REVIEW PAGES
Monday 3/8/10: Greetings! So, here are the selected pages for your REreading for the MIDTERM Exam designed with only these pages in mind. The exam-format is given below, after these RevPp. The exam will be in 4 PARTS - 3 in-class & 1 a typed essay.
--- GILGAMESH: Remember helpful Names-Glossary for reference on 120-25.
- mid20-bottom22 ("... ancient ritual."): section #5 on the epic's hero = Gil's attributes - the epic's themes & episode-divisions
- 30-upper44: section #7 The Story: very helpful summary-overview + thematic presentation, all for our recollection
- 61: Prologue - on the epic's hero = Gil's attributes & achievements
- Enkidu's week-long encounter with the "harlot" leads to top65 ("Enkidu had forgotten ...")-upper66 ("... you are coming."): E's transformation - his longing upon being told about Gil, king of Uruk
- uppermid66-uppermid67: "Now Gilgamesh ... to Enkidu.": Gil's 2 dreams & their meanings interpreted by Ninsun, his mother - Gil's response + 69: "... Gilgamesh bent ... was sealed." = dreams confirmed
- mid89-96; "When the daylight ... he went away.": E's 2 dreams & meanings & E's emotions - E's fate and Gil's elegy (= the poem-utterance on 94-95) to the counsellors - Gil's emotions & proclamation
- upper97: "Bitterly ... life.": Gil's emotional reflections - his quest + 98: Gil's dialogue with the Man-Scorpion - his journey-quest
- top100-top103: "There was ... go back.": Gil's brief dialogue with Shamash - Gil's dialogue with Siduri: their realistic counsel/lessons and Gil's persistence in response
--- 118-119 = Ch. 7 "The Death of Gilgamesh": REread thinking of parallels with the closing scene in BEOWULF = 100-101: Ch. 43. So, these ending-chapters from both GILGAMESH & BEOWULF will form 1 topic out of 2 for the in-class Essay in PART II. See below on exam-format.
--- Also from BEOWULF for PART II's 2nd topic-option: REread 87-100 thinking of similarities between Beowulf and Wiglaf in how their characters are portrayed. Reflect on this: What socio-moral purpose did their parallel-portraits serve for this epic's ancient audience? NOTE: BEOWULF, tho' an epic adventure-story, can be read as an allegory/parable = a tale told for teaching.
--- Virgil's AENEID: In this PART III, there will be 10 quotations to be matched with numbered names from a name-bank
- 3: lines 1-19: Virgil's theme-announcement & invocation of the Muse - allusion to Juno's anger
- 12-mid13: lines344-375: Jupiter's promise to Venus, his daughter & Aeneas's mother, about Rome's imperial destiny commenced with her son's accomplishments
- top25-mid26: lines 807-864: Aeneas & Queen Dido have their first dialogue = mutual admiration and more (or, more precisely, amore)
- 54: lines 772-817: Aeneas encounters his mother, Venus, midst Troy's chaos - her counsel
- 60: lines 998-1018: Aeneas encounters his wife, Creusa, midst Troy's chaos - her counsel
- mid120-121: lines 920-978: suicide of Dido - her sister Anna's devastated response = her sorrowful indignation
- 168-mid169: lines 351-375: descending into the World Below with Aeneas ecstatically guided by Apollo's oracular priestess, the Sibyl
- 190: lines 1145-1170: Aeneas's father, Anchises, contrasts Greece's achievements with Rome's "arts" - a glimpse into the future
- 196: lines 47-59: Virgil's second invocation of the Muse - his war-tales in Italy = the "greater history" & the "greater task"
- 401-402: lines 1232-end: the final duel between Aeneas & Turnus, who is tormented by the demonic Dira - T's last words - vengeance of Aeneas for Pallas
*** EXAM-FORMAT:
--- PART I: GILGAMESH A) 2 out of 3 Short ESSAYS @ 12 pts. = 24 pts. B) 2 out of 3 PARAGRAPH-ANSWERS @ 8 pts. = 16
--- PART II: BEOWULF & GILGAMESH: only 1 Short ESSAY out of 2 @ 15 pts. EITHER 1. TOPIC: Highlight PARALLELS between the closing-scenes of GILGAMESH & BEOWULF - pages indicated above: How are the 2 admired epic-heroes commemorated as the epic-tales come to their end? OR 2. TOPIC: Highlight SIMILARITIES in character-portrayal shared by Beowulf and Wiglaf.
--- PART III: The AENEID - MATCHING QUOTATIONS to names: 10 items @ 2 pts. = 20 pts.
