet with you to discuss your assignment.

And don't forget: you have the option of rewriting. Hand in the new version, plus the original and my comments, within two weeks of tomorrow (i.e. by Nov. 2). If you need more time in order to go to the Writing Centre, let me know.

Class cancelled today

2006-10-17T07:53:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the short notice, but I am cancelling class due to a bad cold and sore throat. We will discuss Faustus on Thursday.

Re. Doctor Faustus

2006-10-16T01:20:00.000-03:00

Please allow me to introduce myself . . .

WebCT

2006-10-10T21:20:00.000-03:00

Folks, a lot of you are concerned because WebCT says that you are late with an assignment when you have already handed it in. Ignore it! WebCT is set up so that students can hand in assignments electronically if they like, but as most people don't, they get flagged as not having handed anything in.

The only things you need to worry about in WebCT is checking your marks, and downloading the class presentations.

Exam

2006-10-06T16:38:00.000-03:00

The exam for this course has been scheduled for Dec. 8 at 9am. Coffee cups and thermoses will be allowed.

Everyman

2006-10-04T23:11:00.000-03:00

It's not text messaging, but it's the next best thing: guinea pigs.

Mementi Mori

2006-10-03T12:18:00.000-03:00

Here are a number of images of mementi mori: reminders that death comes to every one. Some of them are medieval and early modern, and some of them are more contemporary. In other words, keeping mortality in mind is not just a medieval concern. Particularly if you are a Goth.

The Lorenzo Reading Series

2006-09-28T15:48:00.001-03:00

is already underway. Wonderful writers. Come on down.

And, there is a 1-2% bonus for anyone who attends a reading and writes me a brief (one paragraph to one page) review.

Sir Gawain links

2006-09-28T01:03:00.000-03:00

Facsimile of Sir Gawain at the Grail Castle (1903), another Gawain story

The Golden Cockeral Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1952) (beautiful illustrations)

Other Gawain stories, medieval and modern

Sir Gawain page on Luminarium: an excellent resource

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Website: lots of links

Gawain over time: a student project

Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984): apparently a very bad movie

Sir Gawain paper doll set. Really.

NOTE: There is a lot of material about Sir Gawain online because the poem is so often read in courses. Be careful what you are looking at; lots of pages are student projects or hobby projects. Which is fine, as long as you know what you are reading. Only use scholarly resources for your papers.

Emailing your instructors

2006-09-16T11:24:00.000-03:00

A few tips for those of you who are new to this whole university thing:

When emailing an instructor, it is helpful to put the course # in the subject line. Include an informative statement about the topic of your email. For example: "ENGL 2101: Question about second assignment" (drop the quotes). Emails without subject lines often get confused for spam and deleted. If you are not using a university email account, it is all the more important to have a clear subject line.

On that latter point, many professors require email to be from a university account. I am relaxed on this issue. Be aware, though, that an address like sexy_thang@hotmail.com does not create a professional impression.

When addressing your instructor, "Dr. X" or "Professor Y" are preferable to "Hiya" or "Yo!"

Email is generally more relaxed than traditional business or professional correspondence. But, business or professional email still needs to be a lot more formal (i.e. polite; well-written) than text messages to your homies. K?

Make your message clear and explanatory. Your instructor talks to a lot of students in a given day, so "I'm writing about what we were talking about" is not always that helpful.

Please include your full name and student # in the body of your email.

Be aware that some email may trigger spam filters and therefore not get delivered. Check with the instructor if you do not receive a reply.

Addendum (31/10/06): Here is a more detailed discussion (via Terminal Degree).

Course books for sale

2006-09-15T14:55:00.000-03:00

Someone is withdrawing from the course and is interested in selling her texts; if anyone has not yet bought a set but were planning to, they may want to contact Ashley at c0x40 at unb dot ca.

Get thee to the Mead Hall

2006-09-14T01:39:00.000-03:00

But, you will need some mead. Here are some recipes.

And remember, please don't drink and smite.

Beowulf links

2006-09-10T21:59:00.000-03:00

(Image: The first page of the only manuscript of the poem.)

Here are a few things I ran across, for your reading pleasure:

www.BeowulfTranslations.net: hobbyist Syd Allan's page on various translations of the poem and lots more. His page on comics is particularly fun. (nb. There is an interesting bit here about why you should never buy an essay.) This guy loves the poem.

Resources for Studying Beowulf

More resources for Studying Beowulf

Beowulf in Hypertext

An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: a short online seminar. Not about Beowulf specifically, but of interest.

Medieval and Renaissance Book Production — Manuscript Books by Richard W. Clement

Beowulf & Grendel: official site for the 2005 film. IMDB page.

There is another film, due for release in 2007, for which fantasist Neil Gaiman has a writing credit. This should be good!

