INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH

LITERATURE

TPI/PI
UAP
 READING LOG
Student:………………………….
Porto Geijo, Josefina
Year……….
2nd Subject:…………..

Title Author Time Genre Rating

Period
The Man at Ernest 
the Bridge Hemingway

The Lady, Frank R.


Stockton 1882
or the Tiger?












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Klarer (2004)
 22
THE MAJOR GENRES OF LITERATURE

Prose is the ordinary form of written language. It imitates the spoken language.

Examples?

Poetry is language written with rhythm, figurative language, imagery, sound

devices and emotionally charged language.

Examples?

Drama is a story written to be performed by actors. Although a drama is meant to

be performed, one can also read the script, or written version, and imagine the
action. Examples?

LITERARY FICTION GENRES

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 30
CHARACTER (Lawrence Perrine)
Authors may present their characters either directly or indirectly:
DIRECT PRESENTATION: They tell us straight out, by exposition or analysis, what characters are like.
INDIRECT PRESENTATION: The authors show us the characters in action, we infer what they are like
from what they think or say or do.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHARACTERS (PRINCIPLES OF CHARACTERIZATION)

-DRAMATIZED: The characters are shown speaking and acting as in a drama.

-CONSISTENT: The characters are consistent in their behaviour: they do not behave one way in one
occasion and a different way on another unless there is a clearly sufficient reason for the change.
-MOTIVATED: The characters are clearly motivated in whatever they do, especially when there is any
change in their behaviour: we must be able to understand the reasons for what they do, if not immediately, at
least by the end of the story.
-PLAUSIBLE: The characters are plausible or lifelike. They must be neither paragons of virtue nor monsters
of evil, nor an impossible combination of contradictory traits.

CLASSIFICATION OF CHARACTERS ACCORDING TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT

-FLAT CHARACTERS: They are characterized by one or two traits; they can be summed up in one
sentence.
-ROUND CHARACTERS: They are complex and many-sided; they may require an essay for full analysis.

KINDS OF CHARACTER

-STOCK CHARACTER: stereotyped figure who has occurred so often in fiction that his nature is
immediately known.
-STATIC CHARACTER: It is the same sort of person at the end of the story as at the beginning.
-DEVELOPING OR DYNAMIC CHARACTER:
-It undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of character, personality or outlook.
-To be convincing, a change must meet three conditions:
a) It must be within the possibilities of the character who makes it.
b) It must be sufficiently motivated by the circumstances in which the character is placed.
c) It must be allowed sufficient time for a change of its magnitude believably to take place.

NARRATOR
-There is no story without a narrator.
-His function is to provide information (to tell the story)
-He is not the author, he is the addresser.
-The writer decides through whose voice he is going to tell the story:
-a character
-a mere witness
-protagonist
-someone that has nothing to do with the story
-POSITION OF THE NARRATOR OR POINT OF VIEW:
-Interior or inside narrator.
-Outside narrator.
-AMOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE NARRATOR:
-OMNISCIENT: -He knows everything.
-This happens only with outside narrators.
- N > CH
(narrator) (character)
The narrator knows the future, past, feelings,
motivations of the character.
-EQUISCIENT: -The narrator knows as much as the character
- N = CH
-DEFICIENT: -The narrator knows less than the character.
- N < CH
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Narrative Perspectives
Narrator (Erzähler): The “voice” that tells a story. Unless it is an autobiography, the narrator is not
identical with the author/writer.
Point of view (Erzählperspektive): The perspective from which characters, events, etc. are presen-
ted in a fictional text. The chosen point of view has a strong effect on the reader; for example, we
tend to respond (reagieren) more sympathetically to a character whose mind we “enter”, as we
experience for ourselves what the character goes through. In the course of many stories the point of
view changes to make reading more interesting.
First person narrator / limited point of view (Ich-Erzähler): The narrator is a character in the
story and uses the first person singular (“I”). This narrator may be either the protagonist (Haupt-
person) or a minor character, who is just a kind of observer (neutraler Beobachter). As first person
narration presents the action through the eyes of only one character, the narrator has a limited point
of view. The reader tends to identify with the narrator.
Interior monologue (innerer Monolog): A particular form of first person narration which presents
a character’s thoughts, associations and memories. Interior monologues often do not follow
chronological order, since, when people think, their thoughts jump from one subject to another.
Third person limited narrator / limited point of view (personaler Erzähler/~s Erzählverhalten):
The narrator stands outside the story and uses the third person (“he”, “she” or “they”) to refer to the
characters but presents the events mainly from the perspective of only one character, i.e. he “limits”
himself to the perspective of this character.
Third person omniscient narrator / unlimited point of view, often called omniscient narrator
 [from Latin omnis: everything, scire: to know] (allwissender Erzähler): The narrator
can (at least theoretically) look into the minds of all characters and tell us about their thoughts and
feelings. He can look into the past, tell about the present and also anticipate the future.
Reported thought (erlebte Rede): Thoughts, memories, associations, etc., are presented as repor-
ted speech (third person, past tense) but without common phrases like “she thought”, “he
wondered”, “she asked herself” etc. This technique creates the illusion of intimate access to a
character’s mind.
Stream of consciousness (Bewusstseinsstrom): An attempt to convey the continuous, often un-
structured or even chaotic flow of thoughts and emotions in the human mind. Typical characteristics
of this technique are incomplete sentences, sudden jumps or even complete lack of any traditional
syntactical structure and punctuation.
Intrusive narrator (auktorialer Erzähler/~s Erzählverhalten): The narrator makes e.g. comments
on the story, may reflect about the process of writing and may try to influence the reader. He sort of
“intrudes” (stören, eindringen) on the reader and the reading process.
Mode of presentation (Art der Darstellung): The way a writer narrates events. The author can
either tell the readers about events and their significance or show the reader what is happening.
Most stories use a combination of both techniques.
Scenic presentation (szenische Erzählung): An event is presented in detail as it occured, i.e. a
scene is described (= showing).
Panoramic presentation (berichtende Erzählung): The narrator tells the story as a condensed (ver-
dichtet) series of events, summarizing in a few sentences what happened over a longer period of
time (= telling).
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U N IT ON E

The
Short Story
Looking Ahead
There is no better place to begin a study of literature than with the short
story. This concise, imaginative genre allows the reader to focus on a
precisely crafted plot, often a single setting, and a limited number of
characters. Whether creating a journey that is bizarre, realistic, or insightful,
the writer will quickly and artfully make the point, often in a way the reader
will never forget.

PREVIEW Big Ideas and Literary Focus

BIG IDEA: LITERARY FOCUS:

1 Encountering the Unexpected Plot and Setting

BIG IDEA: LITERARY FOCUS:

2 Making Choices Theme and Character

BIG IDEA: LITERARY FOCUS:

3 Life Transitions Narrator and Voice

OB J ECTIVES
In learning about the genre of short stories, you will • analyzing short stories for the ways in which
focus on the following: authors inspire the reader to share emotions
• identifying and interpreting various literary ele-
ments used in the short story
• analyzing the effect that these literary elements
have upon the reader

IN TROD U CTIO N 1
 33

Genre Focus
What are the elements that shape a short story?

Katherine Anne Porter, one of the great American and meaning.” Consciously or unconsciously, writers
short-story writers, said, “Human life itself may be make choices. The writer chooses who will be the star
almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist is to take of the story, who will tell the story, where the story will
these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, take place, and most importantly—what happens! In
things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them short story writing, authors make very precise and
together in a frame to give them some kind of shape focused choices about these elements of fiction.

Plot and Setting in Short Stories

Where, When, and How
Setting is the time and place in which a story Now, balanced easily and firmly, he stood on the
happens. The setting includes not only physical ledge outside in the slight, chill breeze, eleven
surroundings but also can include ideas, cus- stories above the street, staring into his own lighted
toms, values, and beliefs of that period. apartment, odd and different-seeming now.
—Jack Finney, from “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets”

Sequence of Events
Plot is the sequence of events in a story. Most “’You may wonder why we keep that window wide
plots begin with the exposition, which intro- open on an October afternoon,” said the niece, indica-
duces the characters, setting, and conflicts. ting a large French window that opened on to a lawn.
Rising action develops the conflict with com-
—Saki (H. H. Munro), from “The Open Window”
plications and leads to the climax, when the
story reaches its emotional high point. The fall-
ing action is the logical result of the climax, and
the resolution presents the final outcome. The
plot diagram below gives an example of plot 
8
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2 UNIT 1 T H E S H O RT S TO RY
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Theme and Character in Short Stories

Protagonist and Antagonist
The main character in a story is the protagonist. Thirty-five years ago I was out prospecting on the
The protagonist faces the main conflict of the Stanislaus, tramping all day long with pick and pan and
story. In many stories, an antagonist works horn, and washing a hatful of dirt here and there, always
against the protagonist in overcoming the expecting to make a rich strike, and never doing it.
conflict. The antagonist is usually a character —Mark Twain, from “The Californian’s Tale”
the reader does not like.

Implied and Stated Themes

The central message of a story is its theme. Luis thought that maybe if they ate together once in a
For example, a theme might give an insight while things might get better between them, but he
into human nature or a perception about life. always had something to do around dinnertime and
Sometimes authors state their themes directly. ended up at a hamburger joint. Tonight was the first
More often, a theme is implied through elements time in months they had sat down at the table together.
in the story, such as what happens to the main
—Judith Ortiz Cofer, from “Catch the Moon”
character or what the character learns.

Narrator and Voice in Short Stories

Point of View
The person telling a story is the narrator. Stories The young man was daring and brave, eager to go
are usually told from a first- or third-person up to the mountaintop. He had been brought up by
point of view. Stories told from a first-person good, honest people who were wise in the ancient
point of view have narrators inside the story that ways and who prayed for him.
use “I” in telling the story. Stories told from a
—Lame Deer, from “The Vision Quest”
third-person point of view have narrators outside
the story, using “she” or “he” to tell the story.

