I had a family emergency on Wednesday January 28,2009

Hey I am just informing everybody who might not have received my email, my daddy was in a bad car accident and I had to go home (Atlanta). I am going to get caught up on my blogs tomm.
As far as our action news report goes on Wednesday could someone kinda fill me on what is to be expected on Wednesday and are we going to talk on Monday about it?
Talk to someone soon!

virtue vs brute

Hey look it's Sir Gawain beheading the Green Knight. Interestingly enough it was pure chivary to behead someone in this book. Contrary to Beowulf where he had to kill to protect the people. Sir Gawain is killing to protect his pride. Even though the Green Knight didn't die. it's still the same idea except in Beowulf the monsters were real to the people. I don't know if Sir Gawains people know if the Green Kinght is mythical or not but I'm assuming that they do know he not real because no ones' all green and huge in their village accept for the Green Knight and he's from out of town anyway. I'm trying to think of how truth fits into this story . apart form the fact that Sir Gawain's crest is a five piont star. I don;t get it yet. but when I do I'll let you know.

This image is Grendel's mother fighting off Beowulf.






The rest of these are some nifty images of Beowulf and Grendel, I thought it added a little umph to the story seeing the supposed monster Grendel!

Beowulf

I am wondering what the lines 43-45 mean? "they decked his body no less bountifully with offerings than those first ones did who cast him away when he was a child"? Was Sheild abandoned as a child? This part somewhat puzzled me. This story seems to show how men felt about women during this time. Men treated women with respect although they never mention thier names in writing, is it only writing the do this in, or rather in real life also? At first reading line113 "the giants too who strove with God" It made me wonder why the demons would strive to be with God? But looking at the meanings of strove, one of them means to contend in opposition or battle. This makes more sense. One thing I found odd was, why does Grendel only come out at night? No one seems to wonder, but I do. Demons are not know to only come out at night. This makes me also wonder if Grendel is a symbol for the greed in the King, who HAD to built the most brilliant and wonderful meed hall ever. Skipping ahead while on topic ... At the end Beowulf has to defeat a Dragon. Lines 3076 "Often when one man follows his own will many are hurt. THis happened to us. Nothing we advised could ever convince the prince we loved, our land's guardian, not to vex the custodian of the gold, let him lie where he was long accustomed, lurk there under the earth until the end of the world." I can not decide if these lines are refering to the dragon or to Beowulf? Let's think the "land's guardian" is the dragon, Beowulf is said to have "kept our coffers and our kingdon safe"(3005) Then they would be basically the same thing right? Maybe the dragon is the demon inside Beowulf, Demon of what though? His want of everlasting fame? Beowulf says "I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning", for his ego maybe? Because he ALWAYS has to win the fight? He goes on to tell his men "this fight is not yours, nor is it up to any man except me to measure his strength against the monster or to prove his worth"(2532-2535) Maybe this story is about men facing their monsters within?

Sir Gawain and the Green knight

I just want to say that this poem is harder to read then Beowulf, if you haven't noticed. I've been reading it out loud in an Irish/ old English accent to make it more interesting. Surprisingly enough ,it has totally been working for me. Anyway, is Sir Gawain gay? There is one part on pg. 185 line 1110-1125 and i had to read it a few times. Either I'm not understanding this at all or it seems like he kissed the Lord of this castle and then went to bed with him. He went to bed with someone, either way. Is there anyone who has clarification on this, please let me know. i don't think he's gay because everyone is quite catholic but that still doesn't mean anything.
There are one or two things that i really like about this poem thus far. One is the plot. the fact that it's kinda mid-evil science fiction is pretty sweet. The green knight is crazy. he gets his head cut off and picks it up and rides off like it's nothing. There's not much more that one can say about that. I don't see a deeper meaning to the fact that Sir Gawain chopped this guys head off all in good fun being some kind of chivalrous knight that he is. i really felt the part when Sir Gawain was riding all alone in the woods and swamp land far away from home I was thinking I've felt like that before. i kinda thought about life ya know, there are times in life when you have to go out and do it on your own. there is no one there to help you and it's just you and God. your accountable to no man. to many days of that and one might go crazy. i like that when Sir Gawain prayed his prayer was answer immediately. i have more to write about truth but I have class and I don;t want to be late so this is all i have to say for right now. Oh one more thing Bonnie and I got a great hat for the Green Knight. I love his character and the way the author is super detailed with his writing. I almost feel like I'm actually there.

