Week 6: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe Questions

Here's the questions for this week's readings, Julian of Norwich's A Book of Showings (Norton, pp. 271-83), and The Book of Margery Kempe (283-93, 294-97).

Q1 (Carol C.): Read this typical piece of Church Doctrine, from Saint Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica (Part III Question 26, Articles 1 & 2), and contrast both its style and message with the style and message of Julian of Norwich's A Book of Showings. Give quotations both from Aquinas's and Julian's text. (Hint: Because Aquinas's argument, or "catechism," concerns Christ as Mediator between God and Man, it might help to focus on Chapters 58-61 & 86 in Julian).

Q2 (Sam): One of the principle intellectual and rhetorical tropes that Julian uses in her text is "paradox." What sorts of paradoxes do you see in her text? Why do you think she uses paradox so often? (Hint: While wikipedia is typically an insufficient and unreliable source for information, this particular entry on paradox is pretty clear.)

Q3 (Alice): Come up with a question for me about Julian of Norwich, or write a comment about something in her text that you found interesting.

Q4 (Mia): Critics often cite Julian of Norwich as an extremely astute and creative religious thinker, not merely because she is a woman, but because of her particular style which anticipates C17 poets like George Herbert. What do you think is original about her thinking or her style? Does the fact that she's a woman affect her religious or political views?

Q5 (Jenny): Who do you think is a more innovative interpreter of Christian doctrine, Margery Kempe or the the Wife of Bath? Why? (Cite quotations from each...).

Q6 (Isabella): Some people think that The Book of Margery Kempe is the first "autobiography" written in English. Would you call her book an "autobiography"? Or do you think it is closer to some other genre? Cite some examples from the text for why you think so.

Q7 (Ashley): Compare and contrast the writing styles of Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich. Which writer do you prefer? Cite some examples to explain why.

Q8 (Anne): Come up with a question for me about Margery Kempe, or a comment on a topic you found interesting.

Week 5: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Last week's comments were splendid; thanks to everyone who posted! Here's the questions for the Wife of Bath's Tale; keep on quoting and citing those details from the text. If you didn't get a copy of the translation in class, they're outside my office door (B507) for pick-up whenever you like. They're in a little black box--just be sure you take the one that says "Fragment III (Group D) - The Prologue of the Wife of Bath's Tale" at the top.

Q1 (Jill): Before we hear her in her own tale, we are given the Poet's description of the Wife of Bath in the General Prologue. Translate, in your own words, lines 447-478 (pp. 229-30 in the Norton). What details do you think are important for the development of her character?

Q2 (Eleana): So far in this class we have seen examples of several different genres of literature: the Old English Epic (Beowulf), Romance (Sir Gawain), and the "Fabliau" or Satirical Romance (Miller's Tale). How would you characterize the genre of the Wife of Bath's Prologue (pp. 219-240 in the handout)? Does it parody anything? Does it remind you of anything else you've ever read?

Q3 (Jason): In the first lines of her Prologue, the Wife of Bath says "Experience, though noon auctoritee / Were in this world, is right ynough for me / To speke of wo that is in mariage" (ll. 1-3). Aside from relating her own experiences, how does the Wife attempt to prove her authority in the subject of marriage and the relations between men and women? Does she reference anything--(or manipulate our understanding of it)? (Hint: Remember, the two traditional sources of authority in late-fourteenth-century England were the Church, and church doctrine, and the Court, and its literary traditions.)

Q4 (Demi): After her ribald Prologue, we might expect the Wife of Bath's Tale to be more like the Miller's fabliau. But instead, we get a tale about "the'olden dayes of the King Arthour" (l. 863, Norton; p. 240, handout). Admittedly, it is not your ordinary courtly romance, but why do you think she tells that particular tale in that particular form?

Q5 (Kate): On pages 235-39 of your translation (lines 672-834, Norton) the Wife of Bath makes fun of all the "anti-feminist" literature that her fifth husband was reading, and then confronts him about how awful it is. And yet, the Wife of Bath herself sometimes is depicted as a stereotype of a particular sort of woman. Do you think that The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale successfully criticizes and satirizes the anti-feminist literature collected in Jankin's Valerie and Theofraste (line 677), or is it simply an example of such literature? In other words, is the tale feminist (pro-woman), anti-feminist, some of each, or neither? Cite some specific examples.(Hint: the footnotes about the different texts in Jankin's book might help you; the translation you have doesn't have any notes).

