British Literature - Week 10 - Wife of Bath's Tale - What do Women Want?!

Who would ask this question? Women or men? When might this question be asked? In 2019 or 1399? The answer to both questions is  "yes" and "both"! Believe it or not, Chaucer's pilgrim, the Wife of Bath, answers this question in a tale about a maiden, a knight, an old woman, King Arthur, and Queen Guenevere.

882         And so bifel that this kyng Arthour

                  And so it happened that this king Arthur
883         Hadde in his hous a lusty bacheler,                  
                  Had in his house a lusty bachelor,
884         That on a day cam ridynge fro ryver,                  
                 That on one day came riding from hawking,
885         And happed that, allone as he was born,                  
                 And it happened that, alone as he was born,
886         He saugh a mayde walkynge hym biforn,                  
                  He saw a maiden walking before him,
887         Of which mayde anon, maugree hir heed,                  
                 Of which maiden straightway, despite all she could do,
888         By verray force, he rafte hire maydenhed;                  
                  By utter force, he took away her maidenhead;

Basically, the maiden is walking along minding her own business, when this knight comes up to her, admires her, and rapes her. There is great consternation in King Arthur's Court. King Arthur acquiesces to his wife Guenevere's request, and he allows her to decide whether the knight will live or die. She tells the offending knight he has exactly one year to figure out what women want. If he can answer the question within one year, he will be saved.

904         I grante thee lyf, if thou kanst tellen me
                  I grant thee life, if thou canst tell me

905         What thyng is it that wommen moost desiren.
                  What thing it is that women most desire.

So the knight travels to ask everyone he can find what it is that women most want. Along the way he gets a variety of answers:

• riches
• gaiety
• clothing
• lust in bed
• widowhood
• flattery
• freedom
• to be considered steadfast
• to be able to keep a secret

He continues to seek for the one, right answer and comes upon 24 dancing ladies. Upon his approach they all disappear, save for one very old, very ugly woman. He asks her "what thing it is that women most desire." She has the answer, she says, but demands he agree to meet her one request of him if she is right. He gives his assent willingly. 

The knight and the old woman go back to King Arthur's Court and he gives the answer:

1038       "Wommen desiren to have sovereynetee
                    Women desire to have sovereignty

1039       As wel over hir housbond as hir love,
                  As well over her husband as her love,
1040       And for to been in maistrie hym above.
                  And to be in mastery above him. 

What do you think? Do you agree? Let's unpack that word "sovereynetee." According to Susanne Sara Thomas, in "The Problem of Defining Sovereynetee in the Wife of Bath's Tale," the two "sovereigns" in the Tale are "apparently Arthur's queens and the old woman" (Thomas). The word's pairing with the word "maistrie" seems to suggest control and dominance, but to have mastery connotes "to prevail, win the victory, be victorious" (Thomas). At the time Chaucer wrote Canterbury Tales--context is supreme--sovereignty meant "complete independence and self-government" (Thomas). So is that what we women really want - complete independence?

That's not the end of the tale, though. After the knight gives Queen Guenevere the answer, which is correct, the old woman collects on his promise and makes the knight marry her. He is not at all happy, as you can imagine, but a promise is a promise. On their wedding night ...

1083       Greet was the wo the knyght hadde in his thoght,
                  Great was the woe the knight had in his thought,

1084       Whan he was with his wyf abedde ybroght;
                  When he was brought to bed with his wife;
1085       He walweth and he turneth to and fro.
                  He wallows and he turns to and fro.
1086       His olde wyf lay smylynge everemo,
                  His old wife lay smiling evermore,
1087       And seyde, "O deere housbonde, benedicitee!
                  And said, "O dear husband, bless me!
1088       Fareth every knyght thus with his wyf as ye?
                  Does every knight behave thus with his wife as you do?

In other words, "Yo, hubby, why the long face? Do all husbands act like this on their wedding night?" So the old woman gives him a choice--she will stay as she is, old and ugly, and be a very faithful wife; or, she will transform into a beautiful young maiden, but she will be unfaithful. It's his choice. Well, apparently he was paying attention, because he gives a brilliant answer: you choose!

1228       This knyght avyseth hym and sore siketh,
                 This knight deliberates and painfully sighs,

1229       But atte laste he seyde in this manere:
                  But at the last he said in this manner:
1230       "My lady and my love, and wyf so deere,
                  "My lady and my love, and wife so dear,
1231       I put me in youre wise governance;
                  I put me in your wise governance;
1232       Cheseth youreself which may be moost plesance
                  Choose yourself which may be most pleasure
1233       And moost honour to yow and me also.
                  And most honor to you and me also.
1234       I do no fors the wheither of the two,
                  I do not care which of the two,
1235       For as yow liketh, it suffiseth me."
                  For as it pleases you, is enough for me."

And what does she do? She chooses to be young, beautiful, and faithful! How about that for a happy ending (except for the poor maiden in the beginning of the tale). It's important to remember that this is a tale written by the Wife of Bath, and her fingerprints and character are all over the tale. Here is the link if you'd like to read the entire tale: http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm

Please post your own answer to the question (whether you are a man or a woman) - what do women really want?!

