Whatever position you take, be sure to address the points Snell makes in her article and explain your reasoning soundly. Don't forget to respond to classmates' perspectives.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Medieval Literature: Why Bother?
In an article entitled "Why Bother with Beowulf?" Melissa Snell claims that medieval literature provides a "gateway to our past." She contends it is important, enriching, and enlightening to read literature that is centuries old.
Do you agree? Are works like Beowulf still relevant? Is there still something profound to be gained from reading them? Should we throw them out of our English course curriculum in favor of newer, more modern works? If so, in what ways are modern works more relevant to our lives?
Whatever position you take, be sure to address the points Snell makes in her article and explain your reasoning soundly. Don't forget to respond to classmates' perspectives.
Whatever position you take, be sure to address the points Snell makes in her article and explain your reasoning soundly. Don't forget to respond to classmates' perspectives.
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I think that we should still read these novels, novellas and epic poems. They can be gory at times but they can also teach us how life was lived back then. Sometimes they can even influence the way we live our own lives. "We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave -- which, in many ways, are like our own views." (Why Bother With Beowulf Article). Besides it might even teach us something that has changed over the years that shouldn't have changed.
ReplyDeleteOne reason people might not like reading Beowulf or any other Middle Age novel, novella, or epic poem, is because they don't understand Old English and they don't plan on learning it. But you don't have to read the classics in Old English. You can get a different version of the book that is in our Modern English. So either way you don't need to worry about Old English. Just read a different version.
I agree with you, saying, "Sometimes the can influence the way we live our own lives." For example, when almost everyone was younger, we would play kings and queens, knights and princesses, etc. not some game on our iPhones or iPads.
Delete~Karina V卌
I agree with Saskia that old English novels, poems, and novellas can teach us what life was like in the time they were written.I also think that these pieces of literature can teach us important life lessons that we can use throughout our life. One example is in Beowulf when Hrothgar and his men try to defeat the great beast Grendel with violence. they fail miserably and Beowulf comes to help them. Beowulf uses his mind to defeat Grendel once and for all.
ReplyDeletepeople can see the way that citizens lived back in the middle ages through these works. Historymendel.com says, "everything about them illustrates the way things were at the time they were written." this can also help modern day authors to create stories from this time. thee works help many different people such as archaeologists, historians, and authors in the work of studying the middle ages. this shows that the ancient literature from the middle ages should be kept and read because they can teach us many things.
I think that old books like beowulf are not relevant any more.I think this for a few reasons. One is that the way people do things is different now than it was back then. Further more, Now a days if you go to war with nothing to fight with but your hands trying to take the peaceful option. You will get killed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don’t think that Beowulf and other old stories are relevant. In addition I think that literature from this time period is something only for reading. Not for actually something you can learn from or use in everyday life. For instance we aren’t going to need to ever need to stand up to something so dangerous that many others have been hurt form. That is why I think that stories like Beowulf should be disregarded In curriculum today.
Interesting perspective!
DeleteI agree with Melissa Snell and Saskia, when they state that we should still read these older works of literature. I feel that these books are still relevant and should be kept in the English curriculum. For example, "We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave -- which, in many ways, are like our own views." (Why Bother With Beowulf Article). This shows, that we can even learn very valuable lessons in these works. As Saskia states,"It might even teach us something that has changed over the years that shouldn't have changed."
ReplyDeleteAnother thing people say is:"Beowulf is so long I couldn't possibly finish it in this lifetime, especially if I have to learn Old English first"(Why Bother With Beowulf Article). This is another statement that can be proven wrong. Many older works have been translated from Old English to our language, Moden English, by many scholars. These works of literature should be kept in our curriculum because we can learn about older lifestyles and we can be taught more valuable lessons. Works like Beowulf have already been translated just to make it easier for students and others to start reading and analyzing these texts.
I also agree with Saskia and Jack, that we should still read novels, novellas, and epic poems from the old times. For one they are pieces of the past, and by reading them, we could learn about the past for example, "Medieval literature also provides modern readers with intriguing clues to life in the Middle Ages" (Why Bother with Beowulf). This shows that old literature can can tell us bits and pieces about life back then. Plus, we would be able to learn lessons about that could help us to this day. In addition, Old literature is well old, so as more time pasts, the less like we will be able to read and research them due to them ether getting lost or destroyed.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason is like what Saskia said, the language or in this case old English. People may not want to learn it because it like learning a whole another language. However, you could always read the modern version of it and still learn and enjoy it. Some may not like reading it like this but there could also be other alternatives. So overall I think we should still read old stories and poems in out curriculum today.
