Here are the questions for weeks 1 - 3. Please use the comments section
to post your answers. Do not make a new blog. Do not necessarily answer
all the questions, but select those you want to answer. You may combine
more than one question into a single answer.
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 site 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 site 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).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
ReplyDeleteIn this part i'm trying to answer question six 'what place do the old myths have in the modern world?'
Voluspa is one of the very first or best known poem of the poetic Edda. It is one of the primary source and soul connection for the study or Norse mythology. Voluspa is the key ingredient in the mix as it is the retold story which creates the connection and correlates between the other studied stories (Voluspa, Volsunga saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and The Twin Towers). The Norse mythology is the old form of myths have taken place in the modern world and the stories are still being told in modern day form of social and digital media.
Many attempts are in place nowdays to try and preserve the Norse mythology including websites which make it accessible whenever to anyone, however the information relayed on the site could be considered unreliable. It's kind of like a game of chinese whispers, the more you try and retell the same story to different people, it always comes back different after you've told the story too many times.
Between the stories we can see how the more modern stories take a spin off the older stories and try to retell them which helps to preserve the mythology in the modern world. The connection is through the correlation between Beowulf to Voluspa. The connection is that they are both guarding the treasure in the different stories however it originated from the same story.
(Hope i did this right, but yeah Feedback please guys)
Thank you for your post Jodeci :)
DeleteThis question relates to the beginning of your second paragraph first two lines. Do you think the more people keep 'taking a spin off the the older stories and retelling them' the more lost the story will be ?
Well done Jodeci.
DeleteYou write:Many attempts are in place nowdays to try and preserve the Norse mythology including websites which make it accessible whenever to anyone.
An example or two would have helped. In what places do we find these old myths? You make good points but give no actual examples.
What genre/s do these texts belong to ?
ReplyDeleteVoluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings
In an Epic Poem it is structured in a way to present a higher power or position that entails on an adventure. All texts have amongst themselves a story of bravery, battles and death a few of the many episodes prescribed to show the struggle of rescuing a certain cause, nation or race. Each text presents all important aspects that make an epic poem. Because of it being a long narrative poem the Voluspa, Volsunga Saga and Beowulf belong to this genre. Dating back to 1270 A.D the Voluspa (Song of the Siby) was narrated by the Volva also known as the Prophetess in Modern English. It was a story of the beginning middle and end of the world. The Song Portrayed the hierarchy of the God’s and how Greed and Conflict Conquered over everything. I find this similar to the Hero’s Journey in Beowulf. His call to adventure is one of the many steps he must take in order to find a resolution. Though he dies the defeat over Grendel and the mother creates a sort of peace. A similarity to the Stages of the Voluspa. Beowulf goes through the cycle to face endless battles between armies and monsters. For instance, there is a dragon in the texts which in the end is destroyed. The ring is the object in a couple of these texts that creates the conflict between character due to greed over power. The symbol of the Dragon creates the idea of the heroin and how the good always triumphs over bad.
I also believe that Fantasy is another genre portrayed in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It is clear that in the real world or at least the world we are living in can’t consist of fire breathing dragons or evil trolls and talking trees. It is a world that can only exist in our imagination which basically sums up the genre. In a fantasy everything is most likely to be unrealistic. Except for the themes and morals shown through the text itself.
How does the film Beowulf and Grendel “problematize” the hero-myth of Beowulf?
ReplyDeleteThe film was in fact a good film to watch but I feel like we feel a lot more sympathy for the monsters as we do for the humans. This is problematized in way where some difficulties with the original story are found and the meaning of it is changed. An example of that would be when the monsters were reacting to being displaced from their land from the villagers. When Beowulf kills Grendel this triggers some of the viewers’ perception on who the bad guy could really be. There are a few things that are added to film that aren’t in the original story, like for instance Beowulf in the film has a child to Grendel’s demon mother not long after Grendel’s death. After years of growing old his past comes back to haunt him and his half human half demon son becomes the very thing that kills him. Secondly in the film Grendel’s mother is mostly presented as a demon that disguises herself as an irresistible human figure. Whereas in the written text she is described as a swamp hag. I guess in the film certain images are retold in way that makes more sense to the human eye. This can also be explained as an archetype. It is a pattern which has deep roots in the human mind. Some stories are universal and in this case Beowulf is the hero archetype. Sure he saves the village and kills the monsters but because it is a film there is a certain structure to follow. In the written text there is simply Good and Bad. With any film that would be too dull and less interesting to watch. We live in a world with plenty of conflict, greed, lust and hunger for money which are problems we can all relate to.
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ReplyDelete2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
ReplyDeleteOng describes residual (or "secondary") orality in his book, Orality and Literacy, as “essentially a more deliberate and self-conscious orality, based permanently on the use of writing and print” (Ong, 1982, p. 136). Secondary orality is not primary orality which is “evanescent” not permanent (Ong, 1982: 31-32) and of pre-literate cultures. Many secondary orality features are not directly native to human existence but because of the resources available to our understanding (Ong, 1982: 1-15). In Voluspa, some of residual orality features are preserved just as the mythology is preserved in Old Norse , and especially Icelandic literature.
A central incident which occurs within ‘Voluspa’, ‘Beowulf’, ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of The Rings-The Twin Towers’ is war and destruction. War is described in ‘Voluspa’ with the words, “Brothers will die, slain by their brothers, kinsmen betray their close kin; woe to the world then… battle axe and sword rule… only hatred in the hearts of men.” This quote describes the way that people will turn against each other, even family. It also mentions that battle axe and sword, which are weapons, will rule the world. An example of destruction from the text ‘Beowulf’ is, “Then Beowulf was given bad news, the hard truth: his own home, the best of buildings, had been burnt to a cinder… so the war-king planned and plotted his revenge.” The difference between this text and ‘Voluspa’ is that in ‘Beowulf,’ it describes the destruction and aftermath caused by war. Whereas, in ‘Voluspa’ it foresees the destruction about to come. ‘The Hobbit’ features war and destruction using the phrase, “Every vessel in the town was filled with water, every warrior was armed, every arrow and dart was ready, and the bridge to the land was thrown down and destroyed.” This quote also speaks of the aftermath and destruction post-war. In the ‘Lord of the Rings-The Twin Towers,’ war being present within the text is directly quoted, “war is abroad.” This text was different from the other three texts as it didn’t go into detail about war or destruction, but however, did just write that war is happening.
ReplyDelete