All Good Things Must Come to an End

    One of the most important things I’ve learned is that it is better to know a little about a lot. Meaning, when I first entered this class, I didn’t know what to expect. I genuinely thought it was going to be a class based entirely around something like Game of Thrones and about a people that were incompetent and ignorant. While the book series is close in content by the violence and sexual innuendos, that is not all this time period has to offer. This era offers more than just violence and what Shrek tells us. There is magic, intellect and passion in this time period. Margery Kempe is a prime example of passion even if it is overdramatic. Magic is something that is relevant to the tales of this time, like in Beowulf and Bisclavret. All the texts we have read this semester have shown to me that imagination is a beautiful thing. As well as fiction. Reading imaginative, fun, and thrilling texts can take you to an alternate place and it puts the world into perspective. I’ve learned that women have come a long way, and God was a fearsome entity. Fear of the unknown had a lot of influence on the environment, and men had a masculinity complex. Popularity was earned by fame and fame was earned by defending a person’s treasures be it family, land, or valuable objects. Violence was just as intriguing then as it is today and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know all of you and to hear your ideas. This class has been very insightful and invigorating. I hope you all have an exciting summer, keep reading!  

This is it

Alright Guys,

I'm late to the party, but I blog on Saturday's, so that's what I get. Well I honestly learned a lot in this class; through discussions and the blogs I've gained a new perspective on medieval times. It wasn't a dark time, it was a booming time with a lot of focus on religion and storytelling to make things interesting. My favorite part of this class was looking through the lais and stories similar to them and trying to understand why it was important for these things to be said or communicated. I learned that we (meaning progressive society with lots of technology) shouldn't be so willing to just accept why somethings are okay to discuss in medieval times but not today. We shouldn't be so willing to dismiss the value of what we can be taught about our society through one long since passed.

The Most Surprisng Thing I learned

As the semester draws to a close, I am finding it rather hard to think of something surprising that I learned. To an extent, I had a vague sense that the Medieval period had a lot of the issues that we discussed in class. For example, I knew to some extent that they held extremely anti-semitic views. As well as that women had some degree of agency. I had had previous classes kind of touch on these issues or I had encountered them myself in my own personal reading. I think what made this class interesting to me was bringing all of these ideas and thought processes together into one context and then broadening it out into many as well as applying it to the modern day. I guess I have to say what was most surprising was that these works of literature can still have so much power and influence today as they would have when they were more widely read or shared.

Coming to an End

Dear Bloggers,

With the school year and Medieval Literature coming to an end, I see that I have learned many new things about myself and this class. One thing I have learned is that I do not like to blog and I will stick to writing papers. Other than that I feel that this class has been really useful. The Middle Ages is not a time where people are stupidly running around with pitch forks and having no idea what is going on. It is a time where people are discovering their sexuality, learning about different people, and finding women to be the source of all evil. This class has taught me to not just take things for face value and look deeper. I honestly would have never guessed how many times we would have bring up penises in class, but it wasn't out of context. This class has given me a whole new perspective on the Middle Ages and that is something I will carry with me. It has taught me that I need to research and look into things before developing an arguable opinion because, before this class, all I really would have know about the Middle Ages would be from Monty Python. It has been a good semester!

Most Surprising Thing I've Learned

The most surprising/interesting thing I've learned while in this class has definitely been either how violent this time period was and also how this society viewed sex.
 I wrote a blog about all the different forms of torture that was common during the Medieval era, and there were so many insanely painful forms that I was in total and complete shock. There were ways of stretching people out enough to rip them in half, drowning women who were thought to be witches, having stakes driven through people's legs, etc. It was appalling to research this topic and to see all of the various websites that contained hundreds of ways that people were tortured.
Also I wrote a blog about sex and how intensely regulated it was during the Medieval period. There were restrictions on what time of day sex was permitted, what positions were acceptable, and who sex was acceptable to be between. The restrictions for the time of day stated that sex was only allowed during the night in complete darkness. Men were only allowed to be on top (missionary) unless they were fat, then it was acceptable for the women to be on top. There was absolutely no anal, oral, or other positions allowed ever. Sex was only allowed between a married man and woman for the strict purpose of procreation. Sex for fun was completely inappropriate.
This class has taught me a lot about Medieval times that I previously had bias towards. Medieval people weren't completely dirty and living in filth, they wore vibrant clothing, and there were times of good and happiness it wasn't all just bad and killing everyone.