Q6 (Tina): Same as Q5. What do you think?

Q7 (Rachel): What exactly is the Wife of Bath's description of how marriage works? Is a good marriage possible in her eyes? How? And, finally, do you think that the power structures that she finds in marriage are necessary to any marriage, or just certain marriages? Why?

Q8 (Annie): A different version of the Wife of Bath's Tale is called Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell, in which the Knight is Sir Gawain, and the magical woman is Lady Ragnell. Does this Knight resemble Gawain from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? What do each of them learn? Why do you think Medieval poets would think this Knight is like Gawain?

Q9 (Vicky): At the end of the Wife's tale, does the magical woman regain her "maistrye" ("mastery"; line 1242, Norton; p. 250 in the handout)? Is the "maistrye" that she and the Wife of Bath describe the sort of thing that more than one person can hold in a relationship?

Chaucer: "The Miller's Tale," Questions

Here's the study questions for the first part of our reading of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, "The Miller's Tale" and "The General Prologue" (ll. 717-860). Last week's response to Sir Gawain were even better than I could have hoped! In your answers this week, remember to try to include as many quotations (with line or page numbers) and concrete details as you can. (One nice thing about this blog is that it can act as a study aid for your midterm and final exams!)

Question 1 (Debbie): Based on what you have read of "The General Prologue" and the Prologue to "the Miller's Tale," describe the setting in which these tales are told. Pay particular attention to the sorts of people telling the tales and listening to them. How does the setting (and the people) differ from that depicted in the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

Question 2 (James): The Canterbury Tales are reported to us by a narrator (who we eventually learn is called "Geoffrey Chaucer"). Based on what he says in "The General Prologue" (ll. 717-860) and in the Prologue to "The Miller's Tale," how would you describe the narrator as a character? What sort of person do you imagine him to be? (Bonus: what sorts of artistic freedoms do you think Chaucer might have won himself in telling his tales through other characters? Hint: in the late 14th century, poets were supposed to write either courtly romances, or poetry in support of the Church.)

Question 3 (Valerie): Before we hear the description of the Miller in the Prologue to his tale, the narrator describes him in "The General Prologue." Read lines 547-68 of that description (in the Norton, pp. 231-32), and translate it into your own words. Most of the tougher Middle English words will be translated in the Norton, and the ones that aren't you can look up here. The write a quick few sentences about why you decided to translate it how you did. Feel free to translate the passage into verse or prose, and have fun with it! (Hint: that funny word "eke" just means "also").

Question 4 (Mardy): Based on the description of the Miller in the "General Prologue" (ll. 547-68), the Miller's Prologue, and the very beginning of the "Reeve's Tale" (in your handout, pp. 98-99), what do you think the effect is of having this tale told by the Miller? Does it change our attitude towards it? And what's a Miller, anyways?! How does his social class and character clash with or complement that of the other characters, either those in his tale or in the audience (e.g. of the Host, or of the Monk, or the narrator)?

Question 5 (Sophia): Read the anthology's paraphrase of "the Knight's Tale" (Norton, p. 238), the very end of that tale printed in your handout (pp. 78-79), and the description of the Knight from "the General Prologue" (Norton, lines 43-63, p. 219-220). What parallels do you think there might be between the two tales? And what contrasts? Why do you think Chaucer decided to have the Miller's tale follow right after the Knight's tale?

Question 6 (Verthandi): Compare and contrast some of the characteristics of Absolon, from "the Miller's Tale," and Sir Gawain, from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. How are they similar? How are they different? Do we learn a "moral" at the end, like Gawain (supposedly) did? (Hint: do you think Chaucer is satirizing anything? What?)

Question 7 (Carrie): What do you think is the tale's take on marriage? Does it resemble what you would imagine marriage to be like in Medieval times? Does it have anything to do with social class or economics?