Nice use of textual evidence to support your p-o-v!
DeleteAs well as being windows to a time where the world did not have iPhones, laptops, gaming consoles, and other technology related objects, literature from the past, "Medieval literature...provides modern readers with intriguing clues to life in the Middle Ages" (Why Bother with Beowulf). Old literature like this should still be read in modern times, not only for enjoyment but education. As many have stated in the comments before this one, stories like Beowulf give us a peek at the life Europeans and other people lived back then. Some stories influenced many modern works today - some books that we enjoy may not even exist if it weren't for the old works of literature.
ReplyDeleteMedieval literature can also be easily lost. With oral traditions and fogged memories, our generation is lucky to have the stories at all. If we were to stop reading them now, these stories will disappear. The work of translators and writers would be lost along with the stories. Old literature is immensely underrated. Many claim that Old English is gibberish and that one cannot comprehend what the words are. However, historians have translated many of the old works into modern English. Take Robert Nye's Beowulf: A New Retelling, for example. His book is a translated version of Beowulf and is an enjoyable piece of literature.
We read it in class and I do believe many of us loved reading his book. Old literature like this should not disappear. Instead, it should appear more frequently in our curriculum.
-- Jun
Great point about the danger of "losing" these stories.
DeleteI agree that we should embrace these works. They have great historical value. As Snell said, they are, “a piece of evidence from the past.” These epics, although the quests are far from the truth, portray Medieval times truthfully. In addition, epics and other forms of medieval literature give you an accurate representation of how the scenery and landscape looked like using deep imagery.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason we should keep medieval literature works is that they are interesting to read. Once you look past the fact that they are long, they are fun to read. I, as well as most of us in the class as Jun said, really enjoy the plot and the medieval fighting sections in Beowulf. They can get pretty gruesome especially if Unferth has anything to do with it. Nowadays you don’t even have to learn Old English to read them because the people Snell referred to as, “heroic scholars” have already translated the works into modern English. Medieval literature should be kept and cherished for its rich historical value and for entertainment purposes.
Yes! If Unferth is involved, you know you're going to get grossed out! :)
DeleteMedieval literature is "a piece of evidence from the past", as Snell said. Like Saskia said, they can be gruesome sometimes, but they all teach us something about those times. "We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave" (Why Bother with Beowulf?). The epic poems and other Medieval literature can also teach about the Old English.
ReplyDeleteMedieval literature can be interesting as well. As Jun said, most of our class enjoyed reading Beowulf. Why? Probably because of all the interesting details and those gruel moments of Grendel. "Beowulf is so long I couldn't possibly finish it in this lifetime, especially if I have to learn Old English first."(Why Bother with Beowulf?) As Snell mentioned that "heroic scholars" in the past have already translated the Old English into Modern English. So now we can easily understand the Medieval literature, making it more interesting for us.
Good point about how translations can make the reading of these texts more enjoyable, but we can still get the historical value out of them.
DeleteI think that we should embrace these works because they are a big part of our history and they give us clues to what life was in the Middle Ages. "We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave."(Beowulf Article) As you can see, we can learn a lot from Medieval literature and epic poems, they show us how life was. "I feel as if I know what it was like to live in those days and to hear a minstrel tell the story of a great hero defeating an evil foe."(Beowulf Article)
ReplyDeleteI think that it should appear more frequently in our curriculum because they teach us a lot of things about our history and, like Jun said, many of us loved reading it in class
I agree that medieval literature is "a piece of evidence from the past", as Snell said. These pieces of literature is our pass to learn what it was like back in the medieval times. We can learn a lot more with those pieces of literature than with all of the technology that we have today. why not learn about their stories in medieval times. Medieval literature can be very interesting at times, we all love Beowulf.
ReplyDeleteMedieval literature has action and gruesome moment, that make us love those books. Today you don't even here about Old English today with all of our new tech. Medieval literature is much better than what we have today. People today have made stuff much more modern than old, I believe we should have more Medieval, than modern. Beowulf is a much better choice than others.
Oh, I think we've got a future Medieval scholar here! :)
DeleteI agree that medieval literature is still useful. "Medieval literature is history -- a piece of evidence from the past" (Melissa Snell). Medieval literature helps us understand how people used to think back then and what kind of stories were told back then instead of today. For instance, today people talk about ghosts to scare other people while way back then people talked about ghouls, ghosts, and monsters to scare other people. We should go back and study more of Old English because it might inspire more people to read and write more and more stories.