Class overview

The most important thing that i learned in this class was how to pull key words out of texts to paint a vivid picture of what the story is mainly about. Another good thing that i learned and will be able to use in my business degree is to think more critically about the information in front of me. This will be key in being able to listen to everything and making a good decision based off all of the information taken in. lastly i learned how to right a paper based on poems and texts instead of just on numbers and vocabulary words.

This was a very interesting class that enlightened me on the middle ages, which is cool because i really enjoy learning about history. I would take another class like this just because it was very informative, and a different approach to learning than just a lecture. It was fun being able to hear how everyone has a different interpretation of how they see different key aspects of a story. Overall this class was fun, and had a good time in class even though I am not a morning person.

Nobody Can Top our Blog

When looking for another blog that was related to the middle ages I found this blog.

http://jekely.blogspot.com/

In this blog there are quite a few posts about the middle ages, it says that this blog is more centered around the art and its history in the middle ages. The post that I found most interesting would be the one about the Medieval treasure in a grave from the Mongol Invasion. There were many rings and other treasures that were found in this place. This blog post is mainly about the historical facts from mainly Hungary during the Middle Ages. It is a really interesting idea and topic, it also gives me some new and interesting information on the subject. It also talks about how this grave site was not the only place where they would find these things, and how they had archaeologists who would always be able to lead these things to find more treasures from the middle ages. I like this blog post cause it was more about actual physical things that were found that could be dated back to the middle ages rather than what we generally talk about on this blog which is more of the fictional things.

How Women and Men are Portrayed

When looking for a scholarly article about one of the texts i stumbled on one that went with a lot of the texts we read as a whole. The article that I read is titled Men and Women as Represented in Medieval Literature and Society. In this article there is a lot about how the women and men are thought to be portrayed, which is the men being heroic and the women being damsels in distress. In this article it is refuting that idea and saying what the stories are actually like. It also talks about how women are not usually given the main role of a story, they are generally the supporting roles to the medieval texts. Another reason it gives for having women in the stories was to recognize the men in the stories for their brave and heroic acts, even if they died which meant there would be people to mourn when they died as well. It also talks about how Grendel's mother is characterized differently since she is an outcast because she is a descendant of Cain. It says that she does not have to live up to these morals that the other women are living up to. 

After reading this article I think that it is pretty spot on with what it has to say about women in these stories. Also what it says about the men in many of the stories. This article is something that would help a person get to thinking on what women and men were thought to do in the Medieval Literature times. It not only discusses what the roles of men and women have in the texts form Medieval Literature but also what people who do not really read much of it usually think about it. It is a great way to summarize most of the readings taht we have done over the semester, because it talks about a couple of the people that we have read about in class.

http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=saberandscroll

Sumorlæcan Néawung

The title of this is supposed to mean Summer is Coming. I'm not completely certain but I tried to look it up.

This semester has been pretty interesting and I've enjoyed it a lot. Probably the most interesting thing that I have learned would have to be how to actually read the way some Medieval Literature has been written. When I first looked at how some of the texts were written I thought I would never be able to understand what they were saying. But after reading a few different pieces I started to pick up on how to actually read the texts and understand what they meant. Although I still do not know haw to read every single word I am able to now pick up what the main meaning of the text is. I can not actually pronounce how the words are written. I really thought this was an intresting class, and I'm glad that I chose to take it as an elective for my Literature class because it has helped me to get into the readings that I do and also really think about what is being written.

Endless Knowledge and Endless Thanks

Hello Everyone!

This semester has been a whirlwind, it seems like yesterday we were reading the blickling homilies. I will admit I was rather illiterate in medieval literature at the beginning of the semester; by no means do I consider myself an expert but I do believe if the time comes when I am standing face-to-face with a scholar of medieval literature I may be able to hold my own. We may not have had to memorize anything in this class, but I am prepared to astound a dinner party with my oration of the first 18 lines of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (thanks Dr. Mann). 