SF adaptation from 1999 with Christopher Lambert.

Beowulf Art

First class

2006-09-07T11:52:00.000-03:00

It was good to meet you all; I think we will have an interesting term together. I can't promise any more classics translated into text-message-ese, but we will try to muddle through with the originals.

(Well, okay, here's Hamlet, even ruder than R&J. But this is the last time I will pander).

One important thing that I should have mentioned (it is in the syllabus and here on the weblog, but still ... ): if you have taken English 1200 you cannot take this course. You should not have been allowed to register but at least two of you were, so heads up: if you have passed 1200 you will need to go elsewhere. (For your info., 1200 is no longer offered and the material it covered has now been divided between 2101 and 2102, both of which are required for Majors and Honours in English).

Welcome

2006-09-07T10:00:00.000-03:00

to the weblog for English 2101: Literature in English I at UNBSJ. Here you will find links and updates and a copy of the schedule and assignments. More importantly, blogging is interactive — you can leave comments to any post — and so this blog can serve as a venue for continuing the conversations we will have in class.

On systematic deviation

2006-09-07T09:56:00.000-03:00

Romeo and Juliet: original (balcony scene) and as text messaging

Schedule

2006-09-06T23:47:00.000-03:00

Sept. 7/06 — Introduction to course; discussion of intellectual property and academic honesty

Please note: All readings are from the Broadview Anthology.
BABL = Broadview Anthology of British Literature
**With all readings from the BABL, you are expected to read the introductory material about each author and text.**
Texts listed under "Reading" are required; texts listed under "Additional reading" are optional but recommended.
Videos are subject to availability.
Always check online for any changes or updates to this schedule.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Sept. 12 —; Introduction to the Medieval Period; Beowulf I
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Beowulf (pp. 36–49, ll.1–836)
See the glossary (80–82), the genealogies (83), and the note on the Geatish-Swedish wars (84). Also, please read "The Medieval Period," xxvii-xli.
Video: Beowulf and Old English literature (Films for the Humanities, 1984. 38 min.)

Sept. 14 — Beowulf II
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Beowulf (pp. 49–67 ll.837–2220)

Sept. 19 — Beowulf III
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Beowulf (pp. 67–80 ll.2221–3182)
Video: excerpts from filmed versions of Beowulf

Sept. 21 — "Lanval"
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Marie de France (158–159), "Lanval" (166–181)
"In Context" (301–304), "The Medieval Period" (xli–lix)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. I: from "Love and Marriage in Medieval Britain" (305–323)
Video: Illuminated lives: a brief history of women in the Middle Ages (NFB, 1989. 6 min.)

Sept. 26 — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (pp. 235–265 Pts. 1 & 2)
"In Context" (301–304), "The Medieval Period" (xli–lix)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. I: from "The Crises of the Fourteenth Century" (200–212) and "Love and Marriage in Medieval Britain" (305–323)

Sept. 28 — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight II
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Sir Gawain (pp. 265–300 Pts. 3 & 4)

Oct. 3 — Everyman I
Reading: from BABL Vol. I: Everyman (pp. 664–677)
Video: Everyman (Insight Media, 1991. 50 min.)
Due date: Assignment #1 due

Oct. 5 — Everyman II
Additional Reading: from "Religious and Spiritual Life" (547–584)

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY / THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

Oct. 10 — Introduction to the Renaissance and early Seventeenth Century; Sonnets I: love sonnets
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: Francesco Petrarch, Rime Sparse 190 (124); Edmund Spenser (139–40), Amoretti 67 (246); Sir Philip Sidney (254–255), Astrophil and Stella 52 (258)
"The Elizabethan Sonnet and Lyric" (122)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. II: "The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century" (xxxv–lxxxvi), particularly "Poetry" (lxix–lxxx)

Oct. 12 — Sonnets II: more love sonnets
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: William Shakespeare (450–455), Sonnets 18, 94, and 130 (457, 462, 465)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. II: "The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century" (xxxv–lxxxvi), particularly "Poetry" (lxix–lxxx)

Oct. 17 — Doctor Faustus I
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: Christopher Marlowe (402–403), The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (416–445)
"In Context" (445–449)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. II: "The Renaissance and the Early Seventeenth Century" (xxxv–lxxxvi), particularly "The Drama" (lxxx–lxxxvi)

Oct. 19 — Doctor Faustus II
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. II: from "Religion and Devotional Life" (87–106); "The Supernatural and the Miraculous" (311–314)

Oct. 24 — Sonnets III: sonnets revised
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: Mary Wroth (744–745), Pamphilia to Amphilanthus 35 (747); Katherine Philips (785–786), "A Married State" (786–787); John Donne (649–650), Holy Sonnet 18 (673); John Milton (819–821), Sonnet 18: "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" (831)
"In Context" (748–749)

