Week 8: Beowulf Week the second

Last week we discussed (amongst other things):

Mon:

- the question of the Christian interpolator (poet) of the manuscript narrative.

- the notion of supersession. From Grendelkin to Danes, from Danes to Geats, from Geats to Swedes, from the pagan heroic world to that of the Christian Anglo-Saxons.

- the question of the noble heathen.

Wed:

- Shield Shefing, the fatherless ancestor of the Danes, and the model of a good king.

- Grendel vs. Beowulf.

- monsters and identity construction.

- the hall vs the darkness

Friday:

- more on intimate others, on entwining, on difference and similarity.

- Grendel's mere, the other watery hall, the uncanny.

- on eating children, and how there's nothing absolutely wrong with that.

- on female monsters, and the identity work they do.



If you are interested, here is the Beowulf manuscript page.


This coming week, we'll move on to think about some more aspects of the poem, including:

- the rest of the Grendel's mother fight.

- the Dragon

- the role of women in Beowulf

- on revenge and feud as a theme

- on objects and history

Week 7: Beowulf week the first

We'll be reading and discussing Beowulf for the next two or so weeks.

We won't be going through the text in a linear fashion, but rather we'll be taking a thematic approach to the text.

On Monday, let's start with the monsters, and think about how the monstrous operates within the poem.

Things to consider:

- Grendel and his kin.
- Monstrousness and Heroism
- How we understand the Dragon

You might like to read J. R. R. Tolkien's 'Monsters and the Critics' essay.

On Wednesday, I thought we might look at "Kingship", from Scyld Scefing to Hrothgar to Beowulf, and the other examples of kingship along the way, i.e. Heremod.


We'll decide on other themes to discuss as we go along.

See you all on Monday.

RR

No Class this Friday

Remember, no class this Friday (the 12th Feb).

Have a great Reading Week.

Your 343 reading is Beowulf.  All of it.

Enjoy!

Dr Rouse

Midterm: Wednesday 10th February

The midterm for ENGL 343 is this Wednesday, in class.

It will run from 12.05 - 12.45 (40 minutes), and is worth 20% of your course grade.

You will be given FOUR short passages from texts that we have discussed and read thus far, and you will be asked to write a paragraph or so on each passage.

The passages will be labelled with the name of the text that they are drawn from.

You should point out aspects of literary, historical, and/or cultural interest, and comment on the importance of the passage to the that that it taken from.  You may also wish to mention or discuss how the passage refers to or intersects with other parts of the larger text. You may answer in bullet point form or in paragraph form.

As you will have worked out, you have 10 minutes per passage.  This should be a reasonable amount of time to make a number of compelling points and / or observations.

The midterm is closed book.  Just you, a pen, and your insightful minds.

Best wishes,

Dr Rouse


READING FOR SEMESTER BREAK

Read Beowulf.  Simples.