______________________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Geoffrey Chaucer Page. Ed. General Editor Larry D. Benson. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008. Web. 1 April 2019. .

Thomas, Susanne Sara. “The Problem of Defining ‘Sovereynetee’ in the ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale.’” 

           Chaucer Review, vol. 41, no. 1, July 2006, pp. 87–97. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/cr.2006.0017.

British Literature - Week 9 - Wife of Bath's Prologue

http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/canttales/wbpro/

We're back to finish our examination of some of the greatest British Literature every written. In Canterbury Tales, readers are introduced to all the characters going on the pilgrimage to Canterbury in the General Prologue, followed by the tales by various characters. The tales are usually preceded by prologues - so first we get a preview into the author of the tale, and then the author (one of the pilgrims) tells a story. The stories are each a product of that particular pilgrim, so another avenue of exploration includes analyzing why that character told that tale. Chaucer was a brilliant poet, which makes reading his work enjoyable and exhausting, like exhuming the text for hidden meaning!

How can I describe the Wife of Bath. She is bawdy, forthright, unapologetic, and a feminist ahead of her time. She is on the pilgrimage to find husband #6! The first five husbands died (which is curious in and of itself!). The Wife of Bath had three good husbands -- good is defined by her as an old, rich, wealthy husband who will die soon and leave her all his worldly goods. She had a love/hate relationship with her fifth husband (who was a pall-bearer at the funeral of her fourth husband). He literally threw the book at her--the Book of Wicked Wives.

1       "Experience, though noon auctoritee
                "Experience, though no written authority
2       Were in this world, is right ynogh for me
                Were in this world, is good enough for me
3       To speke of wo that is in mariage;
                To speak of the woe that is in marriage;
4       For, lordynges, sith I twelve yeer was of age,
                For, gentlemen, since I was twelve years of age,
5       Thonked be God that is eterne on lyve,
                Thanked be God who is eternally alive,
6       Housbondes at chirche dore I have had fyve --
                I have had five husbands at the church door --

Throughout the prologue, the Wife of Bath carries on an argument, an "apologia," defending her many marriages and her attitudes toward men. She includes arguments from the Apostle Paul, and church fathers like St. Jerome and St. Augustine. The Wife of Bath carries on a theological argument for multiple husbands and enjoyment of sex, carefully choosing biblical passages to support her arguments. Here is a small sampling:

55       I woot wel Abraham was an hooly man,
                I know well Abraham was a holy man,
56       And Jacob eek, as ferforth as I kan;
                And Jacob also, insofar as I know;
57       And ech of hem hadde wyves mo than two,
                And each of them had more than two wives,
58       And many another holy man also.
                And many another holy man also.
59       Wher can ye seye, in any manere age,
                Where can you find, in any historical period,
60       That hye God defended mariage
                That high God forbad marriage
61       By expres word? I pray yow, telleth me.
                By express word? I pray you, tell me.
62       Or where comanded he virginitee?
                Or where commanded he virginity?
63       I woot as wel as ye, it is no drede,
                I know as well as you, it is no doubt,
64       Th' apostel, whan he speketh of maydenhede,
                The apostle, when he speaks of maidenhood,
65       He seyde that precept therof hadde he noon.
                He said that he had no precept concerning it.
66       Men may conseille a womman to been oon,
                Men may advise a woman to be one,
67       But conseillyng is no comandement.
                But advice is no commandment.

My students reviewed the Wife of Bath's description in the General Prologue, and worked in small groups examining the primary texts to which the Wife of Bath refers in her argument in favor of multiple marriages. We discussed medieval marriage and contemporary marriage, the differences, and even the similarities. In the 14th century, women were identified by their relationship to men. Has that changed as much as we think it has? For one answer, watch this video by my new favorite author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: We Should All Be Feminists

________________________________________________________________________

Work Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Geoffrey Chaucer Page. Ed. General Editor Larry D. Benson. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008. Web. 1 April 2019. .

British Literature - Week 8 - Canterbury Tales

If you studied Chaucer in school, or have any familiarly with Middle English, you probably have heard or read the first 18 lines of the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (modern English translation provided under each line of Middle English):

1   Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote

  When April with its sweet-smelling showers

2   The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,

 Has pierced the drought of March to the root,

3   And bathed every veyne in swich licou

  And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid

4   Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

 By which power the flower is created;

5   Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth

  When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,

6    Inspired hath in every holt and heeth

  In every wood and field has breathed life into

7    The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

   The tender new leaves, and the young sun

8    Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,

 Has run half its course in Aries,

9   And smale foweles maken melodye,

 And small fowls make melody,

10  That slepen al the nyght with open ye

   Those that sleep all the night with open eyes

11   (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),

   (So Nature incites them in their hearts),

12   Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,

  Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,

13   And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,

 And pilgrims to seek foreign shores,

14   To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

  To distant shrines, known in various lands;

15    And specially from every shires ende

  And specially from every shire's end

16    Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,

   Of England to Canterbury they travel,

17   The hooly blisful martir for to seke,

  To seek the holy blessed martyr,

18   That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

   Who helped them when they were sick. (Chaucer)

What's going on here? Well it's April, the wind is blowing, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and it's time for a pilgrimage. An assorted group of misfits join together at a pub to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and the site of Thomas a Becket's martyrdom. Chaucer gathers 29 pilgrims from a wide variety of backgrounds--Knight, Parson (pastor), Nun, Miller (sells grain), Plowman (farmer), and many others. Each pilgrim shall tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back -- the one who tells the best tale will earn a free meal upon return to the pub - the Tabard Inn. Canterbury Tales should have totaled 120 tales, but only 23 are written. Chaucer died before he could complete his magnum opus. Few poems have survived as long or garnered as much study as Canterbury Tales.

