Final Post

My three best posts of the Semester:
1.Ah ha!
     I liked this one because it really did take me that long to realize the significance of Gilgamesh not being able to stay awake. Prior to realizing death and sleep were "twins" in Greek mythology I just thought it was quite odd that Utnapishtim would use that as a test.

2. Passive Aggressive God
    This one I re-examined my view of God and his attitudes. I'd never noticed  before how the God of the Old Testament seems to have passive aggressive issues.

3. Death in Beowulf
   Views of death in Beowulf, as well as noting the inconsistencies in religion in the text. It is fairly obvious Beowulf was originally a pagan tale which has been adopted by Christianity.

I chose these three posts because they were the ones I enjoyed writing the most and/or learned the most in the process of writing. I really enjoyed having my views changed in the process of taking this class and writing this blog.

At the beginning of this semester I didn't have an opinion of literature from this time period. The only book from this time I had read was the Bible, and that was not read as "literature". After being exposed to a wide variety of medieval literature I  was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't at all written like the bible, Gilgamesh for instance could possibly even be written by a modern author, and you can see all the major types of stories one can write in the text. 

It is interesting to see how these stories have effected modern literature as well. I had no idea Beowulf was the basis for Conan, and I would like to go check out some of the fan sites for Beowulf, showing the views of the minor characters in the text.

Throughout this semester I have learned to look at literature in different ways, rather than just reading it for pleasure, it is possible to understand other cultures and times by examining stories more thoroughly. It is also interesting how often we add things that aren't there to stories, especially in the Bible, because our "common sense" tell us it's there, even if it's not.

Some of my strengths are that I am on top of my assignments (most of the time) and I can generally motivate myself to do well. As a writer I am usually able to convey what I think to paper. A weakness would be that I tend to lose my words. I may know there's a perfect word, but often it will not come to me.

Over all, I think I earned an A or a high B this semester. I came to every class at least somewhat prepared, and tried to contribute to them. This semester I was able to learn a lot, not just about literature, but other cultures as well. I almost wish I was an English major so I could take more of the literature classes and learn about the more modern literature as well.

Different Attitudes in Hell

I was rather struck by the discription of Capaneus and how he took his punishment.
"The great one seeming to pay no heed to the fire,
who lies disdainful and scowling, so the rain
seems not to ripen him."

Comparing that discription to the rest of the men in his pariticular potion of hell who, "kindled like tinder under flint, and made/ the pain redouble-with their dancing hands."  I have to wonder why Dante chose to chide Capaneus, saying his "unquenchable pride...punishes you the more."

It seems to me Capaneus is the wiser of the people. He's resigned to his fate and in being resigned to his fate he doesn't make it worse by trying in vain to undo it.

I also found it interesting that Dante did not seem to heed the warning written on the gates of Hell. "Abandon all hope you who enter here." Virgil explains to him that this means "All fear/ Must be left here, and cowardice die." Dante is often fearful though, fainting on many occasions. When he has barely entered hell Dante, faced with just the light bursting from hell, "Began to shake; so violently..and so (he) fell as though seized by sleep." Is this because he hadn't had the same luxury, of having "Divine Justice" spur him on to turn his fear to desire?

Dante seems to have a rather bleak view of sin, which I assume reflects the wisdom of the day. Many times, Virgil tell him that the sinners have no hope, even at the second coming. Only once does he have anything hopeful to say concerning sinners, which of course I can't seem to locate now. He says that those who repented of their sins can drink the waters of lethe and enter heaven, or perhaps Purgatory? Of course it's possible I'm remembering it wrong!