---PART IV: Compose a typed ESSAY - within 3 pages @ 25 pts. - in which you highlight Anglo-Saxon thematic echoes shared by the epic poem BEOWULF and 1 of the 2 elegies: either "The Wanderer" or "The Seafarer." So, the question asks you to examine thematic parallels between BEOWULF and one of the 2 elegies. For BEOWULF REread bottom51: "The king also ... troubled earth." + 67-68: King Hrothgar: "Listen to me ...will defeat you." = the wise and solemn counsel of a monarch's years and faith + esp. p.80: "... and the chieftain ... his heart." (See also note 320 on p.107.) That is, as you read the 2 poems - selecting one - eamine how the poems reflect/echo certain Anglo-Saxon themes found also in BEOWULF. Not surprising, given their Christianized Anglo-Saxon ethos. This will be due no later than the first Tuesday-class after Spring Break. Use a dictionary for words/phrases you don't understand; and feel free to consult any secondary-sources - with acknowledgements. You could even cite, if quoted, the two mini-intro-essays on the 2 elegies that I handed out the other day along with the COPYPAK. Take note that in the COPYPAK translations, Wierd = Wyrd = Fate, and "grasshopper" = wayfarer. And, of course, you must quote from BEOWULF and your chosen elegy to support your ideas with textual evidence. Feel free to consult other translations of these two very famous A-S elegies, and, if so, make appropriate acknowledgements.
*** AS mentioned above, I'm keeping the old RevPp below.
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FRIDAY 4/30/10 - GREETINGS! Here are the Review Pages for our Exam:
LADY SARASHINA - p. 31: section #1- initial "remembrance of things past"
-- 44-top46: #3 - "impatient to read ... of weeping.": Lady S as reader and writer + 46-47: " ... Mother ... to find ... Tales ... Oh, what futile conceits!": romance-stories vs. Buddhist sutras + 49: "I continued ... wasted on me ... her writing.": self-consciousness as reader & writer
-- 64: "I lived forever ... actually happen.": fantasizing Life
-- 69: "During the ... thought.": trivial pursuits vs. piety
-- 99: "Now that ... answered.": age39/40 - piety renewed - joyful optimism, but then p. 100: #25: feeling forlorn
-- 104-110: #29-34: piety & Life - emotions & reflections
MARIE de FRANCE - Her Prologue as autobiography = self-consciousness as a writer of lays - one's gifts & duty: purposeful, literary endeavors
-- As you REread all of "Lanval" take note of L's chivalric attributes - his wondrous & romantic adventures as well as his challenging encounter with Queen G. - consequences: both fortunate and unfortunate, with a happy ending: "... in a single bound ..."
-- And while "Lanval" is story-REtelling in the Arthurian tradition, yet a very different King A. from he who appears in SirG&theGK. ... How might Sir Gawain and Lanval be compared as Knights of the Round Table?
SIR GAWAIN & the GK: REread PART IV = 63-78, focussing on SirG's chivalric attributes, not least of all his piety, which is strongly manifest in his dialogue-encounters with #1) Sir B = 74-mid77 and #2) King Arthur's court (at Camelot) = mid77-78.
DANTE: Cantos I & II: the soul's journey from penitence to grace - Virgil called to the rescue by saintly women
CHAUCER: Introduction & Prologue & Part Two of the Sgt-at-Law's Tale: on story-telling and story-tellers - a saintly lady's vicissitudes presented to inspire
MARCO POLO: Prologue & Epilogue: a travel-memoir to inform the mind and stimulate the imagination
On the in-class Exam-Format + themes/matters to ponder as you REread:
PART I: 3 out of 4 Essay-style Questions @ 8 points = 24
PART II: 6 Quotations @ 4 pts. = 24
+ possibly a Bonus Question (or two) = surprise for extra credit! (if you're in the know!)
WOW! Folks, I neglected to bring the WRITING-PIECE up last class - so, let's discuss this matter DEMOCRATICALLY = all ideas created equal - yours and mine. At the moment I'm thinking 4-5 pages ..., BUT let's talk about it, OK? Open to all ideas.
So, regarding PART I, I do expect you to include pertinent story-details and key themes, with briefly quoted phrases or your own paraphrases as textual evidence supporting your ideas. Which means that you must remember what you read, of course. Not an open-book exam, rather an open-mind from which the knowledge will flow onto the page! Generalized comments, even if plausibly valid, will not suffice on their own. Here are guidelines for your REreading of specified pages + themes/issues to focus upon, and thus, easy to be well prepared:
PART I: 3 out of 4 Essay-style Questions -
1. LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY: M de F in her Prologue to "Lanval" AND Lady Sara in As I Crossed ...: sections #1 (p.31) and #3 (44-top47) express self-consciousness as writers - Parallels and Differences
2. ROYALTY & KNIGHTHOOD: King Arthur & Lanval AND King Arthur & Gawain: Contrastive Attitudes of a legendary king towards his knights
3. MEDIEVAL TALE-TELLING: Geoffrey Chaucer in the Introduction & Prologue AND Marco Polo in the Prologue & Epilogue: Differences in Subject-matter & in Purposes
4. WISE COUNSEL = Guidance for Wayward Souls: Virgil is to Dante in Cantos I & II as Sir Bertilak the GK is to Sir Gawain in pages 74-77: Similar Roles with moral fruits
PART II: This Part will consist of 6 Quotations. NAMES are to be matched to the Quotations - so, a kind of Matching-section (with a name-bank) AND there will also be short questions after each Quotation to which you must respond: for example, Who is the speaker? What is the intended meaning? Why is ...? You get the idea. One or more of the Quotations may have a blank to be filled in. So, attentively REread the pages/sections indicated above and be confident!. Course-evaluations will be on exam-day.