Language Choices
Every narrator, whether speaking from a first- It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month
person or third-person point of view, has a voice. of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged
The narrator’s voice tells us who the narrator is. most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero
Authors are careful to make the narrator’s vocab- entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball
ulary and syntax consistent. The narrator cannot of the most unusual magnificence.
sound like an eighty-year-old widow in one
—Edgar Allan Poe, from “The Masque of the Red Death”
sentence and a fourteen-year-old orphan in the
next sentence. Often, authors choose an objective
and calm voice, so that the reader will see the
narrator as a qualified authority who “knows”
what is happening in the tale.

IN TROD U CTIO N 3
 35

Literary Analysis Model

How do literary elements shape a short story?

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), the twentieth-

century master of minimalism, had a significant
influence on the fiction of his time and after. In
“Old Man at the Bridge,” he succinctly captures
the effects of the Spanish Civil War on civilians.

Old Man at the Bridge

by Ernest Hemingway

An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by
the side of the road. There was a pontoon bridge across the river and carts,
trucks, and men, women and children were crossing it. The mule-drawn
carts staggered up the steep bank from the bridge with soldiers helping push
APPLYING
Literary Elements
5 against the spokes of the wheels. The trucks ground up and away heading
out of it all and the peasants plodded along in the ankle deep dust. But the
Narrator
old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go any further.
It was my business to cross the bridge, explore the bridgehead beyond
The story is told from the
and find out to what point the enemy had advanced. I did this and
first-person point of view. 10 returned over the bridge. There were not so many carts now and very
few people on foot, but the old man was still there.
Setting “Where do you come from?” I asked him.
“From San Carlos,” he said, and smiled.
The story takes place at
That was his native town and so it gave him pleasure to mention it and
a bridge in northeastern
he smiled.
Spain during the Spanish
15 “I was taking care of animals,” he explained.
Civil War (1936–1939).
“Oh,” I said, not quite understanding.
“Yes,” he said, “I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last
Character
one to leave the town of San Carlos.”
As you learn more about He did not look like a shepherd nor a herdsman and I looked at his black
the old man, the story’s 20 dusty clothes and his gray dusty face and his steel rimmed spectacles and
protagonist, you may said, “What animals were they?”
begin to care about him. “Various animals,” he said, and shook his head. “I had to leave them.”
I was watching the bridge and the African looking country of the Ebro
Delta and wondering how long now it would be before we would see the
25 enemy, and listening all the while for the first noises that would signal that
ever mysterious event called contact, and the old man still sat there.
Voice
“What animals were they?” I asked.
In the dialogue, the “There were three animals altogether,” he explained. “There were two
characters’ speech is goats and a cat and then there were four pairs of pigeons.”
brief. This is characteristic
of Hemingway’s style.

4 UNIT 1 T H E S H O RT S TO RY
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 36

30 “And you had to leave them?” I asked.

“Yes. Because of the artillery. The captain told me to go because of
the artillery.”
“And you have no family?” I asked, watching the far end of the bridge
where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank.
35 “No,” he said, “only the animals I stated. The cat, of course, will be all
right. A cat can look out for itself, but I cannot think what will become of
the others.”
“What politics have you?” I asked.
“I am without politics,” he said. “I am seventy-six years old. I have
40 come twelve kilometers now and I think now I can go no further.”
“This is not a good place to stop,” I said. “If you can make it, there are
trucks up the road where it forks for Tortosa.”
“I will wait a while,” he said, “and then I will go. Where do the trucks go?”
“Towards Barcelona,” I told him.
45 “I know no one in that direction,” he said, “but thank you very much.
Thank you again very much.”
He looked at me very blankly and tiredly, then said, having to share his
worry with some one, “The cat will be all right, I am sure. There is no
need to be unquiet about the cat. But the others. Now what do you think
50 about the others?”
“Why they’ll probably come through it all right.”
“You think so?”
“Why not,” I said, watching the far bank where now there were no carts.
“But what will they do under the artillery when I was told to leave
55 because of the artillery?”
“Did you leave the dove cage unlocked?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then they’ll fly.”
“Yes, certainly they’ll fly. But the others. It’s better not to think about
60 the others,” he said. Plot
“If you are rested I would go,” I urged. “Get up and try to walk now.”
You may hope that the
“Thank you,” he said and got to his feet, swayed from side to side and
old man will be able to
then sat down backwards in the dust.
flee with the others, but,
“I was taking care of animals,” he said dully, but no longer to me.
in the climax of the story,
65 “I was only taking care of animals.”
he is too tired to stand.
There was nothing to do about him. It was Easter Sunday and the Fascists
Theme
were advancing toward the Ebro. It was a gray overcast day with a low ceiling
so their planes were not up. That and the fact that cats know how to look The implication is that
after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have. war is unlucky for the
civilians whose lives it
touches.

Reading Check
Analyzing How does the story reach its climax and
how is it resolved?

IN TROD U CTIO N 5
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Writers on Reading
What do writers say about short stories?

Reading the Short Story

Identifying Sequence one’s sour view of a world gone out of control.
Too, I distrust the inflated language that some
Writing a story or a novel is one way of discover- people pile on when they write fiction. I believe
ing sequence in experience, of stumbling upon in the efficacy of the concrete word, be it noun or
cause and effect in the happenings of a writer’s verb, as opposed to the abstract or arbitrary or
own life. This has been the case with me. slippery word—or phrase or sentence.
Connections slowly emerge. Like distant land-
marks you are approaching, cause and effect —Raymond Carver, from the Introduction to The Best
begin to align themselves, draw closer together. American Short Stories 1986
Experiences too indefinite of outline in them-
selves to be recognized for themselves connect
and are identified as a larger shape. And sud- “It is not the voice that commands
denly a light is thrown back, as when your train
makes a curve, showing that there has been a the story: it is the ear.”
mountain of meaning rising behind you on the
—Italo Calvino
way you’ve come, is rising there still, proven
now through retrospect. . . .
Writing fiction has developed in me an abiding
respect for the unknown in a human lifetime and Enjoying Suspense
a sense of where to look for the threads, how to
All good fiction contains suspense, different
follow, how to connect, find in the thick of the
kinds of suspense in different kinds of fiction.
tangle what clear line persists. The strands are all
Take the simplest kind first.
there: to the memory nothing is ever really lost.
—Eudora Welty, from One Writer’s Beginnings
Anyone can write “A shot rang out” or “There
lay the body of Mrs. Uldridge.” What is harder
to write is the moment leading up to such a cli-
Appreciating Realistic Characters max. When the writing is successful, the reader
senses that the climax is coming and feels a
I lean toward realistic, “life-like” characters—that strong urge to skip to it directly, but cannot quite
is to say, people—in realistically detailed situa- tear himself from the paragraph he’s on. Ideally,
tions. I’m drawn toward the traditional (some every element in the lead-in passage should be a
would call it old-fashioned) methods of storytell- relevant distraction that heightens the reader’s
ing: one layer of reality unfolding and giving anticipation and at the same time holds, itself,
way to another, perhaps richer layer; the gradual such interest—through richness of literal or met-
accretion of meaningful detail; dialogue that not aphoric language, through startling accuracy of
only reveals something about character but perception, or through the deepening thematic
advances the story. I’m not very interested, and emotional effect of significant earlier
finally, in haphazard revelations, attenuated moments recalled—that the reader is relectant to
characters, stories where method or technique is dash on.
all—stories, in short, where nothing much hap-
pens or where what does happen merely confirms —John Gardner, from The Art of Fiction

6 UNIT 1 T H E S H O RT S TO RY
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On the Way to the Market, Bahamas 1885. Winslow Homer. Brooklyn Musem of Art.

Storytelling with Urgency Urgency does not mean frenzy. The story can
be a quiet story, a story about dismay or missed
Anyone who has ever told, or tried to tell, a story chances or a wordless revelation. But it must be
to children will know that there is one thing urgently told. It must be told with as much
without which none of the rest is any good. intentness as if the teller’s life depended on it. . . .
Young children have little sense of dutifulness
or of delaying anticipation. They are longing to Is all this too much to ask? Not really; because
hear a story, but only if you are longing to tell many stories . . . do it superbly.
one. They will not put up with your lassitude —Margaret Atwood, from the Introduction to The Best
or boredom: if you want their full attention, you American Short Stories 1989
must give them yours. You must hold them with
your glittering eye or suffer the pinches and
whispering. You need . . . a sense of urgency.
This is the story I must tell; this is the story you
must hear.

Reading Check
Responding From your own reading experiences,
which passage do you identify with most closely?
Explain.

IN TROD U CTIO N 7
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Wrap-Up
Guide to Reading Short Stories Elements of Short Stories
• Short stories often allow readers to focus on • Plot is what happens in a story.
one setting and a small number of characters.
• Setting is where the story takes place.
• Plot development in short stories tends to
• Characters are the actors in a story.
be very compact, especially the exposition,
falling action, and resolution. • The narrator tells the story.
• Reading a short story well involves determin- • Voice refers to the kind of language the
ing the theme, often by paying attention to narrator uses to tell the story.
what befalls the main character.
• The theme is the story’s most meaningful
• Notice whether the narrator is inside the story message.
(first-person point of view) or outside the
story (third-person point of view).
• To help you stay engaged as you read a story,
think of your own adjectives to describe the
characters and the narrator.

Use what you have learned about reading and

Activities ➤ analyzing short stories to complete one of the
following activities.

1. Literary Analysis Write about the relationship

between the narrator and the old man in “Old Man FOLDABLES STUDY ORGANIZER
at the Bridge.” How did their interactions affect
the plot?

