Week 5: Heroic Women

This week we will be reading two heroic poems that are centred on women.

On Monday, we will turn our attention to Helene (pp. 314-35), an account of St. Helena, who discovered the resting place of the true cross (as mentioned in The Dream of the Rood).


On Wed and Friday we will be reading Judith (Anthology, pp. 401-23).

As you read the poem, please be alert for:

[1] aspects of heroic characterisation

[2] tensions between masculine and feminine identities

[3] the structural aspects of the word-hoard (kennings, etc.) You will be called upon to analyse these aspects of the poetic tradition in which we are working.


For those of you who want to know more about Judith, or about the many fascinating women of the medieval period, here is a useful site:



Happy reading!

Week 4: Heroic Christianity

This week we will be reading a series of poems that exhibit how the germanic heroic ethos was co-opted by Christianity during the conversionary period.

First up, we have the tale of Caedmon (see Anthology). This is the record of the first known poetry in English, and acts as a form of origin tale for Christian English poetry. But it is also the story of the miraculous appropriation of OE secular poetry for the purposes of religious praise, and one can see the continuity of social use, or purpose, in this narrative.

Next, we will be reading The Dream of the Rood (see Anthology), which will be the centre-piece of this week's reading (and is one of the most beautiful of OE poems).

We will also examine some of the material and multicultural contexts of the Dream, by looking at the Ruthwell Cross and the Death of Baldr (see Anthology, pp. 527-33)).  Also read Bede's tales of The Conversion of Edwin and of Caedmon (pp. 454-65, Anthology).

Ruthwell Cross images

Franks Casket images

Week 3: The Heroic Poet

For Monday, please read:

Widsith and Deor (both in the Anthology).


If you fancy some interweb wormhole fun, take a look at the Ƿikipædia entry for Widsith.

For Wednesday and Friday, please read:

Lay of Wayland, Eulogy on Ragnar (pp. 128-33) and Atlakvitha (The Lay of Atli, 150-62)



Class discussion:

Over the week we talked about the following things:

- The Poet as Hero.

- The Role (and utility) of Poetry within the Heroic Economy

- The importance of the circulation (movement) of treasure in the Heroic System. The way that poetry and reputation also circulate.

- We also talked about the oral vs written nature of the poems. They survive in written form, but have many aspects that we consider to be oral in nature, and - in terms of their social use - must have been public and orally performed at some point in their existence.

If you would like the listen to a number of recreations of OE poetry, here are a few links:

An interpretation of Deor (thanks to Austen Erhardt for the link). This interpreter makes the poem into song lyrics, which is a choice.  In contrast, Benjamin Bagby, one of the world's best historical musicians (when it comes to Western Europe, at least) takes more of a music - speech - music approach in his work: here we see his introduction to Beowulf.

Historical musical interpreters use a mix of archaeology, poetics, experimentation, and speculation.  Here is a short clip on the Sutton Hoo Lyre (an instrument found in the famous ship burial at Sutton Hoo).





And, as a special tribute, there is this, from my friend Carolyne Larrington.

Week 2: The Heroic Code.

This week we will be reading The Battle of Maldon. This late Anglo-Saxon poem is one of the most powerful articlulations of what we call the 'Germanic Heroic Code'. This code, first described by Tacitus, seems to have remained a central concept in Germanic societies for at least the 1000 years after Tacitus first described them.

In addition to Maldon, we will also be reading excerpts from The Germania, Y Gododdin, and Brunanburh (if we have time).

Readings for Monday:

The Battle of Maldon (in the Anthology)
Sections 1-3, 6-8, and 10-14 of the Germania

Readings for Wednesday and Friday:

The rest of The Battle of Maldon

Additional extra readings on the Heroic code which we will refer to:

Y Gododdin (in the Anthology)
Brunanburh (in the Anthology)

Remember that you need to read these texts ACTIVELY.  Make notes, engage, ask questions, be curious, be critical, come prepared!

And you might like to have a quick read of this later poetic response to Maldon.

See you all on Monday, and have a great weekend!

Dr Rouse

Week 1: The Adventus Saxonum; the cultural landscape of early medieval Britain.

Monday 4th January: Welcome and Introduction

Wæs hal everyone!  No preparation required for our first class this coming Monday (Mōnandæg).  

However, please do try to get a copy of the course text book from the bookstore (The Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic, and Anglo-Norman Literatures (Longman, 2011)), and bring it along to class (so you can start working on those shoulder muscles...).

We'll be going over the syllabus, talking about the course expectations (both yours and mine), and doing a short introduction to the Early Middle Ages in Britain.

Dates for today:

43: AD: Invasion under Claudius.

- what did the Romans ever do for us? (Roads, walls, romanitus)

410: Honorius and the withdrawal of the Legions

- romano-british rule, pressure from North and West leads to germanic mercenaries being deployed (this was a long-standing Roman practice).