The poem defies genre - at times an estates satire, catalog, portraiture, fabliau (French fable). Chaucer draws readers into a bawdy, raucous, hilarious setting, against the backdrop of 14th century England and the Black Death - the plague that had decimated half the population. Possibly some of its immediate and enduring popularity testifies to our need for distraction and entertainment!

What would a modern-day Canterbury Tales look like? Where would such an odd assortment of folks all be going - maybe to a concert, or a political event, a 4th of July celebration, or the beach? What modern-day characters would comprise a 2019 Canterbury Tales - doctor, rap artist, student, priest, homeless mom, banker, nerd, athlete, drug dealer, chef?!?

If you'd like to read it for yourself, click Canterbury Tales General Prologue. 

Next week we'll examine the Wife of Bath - a fascinating, independent woman who embarks on the pilgrimage to find husband number six - the first five died!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Geoffrey Chaucer Page. Ed. General Editor Larry D. Benson. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008. Web. 1 April 2019. .

British Literature - Week 7 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part II

Last week I provided a summary of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Did you read the epic poem? Did you enjoy it?! This week we will look at some of the themes and points of discussion in Sir Gawain - cultural references, chivalry, tempter and tempted, and character tests.

One of the elements of teaching ancient literature I most enjoy involves finding references in contemporary culture to the ancient texts. With an observant eye and consumption of a broad array of books and articles, anyone can find frequent references to the canonical texts. Just yesterday I began The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy.  On page 14, Roy describes a shrine to Hazrat Sarmad Shaheed, a Jewish Armenian merchant who loved a Hindu boy, renounced Judaism, embraced Islam, then also renounced Islam. Roy writes how Sarmad was "beheaded on the steps of the Jama Masjid... and his head continued to recite his poems of love even after it had been severed from his body... he picked up his speaking head, as casually as a modern-day motorcyclist might pick up his helmet..." (Roy 12). Sounds familiar, right?!

Let's look first at the concept of chivalry. Chivalry refers to the honor, deeds, and actions of a knight (chevalier, caballero), often in war and in tournaments on his cheval (horse, in French).  A chivalrous knight goes on adventures which test his strength, bravery, and also his character. Sir Gawain intervenes and prevents King Arthur from accepting the challenge offered by the Green Knight. Sir Gawain demonstrates bravery, he might get his head chopped off, and loyalty--he effectively saves his king from beheading.

Once Sir Gawain accepts the challenge/beheading game, he has one year to allow the Green Knight to reciprocate -- in other words, to get beheaded himself! He spends several days as a guest of Bertilak and his wife, and is tempted by Bertilak's wife every day. She tries her utmost to seduce him, but he remains strong in the face of temptation and does not allow the seduction, even when she questions his manliness! Sir Gawain must be proud of himself for avoiding the temptation, but he didn't pass the real test.

Bertilak and Sir Gawain agreed to exchange their winnings at the end of each day. Sir Gawain received a deer, a boar, and a fox. Sir Gawain received kisses, and kissed Bertilak at the end of each day... The scenes of hunting, camaraderie, physical sport, are juxtaposed with the bedroom scenes. In the first, the animals are hunted; in the second, Sir Gawain is hunted! Just when he believes he has passed the test, he fails. When Bertilak's wife offers him her green girdle to save his life, he accepts it. But he doesn't give it to Bertilak at the end of day, as the game requires. He loves his life too much to be completely honest and fails the test of bravery.

I'll conclude this post with another recent reference to Sir Gawain found in the blog, Better Living Through Beowulf, by Robin Bates. She argues that "Donald Trump’s public relations lawyer Rudy Giuliani put on a performance for the ages this past Sunday, reminding me of no one so much as the fox in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

________________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Bates, Robin. https://betterlivingthroughbeowulf.com/green-knight-the-great-trump-hunt/

Roy, Arundhati. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.

British Literature - Week 6 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Part I

Beheading, chivalry, seduction, hunting, slaughter, shape-shifting... a 14th century poet intricately weaved all these elements to create the timeless poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The source of delight and revulsion, shock and amusement, Sir Gawain does not disappoint its readers.  If you'd like to read it again, check out this link:  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The poet opens by setting Sir Gawain in historical context, going all the way back to the fall of Troy. Aeneas, on the losing side of the Battle of Troy, is the founding father of Rome (check out The Aeneid), and Aeneas' great grandson, Brutus, is the founder of (you guessed it) Britain. Why would a poet feel the need to place his work in a broad historical context? Several possible reasons exist, including to lend legitimacy, to improve his ethos argument, and to show the poem's place in a long line of canonical literature.