2. Listening/Speaking In a small group, discuss the Plot

theme of “Old Man at the Bridge.” Give each group
Setting
member a chance to choose a line from the story
that contributes to the theme and to explain how the Theme
line contributes to the story’s meaning.
Character
3. Note Taking Try using this study organizer to keep
track of literary elements in the stories in Unit 1.
Narrator
Voice

OB J ECTIVES
• Analyze interactions between characters in a literary text. • Identify theme, setting, characters, and point of view.
• Use effective strategies for informal and formal discussions.

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PART 1

Encountering the
Unexpected

Accident in the Hall of Mirrors, ca. 20th century. Graeme Wilcox.

BIG IDEA
People never know exactly what their futures will bring. Many people expect
that tomorrow will be much like today. In the short stories in Part 1, you will
encounter people and events that are not always what they initially seem to be.
As you read these stories, ask yourself: How do people cope when they suddenly
encounter the unexpected?

9
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LITERARY FOCUS

Plot and Setting

How do short stories create events and places?
Think of a favorite story. Where does it take place? Can be an essential component of the tale being told. In
you imagine the same people, events, and themes Shirley Jackson’s short stories, the bucolic, small-town
happening somewhere else? Especially in a short story, settings she so often uses are an integral part of her
where there is often only one setting, the setting can stories’ characteristic twists and turns.

The Allisons’ country cottage, seven miles from the

nearest town, was set prettily on a hill; from three
sides it looked down on soft trees and grass that
seldom, even at mid-summer, lay still and dry. On
the fourth side was the lake, which touched
against the wooden pier the Allisons had to keep
repairing, and which looked equally well from the
Allisons’ front porch, their side porch or any spot
on the wooden staircase leading from the porch
down to the water. Although the Allisons loved
their summer cottage, looked forward to arriving in
early summer and hated to leave in the fall, they
had not troubled themselves to put in any
improvements, regarding the cottage itself and the
lake as improvement enough for the life left to
them. The cottage had no heat, no running water
except the precarious supply from the backyard
pump, and no electricity.
—Shirley Jackson, from “The Summer People”
Secluded Little House by Water. Connie Hayes

Setting
Setting is the time and the place of a story. It also Detail Aspect of Setting
includes the customs, beliefs, and values of that
time and place. An author can use the setting to “summer cottage” custom of vacationing
create expectations in a reader. Then, the author “no running water” rural place; modern time
can use those expectations to create a mood such
as surprise, disappointment, or shock. Consider “seven miles from the isolated place
the setting of “The Summer People”: nearest town”

10 UNIT 1 T H E S H ORT S TORY

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Plot Climax The most exciting moment in a story is

called the climax. This moment is the most emo-
Plot is the sequence of events in a story. A good tionally intense, interesting, or suspenseful one.
plot has a clear beginning, middle, and ending. For better or for worse, the character’s conflict is
Plots often begin with a character or characters resolved.
and a situation or a conflict.
Plot includes the story’s exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, and resolution.
The child was staring out through the open window
Climax with dazed horror in her eyes. . . . In the deepening twi-
Fa light three figures were walking across the lawn towards
tion lli
ng
ac ac the window; they all carried guns under their arms.
sing tio
Ri n
Exposition Resolution

Exposition In the beginning of a story, novel, or Falling Action After the excitement of the
play, you will meet the main characters, learn about climax, the falling action shows what happens
their situations, and uncover the story’s setting. This as a result of the climax.
part of the story is called the exposition. The follow-
ing passage of exposition introduces Framton
Nuttel, a man in need of a “nerve cure” who is a
stranger in the home of an aunt and her niece. “A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said
Mrs. Sappleton; “could only talk about his illnesses, and
dashed off without a word of good-bye or apology when
you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”
Privately [Framton Nuttel] doubted more than ever
whether these formal visits on a succession of total
strangers would do much towards helping the nerve
cure which he was supposed to be undergoing. Resolution The resolution is sometimes consid-
—Saki, from “The Open Window”
ered a part of the falling action, or denouement. It
may reveal or suggest the final outcome of the
conflict. “The Open Window” reveals in a sen-
tence that the niece has tricked Mr. Nuttell.

Rising Action After the reader is introduced to

the conflict, the story may become more compli-
cated, and the reader becomes more interested “I expect it was the spaniel,” said the niece calmly;
and engaged. This is called the rising action. Now, “he told me he had a horror of dogs.”
the reader wants to know, what happens next?
Mr. Nuttel is about to hear a ghost story from the
niece whose home he is visiting. The reader must
wonder how he will handle the excitement.

Out through that window, three years ago to a day,

Quickwrite
her husband and her two young brothers went off Choose a story that is very familiar to you—perhaps
for their day’s shooting. They never came back. a favorite fairy tale—and fill out a plot diagram. Give
details about the exposition, the rising action, the
climax, the falling action, and the resolution.

OB J ECTIVES
•Analyze complex elements of plot, such as major events, • Trace the development of a familiar plot.
problems, conflicts, and resolutions.

L I T E R A RY F O C U S 11
 65

Genre Focus
What distinguishes poetry from prose?

Mexican poet Octavio Paz believes that “to create How does poetry give a sense of the mystery and
among people the possibility of wonder, admira- marvel of life? It uses what African American poet
tion, enthusiasm, mystery, the sense that life is Quincy Troupe calls “the music of language.” Says
marvelous . . . to make life a marvel—that is the Troupe, “I want the words to sing.” The elements
role of poetry.” of poetry, while they may be found in other genres,
are essential to the art of poetry.

The Form and Structure of Poetry

Lines and Stanzas
Poetry does not look like prose. Poetry is The mother smiled to know her child
arranged in lines and stanzas. A line is a Was in a sacred place,
horizontal row of words, which may or may not But that smile was the last smile
form a complete sentence. A stanza is a group To come upon her face.
of lines forming a unit and separated from the —Dudley Randall, from “Ballad of Birmingham”
next stanza by a line of space.

Speaker
The speaker is the voice that communicates with Sundays too my father got up early
the reader of a poem. A speaker can be the voice And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
of a person, an animal, or even a thing.
—Robert Hayden, from “Those Winter Sundays”

The Language of Poetry

Figurative Language simile metaphor
A figure of speech is a word or expression that the poet like an acrobat the spring rain
is not meant to be taken literally. climbs on rime is a
—Lawrence Ferlinghetti, thread of pearls
• A simile uses the word like or as to compare from “Constantly Risking —Lady Ise, from a tanka
two seemingly unlike things. Absurdity”
personification
• A metaphor compares two or more different Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
things by stating or implying that one thing And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
is another. —William Shakespeare, from “Shall I Compare Thee
• Personification involves giving human to a Summer’s Day?”
characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.

520 UNIT 3 P O E T RY
 66

Imagery
Imagery is descriptive language used to Scatter the milky dust of stars,
represent objects, feelings, and thoughts. It Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you
often appeals to one or more of the five senses: With one lick of his vermilion tongue.
sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
—Amy Lowell, from “Night Clouds”

Other Sound Devices

• Alliteration is the repetition of consonant alliteration
sounds at the beginnings of words. Flew home with Hamp
• Consonance is the repetition of consonant Shuffled in Dexter’s Deck
sounds within words or at the ends of words. —Jayne Cortez, from “Jazz Fan Looks Back”
• Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds consonance
within non-rhyming words. And kisses are a better fate
• Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase, —E. E. Cummings, from “since feeling is first”
such as swoosh or clank, that imitates or
assonance
suggests the sound of what it describes.
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
—William Shakespeare, from “Shall I Compare Thee
to a Summer’s Day?”

The Sound of Poetry

Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of a final stressed vowel Why is it no one ever sent me yet a
and succeeding sounds in two or more words. One perfect limousine, do you suppose? b
Internal rhyme occurs within lines of poetry. Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get a
End rhyme occurs at the ends of lines. Rhyme One perfect rose. b
scheme, the pattern formed by end rhymes, is
—Dorothy Parker, from “One Perfect Rose”
shown by a row of letters (a b a b) in which
a different letter of the alphabet signals each
new rhyme.

Rhythm and Meter

A poet chooses words and arranges them to
I f I´/ ha
d lo´ved / you

le´ss / or
pla´yed / you

sly´ly

create rhythm, the pattern of stressed and
I mi´ght / ha
ve he´ld / you
fo´r /

a su´m / me
r mo´re,
unstressed syllables in a line. Rhythm can be
regular or irregular. Meter is a regular rhythm. —Edna St. Vincent Millay, from “Well, I Have Lost
The basic unit in measuring rhythm is the foot, You; and I Lost you Fairly”
which usually contains one stressed syllable
marked with (´) and one or more unstressed syl-
lables marked with(
).

IN TRODUCTIO N 521
 72

LITERARY FOCUS

Form and Structure

How does a poem fit together?

What is a poem? What are its parts? While many simple matter of proper sentences grouped into
poems at first appear to be simply collections of paragraphs. The structure of poetry offers many
rhymed lines, their structure can be far more more possibilities to explore. In the following
complex. The structure of prose is a relatively cartoon, Calvin writes an ode.

Form Rhyme scheme The term rhyme scheme refers

A line of poetry is a word or row of words that to the rhyming pattern of a poem. Lowercase
may or may not form a complete sentence. A letters are used to show rhyme schemes. Each
stanza is a group of lines followed by a line of end sound is assigned its own letter. Study the
space. You can think of lines as roughly equivalent abab rhyme scheme in this stanza.
to sentences in prose and stanzas as paragraphs.
Some poetic forms have rules about how many
stanzas, how many lines, and even how many If I had loved you less or played you slyly a
end rhymes are included. Haiku, tanka, and sonnet I might have held you for a summer more, b
are examples of poetic forms. But at the cost of words I value highly, a
And no such summer as the one before. b
Types of Stanzas A stanza of two lines that
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, from “Well, I Have Lost
rhyme is a couplet. The rhyme scheme is aa. Stanzas
You; and I Lost You Fairly”
of four, six, and eight lines are respectively called
quatrains, sestets, and octaves. In English poetry,
quatrains with abab rhyme scheme are common.
Rhythm Stressed and unstressed syllables create
a pattern in poetry, called rhythm. When the
pattern is predictable it is called meter, but it
does not have to be predictable. Rhythm can
create a musical quality, but it can also draw
attention to certain words or ideas. Langston
Hughes uses rhythm in this way in “A Dream
Deferred,” when in the last line he asks, “Or
does it explode?”