449: see Anthology pp. 424-5. Adventus saxonum.

- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 890)

- myth vs reality; how can we know about the dark ages? (genetics, archaeology, place-names)

- history, rise of literacy, pre-Christian literacy, runic codes (and serving letters - thorn, ash, eh, wynn), religions, Tacitus, comparative (Norse) cultures

- the 'Dark Ages' - problems of historical knowledge

600-800: Rise of the Heptarchy

- 597 Augustine of Canterbury (from Pope Gregory the Great), 'non Angli sed angeli'.

-  Bede (see Anthology, 454), Conversion of Edwin

- also Celtic missionaries from Ireland (which leads to the 664 Synod of Whitby (Celtic vs Roman))

793-900: The Vikings

"AD. 793. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter."Entry for the year 793 in the Anglo Saxon chronicle.

871-899: Alfred

- as David: Viking Wars, Wessex

- as Solomon: wisdom, learning, 'translate certain books, which are most needful for all men to know', Law codes (weregeld and the compensatory system, 12 man jury, etc.)

924: Athelstan, Brunanburh (937), England

- Wessex ascendancy

954-1066: Danes, English, Normans

- rule of Cnut (Dane, 1018-35), Harold (1035-40), and Harthacnut (1040-42), then Edward the Confessor (1042-66).

1066 and all that: a huge change?

For Wednesday and Friday, please read:

Anthology, 421-30 (The coming of the Saxons)

Anthology, 454-66 (Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons)

Anthology, 430-40 (King Alfred)

Anthology, 449-54 (on fate and providence)

Tacitus, from the Germania

Syllabus and Readings

Welcome to 

ENGL 343: Writing in the Ruins - Early Medieval Literature in Britain

The clash of blade on the shield-wall – Grendel’s monstrous form looming through the mist – the Dragon’s roar – Odin’s blood on the world-tree – the broken ruin of a Roman town - rumours of a new God from across the sea – the song of Raven and Wolf – the first sounds of a Te Deum in a new built church – the blood cries of the sea-wolves – the lament for the passing of an age.

The literary landscape of Early Medieval Britain (c. 497 AD – 1066 AD) is linguistically and culturally diverse, a record of profound cultural change over the span of five centuries. This course is designed to introduce students to the multilingual literatures of Early Medieval Britain, a period that saw the birth of English as a language and as a literature, but one that was always is dialogue with the other languages of the British Isles.  Primarily focusing upon the surviving literature of the Anglo-Saxons (recorded in various dialects of Old English (cf. ENGL 340)), the course will also introduce students to selections of Welsh, Norse, and Latin literature from the early medieval period (all texts will be read in modern English translation).

The early British Middle Ages, often simplistically named the ‘Anglo-Saxon period’, was a complex geography of cultural and linguistic intermixture. While the colonizing pagan Anglo-Saxons (from the early sixth century onwards) eventually came to dominate the lowland areas of Britain that now encompass England, the culture and literature of the Celtic peoples survived and thrived in the West (Wales) and the North. To this mix we add the culture of the Scandinavian peoples, who came first to burn and raid, but later to settle and conquer. Interweaving with all these vernaculars was the international language of medieval Europe, the Latin of the Church and (by default) of international intellectual culture. This course will seek to understand the origins of English literature in its profoundly multilingual and postcolonial contexts.


Course Expectations:

The minimum expectations for the course will be (a) that you come to class having read the required texts, (b) that you have thought critically about the texts, and arrive ready to ask questions and engage in discussion, and (c) that you actively engage with the process of building a community of co-learners with your peers. I will also endeavour to arrive ready to engage in discussion of these fascinating texts, and will strive to act as both guide and fellow pilgrim in our mutual journey of exploration.

This class will be an electronic device-free zone. Laptops, tablets, and cell-phones will not be permitted to be used in class unless explicitly called for. If you require the use of a laptop for reasons of Access and Diversity, please let me know.  If you would like to know more about my reasons for having an electronic device free classroom, please read the follwoing two articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/25/why-a-leading-professor-of-new-media-just-banned-technology-use-in-class/

and
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/opinion/sunday/lecture-me-really.html?_r=3

Assessment: One midterm (20%); one research essay (30%); one exam (50%).

Midterm: Wednesday 10th February

Research Essay: due Monday 4th April, in class. 

This research essay should be c. 2500 words. It should make use of secondary criticism, and will a theme or area of interest the extends across one or more texts.  Penalties for late submission of the research essay will be 5% per day (unless an extension has been agreed beforehand, or in case of medical emergency).

Required Text: The Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic, and Anglo-Norman Literatures (Longman, 2011). There will be some additional online readings linked through this course blog.

Professor Robert Rouse
Department of English
robert.rouse@ubc.ca

Order of readings: see individual weekly blog posts.