Why Do All These Stories Follow the Same Script?

Whe reading the first part of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", I cannot help to see the similarities between this book and Beowulf. Both stories have a central, dominant, heroic, character that takes it upon himself to step up and defend his turf. The green knight could be compared to Grendel, just as Sir Gawain could be compared to Beowulf. King Aurthur, in his old age was willing to take on the green knight"s challenge because of his pride. Gawain feels it is nessesary to protect the king, therefore he sacrifices himself in exchange for the kings life. This is similar to the way that Beowulf decided to help Hrothgar. He felt obliged to help a helpless king. It is amazing to me that so many of these old stories follow a similar path. It is kind of like the classic western. You have a sheriff and a deputy verses a band of cowboy thugs. Movies like Toombstone, Unforgiven, and Apaloosa all follow the same script. Stories like Beowulf, The Odyssey, David and Goliath, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, all follow a specific formula. Good verses evil, and a heroic character that takes on the burdon of his own people.

Ancient Terrorism

In this blog I would like to explore the notion of terrorism in the story of Beowulf. Upon reading this ancient text, it dawned on me that the dragons were not unlike middle eastern terrorists today. How many times have we turned on the television and CNN or Fox News informs us that we captured or killed another chief operative in the Al Queda terrorist network. Eventhough we capture or kill these men, terrorism and the war still continues. It is the idea of cutting the snakes head off, but it only grows back, ready to keep on fighting. I have an idea how Beowulf and Hrothgar feel. First Beowulf kills Grendel. Before the Danes can sigh a moment of relief, Grendel's mother seeks revenge for her son's death. Beowulf defeats her and another dragon simply takes her place. This dragon once again contiues the trend of terrorism upon Hrothgar's people. It seems as if it is a never ending cycle. Dragon's will keep coming because they have a real hatred for mankind. I would also like to explore the notion of the idea of "trophy" in Beowulf. After Beowulf kills Grendel's mother, he finds a dead Grendel in the lair. He cuts his head off to prove that Grendel is dead. He then takes it back to the Mead Hall. There is an example of this ritual in this modern day and age. When Saddam Hussein's children were killed early on in the Iraq war. Pictures of their dead bodies were all over the news and internet. This was done to prove that they were dead. The pictures were the trophy so to speak. It is no different than what Beowulf performed over 1000 years ago. Our society today, eventhough advanced, is not so much unlike Beowulf's time.

I guess it is all on how you look at it. The dragon had every right to defend his. Like we talked about in class people do not ever side with those who are different from the rest of us. I really enjoyed the second part of our reading assignment. It had all those characteristics of what I call a hero. Beowulf until the end was a fearless leader that would truly fight to the end for his people. As a Marine I have seen how our history of battles we have fought motivates those going into combat, This guy sounds a lot like a hero we had in the Corps by the name of Chesty Puller. This poem can definitely be used for more that just good reading. It sort of pissed me off when his loyal troops except for one ran in the face of danger. In the Marine Corps we have the 14 Leadership Traits, which some of them are Loyalty, dependability, unselfishness. Honor, Courage and Commitment are things we try to instill in young Marines, if I was still in the Marine Corps I would definitely have my Marines read this. I enjoyed the verbiage used to describe the battles...especially the path not for cowards....will wrap with you all again soon
Long Live Beowulf.....and the Mead Hall