528 UNIT 3 P O E T RY
Calvin and Hobbes © 1989 Watterson. Dist. By Universal Press Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
 73

Meter Predictable rhythms are called meter. Structure

Different meters are named for how many feet
are in each line. Trimeter has three feet, tetrameter Poets build structure into their poems in several
has four feet, pentameter has five feet, and ways. They may use rhythm and rhyme to connect
hexameter has six feet. Iambic pentameter ideas. They may use repetition to emphasize main
appears in many English poems. An iamb is ideas or images. And they may use stanzas to sepa-
a foot that has an unstressed syllable followed rate the poem into distinct parts, in much the same
by a stressed syllable, and pentameter means way that paragraphs separate ideas in an essay. Each
there are five of them in a line. stanza within a poem may serve a different purpose.
For example, one stanza could describe a problem,
one stanza could explore solutions, and one stanza
could re-create a time before the problem existed.
 ´  ´  ´ ´  ´ Lyric Poem Lyric poems are short poems by one
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
speaker who expresses thoughts and feelings to
create a single, unified impression. Jimmy
 ´  ´ ´  ´  ´
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Santiago Baca’s poem “I Am Offering This
Poem” is an example of a lyric poem.
—William Shakespeare, from “Shall I Compare thee
to a Summer’s Day?”
It’s all I have to give,
and all anyone needs to live,
and to go on living inside,
Foot The foot is the basic unit of stressed and when the world outside
unstressed syllables used to describe rhythm in no longer cares if you live or die;
poetry. A foot usually has two or three syllables. remember,
I love you
Scansion In addition to paying close attention
to the sounds of letters and words in poems, —Jimmy Santiago Baca, from “I Am Offering This Poem”
poets pay attention to each syllable and whether
it is stressed or unstressed. Stressed and
unstressed syllables create rhythms. Each rhyth- Free Verse Poetry without a fixed pattern of
mical unit is called a foot, and a regular pattern meter and rhyme is called free verse. Some free
of stressed and unstressed syllables is called verse uses sound devices and a rhythm similar
meter. Stressed syllables are marked with (´) and to speaking patterns.
unstressed syllables are marked with (
).

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?
 ´  ´  ´  ´ ´
Give warning to the world that I am fled —Robert Hayden, from “Those Winter Sundays”
 ´  ´  ´ ´  ´
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:
—William Shakespeare, from “Sonnet 71”

Quickwrite
Choose a form from the examples above and write a
poem, paying special attention to the form, stanzas,
lines, and rhyme scheme.

OB J ECTIVES
•Recognize the significance of various literary devices. • Analyze poetry for the methods used by poets, such as
•Understand structure in poetry. rhythm, to inspire the reader and to share emotion.

L I T E R A RY F O C U S 529
 74

Imagery
Imagery refers to the “word pictures” that
No one lived there
writers create to represent a feeling, trigger a
but silence, a pale china gleam
memory or idea, or evoke a sensory experience.
To create effective images, writers use sensory —Rita Dove, from “Parlor”
details. Consider some of the images in “The
Great Figure”:

In this metaphor, the speaker is comparing

silence to a soft glimmer of light.
Images Sensory Appeal
Personification This figure of speech gives
“Among the rain” sight and touch human qualities to nonhuman things. William
Shakespeare personifies death in this line from
“the figure 5 / in gold/ sight
“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”:
on a red / fire truck”
“gong clangs / siren howls / sight and hearing
and wheels rumbling”
Nor shall Death brag thou wand’rest in his shade

Figurative Language Shakespeare compares death to a human who

boasts that he has won a sought-after prize.
Figurative language conveys meaning beyond
the literal meanings of words. Poets often make Hyperbole This figure of speech uses an
use of figurative language to convey fresh and obvious overstatement or exaggeration for either
original comparisons. Figures of speech are serious or comic effect. For example, when the
types of figurative language. Among the most speaker in “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven”
common are simile, metaphor, personification, says, “I have spread my dreams under your
and hyperbole. feet,” the exaggeration conveys the passion and
desire with which he loves.
Simile Poets often make imaginative compari-
sons to convey ideas, feelings, and insights.
One kind of comparison is called a simile. In
this figure of speech, the writer uses such words
as like or as or the phrase “as if” to make the
comparison. For example, in the line “her eyes
sparkled like diamonds,” the comparison sug-
gests the subject’s eyes are radiant and glitter. Quickwrite
Rewriting Clichés A cliché refers to a figurative
Metaphor In contrast to a simile, a metaphor
expression that has lost its freshness through overuse.
implies a comparison instead of stating it directly; Rewrite the following clichés so that they express
hence, there is no use of connectives such as like fresh instead of stale comparisons.
or as. An extended metaphor continues the com-
parison throughout a paragraph, a stanza, or an 1. “as slow as molasses”
entire work. 2. “red as a rose”
3. “strong as an ox”

OB J ECTIVES
•Recognize and interpret imagery and figurative language, • Analyze how poets inspire the reader to share emotions
such as metaphor, simile, and personification. through the use of imagery and figurative language.
•Analyze the effect of imagery and figurative language and
explain their appeal.

LITERARY FO CU S 585
 75

LITERARY FOCUS

Sound Devices
What makes poetry musical?
Most poems are written to be heard, like music, or of a street corner hangout, or the barbershop
to be imagined aloud in the reader’s mind. The debate over pretty girls, and baseball players: Open
actor Ossie Davis said of Langston Hughes’s work, your ears and your heart if you’ve got one; Langston
“Langston Hughes belongs to whoever is listening. will walk right in and do the rest.” Can you hear the
A possession in common, like the sights and sounds music in Hughes’s “The Weary Blues”?

Onomatopoeia Rhyme
Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase Rhyme is the repetition of stressed vowel sounds
that imitates or suggests the sound of what it and all the sounds that follow in two or more
describes, like the words “moan” and “thump” words. For example, cat and hat rhyme, as do
in Hughes’s “The Weary Blues.” Which word in willowier and billowier. Rhymes at the ends of lines
the poem below is an example of onomatopoeia? of poetry are called end rhymes.

I heard a fly buzz—when I died— From what I’ve tasted of desire

The Stillness in the Room I hold with those who favor fire.
Was like the Stillness in the Air—
Between the Heaves of Storm— —Robert Frost, from “Fire and Ice”

—Emily Dickinson, from “I Heard a Fly Buzz When

I Died”

646 UNIT 3 P O E T RY
Calvin and Hobbes © 1987 Watterson. Dist. By Universal Press Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
 76

Types of Imagery

There are different kinds of imagery.

Visual Imagery:
Examples:
“Magnified apples appear and disappear … every fleck of russet showing clear.”
“The clouds were low and hairy … like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.”
“The iced branches shed ‘crystal shells.’” Your turn:

Auditory Imagery:
Examples:
“The rumbling … of load on load of apples coming in.”
“The miniature thunder … the clatter of stone.”
“The roar of trees, the crack of branches, beating on a box.” Your turn:

Olfactory Imagery:
Examples:
“Musk from hidden grapevine springs.”
“The sticks of wood ‘sweet scented stuff’”
“To a Young Wretch – the boy takes the tree and heads home, ‘smelling green.’” Your turn:

Gustatory Imagery:
Examples:
“The blueberries as big as your thumb … with the flavor of soot.”
“The walking boots that taste of Atlantic and Pacific salt.”
“A haying machine passes over a bird nest without ‘tasting flesh.’” Your turn:

Tactile Imagery:
Examples:
“So love will take between the hands and face.”
“The bed linens might just as well be ice and clothes snow.”
“You grasp the bark by a rugged pleat, and look up small from the forest’s feet.” Your turn:

Organic Imagery:
Examples:
“My heart owns a doubt; it costs no inward struggle not to go.”
“It’s when I’m weary of considerations, and life is too much like a pathless wood.”
“Trees drinking up the pools and along with it, the flowers.” Your turn:

Kinesthetic Imagery:
Examples:
“I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.”
“Leaves go up in a coil and hissed, blindly struck at my knee and missed.”
“The black bats tumble and dart.”
Your turn:

"The Poetics of Robert Frost" by Carole Thompson

Copyright 2001 The Friends of Robert Frost

 77
LITERARY DEVICES
IMAGERY: senses
Consonance is a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times
in short succession, as in "pitter patter" or in "all mammals named Sam are clammy". Repetition of final
consonants: bad good.
Alliteration is a special case of consonance where the repeated consonant sound is at the beginning of
each word, as in "few flocked to the fight". Alliteration is usually distinguished from other types of
consonance in poetic analysis, and has different uses and effects.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, and
together with alliteration and consonance[1] serves as one of the building blocks of verse. For example, in
the phrase "Do you like blue?", the /uː/ ("o"/"ou"/"ue" sound) is repeated within the sentence and is
assonant.
A simile is a metaphor, but not all metaphors are similes. Metaphor is the broader term. A metaphor is a
rhetorical device that transfers the sense or aspects of one word to another. For example: The moon
was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. — “The Highwayman,” Alfred Noyes. Here the moon is
being compared to a sailing ship. The clouds are being compared to ocean waves.
A simile is a type of metaphor in which the comparison is made with the use of the word like or as or its
equivalent: My love is like a red, red rose. — Robert Burns

Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions,
especially as a rhetorical figure.

Metonymy: a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name,
but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.

Symbol

Allegory: The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative,
dramatic, or pictorial form. Example: The blindfolded figure with scales is an allegory of justice.

