Class Recap: September 8, 2016

The Early Middle Ages and the Anglo-Saxons

Today we caught up from Tuesday, talking about canonicity and literary history and looking at a timeline of British literature. We also talked about "Cædmon's Hymn." Next time we will catch up with the Dream of the Rood and Alfred's "Preface" to Pastoral Care. 

Canonicity: What is "British literature?" Who decides this? Why do you know what you know about British Literature? What have you studied before? Why is it worth studying authors and works that are not usually included in classes like this? We talked about all of these questions, and why I try to include as many women authors as I can in a survey course like this. Unfortunately, it's hard to "canon-bust" in other ways for Brit Lit I, but towards the end of the semester, we will read some texts that look to other places and peoples in the world, including Shakespeare's The Tempest and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko. 

Homework

Readings from the Broadview Anthology:

• Background: “The Exeter Book Elegies,” pp. 51-52.
• All of the elegies (poems) on pages 52-57. 

Additional Readings:

• Background: "Lyric Poems" in the Fulk packet, pp. 177-192
• "Deor" in the Old English packet
• "Wulf and Eadwacer" in the Old English packet

Please upload a reading response to the Dropbox labeled "Response 2 - September 13 or 15" before class on Tuesday or Thursday. 

Weekly Writing Prompt - September 13, 2016

Choose one of the prompts below. 

1) Some people claim that "subjectivity" (that is, an impression of the agency, personhood, interior life of an individual and that the individual recognizes that they have agency, personhood, and an interior life) isn't really evident in literature until later periods and that we don't get much sense of the "individual" or a speaker's subjectivity in early medieval literature. Considering the elegies we read for class on Tuesday, what do you think about this argument? Can you see subjectivity in these poems? What about these poems might lead to the idea that there is no sense of the individual? Please refer to specific lines and use evidence from the text to support your argument. 

2) What ideas do these poems give us about Anglo-Saxon society and the kinds of relationships that it depended on? What makes a good king or a good leader? What makes a good warrior? What kinds of relationships did the Anglo-Saxons value--and what did they perhaps not, as indicated by these poems? What kinds of communities did they form? etc. Please refer to specific lines and use evidence from the text to support your argument. 

3) According to these poems, what is "wyrd"? How does it work? Can the concept of wyrd be reconciled with Christianity? How do these two concepts interact, overlap, or contradict each other in these poems? Please refer to specific lines and use evidence from the text to support your argument. 

4) How do you see Christianity and Germanic traditions or paganism both present in these poems, interacting, contradicting, or in dialogue with each other? Please refer to specific lines and use evidence from the text to support your argument. 

5) Compare and contrast The Dream of the Rood with The Wanderer. Please refer to specific lines and use evidence from the text to illustrate your points.

Other Notes: 

• I will be updating the "Engagement" and "Reading Quizzes" grades frequently. Because these are out of 100 points for the whole semester, right now everyone's grade will show an "E" for those categories. However, these categories will not effect your final semester grade until the end of the semester (otherwise your grade would really be skewed). You will see your grade increase towards 100 throughout the semester. Please ask me if you have questions or are confused by this. 
• Please confirm the article you will use for your Precis assignment at least one week before it is due. If you are doing this assignment next week, please confirm your article with me as soon as possible. 
• Please turn in a $5 copy card by next Thursday, September 15.
• View today's Powerpoint here.