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ISLE Summary
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Summary of ISLE (lessons + texts from the Northon Antology books)
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Sien Eelen V. JoossenISLE P. Verhulst
L. Griffith
Introduction to the study of literature in English (sv)
Introduction (01-10-2018)
Focus on literature after 1800
- 18th century = the age of enlightenment/reason
progress
control of nature
ability to produce happiness (utilitarianism)
- humanist discourse
- literature = autonomous field
novels started to develop
- functions of literature
education
entertainment
beauty
What is literature?
- The canon (e.g. The Anthologies)
= A dynamic concept, canons can change over time, e.g. diversity in literature (for
example, in stead of only male writers, female writers start to develop as well)
= Power, what enters the canon has to do with power
PERIOD: THE MIDDLE AGES (to ca. 1485)
MIDDLE AGES I: Old English Poetry (Beowulf)
“Hereot was the name
He had settled on it, whose utterance was law.
Nor did he renege, but he doled out rings
And torques at the table.”
Torques: Keltic jewellery
Doled out: distributed
An utterance: an uninterrupted chain of spoke or written language.
To renege: To break a promise
(words in story, professor asked in college)
The middle ages are divided in:
The Anglo-Saxon period (450-1066 => Battle of Hastings) (Beowulf)
Transition Old => Middle English
The Anglo-Norman period (1066-14th century)
The Middle-English period (14-15th century)
The Anglo-Saxon period (08-10-2018)
+/- 450 AD - 1066
- People were not able to read or write
- Invasion
- Heptarchy (7 kingdoms together) => civilisation
- 7th century => Christianization or maybe “Rechristianization”
- Christianity had a major influence on the first literary texts in English
- First printed texts were written in Latin or Old-English about religious subjects
- Beowulf = one of the first texts that merges (bindt) the oral and the written tradition
STORY in NA volume I: Beowulf (pp. 36-106) (Anglo-Saxon Literature)
,Sien Eelen V. Joossen
ISLE P. Verhulst
L. Griffith
Action Story
- set in Denmark => because there were invasions from the Vikings from Denmark, some
of them settled in England (2nd invasion)
- written between the 8th and 10th century, the actions in the story must have happened
between the 4th and 5th century
- written down in West-Saxon dialect
- action
when? 4th 5th century
Where? Denmark
Who? Beowulf is not a Dane, he is a Geat (comes from Sweden)
WHAT: the action
3 great fights to defend human society against evil
1) against Grendel => Beowulf succeeded
2) against Grendel’s mother => revenge, eye for eye, Beowulf succeeded and becomes king
of the geats
3) against the Dragon => one of Beowulf’s servants steals a cup from a dragon, the dragon
attacks Beowulf and his people, Beowulf succeeded but he is injured and dies
STORY: Who? When?
- oral poetry: the scop (someone who would visit and entertain by oral poetry, first word in
prologue ‘so’ or ‘hwæt’ => seems as if someone is speaking to you => oral tradition)
- written manuscript:
aura (atmosphere)
mainly religious subjects
Vikings (2nd invasion)
- Danes
- Stopped by Alfred the Great
King of the West Saxons (871-899)
But trade, intermarriages,…
- 1016-1035: King Canute
king of both England and Denmark
Pagan (a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions) &
Christian => Tension:
Pagan values: based on heroism, revenge, eye for eye,… => Shield Sheafson: he was feared by
many others, first glory then death
Christian values: based on forgiveness, turn the other cheek,… => glory after death, …
this poem contains both values
Literary and oral => Tension:
Traces of oral tradition:
- call to attention (‘so, listen’ line 1)
- insider perspective (‘we have heard of those…’ community created line 3)
- tendency to digress (afdwalen) (‘shield sheafson’ but he is really not even relevant line 4)
- tendency to foreshadow (the writer flashes forward line 7)
- variation: parallel and appositive expressions (‘there was shield sheafson, scourge of
many tribes, a wrecker of mead-benches…’ line 4 => parallel, telling us more about him.