PARADOX: a statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which (if true)
defies logic or reason, similar to circular reasoning.

Overstatement: or hyperbole: is simply exaggeration, but exaggeration in the service of truth.

Understatement is a form of speech which contains an expression of less strength than what would be
expected.
Antithesis: opposition; contrast. In Antithesis, a striking opposition or contrast of words or sentiments is
made in the same sentence. It is employed to secure emphasis. Examples: Man proposes, but God
disposes.
Oxymoron: special type of Antithesis, whereby two contradictory qualities are predicted at once of the
same thing. Examples: She accepted it as the kind cruelty of surgeon’s knife.
Irony is made of speech in which the real meaning is exactly the opposite of that which is literally
conveyed.

Synecdoche: Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing, or

A thing (a "whole") is used to refer to part of it, or
A specific class of thing is used to refer to a larger, more general class, or
A general class of thing is used to refer to a smaller, more specific class, or
A material is used to refer to an object composed of that material ("he wore Spandex" to refer to
someone wearing pants made of Spandex), or
A container is used to refer to its contents.

Kenning: compound expression used in place of a name or noun, often hyphenated.

Euphemism: harmless word, name, or phrase that replaces an offensive or suggestive one.
Pun: a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings.
Epithet: an adjective or phrase that is used to express the characteristic of a person or thing, such as
Ivan the Terrible.
Apostrophe: someone absent, inanimate or dead is addressed as if were alive and present and able to
reply. Cliché example. Warrior: 'Thou sword at my left hand, wilt thou serve me in the coming battle?'
Hyponymy: the semantic relation of being subordinate or belonging to a lower rank or class. E.g. "red"
is a hyponym of "colour".
LEARNING^-^

Oral Heroic Narrative storiesfrom scratch, however; they drew

on existing songs and legends, which they
An Epic Task could embellish or combine with
Imagine that you're performing original material.
with an improvisational theater One characteristic feature of oral
group. First, you are asked to
poetry is the repetition of certain
pretend that you're an
words, phrases, or even lines. Two of
Automated Teller Machine the most notable examples of
(ATM) that intentionally tries
repeated elements are stock epithets
people's patience. Easy, you and kennings.
think. Next, you must play a
butcher who can't stand the Stock epithets are adjectives that
sight of meat. No problem. point out special traits of particular
Then a scholarly-looking man asks persons or things. In Homer, stock
you to recite a long narrative poem epithets are often compound adjectives, such

about the heroic struggles of a legendary as the "swift-footed" used to describe Achilles.

figure who uses strength, cunning, and Kennings are poetic synonyms found in
help from the gods to survive perilous Germanic poems, such Anglo-Saxon epic
as the
—and you have to use elevated, solemn
trials
Beowulf. Rather than being an adjective, like an
language throughout. You're speechless, epithet, a kenning is a descriptive phrase or
uncomprehending, you — the man
until it hits compound word that substitutes for a noun. For
wants an epic. example, in Beowulf "the Almighty's enemy"
and "sin-stained demon" are two kennings that
What Is an Epic? are used in place of Grendel's name.
An epic is a long narrative poem that celebrates
a hero's deeds. The earliest epic tales survived Stock epithets and kennings were building
were
for centuries as oral traditions before they blocks that a poet could recite while turning his
down. They came into existence
finally written attention to the next line or stanza. Epithets had
as spoken words and were retold by poet after an added advantage —they were designed to fit

poet from one generation to the next. Most metrically into specific parts of the lines of verse.
orally composed epics date back to preliterate In skillful hands, these "formulas" helped to

—
periods before the cultures that produced them establish tone and reinforce essentials of

had developed written forms of their languages. character and setting.

Many epics are based in historical fact, so
that their public performance by poets (known Characteristics of an Epic
by such names as scops or
in different cultures Epics from different languages and time periods
bards) provided both entertainment and do not always have the same characteristics.
education for the audience. Oral poets had to be Kennings, for example, are not found in
master improvisers, able to compose verse in Homer's epics. However, the following
their heads while simultaneously singing or most epics,
characteristics are shared by
chanting it. These poets didn't make up their whether they were composed orally or in

28 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

writing, in the Middle Ages or last year, in The (_ypic Across /ultures
Old English or in Slovak:
The epic is not a dead form. Although epics were
The hero, generally a male, is of noble birth sung by Sumerians as far back as the third millen-
or high position, and often of great historical nium b.c, new oral epics continue to be created
or legendary importance. and recited in places like the Balkans and South-
The hero's character traits reflect important east Asia. Many poets around the world still write
ideals of his society. poems in the epic tradition, and the epic spirit

The hero performs courageous— sometimes animates many prose works, such as J. R. R.

even superhuman— deeds that reflect the Tolkien's The Lord of the
values of the era. Rings, a popular fantasy

The actions of the hero often determine the novel. Many contempo-
rary films are also cast in
fate of a nation or group of people.
an epic mold, including
The setting is vast in scope, often involving
such Hollywood hits as
more than one nation.
the Star Wars trilogy,
The poet uses formal diction and a serious tone.
which features an
Major characters often deliver long, formal intergalactic struggle
speeches. between the forces of
The plot is complicated by supernatural good and evil.

beings or events and may involve a long and

dangerous journey through foreign lands.
YOUR TURN What
evidence of epic fea-
The poem reflects timeless values, such as
tures might you
courage and honor.
expect to find in the
The poem treats universal themes, such as Star Wars trilogy?
good and evil or life and death.

Strategies for Reading: The Epic

1. Notice which characteristics of epics appear in When reading Beowulf (page 32) or the Iliad
the poem you are reading. (page 67), use the accompanying Guide for
2. Decide what virtues the hero embodies. Reading to help you clarify the language and

3. Decide if the epic's values are still held today.

form your own interpretation.

4. Determine the hero's role in bringing about any Monitor your reading strategies and modify
changes in fortune for the characters.
them when your understanding breaks down.
Remember to use your Strategies for Active
5. Use a list or diagram to keep track of the
Reading: predict, visualize, connect,
characters.
question, clarify, and evaluate.
6. If a passage confuses you, go back and
summarize the main idea of the passage.

THE EPIC 29
PREPARING to f/leizd
Comparing Literature
of the World
fmm Beowulf Beowulf and the Iliad
This lesson and the one that
Epic Poetry by the BEOWULF POET follows present an opportunity for
Translated by BURTON RAFFEL comparing the epic heroes in
Beowulf and the Iliad. Specific
points of comparison in the Iliad
lesson will help you contrast
Beowulf's heroism with that of
characters in Homer's epic poem.
Connect to Your Life )

Brave Heart According to The American Heritage Dictionary of

the English Language, a traditional hero is someone "endowed
with great courage and strength" and "celebrated for his bold
exploits." Are courage, strength, and boldness qualities you look
for in a modern hero? Would you say that a hero's deeds have
to be celebrated, or at least widely known? Think about people
in today's world that you consider heroic. Then, in a cluster
diagram like the one shown, jot down the qualities that make
these people heroes in your eyes. Use your ideas to help you
formulate your own definition of hero.

WORDS TO KNOW Focus Your Reading

Vocabulary Preview the repetition of consonant
I ALLITERATION |
Alliteration is

affliction sounds at the beginning of words. Poets frequently use alliteration to emphasize
cowering particular words or images, heighten moods, or create musical effects. In works
fetter of the oral tradition, alliteration was also used to aid memorization. In his
gorge translation of Beowulf, Burton Raffel has used alliteration to suggest the sound
infamous and style of the Old English poem.
lament
The ancient blade broke, bit into
livid
The monster's skin, drew blood . . .
loathsome
murky Look for other examples of alliteration as you read the excerpts from Beowulf.
pilgrimage
purge ACTIVE READING MAKING JUDGMENTS On pages 28-29, you were introduced
relish
to the characteristics shared by many epics. Look for evidence of these
talon
characteristics in Beowulf, and, on the basis of the evidence you find, make
taut
judgments about the ways in which the poem resembles and differs from other
writhing
epics.

nQJ READER'S notebook

Use the information provided on pages 28-29 to
create a chart in which you common characteristics of epics. Then, as you
list

read the excerpts from Beowulf, record evidence of the presence or absence of
those characteristics in the poem. In your judgment, is Beowulf a typical epic?

30 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

 Routes of Anglo-Saxon Invaders

Build Background
The Birth of the Beowulf Epic After the fall of the

Western Roman Empire to Germanic tribes in the

fifth century a.d., Europe entered a chaotic period

of political unrest and economic and cultural

decline. Among the Germanic-speaking tribes of

English Channel
northern Europe, was dominated by frequent
life

bloody warfare, which drove some of them to

abandon their homes for foreign shores. These and tenth centuries— after the Anglo-Saxons'
tribes included groups of Angles, Saxons, and conversion to Christianity. It is written in Old
Jutes who settled on the island of Britain, where English, the language spoken in Britain in the
they established what is now called Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon period. As the lines shown below
civilization. Their famous tale of the great hero illustrate, Old English neither looks nor sounds
Beowulf, however, takes place on the European like Modern English, and it must therefore be
mainland, among two related tribes, the Danes translated for most modern readers.
of what is now Denmark and the Geats (gets or Old English poetry has a strong rhythm, with
ga-ots) of what is now Sweden. each line divided into two parts by a pause,
Beowulf is a Geat warrior who crosses the called a caesura (sT-zhotjr'o). In the Old
sea to aid the Danes and later returns to English text printed
Sweden to succeed his uncle Hygelac (the here, the caesuras
Higlac of this translation) as king of the Geats. are indicated by Lines from Beowulf in Old English
While we cannot be sure whether Beowulf ever extra space in
Da com of more under misthleojxim
really lived, we do know that Hygelac was a the lines. In his
grendel gongan — godes yrre beer;
historical figure who led a military raid some translation, Burton
mynte se manscada manna cynnes
time around the year 525. The action of Raffel has often
sumne besyrwan in sele \>am hean.
Beowulf is presumably set not long afterward. used punctuation to
At that time, the northern Germanic societies reproduce the effect
had not yet adopted Christianity. Their warrior of the caesuras.
culture celebrated loyalty and deeds of great
strength and courage. For entertainment the
people gathered in mead halls, large wooden Modern English translation by Burton Raffel
buildings where they feasted, drank mead (an
alcoholic beverage), and listened to tales of Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
heroic achievements. Such tales were presented Hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred,

both in the form of long epic poems and in the Grendel came, hoping to kill
form of shorter verse narratives. Poet-singers— Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.

called scops (shops) in Anglo-Saxon society-

recited the poems in a chanting voice, usually
accompanying themselves on a harp.

