Room 272

It seems that the library does not have The Man of Law’s Tale up on reserve yet. I will check with them first thing Monday. Meanwhile, if you want to get a head start (and have already finished with the Reeve and Cook), here is the version on the Harvard Chaucer Page:

http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mlt-par.htm

As you come to the “Council of Elrond” chapter it may strike you that there is an awful lot of talking—dwarves talking, elves talking, wizards talking, men talking, even hobbits talking. It may occur to you to ask the ghost of Tolkien: “Is this any way to write a novel?”

If he were with us, I suspect that he might answer NO. Perhaps we need a more flexible category than “novel” here. As we began the prologue, it seemed that we were reading amateur anthropology rather than modern fiction. At times it seems like romance (in the medieval sense) or prose epic or saga, or even Tolkien’s own category, “heroic-elegiac.” We don’t know too much about his opinions on modern novels, but we may recall his words in response to unkind critics in the forward to the second edition: “and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer.”

We can’t be sure whom Tolkien is attacking here, but amongst his most virulent critics was the formidable Edmund Wilson (who called The Lord of the Rings “juvenile trash”), champion of Stein, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Joyce, Eliot, etc. Each of these writers, of course, did interesting things with genre and refused to accept codified rules of form. We might consider why Wilson did not see the same qualities in Tolkien.

Of course, there is plenty to consider this week for the response papers. I don’t want to give away plot to those who are reading the book for the first time, but record your reactions and responses to share with us next Tuesday.

More to follow shortly on the forthcoming projects and readings. Have a great weekend! (I’m typing this on my back porch while listening to the birds; sometimes my job doesn’t feel like work, but of course there are those papers to mark . . . )

It has come to my attention that when I asked you to “describe the context and signficance” of the quotations on part one of the test, some thought that I meant “translate.” Since this was an honest misunderstanding, I will try to come to some sort of equitable solution as I mark the tests.

Here is an earlier post that provides links to the bibliographical sites that I have mentioned:

http://jvhalbrooks.wordpress.com/2006/09/19/chaucer-test-and-bibliographical-assignment/

I hope that everyone has recovered from yesterday’s test. The first few that I have marked look pretty good.

The Man of Law’s Tale should be on the library’s course reserve any time now, so check in later this afternoon.

Topics are open for the Reeve and Cook. The Reeve’s Tale and The Cook’s Tale, like The Miller’s Tale, are fabliaux. However, they are all somewhat different in tone and perspective. Enjoy your weekend: take your Chaucer to the park!

Sorry about the radio silence the past few days. But surely you are getting a handle on finding things to write about. There is plenty to write about for our readings this week. The handouts from last week are also fair game.

One thing that I am paying attention to as I re-read Tolkien is his use of strange or obscure words and his use of familiar words in unfamiliar contexts. Last week we talked about his use of mathom. This week I noticed the following sentence:

“Merry went in front leading a laden pony, and took his way along a path that went through a spinney behind the house, and then cut across several fields” (107).

What, exactly, is a spinney? Here is what the OED tells us:

>>

1. ? A thorn-hedge. Obs. rare.

13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1709 At e last bi a littel dich he lepez ouer a spenné, Stelez out ful stilly bi a strothe rande. Ibid. 1896 As he sprent ouer a spenné, to spye e schrewe.

2. A small wood or copse, esp. one planted or preserved for sheltering game-birds; a small clump or plantation of trees.

1597 GERARDE Herbal ci. 353, I found this strange kinde of Gentian in a small groue of wood called the Spinnie. c1600 in J. H. Glover Kingsthorpiana (1883) 114 For Hantorne’s Spennie, xiid. 1750 W. ELLIS Mod. Husb. IV. iv. 18 When a Field is under such a fertile growth of this Grain, it appears somewhat like a Spinny, or Spring of Underwood. 1826 Sporting Mag. XVII. 331 The carriage not being able to get up to the spinny. 1857 KINGSLEY Two Y. Ago I. p. x, The downs..crowned with black fir spinnies, and dotted with dark box and juniper. 1876 Fraser’s Mag. 470 Woods and spinnies of old trees are scattered about the rich corn-lands.

1625 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) p. lx, To Butlin 5 daies paling about the new spinney. Ibid., One daie setting up stiles in the spynney. 1785 COWPER Wks. (1837) XV. 177, I told you..that the spinney has been cut down. 1814 Ann. Reg., Chron. 84/2 A small wood called Holyoak Spenney. 1840 HOOD Kilmansegg, Accident iv, Had her horse but been fed upon English grass And sheltered in Yorkshire spinneys. 1883 E. PENNELL-ELMHIRST Cream Leicestersh. 43 The fox..had turned into the little spinneys bordering the hill.

attrib. 1821 CLARE Vill. Minstr. II. 133 Ragged-robins by the spinney lake.

transf. 1905 SIR F. TREVES Other Side Lant. I. i, A spinney of cranes and derricks.

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Note that the OED labels the word “obscure and rare,” though the second definition lists much more recent usages than the first. It is unclear from the context which definition Tolkien is thinking of here (or if he has an entirely different sense of the word in mind). However, remember that he edited and translated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the source of definition #1. It seems to me that this is another case of Tolkien reviving an old usage, of introducing aspects of the language’s past into present usage. There are plenty of examples like this one throughout the books; keep an eye out for them.

Again, there is plenty to discuss with The Miller’s Tale. As I mentioned in class, you might think about whether or not there is any sentence in this tale to go along with the evident solas. We discussed the parallels to The Knight’s Tale; how do the endings of the two tales compare?

Remember, we have a test on Thursday. The best way to study is to re-read the texts. If you don’t have time to do that, then study the particular passages that we went over in class. I will not include anything that is completely unfamiliar or new on the test. Also, practice reading the Middle English without consulting the gloss any more than absolutely necessary. On the test, I will gloss the hardest words, but I will not gloss the vocabulary words that I have posted or words that occur regularly.

Here are Michael Drout’s interesting comments on the forthcoming publication of The Children of Húrin. As he notes, this story in its various versions shows the profound influence of Kalevala, as we will see later this semester when we get to The Silmarillion.

Wormtalk and Slugspeak

I have updated the presentation schedule here. Those who are presenting on or before October 10th may have another week on their papers.

I’m sure that you can find something to write about here; it’s open season. You may, for example, discuss one of the portraits of Nicholas, Alisoun, or Absolon with the same sort of eye for detail that we used with the pilgrims’ portraits in the GP.

You also might take a look at Chaucer’s apology for the Miller. What sort of notion of authorship does this suggest?

Here is some good supplementary material from Larry Benson’s Harvard Chaucer Page:

The Miller’s Tale (general note)

Please note: I have updated the reading assignments on the Chaucer Page.