So from the first alliterative line, "Since the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy," to the reference to "high-born Aeneas" and "Felix Brutus," the poem sets King Arthur up as the "most courteous of all" (Boroff 1).

A brief summary will help you understand the poem:

Part I

• King Arthur and his knights gather on New Year's Day for a feast;
• A Green Knight (he and his horse are bright green in color) enters the hall and proposes a game; whoever accepts the challenge will be given an ax to strike the Green Knight, and in one year the Green Knight will have a chance to return the strike;
• The knights hesitate, and King Arthur prepares to accept the challenge, but then Sir Gawain steps up, takes the proferred ax, and beheads the Green Knight - "the head was hewn off and fell to the floor;"
• The story ends there..... NOT!
• The headless Green Knight bends over and picks up his body-less head! The head tells Gawain to meet him in one year at the Green Chapel.

Part II

• Sir Gawain faithfully sets out in one year to find the Green Knight. After travelling "over country wild and strange" Sir Gawain prays to the Virgin Mary, and immediately stumbles upon a castle run by Lord Bertilak. 
• Bertilak proposes another game - 
• "whatever I win in the woods I will give you at eve, 
• and all you have earned you must offer to me" (Boroff).

Part III

• Bertilak goes hunting for three days, killing a deer, a boar, and a fox. The hunting scenes are juxtaposed with scenes of Bertilak's wife unsuccessfully attempting to seduce Sir Gawain. She tells him "we are here alone" and "my body is here at hand, your each wish to fulfill," among other amorous and tempting phrases (Boroff).
• Each night Bertilak gives Sir Gawain the spoils of his hunt, and Sir Gawain gives Bertilak what he "won" during the day, one kiss, then two kisses, then three kisses (given to him by Bertilak's wife).
• Bertilak's wife does not seduce Sir Gawain, but she does give him a green girdle which will make him invincible -- "for the man that possesses this piece of silk, if he bore it on his body, belted about, there is no hand under heaven that could hew him down, for he could not be killed by any craft on earth" (Boroff).

Part IV

• Sir Gawain finds the Green Chapel and meets the Green Knight. He carries with him the green girdle, which he should have relinquished to Bertilak.
• Sir Gawain believes the green girdle will prevent his beheading, and it does.
• But then Bertilak reveals himself - Bertilak IS the Green Knight! Surprised?? 
• Bertilak tells Sir Gawain that Morgan le Fey came up with the idea of the game and the bestowing of the green girdle to test King Arthur's knight(s). 
• Sir Gawain is ashamed that although he didn't succumb to the seduction, he did fail the test of bravery, and loved his own life more than loyalty and honesty.
• "Accursed be a cowardly and covetous heart," Sir Gawain exclaims. Lord Bertilak tells Sir Gawain now that his failings are made known, he holds him "polished as a pearl, as pure and as bright as you had lived free of fault since first you were born" (Boroff).
• When Sir Gawain returns to King Arthur's Court in humility, claiming "this is the blazon of the blemish that I bear on my neck," King Arthur comforts Sir Gawain, and insists all the knights wear a "belt of bright green" in solidarity.

The Order of the Garter -- to which the green girdle relates-- was established in 1348 and is still active today in England, comprised of the Sovereign (king or queen), the Prince of Wales, and 24 other royal and high-ranking members! The motto is "shame on him who thinks ill of it."

Next week we will plumb the depths of the poem and cull out the themes, lessons, and treasures therein!

______________________________________________________________________________

Works Cited

Borroff, Marie, trans. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1967. e-book. 14 February 2019. 

"Imagined Book Promotion:  "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"" by Ken Whytock is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

British Literature - Week 5 - "Girl power" in Lanval (more Arthurian literature)

In my last post I offered a succinct introduction to Arthurian literature. Over the next few weeks I'll zero in on a few texts exhibiting "girl power!" Arthur may (or may not) have been king, but the women in Arthurian literature exert agency and power in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Let's begin with the story of Lanval.

Marie de France, the author, is (rather obvious) a woman from France! Her status as a French female underpins the story-line of Lanval. A romance, fairytale, or lai (short stories in verse, usually about people in love), the main character, Lanval, belongs to King Arthur's court, but though he gave up all he had to serve the king, King Arthur "forgot Lanval. Lanval got nothing from the King's hand." (de France). The other men envied Lanval "for being brave and generous, for his beauty and his prowess," so though he was part of the court, he felt excluded and outcast (de France).

On a journey "just for fun," he met two lovely ladies who told him their lady sent them to bring Lanval to her. He did not hesitate! Lanval was brought to a pavilion, and taken to a woman on "so rich a bed, You'd pay a castle for the sheet" (de France). You get the picture! The woman has traveled a distance to come to Lanval and "gives him her love, and what's more, her body... afterwards she gives a present: anything he may ever want he'll get, as far as his needs extend" (de France). A true fairytale--he need only ask and he can receive whatever he wants, from a beautiful woman who pursued him. She has only one requirement - he must not reveal their meeting or their love to anyone.