If I take anything away from this class it is that the Middle Ages were a vast period of time that is oftentimes overlooked. Individuals who lived during the middle ages are unseen for their contributions to literature or art or science. They are often overshadowed by the enlightenment and the renaissance. We should praise the individuals of the past for their contributions to culture, because trust me they contributed. 

The issues of the past are relevant today. For example, the use of violence throughout the different medieval texts. The same glorification of violence reigns true today. We are surrounded by violence in the news, in movies, in music: we are gradually being desensitized to it and yet this is nothing new it is a societal malady that has always existed. 

I would like to thank Dr. Mann for sharing her knowledge with us and encouraging us to open our minds and to analyze everything. Thank you for bringing enthusiasm to even the most difficult texts.

Thank you to my fellow classmates. I have so enjoyed getting to know you. You all are interesting, kind, genuine, and bright individuals. I have no doubt that your futures will be filled with abundant blessings and successes.

Goodbye dear friends, may the fourth be with you . . .

 

What I've Learned

Over the course of the last 16 weeks I have learned a lot of interesting aspects to Medieval Literature. I had an idea that I would be reading stories about knights in shining armor who come to women's rescue, but I didn't realize how many texts dealt with religion. Religion was a huge part of these author's lives and I wasn't expecting to be reading a whole lot about religion. I am not a very religious person so this concept was not only surprising to me, but I learned a lot of new concepts in regards to religion. I never thought I would get so annoyed by a saint like I did with Margery.

I also liked how we looked at stories from different theoretical perspectives. I especially liked how we deconstructed Beowulf from an environmental point of view. As I read the story I thought well if these monsters are killing men then sure Beowulf has a right to protect these people, but I didn't take into account that maybe these men were in their space and their noise invaded Grendel and his mother's privacy, which means the monsters had ever right to strike back at them. 

I also enjoyed learning about the Anglo Saxon culture because I believe it helped explain how these texts were written. We are usually seeing a male character who is honored with fame and riches for his excellent battle skills. What makes a man "a man" is how he shows it on the battle field and in return he will receive glory, honor, women, and treasure. 

Good Bye

Going through these sixteen weeks has for sure been interesting for me. I have learned many new things about medieval times. One of the most interesting things that I learned in this class was learning about how much woman differ to men in most of the stories that we read. I found it interesting that most of the stories that we read the main character was a man. When we read the few that had woman as the main character it made me want to read it more. In this time I learned that men are mostly the main character because women are thought of as to not be important. I am glad that I took this class and I found many things interesting every time I came to class. I hope that as we enter into finals week we all can stay calm, not stress, and remember why we are all here. We are almost done!! Thank you all for making our classes fun and interesting!

 

Happy Finals!

Wow. This semester was challenging and harsh. I have never stress ate so much in my life. However, I learned a lot. I learned that King Arthur was Welsh, not Anglo-Saxon. I learned that Medieval people had a very different and vibrant viewpoint on Christianity. I learned that there are professors that expect the world but don't expect a matching handbag. I had fun, pulled out all my hair, and worked my butt off. I think that my favorite part of this class was the reading. The class was focused on a specific time period but everything was so varied. I got to read about my favorite legends, and discuss them overly enthusiastically while annoying people. I liked that there were always things that everyone disagreed on but we almost always found something in common. All in all, this semester was challenging, and fun, and will probably be one of my favorite classes I have ever taken. Thank you Dr. Mann and my fellow classmates. It's been great.

What I Learned

I believe the most interesting thing that I learned in this class was the concept of sexuality in the Middle Ages, with regards to both men and women.

Homosexuality wasn't really acknowledged, at least, the difference between a man having sex with a man or a woman weren't considered entirely different nor put into different sexuality categories like they are today. Emphasis was placed on what we would define as 'hetero' relationships, but that was for child bearing purposes, not necessarily societal outcasting.

Homosexual sex and other non missionary sex was considered a 'waste of semen' and not for child bearing purposes, and was thus frowned upon, but not to any outrageous level.

