E 201: Major British Authors I

We meet MWF 10:10 – 11:00 in South College E470

WEEK 5 Medieval Epics

M 3 Oct. Barbarian Death Rituals

• Read Dream of the Rood
• Read Adler, How to Read, chapter 12
• Article on tree-trunk burials (i.e., Norse World Tree)
• Worksheet for Friday

 

M 3 Oct. Barbarian Death Rituals

• Read Dream of the Rood
• Read Barbarian Rites
• The poem asks us to think about how objects become meaningful symbols. Here are some notes on the symbolic meaning of colors.

 

F 7 Oct. Marie de France

• Short Paper on Rood due Wedensday (2 pp.): compare the funeral elements in Ibn Fadlan's report on the Volga Rus with funeral elements in Rood.
• Worksheets due: Rood
• Read Lanval;
• Read 201 site: Medieval period.
• Read 201 site: Marie de France
• Read 201 site: Medieval major authors.
• Midterm Paper handout

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Paper for Quiz. Due 12 October 2022. 1.5 to 2 pages, double-spaced. Compare the funeral elements in Ibn Fadlan’s report on the Volga Rus with funeral elements in Rood. For example, the Rus king is buried then dug up again. So is the Rood. The report by Ibn Fadlan is found inBarbarian Rites, the reading you were supposed to do for Wednesday. Make a descriptive list. At the end, offer some thoughts on the parallels.

If you're interested, here is a brief explanation of medieval Catholicism, the religion that provided much of the imagery and language for medieval stories.

And here is a (graduate-level) handout on neo-Platonism, one of the major philosophical systems that domianted medieval universities like Oxford and Cambridge.

And here is a Norwegian stave church, built to look like Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Norse myth. Note the dragons on the roof.

Key:

September

October

November

December

Academic Schedule