Christianity in Beowulf

Eventhough Beowulf is a story about a pagan society. I cannot ignore the similarities, and influences that this story has to Christianity as a whole. Beowulf takes on the role as the "savior", who is sent to save the people. There is no hope for this kingdom without a savior. Beowulf brings the hope of battling, and defeating eveil, even if it means that he must sacrifice himself in the process. I'm not saying that Beowulf was a Christian. However, the unknown author obviously wrote this epic tale with a Christian faith intertwined with paganism. The same could be said for Homer's Illiad and The Odyssey. Athough thses stories were written before Christianity, they involve the role model "savior" character. I believe what this proves is that in everything from religion to fiction, it is human nature to have a crutch. This crutch often includes a central heroic character that can carry the burdon of the common man.

I Side With The Dragon

In class today I heard so many students who were not on the side of the dragon. We as people see the dragon as an evil entity, especially in the story of Beowulf. Is this dragon really so evil? Isnt he only protecting his own posessions. Why do we ridicule him when he only seeks revenge on the very people who cause him to be seclusive, and elusive, and forever hoarding? Someone brought up a good point in class today that if someone stole from either one of us, we would be pissed and we would make every effort to retrieve our stolen items. We as humans would even go as far as seeking revenge through impractical and utterly barbaric tactics. I give this example, If one were stung by a bee, one would attempt to rid the yard of bees by going after the nest. One would not simply go after one single bee, one would go after all of them to ensure that one would not be stung again. This is not so far off from the reason why the dragon decided to go after the grand hall. He sees all human beings as potential theives. Therefore it is not out of the ordinary for the dragon to blame all humans for his stolen items. He is simply doing what we as people would do if put in the same situation.

Beowulf

Out of all the epic poems I have read, if I had to pick one I would say "Beowulf " is my favorite. I think it is really neat how Grendel, who has killed tons of people and who everyone is afraid of, is scared of Beowulf. When Grendel went into Herot and went to go after Beowulf, I liked that Beowulf grabbed his arm and ripped it off, then hung it on the wall for everyone to see. This epic poem reminds of me of like a modern day bully who finally gets a taste of his own medicine. I know that Grendel is supposed to represent evil and that he kills a lot of people, but I kind of feel bad for him. Don't you ever wonder what made Grendel so mean? Sure, he was born with it, and this is an epic poem so there had to be some form of evil, but something deeper than that. Like maybe because he was raised in a swamp and hates his life. I feel bad for the guy, but at the same time he doesn't have to take out all of his anger by killing everybody in Herot...

Beowulf

Hey everybody, pray all is going well for all. I am enjoying this poem(story). I guess the kid in me enjoys about reading of a hero, but also again how it goes back to the bible. The armor, helmet and his shield all of which is what is needed according to the bible for protection against evil. As we were talking in class about the strength of this man and how he fought off evil, reminded me of Samson who fought off many soldiers without a weapon. What would life be without an imagination, like I tell my students (ROTC) reading actually takes you places you have never been and that it is up to the reader to go where ever the story leads you. I have heard from so many of my friends how boring Beowulf was and I do not agree. I would like to share this, does anybody fear learning more because it may change the way you have always believe things to be? I am not questioning my religious beliefs but sometimes knowledge or acquiring it put things in my head......peace

Let’s Take it Back a Day (Week) or Two…Shall We?