Lanval uses his new wealth to ransom prisoners, give to those in need, and hold feasts. When Lanval returns to King Arthur's court, Queen Guinevere tries to seduce him! Lanval is a popular guy! The queen promises her love, and Lanval rejects her, telling her he cannot betray his king. The queen then accuses him of being gay, and his responds by revealing his love for the other woman. Lanval praises the beauty and goodness of his "fairy queen." and Guinevere is beside herself, as "pain and anger drove her wild--she'd been insulted and reviled" (de France).

https://notablewomen.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/2010-05-06.png

Queen Guinevere proceeds to accuse Lanval of trying to seduce her, to her husband, King Arthur, reminiscent of the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the book of Genesis. When Lanval comes before the King to hear the accusation, he admits the existence of the fairy queen, knowing that their love will now end. Lanval grieves, believing he will never see his fairy queen again. Instead of Lanval saving the "princess," he is saved by her. The traditional fairy tale of a knight in shining armor saving a distraught princess is flipped on its proverbial head! She arrives amid much pomp and description of her beautiful body and declares, "O King, I have loved your vassal, this one here! I mean Lanval... the queen was in the wrong... may your barons set him free!" (de France).  Lanval and the maiden (his fairy queen) ride off on a horse to Avalon, the fair island, a happy ending.

What a great story! My students, especially my female students, really enjoyed this flipped fairy tale. The theme of women's empowerment wove its way through this British Literature course. Our next foray into women's empowerment in Arthurian literature will be Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Stay tuned!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Work Cited

France, Marie de. "Lanval." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. General Editor Stephen Greenblatt. Trans. Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante. Vol. 9. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 2012. 154-167. book.

British Literature - Week 4 - Arthurian Literature

Whew! We made it through Beowulf! Now let's tackle Arthurian literature.

What comes to mind when you think of Arthurian literature? Probably King Arthur, Lancelot, and Queen Guinevere are first on the list, possibly followed by Camelot, the knights of the Round Table, the Holy Grail, Merlin and Morgan le Fey, and maybe Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In our British Literature class we spent a few weeks on Arthurian literature, mainly because there is so much there, and it's a great way to learn about the time period, and how stories and myths evolve.

Arthurian literature is unique, I believe, because it has spanned so many centuries, and the "original story," if there is one, has been embellished, changed, added on to, or morphed so many times that what is "true" or "original" doesn't even seem to matter anymore. During the 6th - 12th century C.E. (same as A.D. but it stands for Common Era) originality was not of primary importance in writing. A writer, or a bard, or a poet, would take a story and re-create it for the current setting and culture. Not only did the story surrounding King Arthur go through many, many iterations, the story did not stay confined to England and the English language. Writers from the 6th century to the present time have continued the legend of King Arthur in English, Latin, Welsh, French, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Norman.

To keep track of the sources, time periods, and languages covering the myth surrounding King Arthur, I created a board. The first mention of "King Arthur" occurs in 540 C.E., and uses King Arthur as a point of reference - in  "Y Gododdin," Aneirin describes the king as "...glutting black ravens on the wall of the first,though he was not Arthur."  Hmmm. The next reference, written in Welsh by monks trying to figure out the dates of Easter, entitled "The Easter Annals," Arthur is mentioned by name: "The year 490: the battle of Badon in which Arthur bore the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and nights and Britons were the victors." Ah, so King Arthur did exist; he led his men in battle; he led his men to victory."

A few centuries later, Nennius, writing "Historia Brittonum" in Latin, describes Arthur as a solder, but not a king: "Arthur fought against the Saxons with the Kings of the Britons, but he was commander in the battles."
Not until 1136 when Geoffrey of Monmouth writes his "History of the Kings of Britain" do we see the stories we associate with King Arthur today: Merlin's magic, King Arthur's conquest of the Roman Emperor, Arthur's mortal wound and transplant to Avalon. Centuries later, in about 1400 C.E., Sir Thomas Mallory wrote Morte Darthur, the death of King Arthur, and penned the famous lines

Hic iacet Arthurus, rex quondam, rexque futurus. 

"Here lies Arthur, king once, king to be."

He was right - King Arthur lives on!  More next week...

British Literature - Week 3 - Beowulf and boasting

For Week 3 of our British Literature online excursion, we will look at boasting in Beowulf. Picture the setting -- a lord presides over a hall filled with knights indebted to their lord, willing to fight and die for him, thankful for the gifts he bestows. The lord, in this case King Hrothgar, cares for his men by feeding and housing them, and generously rewards their heroics.

"Muhammad Ali" by Rob Pratt is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0  

A large group of young men gather, and any time a large group of males assemble, chest-thumping will inevitably follow. This behavior did not originate in the sixth century in the land of Geats and Danes, and continues to rumble on in 2019.

Think of these examples:

"I’m not the greatest. I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ‘em out, I pick the round. I’m the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skillfullest fighter in the ring today.”

 “So…we’ll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod.” 
                                                                                     ― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

 “As I leave my competition respirator style, climb the ladder to success escalator style.”
                                                                                    – Biggie Smalls


Although your parents may have told you not to boast, as mine did, there are a few occasions where boasting is appropriate:

• In a cover letter or a resume
• On a job interview
• On a date (?)
• In a sales job
• When presenting your art, proposal, project
• In court

Please comment below to add other suggestions for kosher boasting!