Oct. 26 — Debates about women
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: "'Unconstant Women,' 'Excellent Women': A Seventeenth-Century Debate" (556–568); Aemilia Lanyer (327), "Eve's Apology in Defense of Women" (329–330)

Oct. 31 — Metaphysical poets I
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: Christopher Marlowe (402–403), "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" (415); John Donne (649–650), "The Bait" (657)
Due date: Assignment #2 due

Nov. 2 — Metaphysical poets II
Reading: from BABL Vol. II: John Donne (649–650), "The Flea" (656); Andrew Marvell (772–773), "To His Coy Mistress" (777–778)

THE RESTORATION AND THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Nov. 7 — Introduction to the Long Eighteenth Century; Restoration Bawdy
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Aphra Behn (139–140), "The Disappointment" (140–142); John Wilmot (231–232), "The Imperfect Enjoyment" (240–241)
Additional Reading: from BABL Vol. III: from "Introduction to the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century" (xxix–lxiv), in particular "Poetry" (xlix–liii)
Video: excerpts from The Libertine (Dir. Laurence Dunmore, 2004)

Nov. 9 — Reading day: no class

Nov. 14 — Amatory Fiction
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Eliza Haywood (513–514), "Fantomina" (514–529)
"In Context" (529–532)

Nov. 16 — Popular Ballads
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: "Popular Ballads" (610); "Tam Lin" (614–617); "Mary Hamilton" (620-621)

Nov. 21 — Gulliver's Travels I
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Jonathan Swift (302–304), Gulliver's Travels Parts I & II (317–378)
Video: Gulliver's Travels (Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1996. 53 min.)

Nov. 23 — Gulliver's Travels II
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Gulliver's Travels Part IV (378–413)
"In Context" (413–417)

Nov. 28 — Periodical Essays
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Samuel Johnson (558–560), The Rambler No. 4 [On Fiction] (565–568); The Rambler No. 155 [On Becoming Acquainted with Our Real Characters] (573–575); The Idler No. 49 [Will Marvel] (580–581); The Idler No. 81 [On Native Americans] (581–582)
"Print Culture" (xlv–xlix)
Due date: Assignment #3 due

Nov. 30 — Battle of the Sexes
Reading: from BABL Vol. III: Jonathan Swift (302–304), "The Lady's Dressing Room" (307–309); Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (485–486), "The Reasons That Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called the Lady's Dressing Room" (488–489)

Written Assignment #3: Narrative Voice

2006-09-05T01:18:00.000-03:00

Due: Nov. 28, 2006.

Choose one of the following two options and write 4–5 pages.

1. a) Choose an object or situation, not necessarily sexual (bonus points for making something boring sound steamy), and describe it first as Aphra Behn, and then as John Wilmot, might have done. Verse would obviously be nice here, but the emphasis should be on the differences in the writers' voices (1–2 pages).
b) Write an explanation of your choices in section a), with proper references to all sources (lectures, the text, editor's notes in the anthology, &tc.).

2. Is Gulliver "gullible"? How does Swift indicate how we are to think of Gulliver, given that the narrative is written in the first person (i.e. in Gulliver's own voice). Does Gulliver change over the course of the books? If so, how is this indicated?

These assignments will be evaluated based on

• the understanding they display of authorial/narrative voice
• originality and thoughtfulness
• skill and correctness of writing
• whether they fulfill the criteria set out in the assignment
• whether they adhere to MLA format

Written Assignment #2: Renaissance sonnets

2006-09-05T01:15:00.000-03:00

Due: Oct. 31, 2006.

Choose one of the following two options and write 4–5 pages.

1. a) Write a sonnet about a contemporary situation (love is still an option, of course; but contemporary love). Obviously you are not all skilled poets; evaluation will be based on the display of knowledge about the sonnet form and tradition.
b) Write an explanation of your choices in section a), with proper references to all sources (lectures, the text, editor's notes in the anthology, &tc.).

2. Chose one of the following short poems from the Restoration/18thc:

Margaret Cavendish, "A Woman Drest by Age" (1653; BABL III p.3)
Anne Finch, "A Letter to Daphnis, April 2, 1685" (1713; BABL III p.286)
Thomas Gray, "Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard West" (1742; BABL III p.606)

Explain how it adheres to, and/or distinguishes itself from, sonnets of the Renaissance. Your emphasis should be on the Renaissance traditions. You are encouraged to refer to sonnets read in class.

These assignments will be evaluated based on

• the understanding they display of the sonnet form in the Renaissance
• originality and thoughtfulness
• skill and correctness of writing
• whether they fulfill the criteria set out in the assignment
• whether they adhere to MLA format

Written Assignment #1: Medieval genres and tropes

2006-09-05T01:10:00.000-03:00

Due: Oct. 3, 2006.