Question 8 (Emily): Like Mark did last week, read through these questions, and read the tale, and write a question for me to answer. It could be about the historical setting, the plot, the kind of poetry Chaucer was writing... anything you are wondering about! (This is a very very strange tale!) Just make sure it doesn't overlap too much with the questions above.

Study Questions: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts III & IV

Here are the study questions for Week 3's readings, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (pp. 185-213). The instructions are the same as in the sample (see below). And again, I will not be grading whether or not you have invented an ingenious reading of a difficult text. These questions and answers are designed to prompt a discussion, not to evaluate you; it's the beginning of a process of talking about a piece of literature, not the end. Just read the text carefully, and think through the question, and write a thoughtful response that incorporates concrete details and quotations from the text. If you do that, you're all set!

Q1 - Josie: In an aside in lines 1549-50, the narrator tells us that the lady (the lord's wife) "tested [Gawain's] temper and tried many a time, whatever her true intent, to entice him to sin." What sin(s) do you think she is enticing him to? (Hint: the Cardinal Sins are typically listed as pride, wrath, envy, greed, lust, sloth and envy.) And what tactics does she use to entice him?

Q2 - Matt: In lines 1616-18 we hear that "the boar's head was borne before the same man that stabbed him in the stream with his strong arm right through." And in 1353 we watch the lord's men "hew" off the deer's head at the end of the hunt. Why do you think these gruesome scenes are described in such detail? And why are they told in alternation with the episodes involving Gawain's escapades with the ladies in the court? Are the lord's hunting scenes symbolic of anything?

Q3 - Carol J.: What moral lesson does Gawain (and maybe all of Arthur's court) learn when the Green Knight reveals who he really is? Based on the examples of Gawain and the Green Knight, and their descriptions of chivalry, courtesy and bravery, how should a knight behave?

Q4 - Christine: Some critics have suggested that the Green Knight is in fact a figure of Christ. Why might they think this? Is there any evidence in the text that points to a comparison between the two? (Hint: think about some of the poem's own references to Christ; what kind of person is he described as in the poem?)

Q5 - Renée: What role(s) do women play in this poem? How much power do they possess? Did your perspective on the women change over the course of the poem? How? (Maybe pick one or two scenes to focus on).

Q6 - Mark: Come up with a question for me to answer; it can overlap with some of the discussion above, but should be about something you are wondering about in the poem. It could be about the plot, the symbolism, the historical background, or anything you choose. (Your question will obviously be shorter than the other answers, but you should put the same amount of thought into it).

In your answers, post a comment that says "This is Your Name answering Whatever Question." Feel free to ask questions in your response, and to add in your own opinions and reactions. For instance: "I think that Gawain is a slothful kind of character... But what I really wonder about is whether he is also... Perhaps that is even more important than..." Or: "While I personally think that the Green Knight is awesome (or awful), the narrator seems to think he is..."

A Couple More Things about the Syllabus

Hello Everyone, in class yesterday I forgot to talk about the grading scheme for the semester, which will go like this:

• 35% In-Class Midterm Exam, consisting of short answers about the readings we have done, and a couple longer essays. As the exam approaches I will have more details about this, though don't forget that the works we are reading IN class (for example the sonnets with which we will begin each day) may also be part of the exam.
  
• 45% Final Exam - Format to be determined, though it will likely have longer essays than the midterm.
  
• 20% Participation, Homework, and Attendance; this will include the Blog Comments. And like I said in class, I will not be grading you very strictly on the comments. Nor will I be grading you on the quality or nuance of your discussion in class. Rather, as long as you talk consistently in class, and write comments to the blog that show you've done the reading and thought about the question, I will check you off as having done it.

If you have any questions, I'll be happy to talk about them on Tuesday. And check back here for your Sir Gaiwan and the Green Knight questions soon!

Comments: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sample Questions

Here are a couple sample questions for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts I & II (your reading assignment for Tuesday, 3/16; pp. 160-185 in the Norton).

Your official assigned study questions will begin the next week (3/23), but for now I would like you to simply try writing a comment in this post's "comment" section to test out how it works. Check out my instructions for that in the email that I sent to you. And again, if you'd like to get your first assigned study question out of the way, please feel free to write a paragraph or two in answer to these sample questions!