Beowulf's first boast:
Resolute in his helmet, Beowulf spoke:
“Greetings to Hrothgar. I am Hygelac’s kinsman, One of his hall-troop.
When I was younger, I had great triumphs.
Then news of Grendel, Hard to ignore, reached me at home:
Sailors brought stories of the plight you suffer 
In this legendary hall, how it lies deserted,
Empty and useless once the evening light
Hides itself under Heaven’s dome.
So every elder and experience councilman
Among my people supported my resolve
To come here to you, King Hrothgar,
Because all knew of my awesome strength.
They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies
When I battled and bound five beasts,
Raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea
Slaughtered sea-brutes.
I have suffered extremes ...
my one request Is that you won’t refuse me, who have come this far,
The privilege of purifying Heorot,
With my own men to help me, and nobody else.
I have heard moreover that the monster scorns
In his reckless way to use weapons;
Therefore, to heighten Hygelac’s fame
And gladden his heart, I hereby renounce Sword and the shelter of the broad shield,
The heavy war-board: hand-to-hand
Is how it will be, a life-and-death Fight with the fiend. ...
If the battle takes me, send back
This breast-webbing that Weland fashioned
And Hrethel gave me, to Hygelac. Fate goes ever as fate must.” (Heaney)

Boasts in Beowulf include the following elements:

• Ancestry
• Kennings - see the 2-word expressions with metaphorical meanings (couch potato, rug rat) in blue
• Alliteration - notice the repeated use of the first letter in yellow
• Boast of past achievement and athletic prowess
• Boast of achievements to come
• Caesuras - a break in the middle of a line of verse in orange
• Epic diction and style - elevated word choice

My students were tasked with writing their own boasts - what a fun assignment for both the students and me. They had fun writing the boasts, and I greatly enjoyed reading them.

One of my students allowed me to show you her boast - enjoy!!

"I am, the Goddess of the suns sister,
 Daughter of a daring seamstress with the hands of God
and eyes that have seen sunsets in several skies
And of the wise jungle native, that has every answer to any question
Born under a roof where angels freely roamed,
Made me the honest, brave person I am today
because of their guidance and protection
As talent pulsed by through my parents blood
It was only fair for me to inherit a few gifts
A gift from God where a touch of strings
and vocals of an angel can reach the depths of the soul
But the grace of God did not begin with me
In order to understand my depths and who I am today
you must know of the others my mom birthed 
The Abel of my family with a hot head and Thor's fist
Pushed me into becoming the fierce warrior I am today
And the middle child, the ferocious queen of
"I am the oldest sister" that kept me humble,
Pushed me into learning my place and never getting on a high horse
We are a strong family of earth-steppers that enjoy
seeing sun rises in skies that are not from home
Our last name to match our earth loving souls--

Diana Campoverde
_____________________________________________________________________

Work Cited

Heaney, Seamus, translator. Beowulf.

http://introtoliterature.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/105858819/Sir%20Gawain%20and%20the%20Green%20Knight%20-%20Marie%20Borroff.pdf

British Literature - Week 2 - The "abject" in Beowulf

Last week I began a series on the British Literature to 1650 class I taught this spring. We looked at what "monstrous" means, and who is really monstrous in Beowulf. Reading and analyzing literature is not simply an intellectual exercise. It does not end with understanding what the author meant, or how it applied to the culture at the time it was written. All good literature has implications for the time period in which it was written, and the future, including today. Discussing literature, characters' behavior and motivation, sheds a light on why humans act the way they do--including us!

Our class looked closely at "the abject" in relation to Beowulf, but the concept applies to many other works of literature, and our modern-day lives as well. Julia Kristeva, a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and novelist, posited a theory on "the abject" which relates directly to Beowulf. According to Kristeva, "the abject refers to the human reaction (horror, vomit) to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of the distinction between subject and object or between self and other" (Felluga).

Three aspects of the abject as it relates to Beowulf include:
1) the abject person - in the case of Beowulf, Grendel--provokes a horror based on a confused mix of connection and distance. I am like this person, or I could be this person, but I can't stand this person.
2) the process of rejecting the abject person is both individual and collective. Beowulf "rejected" Grendel, and killed him in the process, but everyone in Heorot, from King Hrothgar to the maids, also rejected Grendel.
3) the abject person, the outcast, is rejected because of the eerie and threatening resemblance to the collective group. So Grendel's rejection is based not on how different he is, but on how similar he is to our hero Beowulf.

We covered this concept last week -- the differences between the hero Beowulf, and the monster Grendel, are not as stark as they initially appear.

In class, we delved into a discussion on the Border Wall and immigration. What do people fear from immigrants? From what emotional place does the animosity toward immigrants emerge? President Trump stokes the fires of anger and discontent, but the embers glowed long before he became president. President Trump's mother was born in Scotland, and his grandfather is German. His wife Melania is also an immigrant. Why the vitriol about immigrants?