Also, the idea of God and Jesus preferring 'pure virgins' was widely accepted and encouraged in this time period, discouraging any type of sex at all. There are many references in literature to purification: physically, sexually, and emotionally. The desire to be 'pure' for to earn Jesus and God's favor was widely preferred and idealized by many, and it is reflected in their literature. They took communion and refused many sexual encounters as a method to keep themselves 'pure'. Also, 'purity' was equally desired among men and women, and wasn't as one sided as it is today. Women were nearly if equal in being 'cleansed' of sexual encounters as men.

I learned a lot in terms of sexual identity, and I will carry this knowledge when I continue to read and analyze Middle English Literature.

The End

Fellow bloggers,

This semester has flown by and cannot believe this is the final blog post. This class is not like any other class I have taken. I honestly learned so much, pretty much everything we talked about this semester was new material for me. Therefore this blog post will be dedicated to the most interesting topic in medieval lit. My favorite topic so far this semester was all the Marie de France poems. I am a little more familiar with her work and have always loved it, so those were the most intriguing to me. However, I loved the discussions that were in class. I loved the directions that Dr. Mann guided us in, we pulled out many interesting, wild, and out there themes from our readings. Examples of the most interesting ones were: heterosexual love triangles, swords=penis=power, and the theme of penetration with swords = penetration in sexual activity.

This has been a fun, but informational class and I am so happy that I got the chance to be apart of it! 

Short Story: The life and death of Sir Gowther and Margery Kempe

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I wanted to do something a little more creative in this blog post. Yes, I know it's a tab longer than usual, but it's a fast read, I promise. I'm going to take a page out of Margaret Atwood's book and do a short story.

(A)Sir Gowther meets Margery Kempe. Gowther hates her, but she has a penchant for being good entertainment. Gowther grows quickly tired of her and kills her. Margery's husband, still being her husband is not too fond of the fact that his wife was just killed and gets revenge, killing Gowther.

(B) Sir Gowther meets Margery in passing at the market and runs into her again as he just begins his penitence. He listens to her screeching sobs as she fawns over his likeness to Jesus. This quickly irritates him and everyone in the market. One man says, "This young man has no tongue, weep not lady," to which Margery responds, "This creature finds this young man looks a lot like our sweet savior and God," *intense sobbing follows.* Because of all the sobbing, the crowd grows restless and attacks her in a very Julius Caesar way and kills her. In this process, Gowther also gets trampled in the mosh and dies.

(C) Sir Gowther has met Margery Kempe in passing multiple times, never before had there been an issue, but as Gowther is waiting for God to forgive him, war breaks out between the sultan and the king with whom he resides. While dressed in Black armor and fighting for the king, Gowther gets distracted, as many men do, by a woman weeping for the souls of them all in such a wailing pitch that it distracts Gowther. Both Gowther and Margery are slain because Gowther was distracted by Margery and Margery was on a battlefield, so I don't know why she didn't see it coming.

(D) Sir Gowther has achieved the White armor and Margery is coming into her sainthood, repenting for all their sins, they have never met before, but in this moment they do. Margery is making her way back from Jerusalem and Gowther is about to take over his father-in-law's kingdom, but he has made a trip home to rebuild some of the abbeys he destroyed. He meets Margery on the road and they chat for a long while. Gowther tells her his plan and she weeps tears of joy and makes a request of him. She wants to live a secluded saint's life and Gowther agrees to make accommodations for her. Unfortunately, Gowther and Margery are in the wrong place at the wrong time and both are taken out by arrows, because the hobbits want their shire back and have enlisted the help of Legolas and his army of elvish men. It all ends the same; in the end they are both killed in their pursuits of a holier life.

Both Gowther and Kempe wanted and achieved redemption in the eyes of the Lord. The question is who were they performing for? Did they do anything in the name of God or was it all in the name of their names? To bring themselves fame, no matter what is was for or the means it was achieved by, was their ultimate goal, did they win?

Arthurian Dystopian Story?

Greetings!