Old English Text Beowulf is the most famous of

the early Germanic heroic poems that survive.
The form of the poem that has come down to
us dates from sometime between the eighth

BEOWULF 31
 Hrothgar (hroth'gaY), king of the Danes, has built a

wonderful mead hall called Herot {hefst), where

his subjects congregate and make merry. As this

selection opens, a fierce and powerful monster

named Grendel invades the mead hall, bringing

death and destruction.

GrendeI,
A powerful monster, living down
In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient

As day after day the music rang

Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing

Call and the poet's clear songs, sung

Of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling
The Almighty making the earth, shaping
These beautiful plains marked off by oceans,
Then proudly setting the sun and moon
10 To glow across the land and light it;
The corners of the earth were made lovely with trees
And leaves, made quick with life, with each
Of the nations who now move on its face. And then
As now warriors sang of their pleasure:
15 So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall
Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,
 Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild GUIDE FOR READING
Marshes, and made his home in a hell 17 moors (moorz): broad, open
regions with patches of bog.
Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,

20 Conceived by a pair of those monsters born 19 spawned: born.

Of Cain, murderous creatures banished 21 Cain: the eldest son of Adam

By God, punished forever for the crime and Eve. According to the Bible
(Genesis 4), he murdered his
Of Abel's death. The Almighty drove
younger brother Abel.
Those demons out, and their exile was bitter,
25 Shut away from men; they split
Into a thousand forms of evil spirits —
And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,
A brood forever opposing the Lord's
Will, and again and again defeated. 19-29 Who were Grendel's earliest
ancestors? How did he come to
exist?
30 Then, when darkness had dropped, Grendel
Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors
Would do in that hall when their drinking was done.
He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting

Nothing, their dreams undisturbed. The monster's

35 Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws:
He slipped through the door and there in the silence

Snatched up thirty men, smashed them

Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies,
The blood dripping behind him, back
40 To his lair, delighted with his night's slaughter. 40 lair: the den of a

At daybreak, with the sun's first light, they saw wild animal.

How well he had worked, and in that gray morning

Broke their long feast with tears and laments
49 What is meant by
For the dead. Hrothgar, their lord, sat joyless
"The beginning might not
45 In Herot, a mighty prince mourning
be the end"?
The fate of his lost friends and companions,
58 In what way has hate
Knowing by its tracks that some demon had torn triumphed?
His followers apart. He wept, fearing
Prow of ninth-century
The beginning might not be the end. And that night
Oseberg ship
50 Grendel came again, so set
On murder that no crime could ever be enough,
No savage assault quench his lust
For evil. Then each warrior tried
To escape him, searched for rest in different
55 Beds, as far from Herot as they could find,
Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept.

Distance was safety; the only survivors

Were those who fled him. Hate had triumphed.
So Grendel ruled, fought with the righteous,

WORDS
TO lament (le-ment') n. an audible expression of grief; wail

34
KNOW
60 One against many, and won; so Herot
Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years,
Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king
Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door
By hell-forged hands. His misery leaped 64 What does the phrase "hell-

65 The seas, was told and sung in all forged hands" suggest about
Grendel?
Men's ears: how Grendel's hatred began,
How the monster relished his savage war
On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud
Alive, seeking no peace, offering
70 No truce, acceptingno settlement, no price
In gold or land, and paying the living
For one crime only with another. No one
Waited for reparation from his plundering claws: 73 reparation: something done to
That shadow of death hunted in the darkness, make amends for loss or suffering.
In Germanic society, someone who
-s Stalked Hrothgar's warriors, old
killed another person was
And young, lying in waiting, hidden
generally expected to make a
In mist, invisibly following them from the edge payment to the victim's family as a

Of the marsh, always there, unseen. way of restoring peace.

So mankind's enemy continued his crimes,

Killing as often as he could, coming
Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived
In Herot, when the night hid him, he never
Dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious
Throne, protected by God — God, 84 The reference to God shows the
85 Whose love Grendel could not know. But Hrothgar's influence of Christianity on the
Beowulf Poet. What does Grendel's
Heart was bent. The best and most noble
inability to know God's love
Of his council debated remedies, sat
suggest about him?
In secret sessions, talking of terror
And wondering what the bravest of warriors could do.
90 And sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods,
Made heathen vows, hoping for Hell's 91 heathen {he'thdn): pagan; non-
Support, the Devil's guidance in driving Christian. Though the Beowulf
Poet was a Christian, he
Their affliction off. That was their way,
recognized that the characters in
And the heathen's only hope, Hell
the poem lived before the
95 Always in their hearts, knowing neither God Germanic tribes were converted to
Nor His passing as He walks through our world, the Lord Christianity, when they still

Of Heaven and earth; their ears could not hear worshiped "the old stone gods."

His praise nor know His glory. Let them

Beware, those who are thrust into danger,
100 Clutched at by trouble, yet can carry no solace
In their hearts, cannot hope to be better! Hail
To those who will rise to God, drop off
Their dead bodies and seek our Father's peace!

WORDS relish (rel'Tsh) v. to enjoy keenly

TO
affliction (a-flTk'shen) n. a cause of pain or distress
KNOW
35
 —

BEOWV1F \

So the living sorrow of Healfdane's son 104 Healfdane's son: Hrothgar.

105 Simmered, bitter and fresh, and no wisdom
Or strength could break it: that agony hung
On king and people alike, harsh
And unending, violent and cruel, and evil.

In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac's

no Follower and the strongest of the Geats — greater 109-110 Higlac's follower: warrior
And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world loyal to Higlac (hTg'lak'), king of

the Geats (and Beowulf's uncle).

Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror
And quickly commanded a boat fitted out,
Proclaiming that he'd go to that famous king,
115 Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar,
Now when help was needed. None
Of the wise ones regretted his going, much
As he was loved by the Geats: the omens were good,
And they urged the adventure on. So Beowulf
120 Chose the mightiest men he could find,
The bravest and best of the Geats, fourteen
In all, and led them down to their boat;
He knew the sea, would point the prow
Straight to that distant Danish shore.

Beowulf and his men sail over the sea to the land of the Danes to offer

help to Hrothgar. They are escorted by a Danish guard to Herot, where

Wulfgar, one of Hrothgar's soldiers, tells the king of their arrival. Hrothgar

knows of Beowulf and is ready to welcome the young prince and his men.

125 Then Wulfgar went to the door and addressed

The waiting seafarers with soldier's words:
"My lord, the great king of the Danes, commands me
To you that he knows of your noble birth
tell

And come to him from over the open

that having
130 Sea you have come bravely and are welcome.
Now go to him as you are, in your armor and helmets,
But leave your battle-shields here, and your spears,
Let them lie waiting for the promises your words
May make."
Beowulf arose, with his men
135 Around him, ordering a few to remain
With their weapons, leading the others quickly

36 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

 Along under Herot's steep roof into Hrothgar's
Presence. Standing on that prince's own hearth,
Helmeted, the silvery metal of his mail shirt 139 mail shirt: flexible body armor
ho Gleaming with a smith's high art, he greeted made of metal links or overlapping
metal scales.
The Danes' great lord:
"Hail, Hrothgar! 140 smith's high art: the skilled
craft of a blacksmith (a person who
Higlac is my cousin and my king; the days
fashions objects from iron).
Of my youth have been filled with glory. Now Grendel's
142 cousin: here, a general term
Name has echoed in our land: sailors for a relative. Beowulf is actually
145 Have brought us stories of Herot, the best Higlac's nephew.
Of all mead-halls, deserted and useless when the moon
Hangs in skies the sun had lit,
Light and life fleeing together.
My people have said, the wisest, most knowing
150 And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes'
Great king. They have seen my strength for themselves,

Front view of a wooden Viking house in

Trelleborg, Denmark, that serves today

as an outdoor museum. Such houses
had a main door at each end and con-
tained a huge central room where a
great fire burned.

BEOWULF 37
 —

Have watched me rise from the darkness of war,

Dripping with my enemies' blood. I drove
Five great giants into chains, chased
155 All of that race from the earth. I swam
In the blackness of night, hunting monsters
Out of the ocean, and killing them one
By one; death was my errand and the fate
They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called
160 Together, and I've come. Grant me, then,
Lord and protector of this noble place,
A single request! I have come so far,
Oh shelterer of warriors and your people's loved friend,

That this one favor you should not refuse me

165 That I, alone and with the help of my men,
May purge all evil from this hall. I have heard,
Too, that the monster's scorn of men
Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none.
Nor will I. My lord Higlac
170 Might think less of me if I let my sword
Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid
Behind some broad linden shield: my hands 172 linden shield: shield made
Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life from the wood of a linden tree.

