It's rather difficult for me to understand the concept that this poem is "The Poem". By "The Poem", or rather "The Story", I mean that it's one of the first, if not the first to ever arise from England. How am I supposed to examine a style of writing that (as far as I know) draws it's style from...nowhere! Take the works for Tolkien for example. Specifically within The Lord of The Rings, there are poems and songs that are almost identical in style and prose to Beowulf (the songs of Moria, anyone).
At this point your all scratching your heads with a slightly puzzled look on your face and absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. But if you do read Tolkien, or simply do a good deal of reading, I'm curious as to know what other works of literature are similar to Beowolf in their look and feel.
By feel I mean...it's pretty self explanatory really.
- Connor (First Post, woohoo)
A little PS to you all.
We're all in this class for a reason. For those of us who love English Class (there is not a thread of sarcasm in my writing, if you can't tell over this inferior form of communication), 3rd period is a sort of Oasis for us. I'd hope you all feel the same, and portray that in your actions. (Never be afraid to talk!)
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5 comments:
The worst is when you interrupt someone four times in a row and you get caught in the awkward "whos going first???" scenario.
I think part of the reason that we have awkward silences a bit more than we have had last year is because of the style of the discussion. No offense whatsoever to Mr. Hoffman's teaching, but I always like class discussions more when people have to raise their hands and be called upon to talk - not to limit discussion, but so that it's not a bit awkward to try to talk because I'm worried that I'm going to start right when someone else does and interrupt them. I fully understand the logic behind the current discussions, but with 20 or so people, it's just not really feasible to have a normal 'conversation', in my opinion.
I think that having a discussion in the style of last year - same idea, but with hands raised to talk to avoid interrupting others and feeling slightly hesistant to just start talking, would really help get people more involved without being nervous about it, and also just help keep the pace of conversation moving.
Thank you Connor for your kind words of encouragement (by the way, that WAS sarcastic). Apart from my vendettas against class discussions, I agree with you Connor. If you've ever read or even watched Lord of the Rings, you would make the connection. That was one of the first connections that I made to the book. For example, Hrothgar sounds like a name that Tolkien would have made up. And seeing as how Lord of the Rings probably takes place a little bit after the time of Beowulf, as in about 1000 AD, the time the book was written, it makes total sense that the Lord of the Rings names and the names in Beowulf should match. Either Tolkien did his research, or it was just a coincidence.
Hey Connor,
The book that I read for summer reading this year is 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'(SGGK), translated by Bernard O'Dohoghue.
'SGGK's author is unknown just like we don't know the real author of Beowulf.And not only it was written in a style and prose very similar to Beowulf, but also written during the Anglo-Saxon time period with King Arthur, etc. SGGK seems very similar to Beowulf with many strange mythical creatures like the Green Knight, who is one of the main characters of the book.
If you are very intrested in reading ancient British Literature, I would recommend you to read the book 'Sir Gawain and The Green Knight'.
First of all, is your name seriously Connor The Great?
Secondly, I do agree with whoever annoymous was with that post, I think we definately need hand raising during discussions, it makes everything a lot easier and I think it flows better. Well, this whole blog thing is interesting. See you guys tomorrow.
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