This post is going to be a little out there but bear with me. Part of the Arthur legend is that he will return when England needs him so I kept thinking about Arthur returning to a post-apocalyptic England. I don't know exactly how England would get into a situation where Arthur would just reappear but I do think it would be funny if Avalon just opened up and dropped Arthur (and maybe Lanval) right in the middle of Harrods.

Again, I do not have much details on this interesting story idea. Mainly because my brain just likes to skips to the parts it thinks would be most interesting. So there would have to be some way that Arthur hooks up with a group of people trying to save England but he is so confused as to if it really is still England that he kind of does not believe them.

I also really want him to start off by speaking his version of the English language and then have to switch to the modern version. This switch would come with a line something along the lines of, "This language feels weird in my mouth. Are you sure this is English?"

It's highly unlikely I would ever use this idea, so if anyone of you wants it have at it! I would love to see what could be done with this.

Double your fun

I meant to say this in class today, but don't feel shy about using the blog to work out issues with your paper. You're required to keep blogging through the end of the semester (two more weeks!), so you might as well make it useful for yourself.

Potential avenues:

1.  Drafting intro or certain paragraphs for comment
2.  Explaining stumbling blocks and crowdsourcing input
3.  Posting "scraps"--things you write that are interesting but only tangentially related to your argument and therefore they have to be cut
4.  A place for reflection on the writing process

You're all in this together; might as well act like it.

Happy writing!

The Divine Proportion

Here is a question for you, fellow medieval bloggers, when you read a text do you ever look for patterns? Common numbers, images, colors, symbols?

When we read Cleanness, did you notice anything peculiar about the way the text was set up? I know a handful of us were confused by the speaker of the first part  and how within one text there were stories within stories, which were all connected by a common theme.

In the article, Importance of Medieval Numerology and the Effects Upon Meaning in the Works of the Gawain- Poet, Cusimano explores the possible patterns of certain medieval works including Cleanness. Cusimano states that the text follows a common homiletic tradition which is the division of subject into three parts and unified by a common theme.

Cusimano also explains that this structure directly reflects the concept of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all within one divine creator. Three parts to a whole. (The Divine Proportion)

In Cleanness, we have the story of the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Belshazzar. In each story we are shown how God deals with sin or uncleanness. These stories may all be different, however, they are unified with the common theme of the ways individuals can be spiritually unclean, much of which is evidenced through their actions.

By seeking out the possible patterns of a text you are actively pursuing much more than just the gist of the text. You will begin questioning why the text was written this way or that way, a curiosity will grow, and you will find yourself with opinions and beliefs that stretch far beyond, "eh I liked it."

Cusimano's article opened my eyes to literary numerology which answered questions I really wasn't aware I had, I can say for certain that in the future my mind will be more attune to the possible patterns within literary works.

If you would like to read the full article you can follow the link here: http://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2203&context=td

The Concept of Feminine Ugliness in Medieval English Poetry

Since I have chosen to write my final paper about the portrayal of women in Medieval literature I figured I would look up some scholarly articles about this topic. I found this article that discusses the concept of feminine ugliness and I thought it was very interesting because this is a concept I plan to write about in my paper. Here are a few of the points that the authors make about how feminine ugliness was portrayed in Medieval poetry.

Ugliness-definition through contrast. In order for the authors to explain this concept they had to define what beauty was at the time. 

"Female hair had to be long and blonde; foreheads had to be smooth and moderate-sized; eyebrows had to be delicate; a chest had to be white; breasts had to be firm and little, and the like" (Curry 3). 

"Whiteness was the unquestionable norm. Apart from such idealizations, it was also customary to emphasize women's beauty with comparisons to beautiful things such as lilies, the rising sun, the nightly sky, or red roses" (Evans 233). 

The authors state that ugliness was the exact opposite of these features and that is how Medieval poetry perceived women who were ugly. They would be explained as the opposite of these features. 

This next one is my favorite! Ugliness- stigma of inadequacy. This is another way that authors portrayed women and their ugliness by showing their lack in certain feminine fields. 

"When it came to women, descriptions of beauty accorded with the medieval demand that a respectable damsel had to act as the "desirable object of conquest and love" and motherhood (Kasten 256), while highlighting her ugliness was to reveal her assumed shortcomings in these fields." 