ReplyDeleteMedieval literature can also help us understand more of the middle ages. For example, "Medieval literature also provides modern readers with intriguing clues to life in the Middle Ages" (Melissa Snell). They tell us more of what people did back then and how they were supposed to act like. In the book "The Ramsay Scallop" it told us a little bit about schools back then and what their main focus was.
I don't think that old books are relevant to this day. For example, "Literature isn't history" (historymedren.about.com). I believe literature is a style of art from the past. Also some literature, doesn't fully tell us about our past. Also most people these days don't like to read storied about the past.
ReplyDeleteFurther, people want to get to the point. For example, "I want to know what actually happened, not some story about unrealistic heroes who never existed" (historymedren.about.com). Also kids in school probably wouldn't want to read a long story and would rather just learn history.
Valid points! Just make sure you support claims with evidence, rather than making generalizations like "most people these days don't like to read stories about the past."
DeleteI think that we should still learn from and read the pieces of medieval history because we get to learn about the way the people of the past used to write, like how they described things and events. Yes, "literature isn't history", but it is "a piece of evidence from the past." It has what they used to write and or talk about things that made them fascinated. It doesn't explain anything about our pasts and is about "unrealistic heroes", but that's not the point to why we should read these stories. The medieval literature we learn about, like Beowulf, should be read for the moral of the story. It might not have anything to do with any historical events, but it shows how people used to teach important life lessons.
ReplyDeleteWe may have more modern day stories to teach us about important life lessons, like, The Tortoise and the Hare, but medieval stories also teach us about how they saw the world. For example, we get to read how they described things and we can figure out what really interested them based on how much they talked about a certain topic (on how superior they made heroes seem or the fact they talked a lot about blood).
Therefore, I think we should read these epics and that we could still learn things from the old epics. It's an entertaining way of learning about old literature compared to sitting in a history class getting a boring lecture about their literature, might as well read a story to learn from it instead!
-Nikamarie F.
Love the last line! :)
DeleteI disagree with Elijah as to his statement that old books aren't relevant anymore. In his comment, he states that "literature isn't history" and I wholeheartedly disagree with that. The definition of history is "the branch of knowledge dealing with past events", which makes classical literature history. Classical literature is a way of studying the past and identifying historical culture and without it, we wouldn't know much about past societies and their beliefs such as Greece. With works such as The Aeneid and The Odyssey, we wouldn't know a lot about Greek Culture. These works still carry through and we still learn from them.
ReplyDelete"Compare that to the place in our lives of popular books and films (try to find someone who never saw Star Wars), and it becomes clear that each tale is more than a single thread in the fabric of medieval life. How, then, can we ignore these literary pieces when seeking the truth of history?" as stated by Melissa Snell. If you've ever started watching a show from the middle of the season or middle of the whole series, it's almost un-watchable! This is why history is something that matters so much to modern societies today. Its not the yearning for knowledge, it's the fact that we can't bear to start something from the middle of its lifespan.
The Aeneid and The Odyssey are really great examples of ways we've used literature to learn about Roman and Greek societies and cultural beliefs. Nice reference.
DeleteThe comparison to starting a television show mid-season is a REALLY interesting analogy! I have never thought of it that way. There is an old literary term, "in medias res," which means "starting in the middle of the action." I think that applies here.
DeleteI think we should not throw out medieval literature. I agree with Caleb because literature let's us take a look at what the medieval culture was like. In Melissa Snell's article she states, " Medieval literature is history -- a piece of evidence from the past." It shows us how people wrote at that time. For example while reading Beowolf I found that hyperbole's are used often.
ReplyDeleteThe epic poems of the medieval times help us visualize what it was like back then. For example, " everything about them illustrates the way things were at the time they were written" stated Snell. While reading epic poems you can imagine how the author may have felt. Another example is, " The heroes embodied the ideals to which knights of the time" states Melissa Snell. I believe that we should not take away epic poems from being one of our English sources.
YES! Hyperbole is so important in this text, and you see, then, that the heroes of this period had to be "larger than life." :)
DeleteI agree with Kayla and Caleb that medieval literature should not be thrown out. As Snell states, "medieval literature is history- a piece of evidence from the past". Medieval literature is a way of knowing what it was like in medieval times. Also medieval writing ways (especially how they express freely and use hyperbole ). We are able to learn lot of things from medieval literature.
ReplyDeleteSame reasons apply for epic poems of the medieval times. We can learn lots from back then from them. Epic poems showed how they used hyperboles with their heroes and their conquest in the world an how they genuinely write anything to interest ( or disgust) readers. So epic poems should not be thrown away as well, for they do teach lessons too. I think that medieval literature an epic poems shouldn't be thrown out for all the reasons above.
