Eng 10A Week 2 Lecture 4 01 20 2012 Elegy poem of lament mourning loss you still have elements of it intense memories Articulates the loss and the simultaneity of the remaining memories The Seafarer I puts together the subject and the author vulnerability Line 1 true song what defines a true song limits real truth Ln 1 poems and truth Is that a plausible relationship what is our version of truth Ln 1 stresses knowledge actually put yourself in someone else s position Ln 11 12 27 30 subjective experience of suffering Requiring knowledge of being seafarer without being a seafarer Doubles as a framework for the journey not only on the sea but also through life with a Christian framework Ln 75 Memorializing against battle enemies of life the Devil Leaving a legacy The Wife s Lament Ambiguous poem who s speaking who s instigating her speech Wife spurning the lover terrible cursing of the wife More of an observation that you suffer by remembering times of joy in times of suffering Ln 50 54 Beowulf History o 1000 manuscript written o Cotton Vitellius 815 in British Library o 1705 Humphrey W noticed antiquity of the language o 1731 great fire in Ashburn House which destroyed many manuscripts manuscripts made out of vellum sheep cow skin books were somewhat preserved because they melted in the fire o 1787 transcribed the poem Thoryln sp o 1815 1st edition of Beowulf one by a Danish scholar It was read not as poetry but as history o 1801 1807 Napoleonic Wars rivalry between English and Danes o 1826 1845 English begin to propagandize that Beowulf is the start of ancient English literature About o Old Danish poem o Episodic poem 3 major episodes strung together Grendel Grendel s mother The Dragon o Christian and pagan poem simultaneous overlap except neither explain themselves Danish poem hero that defines English nationalism politics of the 18th 19th centuries When was the manuscript written o Dated 1000 but doesn t mean that the poem was written then o Written between the 8th Century and 1000 mix between oral and written poetry o Beowulf the manuscript vs Beowulf the poem o 600 1000 sometime between this time period Who wrote it Why was it written o Don t really know Most likely written by someone connected to Christianity o Entertainment via society community communication etc o Poem has story telling aspect to it o Received by a mixed audience Poem read as a historical poem rather than as poetry until 1930 JRR Tolkien identified it as poetry in his book The Monsters and the Critics Montage of Themes that are Addressed throughout the Poem o Listen draws us in grabs our attention Ln 1 o We have heard immediately changes to violent past Ln 2 o That was a good king what defines a good king What was it what is it etc Concern that there s no room for that kind of greatness wondering if the best days are behind us Ln 11 o How does power pass What of material wealth destroy it as a sign of honor Why destroy wealth when you might need it Ln 26 42 o History audacity obsession with the past What kind of deeds should be remembered forever Present or Past Ln 65 01 20 2012 01 20 2012