English 10A Week 1 Lecture 1 2 01 24 2012 Ambiguity Confusion Borges Argentinean the uncertainty of character identity over time Menard symbolist poetry 19th Century evoke rather than describe poetry wants to communicate emotion feeling rather than directly stating it Poetry is transformation of ideas linguistic transformation historical transformation metrical prose is that possible Prose is writing essay metrical implies verse don t count beats or stresses in essays uncertainty of it s own consumption uncertainty of how it will be revealed translation of language and how to understand the inside joke from the outside re experiencing the text when we re read books bringing something difficult Polysemy the coexistance of many possible meanings for a word or key that uncertainty personified defined Riddle question statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity Early writings are in Old English not Middle English Old English Anglo Saxon period 6th Century Norman conquest 4 manuscripts that define the period contain the Old English prose 30 000 lines of poetry appx Exeter South West section of England Exeter book contains riddles some are dirty others are very spiritual 950 Old English Anglo Saxon verse 01 24 2012 01 24 2012