~Juliana P.
I believe that medieval literature should not be forgotten nor thrown out of classrooms. “Medieval literature is history — a piece of evidence from the past” (Why Bother With Beowulf?). Epics like Beowulf give a glimpse into what life was like during medieval times. Melissa Snell states that “everything about them illustrates the way things were at the time they were written.” This epics are very descriptive and we are able to imagine in detail the setting. Although they are not used as a historical piece, we can still learn about medieval life through these epics.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Melissa Snell, “the stories told in epics can rarely be taken for actual fact.” Although this epics are just stories of the way things were, they can teach a lesson. For example, “the heroes embodied the ideals to which knights of the times were encouraged to strive” (Why Bother with Beowulf?) Epics weren’t just stories they were life lessons that were being taught. “We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave — which, in many ways, are like our own views.” (Why Bother with Beowulf?) Many people today could learn things from these old literature.
~Karina V卌
I also agree with Saskia,that we should continue to read novels and epic poems from the medival times. These collection of writings from the olden times still holds lots of value. For example,"We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave -- which, in many ways, are like our own views." (Why Bother With Beowulf Article). This comes to that that we can learn many things from these forms of writings. As aforesaid,it might "teach us something that has changed over the years that shouldn't have changed."
ReplyDeleteAlso,these writings can educate us more about the medival times. As Snell states,"Medieval literature is history -- a piece of evidence from the past," (Melissa Snell). Through these collection of writings,we can learn what life was like back in the medival times and how they viewed life itself. In addition,as Jun stated,"The work of translators and writers would be lost along with the stories." Considering that our class (and other classes) are enjoying Beowulf,we should continue to read these exciting stories/epic poems before they get lost. In conclusion,medival literature holds special value and we should in fact continue reading medival novels,novellas,epic poems,etc.
-Kayla A.#1
I agree partially with some of my peers and Melissa Snell. Old literature can be enriching and insightful, and can definitely show us things about our past that we haven't even thought about. "Medieval literature is history-- a piece of evidence from the past" (Melissa Snell). Medieval epic poems and stories have shown us glimpses of daily life from centuries ago that we can't really recreate, and that is definitely one reason we should consider reading old literature.
ReplyDeleteThough there are a lot of things you can learn from old literature, I don't think we should use it to replace modern literature.
Old literature can teach us so much about our past, but it isn't very relevant. "Compare that to the place in our lives of popular books and films", Melissa Snell also states. Modern literature shows us things that we can relate to, and because we can relate to it already, people are more engaged. It teaches us about everyday life, other people, and how to face problems that probably wouldn't occur in 13th century England. Both old and modern literature have things that make them worth reading and studying, but the right thing to do would be to mix both and have people read Old and Modern.
-KA2
I like your point that there are modern issues and problems unique to our time period that medieval literature cannot address. Finding a balance between old and new is important.
DeleteI think that we should still read poems all the way back to medieval days. Epic poems, old stories, old tales, they are important, even though they can be very disturbing,bloody, and etc.We can learn from them, it being the language, history, ways of seeing things, you can learn from them, even without you knowing it. In the the Beowulf article one thing that was said was, "We can learn much from examining the ideas people had then of how one ought to behave -- which, in many ways, are like our own views."
ReplyDeleteAlso the writing back then was quite different to today's writing. The stories aren't as heroic, in a way, like they don't have kingdoms with heroes off on adventures of slaying. The stories are more romantic and modern day, with not as much history in them. People should go back and read epics, and other old stories form way back when. It could influence them or have them learn something new.
- Taylor S.
Sorry for having it come in late, My computer wouldn't upload it. (>0<)
DeleteNo problem! And, next week, I will see you in the fourth period blog! :)
Delete*3rd attenpt at a response *
ReplyDeleteI think that reading mideval literature is good if you enjoy that type of writing. As a teaching tool I think it could be hard for students to understand to comprehend, but in certain situations mideval literature can be very beneficial.
Mideval litetature can be hard to use for teaching because of how language has evolved and the different meanings of words. Also, a lot of learning often has to go into the history around the book so that students can have historical context. This type of literature can be useful when kids are learning history , or just as a fun read .
In conclusion I think that mideval literature still serves use in schoos, but its not as big of an influence as in the past.
I also apologize for any grammar mistakes because I sent this on my phone when unable to submit this on my computer.
Attempt*
DeleteNo problem, Marcus. I appreciate you trying to get it in despite tech issues. :)
Delete