Okay so as I was telling everyone in class, I have been crazy busy and haven’t had the chance to really sit down and give this thing the time it needs.
The Persistence of English was only briefly mentioned in class, but I found it so interesting. I was amazed to find out that English is spoken by about 25% of the WORLD’S population. After I read the article, I had a discussion about it with my fiancé. He informed me that the United States doesn’t have an official language. I didn’t believe him so I looked it up and he was right. Did anyone else know that our official language isn’t English? We don’t even have an official language!!! Crazy.
Alright moving right along…
After reading The Wanderer I felt as though a strong theme was the idea of kinship. His need to be connected to his lord was so great. I really felt like this connects to a fairly new concept known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, particularly the third level—love/belonging. Maybe Abraham Maslow observed everything from the way people interacted in society to how societal interaction was expressed in English literature, such as The Wanderer. I just find it very interesting that the concept can be seen, from my point of view, in such old literature. In the final lines of The Wanderer, the narrator says “a man must never utter too quickly his breast’s passion, unless he knows first how to achieve remedy, as a leader with his courage,” which made me feel as though men have always been viewed as the epitome of masculinity. They need to keep their emotions to themselves, have the solution to the problems they face internally and get through all of this in stride. I feel like men are still viewed in that light—having to suppress their emotions in front of others. Not that it really happens that way….
In the Wife’s Lament, you could also see a very strong emotional connection from this woman to her lord. Whether the relationship was arranged or by chance, the wife still has utter respect for her lord and is completely loyal to him. That’s fine and all, but I really don’t think I would want to live in a cave under an oak tree and wait. I have ADD so I would probably forget why I was waiting and chase a butterfly.

That's all I can concentrate on for now. More of my "brilliance" later.

No weapon that is Formed against us.

I have this theory about Beowulf. on 54pg. line #1020 there is a interesting statement made about the gifts that the Danes give Beowulf for slaying Grendel. They give him: a breast -mail, a helmet and a sword. in the bible in Galatians is talks about the full armor of God. three of the pieces of armor are: the breast plate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. So my theory is, that Beowulf is a parallel of the bible. I think that a missionary went to then Scandinavia where the greats and the Danes lived and made up this story to explain to the native people about Christ. like so many missionary's do they find out about the culture and then relate to them in their own culture and telling them a story about mystical creatures but also including the underlined biblical tone the author could relate to the people on their own terms that is why Beowulf has so many biblical references. The character Beowulf himself is almost like a Christ. He comes from a distant land where is is a noble of sorts to defend people that he doesn't even know from something that they themselves, in themselves, can't protect themselves from. Like, without Jesus we can't have eternal life because we in ourselves are not righteous enough to satisfy Gods wrath against the human race. Grendel is like Satan. Jesus comes and fights him not with weapons of this world because they don't work but with his own hands he defeats the demon. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions in his hands. This story is just getting better and better.

Intro to Beowulf

I was reading the intro to Beowulf and I started to think about my mother's ancestors ,whom I believe are Danish. So I thought that was pretty neat that The author of Beowulf was from that area of the world. Why is Beowulf a poem and not a short story? What exactly classifies a piece of literature as a poem or a short story? Well Beowulf is the longest poem; I want to know why? Tomorrow in class that will be the first question that I ask. If you haven't figured it out by now I always ask a ton of questions. Don't ask me why it's just me. Kinda scary actually, sometimes I think I scare others when I ask so many questions but I don't care because I'm acquiring knowledge. Something that I thought was kinda cool about the author of Beowulf is that he " made up his own words" they call it hapax legomens and they say it better in the introduction that the author was like " original word smith", that's cool. he must have written much to come up with his own words. Or maybe back then there were less words. I guess the same is true for today with making up words. they just wouldn't be very original but instead they would be parts of word that already exist. put together to make other words. It's not very original if you ask me, but it takes a certain skill. Just like some people are good at solving number puzzles. some people a good a making new words. Cryptography always fascinated me. Hey once again this poem has a christian under tone. What did i say there is no way of getting around the fact that God is in everything. Interesting stuff. that's my theme for this year. I've discovered that i will try to extract the christian theme out of each piece of literature that we read this semester. anyway, i really like that Grendel is like the descendant of Cain, now that's scary!! okay I have to admit, I saw the movie Beowulf and I thought it was horrible. More then that I hated it. That's just because they hyped it up so much at the box office and the film it's self was really B-A-D. Back to the Christan theme. I can't wait to start reading the poem so I can discover for myself what they really are. Are Hrothgar and Beowulf really monotheistic? or are they like everyone else in that time pagan who served many gods? Maybe they were but the author himself was monotheistic and he unconsciously wrote in God. which would prove my theory correct. that no matter what the theme of any piece of literature can be brought back to God.