If we apply the theory of the abject, people fear immigrants because they are similar, not because they are different. We are all immigrants! Only Native Americans did not immigrate to the U.S. All the rest of us can trace our lineage to another country, whether recently or centuries back, whether willing immigrants, or enslaved peoples.

Is it possible the irrational fear of immigrants is a deeper fear of what we were, what we could be, or what we could become. Is the line separating immigrants from citizens so thin we fear if immigrants could cross over to "our" side, we could also be threatened with expulsion?

Next week we will dive into boasting in Beowulf! Join us!


_________________________________________________________________________________

Work Cited

Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Kristeva: On the Abject." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date of last update, which you can find on the home page. Purdue U. Date you accessed the site. .

British Literature - Week 1 - Beowulf and the "Monstrous"

This is the first blog post in a series on British Literature to 1650-- offered at Hudson County Community College for the first time in spring 2019. I had a blast teaching this course at the North Hudson campus, with a largely Latino student population. Of the 15 students in the class, many major in English, but several major in subjects such as Liberal Arts, Early Childhood Education, and Accounting!

Covering such a vast canon of literature is daunting, requiring difficult choices. First on the list -- Beowulf. I refer not to the Angelina Jolie-as-Grendel's-mother movie version -- but the real Beowulf! We spent two weeks on this first English Epic, written in Old English that reads more like German. Beowulf's setting is current-day Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Before we began our foray into Beowulf, the class learned the roots of the Old English language. English derives from Anglo-Saxon roots, in Denmark, Norway, and Northern Germany.

Yep - our "English" language has Germanic and Scandinavian roots!

In the first third of the epic, the "hero" Beowulf defeats the "monster" Grendel, thereby saving the Danes, the hall of Heorot, and King Hrothgar. Seems pretty straightforward, right? However, like any truly great literature, the layers of meaning make Beowulf almost the opposite of straightforward.

What constitutes the "monstrous" became an overriding question in our class. Grendel kills the lords in Heorot, so he receives the label "monster." But what differentiates Beowulf and Grendel? Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. What makes one a monster and the other a hero? My students made a list of characteristics of heroes and monsters:

Heroes -                                                                           Monsters-
Just                                                                                   Blood thirsty
Courageous                                                                      Vengeful
Selfless                                                                             Selfish
Handsome                                                                        Ugly
Instill hope                                                                       Instill fear
Dynamic                                                                          Static
Forgiving                                                                         Merciless

Great list! But wait a minute. Could Beowulf and Grendel's similarities outweigh their differences?  Let's examine what they have in common:

• both outsiders to the great hall of Heorot; 
• both arrive without warning; 
• both fight without weapons; 
• both seek vengeance; 
• both kill;
• both exhibit greed. 

Hmmm - not so dissimilar now!

Beowulf's author applies an Old English word aglæca to both the hero Beowulf and the monster Grendel. Described as a "difficult and much-debated word" in Wiktionary, how could the same word describe both the hero and the monster? The line dividing the "good" hero and the "evil" monster needs evaluation. What possible characteristics could they have in common? Old English scholars define aglæca in a variety of ways, depending on the context: fierce, monster, fiend, hero, fierce warrior, formidable one.

Alexander Bruce, in "Evil Twins? The Role of the Monsters in Beowulf" argues "the [Beowulf] poet was intentionally exploiting the grammatical flexibility and ambiguity of his language to underscore subtly the point that at times we cannot distinguish between man and monster" (Bruce).

Beowulf is the first in a long line of epics with heroes and monsters. This tradition lives on in epics like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and even Avengers: Infinity Wars. Consider the character Thanos, described as a "super-villain." Does he more closely resemble Grendel, or Beowulf? Thanos embodies characteristics of both heroes and villains, carrying on the great tradition of complex characters who challenge our basic assumptions about good and evil.

Work Cited

Bruce, Alexander M. "Evil Twins? The Role of the Monsters in Beowulf." Medieval Forum. 10 January 2007. 20 May 2019. .

Historical Fiction - Part II - The Characters

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of a good story in historical fiction. The historical novel I recently finished, My Dear Hamilton, is a stellar example of how to weave history and fiction together to create a good story and believable characters. The authors, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, write that "fiction can go where historians rightly fear to tread." Novelists posit characters' motivations, attitudes, and decisions--an interior life that is unknowable where journals and diaries are non-existent.

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.—Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar.

Truth is stranger than fiction, as Mark Twain wrote in his brilliant play, Pudd'nhead Wilson, and the true parts of My Dear Hamilton are the most unbelievable, as the authors write, "the most outlandish bits are the true ones... battles, duels... scandals, riots, plagues, and mental illnesses." All these are true.

So most of the events as depicted in My Dear Hamilton are based on historical facts. The characters, especially Eliza, Alexander, and Eliza's sister Angelica, also ring true. We believe their words; we understand their reactions; and we grow to care about them. Well-rounded characters with rich interior lives who make mistakes, change their minds, and sometimes rise to meet the challenges confronting them, appear to us like people we know. They are like the people we are.

