We will finish "The Seventh Seal."
You are responsible for everything Irish--anything that has been on the blog so far. We will be going deeper into this as an upcoming unit. It will go nicely with the upcoming Celtic Festival!
I will be giving you some background on Irish Mythology and more Irish myths. We will pair the mythology with the work of a modern poet, William Butler Yeats. He gives a great modern interpretation of the story of Oisin, Finn's son.
Oisin (prounounced Oo-shin): his name means "little deer." Remember, that he was born to his mother while she was under enchantment.
The Irish Hero: (in general) is a multi-tasker with multiple talents. He is strong, handsome, tall, and great looking. He is a historian, a bard, a musician. He is an accomplished hunter and angler. He is also a great chef. Though he may sleep with other-worldly women, he is loyal in his heart to only one human woman. He is mentored by a male or males(usually Druid priests or wizards) and a female or females (usually young warrior-goddesses [Scathach] or old crones [Story of Finn]). He has some super-human skill, usually the great salmon leap.
Land: very important, sacred even. You belong to a place and it belongs to you. Not only is it a part of your identity, it is a part of your very being, your soul, even. In Irish mythology, there are four corners of Ireland.
Geis/ Geiss: pronounced "gaish." This is an obligation, usually resulting in serious shame if you do as directed. If I put a geiss on you that you have to celebrate my birthday with me every year, you had better do that, even if something else comes up. Usually a geiss results in the old "stuck-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place" kind of deal. In other words, there are no happy endings.
Hazel Trees/ Hazel Wands: Trees and branches with magical qualities that seem to be everywhere. Fragrant but dangerous.
Sidh or Sidhe: (pronounced "she"); where the faery people live. The Other World. Once it existed in and of itself; since the coming of Christianity, however, it exists alongside us. Every now and then a faery person will make trouble for humans. Every now and then a human gets to experience all that is good about the faery world. Most of us, however, have no experience with this world.
Tuatha de Danaan or the Danaan or the Danann: A race of giants. Original peoples of Ireland. They are immortals; they possess supernatural powers. They are tall and beautiful and stay young forever. "Children of Lir."
Tir na n'Og or Tir-nan-Oge or Tier-nan-oge: Land of Everlasting Youth. Oisin's wife, Niamh is from there. It is a kind of Garden of Eden. Everything is full of life; forever young and beautiful people live in bliss. There is beautiful music, often the harp, sometimes accompanied by a beautiful voice. No one gets ill and no one suffers. There is no war. There is plenty of good hunting, fishing, and love.
Fili or Filid (plural): keepers of history and culture; highly revered. Accomplished harpists. They possessed the power to topple kings.
Satirists: kind of like court jesters, only with more powers. There are many accounts of powerful women satirists. They also tend to have magic powers. A satirized king is a deposed king.
By the way, you could also depose a king by blinding him. Blind men could not rule. This became more common during Christian times; after all, blinding someone isn't as bad as killing someone. (Alluded to in King Lear, only with the character, Gloucester).
Saint Patrick: Often called "the Roman" because he was the son of a Roman magistrate. As a young man, Patrick was abducted by Irish pirates who sold him into slavery. He learned the language and their ways. He escaped. Later, after he had become a priest, he went back to Ireland and supposedly impressed everyone by chasing all the snakes away. In Yeats' "The Wanderings of Oisin," he's a real kill-joy. With Christianity, after all, came mortality, often symbolized in the Irish stories by the sounds of bells.
We will start reading "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (p. 169). I should also have a hand-out on Courtly Love on Thursday.
Book I will be due on Thursday and there may be a reading quiz.
On which liturgical holiday does this story begin?
On what other holiday does Gawain's adventure begin?
Where does Gawain sit?
Note the clothing: it indicates rank. Note how particular people are dressed.
Be able to describe the Green Knight.
What does the Green Knight hold in his hands?
How does Arthur greet the knight?
How does the knight respond?
Pay attention to the wonderful insults: "If he astounded them at first, yet stiller were then/ all the household in the hall, both high men and low./ The man on his mount moved in his saddle,/ / and rudely his red eyes he rolled them about,/ bent his bristling brows all brilliantly green,/ and swept round his beard to see who would rise./ When none in converse would accost him, he coughed then loudly,/ stretched himself haughtily and straightway exclaimed:/ 'What! Is this Arthur's house,' said he thereupon,/ 'the rumour of which runs through realms unnumbered?/ Where is your haughtiness, and your high conquests,/ your fierceness and fell mood, and your fine boasting?/ Now are the revels and the royalty of the Round Table/ overwhelmed by a word by one man spoken,/ for all blench now abashed ere a blow is offered!'/ With that he laughed so loud that their lord was angered,/ the blood shot for shame into his shining cheeks and face;/ as worth as wind he grew,/ so all did in that place./ Then near to the stout man drew/ the kind of fearless race,/ And said: 'Marry! Good man, 'tis madness thou askest,/ and since folly thou hast sought, thou deservest to find it. / I know no lord that is alarmed by thy loud words here" (301-325).
What "madness" or "folly" does the knight ask of the Knights of the Round Table?
What will they get in return?
Who first responds to the Knight's insults?
How is this situation similar to "Beowulf"?
Why does Gawain accept the challenge? What does he say about his reasons?
What happens in the encounter between Gawain and the Green Knight?
Thursday
Expect a reading quiz encompassing the Irish terms and characters already mentioned and Book I of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
Turn in quizzes and begin reading about Courtly Love.
Then we will read aloud part of Part II of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."
What is Michaelmas? What is to happen during this time?
What is All Hallows?
How do the other knights react to Gawain's imminent departure? Why?
Who is Gringolet?
How is Gawain attired?
How does Gawain find the castle?
Describe the man who greets him.
How does his host treat Sir Gawain?
What is significant about the following: "When blissful men at board for His birth sing blithe at heart,/ what manners high may mean/ this knight will now impart./ Who hears him will, I ween,/ of love-speech learn some art" (922-927).
Now, there will be trouble: "Then the lady longed to look at this knight;/ and from her closet she came with many comely maidens./ She was fairer in face, in her flesh and her skin,/ her proportions, her complexion, and her port than all others,/ and more lovely than Guinevere to Gawain she looked./ He came through the chancel to pay court to her grace;/ leading her by the left hand another lady was there/ who was older than she, indeed ancient she seemed,/ and held in high honour by all men about her./ But unlike in their looks those ladies appeared,/ for if the younger was youthful, yellow was the elder;/ with rose-hue the one face was richly mantled,/ rough wrinkled cheeks rolled on the other;/ on the kerchiefs of the one many clear pearls were,/ her breast and bright throat were bare displayed,/ fairer than white snow that falls on the hills;/the other was clad with a cloth that enclosed all her neck,/ enveloped was her black chin with chalk-white veils,/ her forehead folded in silk, and so fumbled all up so topped and trinketed and with trifles bedecked/ that naught was bare of that beldame but her brows all black, her two eyes and her nose and her naked lips,/ and those were hideous to behold and horribly bleared;/ that a worthy dame she was may well, fore God, be said!" (941-965).
More Later....
Friday: For Period 6: Quiz on "Sir Gawain" and the Irish terms hand-out.
For 4th and 6th: you will get a hand-out with three literary criticisms on it. You may read all three but the only one for which you are responsible is the last one, Robert J. Blanch's "Religion and Law in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." By the way, if you lose the hand-out, you can find Blanch's article through accessing Gale Resources. You should have read this and finished Sir Gawain both by next Thursday. There will be a reading quiz on the criticism and on the entirety of Gawain on Thursday.
