Medieval

We started reading the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales but only got to about 2 or 3 pages. By far we learnt about the Knight, his son the Squire, his servant the Yeoman and the Nun.

The brief biography of the writer, Geoffrey Chaucer, otherwise known as the Father of English literature was interesting. As a Cantonese speaker, I once had a silly little misconception that English literature means all kinds of literature that's in English, and totally forgot that they are also the literature of the country England. Somehow when I was going through the lines of Chaucer's biography I thought about this and it made me laugh. :D 

Moving On

Today we wrapped up the Anglo-Saxon Period with a comparison between the two translations of Beowulf. I'm so glad that we're finally starting on ballads because they seem a lot more interesting.

We screened through one called "Bonny Barbara Allan" and it reminded me of a similar form of poetry in Chinese literature. Ci 宋詞 was a kind of poetry that was meant to be sung, it was most popular in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

A beautifully written Ci that later became one of the most well-known song of Chinese culture

Dismemberment

Honestly I don't like Beowulf. The whole hero versus monster thing doesn't appeal to me very much in this ancient setting. But as one of the earliest work in the history of English literature, it definitely has something for us to learn from.

Grendel
Saw that his strength was deserting him, his claws Bound fast, Higlac’s brave follower tearing at His hands. The monster’s hatred rose higher, But his power had gone. He twisted in pain, And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder Snapped, muscle and bone split And broke. The battle was over, Beowulf Had been granted new glory: Grendel escaped, But wounded as he was could flee to his den, His miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh, Only to die, to wait for the end Of all his days.

The battle with Grendel is the climax of the poem. 

The anonymous writer makes good use of alliteration to build up the scene of the intense battle. Examples like "bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder| Snapped" and "bone split| And broke"  stress on the defeat of Grendel while "granted new glory: Grendel escaped" emphasizes on the delightful successful of Beowulf. The use of kenning - "Higlac's brave follower" - that describes Beowulf provides more dimensions to the character and "His miserable hole" that describes Grendel's home compliments the flow of the story.