So basically women who were seen  as beautiful in these texts were damsels in distress that needed a strong man to swoop in and save them and if a women didn't have those qualities she was seen as ugly. How about instead of seeing her as ugly she should be seen as a powerful woman who could do just fine on her own without needing a man to rescue her! 

My question to all of you is where have we seen this portrayal in the texts that we have read this semester? Were the women portrayed in the same light as the damsel in distress or were they portrayed in a different way? 

I found this article to be very interesting and it is worth taking a look at especially if your final paper will be about the portrayal of women in the texts that we have read this semester.

• Dominik Jesse 

, 2015, The Concept of Feminine Ugliness in Medieval English Poetry, München, GRIN Verlag, http://www.grin.com/de/e-book/305985/the-concept-of-feminine-ugliness-in-medieval-english-poetr

http://www.grin.com/de/e-book/305985/the-concept-of-feminine-ugliness-in-medieval-english-poetry



This is a depiction of Dame Ragnelle!



This is the typical depiction of what it mean to be a "beautiful women". We can see that she clearly has long hair, she is pale, and she is able to attract a man. 

New Dialogue between Kind Arthur & Lancelot

Dialogue between King Arthur & Lancelot. Lancelot is in charge of the King’s troops.

King: “Have many days have you searched for the holy grail?”

Lancelot: “Only a few days my king.”

King: “There was talk of a dragon over the black ridge. You and your men should go there first thing in the morning.”

Lancelot: “But why your majesty?”

King: “Because if the holy grail is suspected to be guarded then I would imagine it would be guarded by that monster. Now go and rally your men for the morning.”

Lancelot: Bows and turns to exit the throne room.

The reasons why I picked these characters to make dialogue between these two is because the subject they were discussing about I watched the 1975 Monty Python and the Holy Grail. King Arthur and Lancelot are both figures for medieval literature we hear about more than any other person. So naturally you would want these two to team up and go after something of great importance. Reading this in class also made me remember parts of this. They were best friends maybe even closer. Again I showed how close these two really were, but here Lancelot also show obedience.

Dialogue between King Arthur & Lancelot. Lancelot is in charge of the King’s troops.

King: “Have many days have you searched for the holy grail?”

Lancelot: “Only a few days my king.”

King: “There was talk of a dragon over the black ridge. You and your men should go there first thing in the morning.”

Lancelot: “But why your majesty?”

King: “Because if the holy grail is suspected to be guarded then I would imagine it would be guarded by that monster. Now go and rally your men for the morning.”

Lancelot: Bows and turns to exit the throne room.

https://www.google.com/search?q=monty+python+and+the+holy+grail+characters&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS672US674&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=619&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjckurHwpTMAhVGOD4KHTUxC4cQ_AUICCgD&dpr=1.5#imgrc=fEgBTMrxPAuK_M%3A   

Who I would like to meet

Hello bloggers!

For my blog post this week, I would like to focus on who I would like to meet! The person I would like to meet is Merlin. Merlin is a very interesting character to me. I feel that I find him so interesting because he is so different than what I thought he was going to be. I find this to be ironic because this really embodies his character; Merlin never seems to be what everyone thinks he is. Growing up, I loved watching The Sword in the Stone. (The Disney version.) In the Disney version, he was this cooky old man that had magical powers and was obviously a good guy. The first picture below is what I thought he was and would be in the text. Below that picture is a much older picture of him. These are two very different images and I feel that they depict him differently in each. Unlike the Disney version, Merlin had his own agenda; that includes disguising a man so he can trick a woman into having sex with him. (Much different from Disney.) Although these details seems to make Merlin a less desirable character, I feel that they make him more interesting. These details make me want to know him and meet him. Overall, I feel that Merlin is a complicated character who I would love to meet.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/5/56/Merlin_official.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120320065319

http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/images/mlw_0001_0003_0_img0132.jpg

Morte D'Arthur Character List

I remember hearing in class a few people saying that they had problems following the characters in Le Morte D'Arthur. I agree that there are a lot of people in these stories and it is hard to keep them straight. So below so made a bit of a chart of some of the more important characters in the story.