Choose one of the following two options and write 4–5 pages, aprox. 2 pages for the first part, and 2-3 pages for the second.

1. a) Describe an everyday activity (grocery shopping; waiting for the bus; playing a game) as the Beowulf poet might have described it, had s/he been miraculously transported to the 21st century with his/her mediaeval sensibility intact. All the intricacies of Old English verse are not strictly necessary, though any gestures in that direction will get considerable credit.
b) Write an explanation of your choices in section a), with proper references to all sources (lectures, the text, editor's notes in the anthology, &tc.).

2. a) Write an Ekphrasis (covered in first class on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) of a contemporary object, in keeping with the tone, ethos, and sensibility of the Gawain poet.
b) Write an explanation of your choices in section a), with proper references to all sources (lectures, the text, editor's notes in the anthology, &tc.).

These assignments will be evaluated based on

• the understanding they display of the chosen literary period
• originality and thoughtfulness
• skill and correctness of writing
• whether they fulfill the criteria set out in the assignment
• whether they adhere to MLA format

Course Requirements

2006-09-05T01:06:00.000-03:00

(Note: Students must complete all requirements to pass the course.)

Short written assignments (60%) — There will be a short (4–5 pp.) written assignment in each of the three sections of the course.

Written Assignment #1 (20%)
Written Assignment #2 (20%)
Written Assignment #3 (20%)

Participation (10%) — Each student will be expected to participate in discussion and group-work in the classroom, and in discussion online in comments at this web site. Attendance will be taken.

Final exam (30%) — The final exam will cover material from all term. It will be closed book and take place during the exam period.

Updates

2006-09-05T00:57:00.000-03:00

The Syllabus is finished and is available for download as a PDF file, ready to print out. Always check this weblog, however, for any updates and changes. An online schedule ~~will be~~ has been posted ~~soon~~, as well as descriptions of the course assignments.

WebCT has been enabled. There you will find your marks as well as class notes.

Course Texts

2006-06-23T09:59:00.000-03:00

The following three volumes have been ordered and should soon be available in the UNBSJ bookstore:

The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Ed. Joseph Black et al. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2006.

All our readings will be from these texts. Our first reading will be Beowulf, in Vol. I.

Course Description and Important Information

2006-06-22T13:33:00.000-03:00

Information about this section of 2101:

This is a second year term course. It provides an introduction to the breadth of literature in English as well as to some of the tools critics use to interpret literary texts. The course is organized chronologically and covers a range of genres (i.e. prose; poetry; drama). Particular attention will be paid to:

i) literary culture (the culture of the literate elite, but also the way a culture makes meaning, and the cultural role of texts and literature itself);

ii) textual production (how texts are written and produced within the literary marketplace);

iii) developing some of the critical skills important in English and the Humanities; and

iv) learning some basic tools for understanding literary texts.

This course is part of the core curriculum for the English Programme. It will assist students in the development of their reading and writing skills and their understanding of the discipline.

The class will meet twice a week for 80 minutes each session. We will often follow a lecture format but every member of the class will be expected to participate through discussion, group work, and participation on this, the course weblog. Students are expected to have read the assigned readings before class.

Information about 2101 more generally:

This course is one of two courses which survey the range for English literature from its roots in Old English to contemporary literature. This course covers the period before 1800; the companion course, English 2102: Literature in English II, covers the post-1800 period. Either or both courses may be taken, in either order. Both are mandatory for English Majors or Honours students. Students who have taken English 1200, no longer offered, may not take either 2101 or 2102.

Any questions about this section of the course, please do no hesitate to leave a comment here or email me at jones at unbsj dot ca. Any questions about your programme or the course in general, please consult Dr. James Noble (noble at unbsj dot ca), the Discipline Coordinator, or Dr. Anne Compton (acompton at unbsj dot ca), the Honours Coordinator.

systematic deviation

Hello, you patient people!

Third assignments

Email down

Second assignments

Sonnet Series to Heroine

Items no lady should be without

Exam

Back to the time of Beowulf

What's the point of a college education?

Think you know how to read?

Gulliver's Travels

Like the card says

Robert Moore

Untitled Poem

Psychomachy

War Medals

First Assignment

Class cancelled today

Re. Doctor Faustus

WebCT

Exam

Everyman

Mementi Mori

The Lorenzo Reading Series

Sir Gawain links

Emailing your instructors

Course books for sale

Get thee to the Mead Hall

More Beowulf links

Beowulf links

First class

Welcome

On systematic deviation

Schedule

Written Assignment #3: Narrative Voice

Written Assignment #2: Renaissance sonnets

Written Assignment #1: Medieval genres and tropes

Course Requirements

Updates

Course Texts

Course Description and Important Information