- Alliteration is also a feature, how this text plays with sounds
Stylistic features:
- verse form: 2 balancing halves with a break (caesura)
- alliteration (“Hwæt we gar-dena in geardagum” G sound)
- “kenning” and poetic riddles => figurative language (example: line 10 the whale-road
means the sea, the bone-house means the body, …)
- litotes (=understatement) => line 43 ‘no less bountifully’ means very …, line 114
,Sien Eelen V. Joossen
ISLE P. Verhulst
L. Griffith
MIDDLE AGES II: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (15-10-2018)
The Anglo-Norman Period (1066-14th century)
- Starts with the Battle of Hastings in 1066: Norman Conquest by William the Conquerer
- Transition from Old English in the Anglo-Saxon Period to Middle English in the Anglo-
Norman Period.
STORY in NA volume I: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ca. 1375-1400 (pp. 135-188)
(middle English literature in the 14th century)
- Anonymous => “The Gawain Poet”
- Anglo-Norman period (1066-14th century)
- English influenced by French people and literature
Sir Gawain VS Beowulf
Similarities:
- Weapons
- Army
- Violent episodes, beheading, etc.
- Courage = important
- The stories both start by linking them to happenings and heroes in the past.
Differences:
B => practical battle, emphasis on the action
SG => emphasis on the way characters look, prettiness, attention is on the details
B => more violent, practicality, about fighting and strength
SG => the violence happens in an organised way, not to be a coward or weak, Arthur wants to
defend the court.
=> More the idea of a psychological battle, eye for an eye.
B => no female characters
SG => women are present and being honoured in this story. E.g. Queen Guinevere.
Why is Sir Gawain considered to be part of the canon?
- Significance for contemporary culture
= elements that are still relevant to 21 st century readers (e.g. beheading in Syria,
keeping a promise, …)
- Appeal of the narrative
= literary features that still make it an interesting read (e.g. Cliff-hangers, Bob &
wheel, short sentences to create movement in the story)
- Broader philosophical theme: confrontation with the others
Philosophical question that transcends its specific historical context
Supernatural creatures, how do we treat them?
- Capture ideology of its time
Norms, believe, values and worldviews
- Fine example of Arthurian romance
= medieval genre, very popular!
King Arthur
- King of Wales with Keltic ancestors (voorvaders)
- Composite figure (complex, mixed)
Narrative and stylistic features
- Oral frame (narrator, l30: listen a little while if you will …)
, Sien Eelen V. Joossen
ISLE P. Verhulst
L. Griffith
- Alliterative revival (l34-36) => where Loyal Letters Linked have Lasted Loud and Long
- Final lines of stanza: bob & wheel (term for a pairing of two metrical schemes) /ababa
- Epic tradition
MIDDLE AGES III: The Canterbury Tales (22-10-2018)
STORY in NA volume I: The Canterbury Tales – Geoffrey Chaucer ca. 1343-1400 (pp.
188-214)
- Anglo-Norman period (1066-14th century)
- Close in time with Sir Gawain
- Geoffrey Chaucer
Middle class author but wasn’t brought up in these circles
Middle class product
He knew the different social classes from society by the heart which was necessary
to write this story
- Written in Middle-English => original English => there are some links to Dutch to be
found!
- The Canterbury Tales were enjoyed by all classes
1470s
- Printing introduced by William Caxton
- The story was thus not printed during Chaucer’s lifetime because printing did not yet exist
+ the story was not finished yet
Manuscripts were copied by hand => conflicted/different versions
Why successful?
- Diversity (classes, genres which are connected in a very clever way, different characters
and audiences, …)
- Example: first character is a knight => romance stories, respect for women, … he tells a
story about two cousins that fall in love with the same girl Emily => duel. They all three
pray to a god, in the end, all three of them get their wishes fulfilled.
- The second character is The Miller (drunk), he tells a story about lust => main character
is a carpenter who married a younger girl (a student who fancies the wife and she also
fancies him)
Different stories with different genres talking back to each other.
Canterbury Tales = estate satire (estates are comparable with classes)
People do not live up to the standard of their classes
Comparable with Decameron from Boccaccio
- 150y older than Chaucer’s tale
- Set up is a bit different
People => isolation => away from the plague
- Also, different genres told by different people
Narrative and stylistic features
- Variation in register (voices, context, personalities, …)
- Opening = nature einghang (scene that describes nature)
- The story has one of the most important verse forms in English Literature
Iambic Pentameter = second syllable that is stressed = iamb (unstressed +
stressed). Pentameter means 5x
Trochaic pentameter (stressed + unstressed) => first line of the story
- Rhyming couplets (2 sentences)
- “Foison” ecstatic of the plenty (the more the better)
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