Here are the questions for weeks 1 - 3. Please use the comments section to post your answers. Do not make a new blog:
1. What genres do the following texts belong to?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to cite from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to cite from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
ReplyDeleteHow did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
An expert of both Old English and Norse mythology, Tolkien's novels such as The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, it is heavily influenced by Northern European folklore. Edda is one main example.
In the Grimnismal prose, we have seen Odin and Frigg quarrelled over the achievements of their children and foster children. In order to settle this once for all, Odin was seen as disguised as Grimni, 'The Hooded One', visit his foster child, Geirröd, and his family. Frigg, who could not be undone, sent her maiden, Fulla, to warn Geirröd, of the 'Hooded One' coming. Therefore, Odin was met with hostility. In the end, Geirröd was killed by his own sword and Geirröd's son, Agnar, who impressed Odin, became king
Thou art drunk, Geirröd, thou hast drunk too deep; thou art bereft of much since thou hast lost my favour, the favour of Odin and all the Einherjar. I have told thee much, but thou hast minded little. Thy friends betray thee: I see my friend's sword lie drenched in blood. Now shall Odin have the sword-weary slain; I know thy life is ended, the Fates are ungracious. Now thou canst see Odin: come near me, if thou canst.”
I know that the quote does not answer the above question but I think the comparison between Odin in Grimnismal and Gandalf in The Hobbit is quite remarkable. Gandalf was heavily stereotyped as Odin. Both often wear disguises not to reveal their identity. Both are seen as a father figure, they want justice to be served. Both of them are identical looking similar to Father Time in modern era and Merlin which began in the early 11th century. They had the long grey beard, wise and all of them wield a magic staff.
As to why J.R Tolkien was an expert in Old English, he even named his fantastical world, Middle Earth. It is almost identical to the Old English version of the words; middern-erd. This title appeared in the later part of the thirteenth century. It describes to the people at the time, the living world. it is an ancient name for the oikoumenē, the abiding place of Men. Not Heaven, not Hell but the living world you and I are in.
But Tolkien was not the first modern writer to use that word or that title to be exact. The Bard, William Shakespeare, used middern erd in his work, 'The Merry Wives Of Windsor' and Hawthorne used it in his 'The Marble Faun'
In fact, The Shire, notably for the hobbits' homeland, Tolkien takes from Anglo-Saxon word, the Scir, an administrative district. Furthermore, the Rohirrim, the people of the realm of Rohan. They speak a language, Rohirric, rendered by Tolkien as the Mercian dialect of Old English. In addition to their speech, their names also take roots in Old English.
One particular low, wet region in Eastfarthing is called the Marish, a word from the Anglo-Norman mareis, meaning swamp. Again, this is not a unique Tolkien usage; the word has been in occasional usage since the 14th century. Spenser uses it in the Faerie Queene, as does Tennyson in Dying Swan.
This is a particularly good answer, David.
ReplyDeleteHi David. When Tolkien made up the Elvish and Orcish languages for LOTR, he was deeply influenced by Old Norse - we must remember that Tolkien was a linguist by training!
ReplyDelete