- Opening Grammar:
- Mike:Oh thats great blame it on the little guy how originil he mustve read the schedule wrong with his one eye.
- Quiz on Caedmon's Hymn this Thursday
- Quiz next week on Notes
- Next Writing Assignment: CWP Creatively Writing as College Application Essays (introduced tomorrow)
* Take Notes on the Anglo-Saxon background in a more contemporary voice. Note major markers in English language and literature (as Coppee would put it). These will generally appear in bold.
* Read this note on your translator: Seamus Heaney 1939–2013
Below, you will find excerpts from the Poetry Foundation's overview of Heaney's career.
You can read the entire biography here:
[Begin excerpt]
Seamus Heaney is widely recognized as one of the major poets of the 20th century. A native of Northern Ireland, Heaney was raised in County Derry, and later lived for many years in Dublin. He was the author of over 20 volumes of poetry and criticism, and edited several widely used anthologies. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." Heaney taught at Harvard University (1985-2006) and served as the Oxford Professor of Poetry (1989-1994). He died in 2013.
As a translator, Heaney’s most famous work is the translation of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf (2000). Considered groundbreaking because of the freedom he took in using modern language, the book is largely credited with revitalizing what had become something of a tired chestnut in the literary world. Malcolm Jones in Newsweek stated: "Heaney's own poetic vernacular—muscular language so rich with the tones and smell of earth that you almost expect to find a few crumbs of dirt clinging to his lines—is the perfect match for the Beowulf poet's Anglo-Saxon…As retooled by Heaney, Beowulf should easily be good for another millennium."
In 2009, Seamus Heaney turned 70. A true event in the poetry world, Ireland marked the occasion with a 12-hour broadcast of archived Heaney recordings. It was also announced that two-thirds of the poetry collections sold in the UK the previous year had been Heaney titles. Such popularity was almost unheard of in the world of contemporary poetry, and yet Heaney’s voice is unabashedly grounded in tradition. Heaney’s belief in the power of art and poetry, regardless of technological change or economic collapse, offers hope in the face of an increasingly uncertain future. Asked about the value of poetry in times of crisis, Heaney answered it is precisely at such moments that people realize they need more to live than economics: “If poetry and the arts do anything,” he said, “they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness."
[End excerpt]
HW:
- Read Beowulf through line 114 (the prelude and part I): you will be reading background information on the Danes (Beowulf is not a Dane; he is a Geat). The Danish background is important because that's where Grendel is attacking.
- You have until Wednesday to provide A. P. M. C. Corrections (we will review parts tomorrow for those who are stuck)
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