Hey I have been swamped with work, it is really close to graduation

I missed the first week of class, due to mis advisement, go figure! So my actual first class was on last Wednesday and I must say that my pre notion of the class was nothing of what I experienced sitting there. Dr. Kilgore is actually fun and not boring, the least I can say for some teachers. As far as the readings are concerned I am looking forward to his rendition of Beowulf and see how he explains this story to simplicity. The reading that we discussed on Wednesday about the Caedmon's Hymn, is basically like I would have to agree with Kelli, it was boring, not trying to offend anyone but it is just like most biblical stories, God is trying to deliver a message to the people by any means necessary and usually that is through other people. The story was just like every other "Moses and the burning bush story", and if you attend church like I, then you will understand why i made this reference. But as an end note I am looking forward for the rest of the year and I hope he keeps it interesting and relatively easy considering the information content.

Sorry it took me so long to write this, truth is I didn't go to class on Wednesday and I totally forgot we had to do this blog thing! Anways I figured I was supposed to read pages 1-24 and now I am supposed to talk about what I got from it?? Well, I thought that it was very interesting to learn how words come about. It seems like everything derives from latin! I have read stories from all of the periods ( Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English) in my previous English class, so I actually was aware of most of the things that they were talking about. To be honest, my old english class seems a lot like this class and I hated it! I really enjoy Dr.Kilgore, but I just am not good at understanding Beowulf, Chaucer, and things like that. With that said however, some things that I did learn and enjoyed learning was how to pronounce certain letters and words in Middle English. Reading Caedmon's Hymn to me was really boring. All I got from it was that Caedmon was given a gift to sing so he went and wrote some more versus for his song. To me stuff like this is not interesting. Maybe I am missing the point of the story (which I often am) but that was all I got from it!

Ceadmon is the "Creed" of our time

When reading Caedmon's Hymn, I could not help to ponder and attempt to decide weather or not Ceadmon's ability to sing was God given, or a simple plaecibo effect. In other words, did God truley give this illiterate man the ability to sing? Or did this man have the ability all along, only to be inspired by a simple dream. Maybe he was embarrassed to sing in front of a crowd. Or better yet maybe he wouldnt sing because he was afraid to be ridiculed. I know one thing, I wouldnt sing even if I felt I was inspired by God. For one, I cant sing and would be extremely embarrassed if I was forced by God to sing. Look at that band "Creed" for example. They suck! However, they feel they are on a mission from God to spread God's word. They do not mind however making millions of dollars in the process. When reading Ceadmon's Hymn, I felt that Caedmon sang, and overcame embarrassment, to self conciously attempt to be in the good graces with God. It is selfish in a way. Maybe he has not lived a good life, and he feels guilty that his relationship with God was in good standing. Only by learning, and being inspired to sing will he connect with God. This is how I believe "Creed" rolls! There is guilt somewhere down the line, and by singing about God, one feels better and ultimately redeemed. Bands like Creed feel that they can cure wicked paople and sick people through their inspirational music. They are in fact taking on a "Jesus" like role by curing the sick and helping the poor. Blasphemy!!

