Prof. Katy Stavreva
ENG 211: English Survey I
Discussion Questions
The
Middle Ages
The Renaissance
The Long
18th Century
"The Wanderer" and "The Wife's Lament"
-In tone, form, and subject matter, these two poems are representative artistic expressions of their time (early Anglo-Saxon settlement of the British Isles, taking over the ruins of the Roman Empire). What do the two poems have in common? What is the prevailing attitude toward the past and the present portrayed in them?
-What are some significant differences between the two poems?
-What do we learn about Anglo-Saxon society from the poems? If weimagine the two poems as mini dramas, who are the main characters in these dramas? What are the kinds of conflict they are experiencing? What virtues did these people prize above all?
-Judging from these elegies, what could you surmise about the function of poetry in Anglo-Saxon society? Why would a person from a highly mobile military society compose such poems?
Beowulf (29-79)
-First, a word of advice. Use the tribal and genealogical charts as you're reading this epic (31). Keep in mind the key concepts at play here: fate, outsider-insider, allegiance, gratitude.
-Why open the poem about Beowulf's heroic exploits by a description of a series of funerals?
-What is the greatest good in Beowulf's culture? How is it rewarded? How can you account for the quality of the gifts exchanged here?
-What is the greatest evil? What's the role of vengeance?
-What Christian elements did you notice in the poem and how did they relate to the adventure plot?
-What are the kinds of women encountered so far in the epic? What are their social roles? Pay special attention to the way Grendel's mother is introduced after a long passage about two royal mothers. What's the effect of such "framing"?
Beowulf (79-99)
- In discussing Beowulf's character during his last fight with the dragon, is it fair to view him as only an epic character (engaged in battle and adventure) or as only a Christ-like savior?
-Beowulf ends as it opens, with depictions of a funeral. Why? What's in store for the Geats after Beowulf's death? Why do the Geats bury his gold with him? What is Beowulf's vision of the way he wants to be remembered by his people?
-If you were the scop chanting the epic of Beowulf, where would you break off for a drink of mead? How would Beowulf and other main characters in this epic appear different if you divided up your performance into two or into three parts?
"Lanval" (126-40)
-We are shifting to a new era, the High Middle Ages (also known as the Anglo-Norman or the early Middle English period). How do the royal courts described in Beowulf (Hrothgars and Hygelac's) compare to Arthur's court? What is the greatest good in the Arthurian court? The greatest evil or danger?
-Women seem to have come to the front in this romance lay, but how can we begin to describe their cultural roles? How different are they from the women of Beowulf's world?
-Does Lanval transgress? Is this poem a warning? A wistful wish (for what)? A celebration (of what)?
-I'd like to hear your comments on the narrative structure of Marie de France's lay. How many stories does she tell? What are the connecting principles / elements?
"The General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales
-You know who you will be tomorrow, but which of your fellow pilgrims is likely to spark your interest. Why? Refer to specific passages to support your choices.
-As you know from reading the online article on "Medieval Estates and Orders," late medieval English society was supposed to be strictly hierarchical ("supposed" is the key word here). Chaucer, of course, does not introduce the pilgrims in any hierarchical order, apologizes for this, but proceeds to do it in any case. Can we group the pilgrims between those who conform to their "estate" and those who don't? Does Chaucer express any sympathies for any of these groups, or for certain pilgrims in both groups?
-The narrator in the General Prologue is very different from the author. What overlaps and what differences can you detect between the narrator and the historical author?
Wyatt and Sidney (selected sonnets)
-Wyatt's sonnet, "My Galley" is a translation of Petrarch's "Passa la nave mia" (Rime 189). Compare Anna Maria Armi's translation of Petrarch's poem to Wyatt's translation. , then have each student read out a line of the translation.
-All of these are about love, but when reading them, bear in mind that Renaissance courtly love was a language of personal expression and of high politics, and that all courtiers (and not just the poets) were experts at reading and, to varying degrees, of composing in this language. Nothing more powerful, in other words, than a poem in shaping alliances and pleading favor at court. I would like you then to approach these sonnets as mini dramas, complete with a set of characters (some in conflict, some in alliance, some described, some speaking, some addressed). How do these characters develop? What do the poets expect to gain from their very elite audiences by sharing the poems with them?
Shakespeare, Sonnets (selected)
-The poetic persona in these sonnets is a desiring subject. Who/what does that speaker desire? How open is he about his desire(s)? How playful? How brazen?
-A stock scenario in the Renaissance lyric is to portray the poetic persona as torn between conflicting desirs, utterly consumed by them. Does this rhetorical position allow the poet to exert any power, whether political, or personal, or erotic?
John Donne, from Songs and Sonnets
-How would you describe the poetic persona in these poems? How does he differ from the poetic personas in Wyatt's, or Sidney's, or Shakespeare's sonnets?
-Donne's imagery is at once complex and deliberately shocking. Try sketching out mentally the way he develops an image; what are the connections between each stage of development? Also, try vizualizing what the the lines suggest about the physical actions of the poetic persona. Wyatt steered close to Petrarchan models: what is Donne's attitude to poetic conventions and tradition?
-What happened to poetry writing as a means of courlty promotion in "The Cannonization"? Is this poem a hymn to romantic love or an overblown parody of the language of love?
Elizabeth I
-What do we learn about the poetic "I" in the sonnet "On Monsieur's Departure"? Who is the other self, whom the poetic persona has turned away from? What are the rhetorical goals of this sonnet?
-How important is the language of romantic love to Elizabeth's "Speech to the Troops at Tilbury"? How does the poetic persona of the sonnet compare to the public persona of this speech?
Spenser, The Fairie Queene, Introduction, "A Letter of the Authors," Book One, Canto One
-How does Spenser suggest we read The Fairie Queene in "The Letter of the Authors"? What goals of reading does he set out?
-What do find out about the characters of the Red Crosse Knight, Archimago, and Una? How do we find out the nature of these characters (what means of knowing are suggested and which ones turn out to be the trustworthy ones)? Refer to specific passages.
-What kind of a hero is the Red Crosse Knight? What kind of development does he undergo? How does he compare to Beowulf?
Jonson, Masque of Blackness
Click here for a study guide/discussion questions.
Donne, Holy Sonnets
Click here for a study guide/discussion questions.
Lanyer, "Eve's Apology"
Milton, Paradise Lost
Addison, Cavendish, and Swift
-The new science can easily be described as the most fascinating phenomenon in England after the Restoration. What are the dimensions of this fascination? How central is science to courtly life and to life outside the court? Is it an obsession, a divine tool, a fashion, a tool for social reform, or what?
-How is the man/woman of science portrayed? How does each discovery change his sense of self?
- Milton portrayed the conflict between faith and reason in book 9 of Paradise Lost as a fortunate tragedy. How do the readings for today portray the new relationship between religious belief and reason/scientific inquiry after the Restoration?
Behn, Oroonoko and Equitano, The Interesting Narrative
Behn, Rochester, Astell, Montagu
-Our Maker bids increase, who bids abstain
But our Destroyer, foe to God and Man?
Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true source
Of human ofspring, sole proprietie,
In Paradise of all things common else.(John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4: 748-52)
What happened to Milton's ideal of married love after the Restoration, according to Behn,Astell, Montagu, and Rochester?