Against the monster. God must decide 172-174 Beowulf insists on

fighting Grendel without weapons.
175 Who will be given to death's cold grip.
Why do you think this is so
Grendel's plan, I think, will be
important to him?
What it has been before, to invade this hall
And gorge his belly with our bodies. If he can,
If he can. And I think, if my time will have come,

180 There'll be nothing to mourn over, no corpse to prepare

For its grave: Grendel will carry our bloody
Flesh to the moors, crunch on our bones
And smear torn scraps of our skin on the walls
Of his den. No, I expect no Danes
185 Will fret about sewing our shrouds, if he wins. 185 shrouds: cloths in which dead
hammered bodies are wrapped.
And if death does take me, send the
Mail of my armor to Higlac, return
The inheritance I had from Hrethel, and he 188 Hrethel (hre^'el): a former

From Wayland. Fate will unwind as it must!" king of the Geats— Higlac's father
and Beowulf's grandfather.

Danes: 189 Wayland: a famous blacksmith

190 Hrothgar replied, protector of the
and magician.
"Beowulf, you've come to us in friendship,

and because

WORDS purge (purj) v. to cleanse or purify

TO
gorge (gorj) to stuff with food
KNOW v.

38
 Of the reception your father found at our court.
Edgetho had begun a bitter feud, 193 Edgetho (ej'tho): Beowulf's
father.
Killing Hathlaf, a Wulfing warrior:
195 Your countrymen were afraid of war,
father's 194 Wulfing: a member of another
Germanic tribe.
If he returned to his home, and they turned him away.

Then he traveled across the curving waves

To the land of the Danes. I was new to the throne,
Then, a young man ruling this wide
200 Kingdom and its golden city: Hergar,
My older brother, a far better man
Than I, had died and dying made me,
Second among Healfdane's sons, first

In this nation. I bought the end of Edgetho's

205 Quarrel, sent ancient treasures through the ocean's
Furrows to the Wulfings; your father swore 191-206 What service did
He'd keep that peace. My tongue grows heavy, Hrothgar perform for Beowulf's
father?
And my heart, when I try to tell you what Grendel
Has brought us, the damage he's done, here
210 In this hall.You see for yourself how much smaller
Our ranks have become, and can guess what we've lost
To his terror. Surely the Lord Almighty
Could stop his madness, smother his lust!
How many times have my men, glowing
215 With courage drawn from too many cups
Of ale, sworn to stay after dark
And stem that horror with a sweep of their swords.
And then, in the morning, this mead-hall glittering
With new would be drenched with blood, the benches
light

220 Stained red, the floors,all wet from that fiend's

Savage assault —
and my soldiers would be fewer
Still, death taking more and more.

But to table, Beowulf, a banquet in your honor:

Let us toast your victories, and talk of the future."
225 Then Hrothgar's men gave places to the Geats,
Yielded benches to the brave visitors
And led them to the feast. The keeper of the mead
Came carrying out the carved flasks,
And poured that bright sweetness. A poet
230 Sang, from time to time, in a clear
Pure voice. Danes and visiting Geats
Celebrated as one, drank and rejoiced.

BEOWULF 39
 whoi* CHALLENGES

Writing Options Activities & Inquiry & Research

1. A Warrior's Letter Imagine that Explorations 1. Religious Beliefs Find out more
you are one of Hrothgar's about the religious beliefs of the
1. Cartoon Hero Choose one of
warriors. Write a letter to a Germanic peoples in Beowulf's
Beowulf's three battles and turn
comrade, in which you describe day and of the Anglo-Saxons after
it into a comic strip in which the
Grendel, his nightly visits, and they adopted Christianity. Who
action is largely or entirely
your fears about what might were the pre-Christian Germanic
conveyed by means of the
happen. gods? What role did fate play in
illustrations that you draw. (If
pre-Christian Germanic beliefs?
2. Director's Notes Imagine that you prefer, you can use a pad
you are a movie director about to
When were the various Germanic
of paper to create a flipbook
peoples converted to Christianity?
shoot scenes involving the three version of the battle, so that
monsters that Beowulf
What role did Christianity play in
fights: the characters will appear to
the Anglo-Saxons' daily life?
Grendel, his mother, and the fire- move.) ~ ART
Present your findings in a written
breathing dragon. To help you
2. Beowulf Aloud Divide up the
report.
direct the scenes, make notes
selection with a small group of
about each monster's motives, classmates so that each of you
and
actions, strengths,
responsible for a different
is
weaknesses and about the portion. Then, imagining that
outcome of the monster's battle
you are scops of old, present
with Beowulf.
Beowulf in a series of oral
3. Anglo-Saxon News Story Write recitations, in which the reciter
a news story describing one of or another member of the
Beowulf's three battles. Include group strums a harp, a guitar,

details from the selection and or another stringed instrument

statements from imaginary Shoulder clasps from the Sutton Hoo burial
as musical accompaniment.
witnesses to the event. ~ SPEAKING AND LISTENING
2. Sutton Who? Investigate the
4. Comparison Essay In an essay, discovery of the ship burial at
compare and contrast Beowulf 3. A Video Scop View the video of SuttonHoo in Suffolk, England.
with a hero from popular culture, a storyteller telling the legendary Who was buried there, and when
such as Indiana tale of Beowulf's battle with the was he most likely buried? Why
Jones, monster Grendel. What did you was he buried in a ship? What
Batman, or like most about this interpretation? have the artifacts found at the
Luke Least? How did it affect your site revealed about Anglo-Saxon
Skywalker. understanding of the character of culture? Share your research with
What makes each Beowulf? Choose a passage from the rest of the class.
character heroic? the epic and develop your own
<^"2; More Online: Research Starter
You might organize your ideas in storytelling version of it. ~ VIEWING www.mcdougallittell.com
*>
a Venn diagram like the one AND REPRESENTING
shown here. Place the essay in
Literature in Performance
your Working Portfolio. ^3
Writing Handbook
See page 1367: Compare and Contrast.

64 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

 ife's
Lament

Poverty carrying a sack of wheat to the mill

reaches a dangerous bridge (about 1450-1475).
Rene I d'Anjou, King of Naples. From Le

Mortifiement de vaine plaisance, M.705, f. 38v.

GUIDE FOR READING

I make this song about me full sadly 1 To show the rhythmic structure
of Old English poetry, this
my own wayfaring. I a woman tell
translator has divided each line
what griefs I had grew up
since I
into two units with a break called
new or old never more than now. a caesura (sT-zhdt>r'9). The caesuras
5 Ever I know the dark of my exile. signal places where the scop, or
poet-singer, probably paused for
breath while reciting the poem.
First my lord went out away from his people
2 wayfaring: journeying.
over the wave-tumult. I grieved each dawn
6 my lord: the speaker's husband.
wondered where my lord my first on earth might be.
7 wave-tumult: the sea. Why
Then I went forth a friendless exile might the poet have used this
10 to seek service in my sorrow's need. kenning?
My man's kinsmen began to plot
by darkened thought to divide us two
so we most widely in the world's kingdom
lived wretchedly and I suffered longing.

\s My lord commanded me to move my dwelling here.

I had few loved ones in this land

or faithful friends. For this my heart grieves:

that I should find the man well matched to me
hard of fortune mournful of mind 19 hard . . . mind: having a hard
life and feeling sad.
20 hiding his mood thinking of murder.

94 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

 Blithe was our bearing often we vowed
that but death alone would part us two
naught else. But this is turned round
now ... as if it never were
25 our friendship. I must far and near
bear the anger of my beloved.
The man sent me out to live in the woods
under an oak tree in this den in the earth.
Ancient this earth hall. I am all longing. 29 "Earth hall" refers to the
speaker's living quarters. What
kind of place do you think it is?
30 The valleys are dark the hills high
the yard overgrown bitter with briars
a joyless dwelling. Full oft the lack of my lord
seizes me cruelly here. Friends there are on earth
living beloved lying in bed
35 while I at dawn am walking alone
under the oak tree through these earth halls.

There I may sit the summerlong day

there I can weep over my exile
my many hardships. Hence I may not rest
40 from this care of heart which belongs to me ever
nor all this longing that has caught me in this life.

May that young man be sad-minded always 42-50 In these lines, the speaker
hard his heart's thought while he must wear seems to wish for her husband the
a blithe bearing with care in the breast
same sad, lonely life that he has
forced her to endure.
45 a crowd of sorrows. May
on himself depend
all his world's joy. Be he outlawed far
in a strange folk-land — that my beloved sits

under a rocky cliff rimed with frost

a lord dreary in spirit drenched with water
50 in a ruined hall. My lord endures
much care of mind. He remembers too often
a happier dwelling. Woe be to them
that for a loved one must wait in longing.

Translated by Ann Stanford

THE WIFE'S LAMENT 95

 ^roug/j

Connect to the Literature

Literary Analysis
What Do You Think? Comprehension Check
What is your • What happened after the wife's |
KENNING Anglo-Saxon poets
|

reaction to the story husband went to sea? made frequent use of kennings,
• Why do the husband and the wife descriptive terms and phrases
told in "The Wife's
Lament"? live apart? substituted for simple nouns. In a

• What does the wife wish her translation of Old English poetry, a
husband to feel? kenning may appear as a
compound word, like wave-tumult,
Think Critically
used for the sea in "The Wife's
2. Evaluate the kind of life the wife has led. Support your Lament." A kenning may also appear
evaluation with details from the poem. as a group of two or more words,
like swan road, another common
3. How would you describe the wife's opinion of her
kenning for the sea. The name
husband's behavior?
Beowulf itself can be interpreted as
• the influence of her husband's kinsmen "bee-wolf," a kenning for a bear
• the vow that the husband and the wife made (because bears like honey and so
ABOUT to each other are often found around beehives).

• the wife's thoughts in lines 42-50 Cooperative Learning Activity

Identify two more kennings in the
4. In your opinion, how might the husband respond to his
poems and explain what they mean.
wife's accusations?
Then copy the chart below and try

ACTIVE READING INTERPRETING DETAILS! Get together with creating your own kennings for the

a partner and discuss the cluster diagrams of descriptive words in the first column. Discuss

details you created in your DLUbeaders notebook. your ideas and complete the chart

What moods do the details help convey? with a small group of classmates.