First off, I just want to say that I enjoyed class today. I love this class it's bringing a new light to the English language. Let me tell you, I was kinda intimidated of English before now. Now, I have a whole new light on things. When in your life have you ever been in a class where the teacher tells you to actually express how you feel about what your learning? It's rare and I'm excited. Now I'm in my element.
I had a few thought come up during my reading of pages 1-24 and all the poems. The theme of irony stuck out to me. I thought, what is irony? and looking further into it i found that there is really no easy way to describe it. when I think of something as being ironic I think of learning something valuable after the fact or the event has taken place. on page 6 of out book there's a good example. "Where fighting is called battle-play." Yeah that is kinda funny because when I think of playing I think of having fun. Positive things flow form playing, childhood for example. On the contrary, when I think of fighting I think of negative things like death and divorce. From my own vantage point and passed experience the words mean different things to different people. The whole thing is ironic because the words are almost opposite but they are supposed to mean the same thing. Like Voltaire talking about eating babies to feed the starving people of Ireland during the potato famine. When I fist read that (not in this class) I thought that he was serious but he was seriously rebuking the citizens for their lack of common sense. i mean, come on, is anyone really going to eat their baby? absolutely not. Now that is ironic.
I was really interested in the fact that all of the literature we read for class had the underlining theme of God. It must have been the time period because now a days it's rare to find people writing about him on purpose. I believe that people do end up writing about God with out knowing it. Although, I'm glad that the class discussion went the way it did today.

I thought this class was going to be rough as far as the first chapter, but as I read on I learned another valueable lesson, which is to give it time. As I read and start to understand the changes and contributions by others to the English language I find it more interesting and also find myself questioning our past. I honestly though that Medieval times was about war and conquest. Not about the religious movement and the authors of poetry. Never gave it much thought about the English langauge not being as pure as what I had thought it to be. The French, Germans and Indians of whom all had something to do with the shaping on modern English because of words we have borrowed and or now use. The different authors of poetry and how its translation has inspired others. What I really find fancinating is the use qoutes I though were only from the bible. This peotry or what I have read, like the bible speaks in parables in which speak of a struggle or carries a meassage. I honestly though this was going to be boring, yet I find myself wanting to read more, I think alot has to do with the relationship to my faith. I also believe it is about interpretation, by this I mean we all can read the same thing, yet get a whole different view from what is read. In "CAEDMON'S HYMN"(pg24) what grab me was the message of hope and the strength of faith. This was about a man who received the gift of song and had received it during a time that christianity was not allowed. It reminds me of when I first receive my salvation and was scared to sing in church, but because of my faith and belief in God I now can get up and sing with the best of them, just not on the same note. The Wander(Earth Walker) I found this one to be deep, in class we talked about a man who has lost the things that were important to him. It reminded me of my days in the Marines, the friends which I fought with side by side with and with whom I shared a special boond, our cause, or the mission given to us. The lessons in which it gives, for example " The wise man must be patient, must never be to hot-hearted, nor too hasty fo speach, nor too fearful, nor too glad, nor too greedy for wealth, nor ever to eager to boast before he has thought clearly" (p113) reminds me of a bible verse " It is better to heed the wiseman"s rebuke, than to listen to the song of fools" I truely enjoyed this reading because these are tools I can use when speaking to young men, in my own words of course. The Wife's Lament in which I know it is about a wife who is separated from her husband, who has to make peace with warring tribes. But again maybe I am just a sap, but it took me to my days of when I was first married....let me explain I was married in 1983 here in Beaufort S.C. to a wonderful black woman, which we have now been married to for 25 years, but I remember the differences others had and their dissagreement with our union, having to keep peace and our separation due to my numerous deployment in the Marine Corps, maybe I am just tripping, but I feel poetry takes people on different voyages, one which sometimes hurts, but also feels good.....I hope I am doing this right....Peace

English Language

Reading through the intro to English Literature I have found some pretty interesting facts. Who would have thought that the word "Lord" was formed from the old english words "loaf" and "protector", this making sense because a Lord protects his kingdom.
The text goes on to describe how many poetic writers would use a "Compound of two words in place of another as when sea becomes "whale-road" or body is called "life-house"" I find this very neat. This is a way of understanding how to interpet poetry, as many people have a hard time doing. While trying to find a deeper meaning to writing, you must look at the word combination and ponder "what do they mean?" I find reading the introduction is almost necessary for many people. If you have no background or sense of style of earlier works, you will not understand what the writers are trying to point out.