Sample Question #1

Contrast how the poet sets the scene of Camelot in Sir Gawain in lines 1-85 to the description of the hall in Beowulf, roughly lines 491-661. Give a few specific details or quotations to show how the two scenes are different. Based on what the poets emphasize in their descriptions, what do you think the two different cultures value?

Sample Question #2

Contrast the entrance of the Green Knight in lines 130-231 to the descriptions of the arrival of Grendel in Beowulf, lines 702-835. Use specific details and quotations in your response. What do the descriptions of the two villains tell us about the differences between the two cultures? How is war or battle portrayed; how is it waged and begun? What do the two cultures fear?

Not every question will be a compare-and-contrast one, obviously. But these questions should give you a taste of the sorts of things you might be thinking about as you read.

Happy reading!

Course Syllabus

After combing through the Norton Anthology for several weeks, and combing through all of your surveys and recommendations, I have arrived at a definitive syllabus for the semester. (Note: the picture above is from the Grand Academy of Lagado in Gulliver's Travels... an academy of ridiculous professors that Jonathan Swift makes fun of. I swear I have no membership in such an academy. Really. I swear I don't.)

I have also decided on two activities that we will do each class:

• First, we shall read a short lyric poems at the beginning of every class; up until the midterm, nearly all of them will be sonnets. Over the course of the quarter you will get a solid foundation in that form, as well as in several other forms of poetry.
  
• On your surveys many of you noted that one thing you hoped to learn this term was how to analyze a piece of literature, and so I will model how I begin to interpret a piece of literature that I'm unfamiliar with. So in each class, YOU will comb through the Norton Anthology and pick out a short work that I have never read--(there are more than you would expect). I think that watching me think through a short work each week will help you: a) in your at-home readings each week; b) in your assigned blog comments; c) in your exams; and d) in your future literature classes. Plus we won't have to spend a week just on sonnets.
  

And now on to the syllabus:

Part I: Chivalry and the Role of Women
T 3/16 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Books I & II
T 3/23 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Books III & IV
T 3/30 - Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: General Prologue (ll. 717-860)
Miller's Prologue and Tale
T 4/6 - Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale
T 4/13 - The Book of Margery Kempe
T 4/20 - Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love"
Sir Walter Ralegh, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"
Edmund Spenser, from The Faerie Queen

T 4/27 - In-Class Midterm Exam

Part II: Islands, Sovereignty, & Satire
T 5/4 - Thomas More, Utopia
T 5/11 - Thomas More, Utopia
T 5/18 - William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I
T 5/25 - William Shakespeare, King Lear, Acts II & III
T 6/1 - William Shakespeare, King Lear, Acts IV & V
T 6/8 - Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part 1. A Voyage to Lilliput
T 6/15 - Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part 4. A Voyage to the Country of the Houynhnms

Exact page numbers will be posted here each week. Portions of some works will be cut out, and others will be supplemented with translations. Thus, for example, at home you will read translations of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but in class we will discuss and reference the original Middle English to get a feel for the poetry.

Happy reading! Study questions will be posted here for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight soon!

Welcome to A Truly Golden Handbook

The phrase "A Truly Golden Handbook" comes from the subtitle to Thomas More's Utopia (1516), a book we'll be reading in a few weeks. And this blog is designed to be just that: a truly golden handbook for everything that you will need for this course. (And our wonderful classroom will be the utopia, ha ha).

What you will find here will be not only the page numbers for the week's readings, but also a set of study questions. One of you will be assigned to answer each question, which you will do in the comments portion of the posting. Since there are 33 of you in the class, and there will be roughly 5-6 questions each week, over the course of the semester you will answer 3 questions. Try for two paragraphs per answer.

You will write these comments by clicking "comments" at the bottom of the posting, and then sign in using your Gmail account. In your reply, say:

This is Your Name answering Question Number XYZ. And then write your answer to the question. Again, two paragraphs should usually suffice; and, if you have something to say and you're not assigned to that question, wait for the assigned answerer to answer, and then feel free to make a comment. But of course, please be polite!

Welcome once again to English I-2; I hope you find this handbook golden!

-Prof. Warren