Knowing that Alexander Hamilton cheated on his wife with a woman named Maria Reynolds is a fact of history, but depicting the revelation of this betrayal, and following Eliza's reactions, causes the reader to sympathize with Eliza and excoriate Alexander. The reader is allowed to hear Eliza's thoughts when her husband admits to adultery. Alexander keeps talking and asking for forgiveness, but Eliza is off in her own world, wondering if Maria Reynolds is beautiful, wondering what they did together in bed, wondering if he ever really loved her. Eliza does not grant him the forgiveness he seeks, but meets his pleas with silence.

This is fiction--we don't know how Eliza reacted to this news of her husband's infidelity. But it feels real; it has veracity; and we are drawn in to care. Eliza does not come to forgive her husband until they both almost die from yellow fever. That conforms to personal experience as well. I wonder how many reconciliations there were after 9/11. When we are faced with our own mortality, we focus on what's really important, and we want to be close to those we love.

From My Dear Hamilton -- as Eliza decides to forgive her husband:
"But first, I forgave my husband because I was a Christian, because I loved him, and because I must never allow Maria Reynolds to define us" (Dray and Kamoie 342).

One of the most important ingredients in a good historical novel is believable characters we come to love (or hate)! Is this someone I could imagine sitting down with for a cup of tea? If they pass this test, to me they are believable characters and I, too, can predict their moves. I'm either gratified to be right, pleasingly shocked to be surprised, or aghast that the characters I knew could disappoint me. Either way, I feel like I know them, and I want to learn as much as possible about them. I'm hooked!

Historical Fiction - Part I - The Story

I'm reading My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. Well, devouring, inhaling, and imbibing are better verbs to describe my voracious appetite for this morsel of fiction--an ideal historical novel. I'm nearing the end, so I'm putting off reading it because I don't want to finish the book. You know that place where you slow down to avoid ending the pleasure of reading? That's where I'm at now. So I thought I'd blog about it, instead of finishing the book.

What makes a good historical novel? Why is one novel better than another? I read a lot of novels, probably 2-4 a month. Reading is a way for me to relax, escape, laugh, cry, and revel in the human condition. It's why I love teaching literature. Whether it's Beowulf or Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, when a writer brings to life a character, real or fictional, I want to know all about him or her. And when a writer uses the English language to describe the human condition in curious, creative, and confounding ways, I'm hooked!

A good historical novel does at least three things well:

Tell a good story-
It all comes down to the story. In historical fiction, the basic architecture of the story is set, although there is not always detailed information about historical figures. For instance, my historical novel is about the daughter of Olaudah Equiano, Joanna Vassa. Not much is known about Joanna, so most of my novel is more fictional than historical. But for a character like Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, there are several sources and books to consult.

Like a memoir, a historical novelist must make critical decisions about what to include, and what to exclude. Most people who read My Dear Hamilton will know parts of their story, and Hamilton's untimely demise. So how does a writer keep readers interested when they already know the ending? This is not unlike the challenge Sophocles faced when writing tragedies like Antigone. The audience knew Antigone would die, but how that came about, what clues led to later revelations, how the denouement was revealed, all these factors encompass the plot.

In the Prologue to My Dear Hamilton, Eliza (the novel is in first person from Eliza's perspective-- a brilliant choice) refers to her husband Alexander as, "My husband. My hero. My betrayer." At the outset readers know Eliza will be betrayed. We don't know how (unless we remember the history really well), we don't know when, and we don't know with whom... but an expectation is set up, and we want to read the story to find out the bitter details. The reader is poised to commiserate with Eliza and excoriate Alexander right from the first page. However, I grew to like and admire both of them as I read the book.

The plot is fast-moving, even with some details about battles, political wrangling, friends becoming enemies and enemies becoming friends. The political background is critically important, but the heart of the novel is the love between Eliza and Alexander, their children, parents, and siblings. It's a novel about how to live with a "great" man, and how to be a "great" spouse. And so much more!

I'm going to go back and finish the book now!

In my next post, I'll write about creating believable and lovable characters, and in the final post, about world building.

Life is Everywhere

The point is, stories are all around us. Plots are all around us. Motivations for our characters' lives surround us daily. All we need to do is open our eyes and see the stories coming to life. One of my favorite short story writers, Jeffrey Archer, found many of his short stories in the newspaper! He would read an article and find inspiration for a short story.

Our own lives, of course, are great fodder for stories. Our feelings are not as unique as we would like to think! Our feelings of elation, confusion, grief, pride, discouragement, have all been felt by others, and by extrapolation, our characters will have similar feelings.

I mentioned in my last post that death is everywhere. But life is everywhere, too! My sons were working in my backyard digging a shallow, rectangular hole for a back patio (God bless them!). As they were digging, my oldest son noticed a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. He watched as the butterfly ate away a piece of the chrysalis and emerged. The Monarch butterfly stayed close-by on the fence. After a few hours, it spread its wings. But by the end of the day it was still there--new life, or life in a new form.

 

The analogy of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly is often used in writing, the transforming experience of changing from one form of being to another; the necessity of withdrawal from the world to instigate change; a symbol of resurrection and hope.

Indeed, just as death is all around us, so is life. When our stories face the ubiquity of death and life, they will live.