Term Kenning

Extend Interpretations city

6. What If?Suppose that the husband of the speaker in "The journey

Wife's Lament" returned to her. Describe their reunion. ship

tree
7. Comparing Texts Compare the plights of the three poems'
war
title characters. Who do you think faces the most difficult

hardships? What makes you think this way? Defend your

opinion. | ALLITERATION |
Besides
rhythm, the most important element
8. Connect to Life In the modern world, many refugees leave of sound in Old English poetry is

their countries to escape dangers, not knowing when or if alliteration, the repetition of initial

they ever return to the homelands and people they love.

will consonant sounds. Look for

How do you think the loneliness and other hardships they examples in all three poems.
face compare with those endured in Anglo-Saxon times?
Cite evidence from the poems to support your opinion.

96 UNIT ONE PART 1: TESTS OF COURAGE

 TV Interview With a group of
Writing Options Activities & 2.

classmates, stage a TV talk show

1. Diary Entry Imagine that you Explorations in which a host interviews the
are the title character of one of
1. Weather Map Research the title characters of the poems. The
the poems. Write a diary entry
weather patterns over the waters host should encourage the
describing a typical day in your
surrounding Then draw a
Britain. guests to discuss their hopes and
life-for "The Seafarer," for
map showing the places where plans for the future as well as
example, you might describe a may have
an Anglo-Saxon sailor their past experiences.
typical day at sea. Place the entry
encountered weather-related - SPEAKING AND LISTENING
in your Working Portfolio. \3 dangers and the types of dangers
2. Exploration Write a paragraph he may have faced. ~ SCIENCE Inquiry & Research
in which you explore Everyday Anglo-Saxons Use
the inner conflict of the history books and other
title character in one of
reliable sources to
the poems. State the find out more
you
conflict that
about the
perceive, and then
Anglo-Saxons.
support your statement Go beyond the
with details from the accounts of
poem. historic events
Writing Handbook to investigate the
See page 1359: Paragraphs. lifestyles of the
various classes of Stained glass
Anglo-Saxon window depicting
a farmer sowing
society— women
seeds by hand
and farmers as well
as kings and warriors. Prepare a
written report on your findings.

The Authors
Surviving Anonymity Nothing is known about the Book was neglected and abused for centuries
authors of "The Seafarer," "The Wanderer," and because few people were able to read the Old
"The Wife's Lament." All three poems survive in English language in which it was written. The
the Exeter Book, a manuscript produced by original binding and an unknown number of
scribes around a.d. 950. Leofric, the first bishop pages were lost. Other pages were badly stained
of Exeter in England, had this collection of Anglo- or scorched. Today the Exeter Book is handled
Saxon poems in his personal library. After he with great care and treasured as one of the few
donated it to the Exeter Cathedral library surviving poetic manuscripts from the Anglo-
sometime between 1050 and 1072, the Exeter Saxon period.

THE SEAFARER THE WANDERER THE

/ / WIFE'S LAMENT 97
 —

The Medieval Period

1066-1485
Like the Danes of Britain, the Normans (whose name means
"north men") had originally been Viking raiders from northern
Europe. However, after settling in the region that became
known as Normandy, just northeast of Britanny on the coast of
France, the Normans had adopted French ways. Now William
introduced these practices to England, beginning the medieval
(or middle) period in English history.

Probably the most significant of William's introductions was

feudalism, a political and economic system in which the hierar-
chy of power was based on the premise that the king owned all

the land in the kingdom. Keeping a fourth for himself and

granting a fourth to the church, William parceled out the rest
of England to loyal nobles —mostly Norman barons—who, in

return, either paid him or supplied him with warriors called

knights. The barons swore
allegiance to the king, the
knights to their barons, and so
on down the social ladder. At
the bottom of the ladder were
the conquered Anglo-Saxons,
many of whom were serfs

peasants bound to land they

could not own. To protect
Norman interests, barons
were encouraged to build
strong castles from which they
Hoping to influence the could dominate the country-
church, Henry II

appointed his friend side and defend the realm

Thomas a Becket from attack; at the same time,
archbishop of Canterbury.
great cathedrals and abbeys
When the archbishop
began favoring church were erected on the new
interests over those of the church lands.
crown, Henry's sharp
Because William's succes-
criticisms prompted four
loyal knights to murder sors were less strong and
Becket. Henry quickly organized than he, power
proclaimed his innocence
and reconciled with the
struggles among the barons

church; Becket was

declared a saint, his shrine
at Canterbury becoming a
popular destination for
Christian pilgrims. Canterbury Cathedral, begun in the
1 1th century, reflects the influence
of Norman architecture.

22 UNIT ONE THE ANGLO-SAXON AND MEDIEVAL PERIODS (449-1485)1^

 Development of the
were common in the decades after his death. When
William's son Henry I died in 1135, the barons took English -language
sides in a violent struggle for power between Henry's
daughter Matilda and his nephew Stephen. The near The Norman Conquest led to great
anarchy ended in 1154, when Matilda's son Henry changes in the English language. Despite
Plantagenet took the throne as Henry II. One of their Viking origins, by 1066 the Normans
spoke a dialect of Old French, which
medieval England's most memorable rulers, Henry
they brought to England with them.
reformed the judicial system, instituting royal courts
Norman French became the language
throughout the country, establishing a system of juries,
of the English court, ofgovernment
and initiating the formation of English common law business, of the new nobility, and of the
out of a patchwork of centuries-old practices. scholars, cooks, and craftspeople that

At least as colorful as Henry II was his wife, the Norman barons brought with them
who to serve theirmore "refined" needs. The
Eleanor of Aquitaine, a former French queen
use of English became confined to the
had brought as her dowry vast landholdings in
conquered, mostly peasant population.
France. From French court circles she also brought Ever adaptable, however, English soon
the ideals of chivalry, a code of honor intended to incorporated thousands of words and
govern knightly behavior. The code encouraged many grammatical conventions from
knights to honor and protect ladies and to go on holy Norman French. These changes led to
the development of Middle English, a
quests — like the Crusades, the military expeditions in
form much closer than Old English to
which European Christians attempted to wrest the
the language we speak today.
holy city of Jerusalem from Moslem control.
Henry's son Richard I, called Richard the Lion-
Hearted, spent much of his ten-year reign fighting in
the Crusades and in France, where English posses-
sions were threatened. During his absence, his Literary History
treacherous brother John —the villain of many Robin
Hood legends — plotted against him. When Richard As English became the language of a
died and John became king, he found that the royal mostly illiterate peasantry, the common
folk again relied on the oral tradition to
tell their stories and express their feelings.

Many of their compositions were folk

ballads, brief narrative poems sung to
musical accompaniment. The later Middle
Ages saw the flowering of mystery and
miracle plays, which dramatized epis-
odes from the Bible and from saints'
lives, and morality plays, which taught

moral lessons. From these simple plays,

intended to convey religious truths to
an audience only partly literate, arose
the great tradition of English drama.

Jousting knights

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 23
Right: Flexible body armor called mail was
made from iron links.

treasury had been bankrupted by over-

seas warfare. In 1215 he was forced to

sign the Magna Carta ("Great Charter"),

which limited royal authority by grant-
ing more power to the barons and thus
was an early step on the road to
democracy. During the reign of John's
son Henry III, an advisory council of
barons —now called a parliament— began
to meet regularly. Under his successor,

Edward I, the Model Parliament of 1295

established the inclusion of commoners
(eventually to become the House of
Commons) as well as barons (the "House
of Lords") in the council.

The Decline of
Feudalism

The growth of the commoners'

power went hand in hand with
the growth of medieval towns, a King Philip II of France (above),
result of an increase in trade that was along with Richard the Lion-
Hearted and Frederick of
stimulated in part by the Crusades. In the
I

Germany, was a leader of the

towns, merchants and craftspeople forces attempting to recapture
formed organizations called guilds to Jerusalem in the Third Crusade
(1189-1192).
control the flow and price of goods and
to set up rules for advancing from Right: Magna Carta, 1215
apprentice to master craftsman. The

Wool, an important product in medieval

commerce, was shipped from sheep farms to
market towns, where merchants exchanged
money for goods.
 —

Literary History

Religious faith was a vital element of

medieval English life and literature. One
of the most distinctive products of the
age is the long poem known as Piers
Plowman, a dream vision that explores
Christianity's spiritual mysteries. Religious
devotion is also the key concern of The
Book of Margery Kempe, an autobiogra-
phy in which Kempe focuses on her
spiritual growth. In contrast, far more
worldly attitudes are expressed in the
surviving correspondence of the Paston
family.These remarkable letters, written
from about 1420 to 1500 and discovered
centuries later by one of the Pastons'
The spread of ideas was greatly assisted by a descendants, provide fascinating glimpses
landmark innovation in 15th-century Europe of life in later medieval times.
the printing press. Ages
Especially popular in the Middle
were romances—tales of chivalric knights,
many of which feature King Arthur and
growth of towns meant the decline of feudalism, the members of his court. For centuries

since wealth was no longer based exclusively on the oral poets of the Britonsin Wales

had celebrated their legendary hero

land ownership. On the other hand, the crowding of
Arthur just as Anglo-Saxon scops had
townspeople in conditions of poor sanitation en-
celebrated Beowulf. Then, about 1 135,
sured that diseases like plague could spread rapidly. the monk Geoffrey of Monmouth pro-
As towns were becoming centers of commerce, duced a Latin "history" based on the old
universities were becoming England's chief centers of Welsh legends. Geoffrey's book caught
learning. At Oxford University, 13th-century scholars the fancy of French, German, and English
writers, who soon produced their own
like Roger Bacon advanced the study of science and
versions of the legends, updating them
mathematics. A century later, an Oxford scholar
to reflect then-current notions of chivalry.
named John Wycliffe led an effort to end widespread Inabout 1375, an anonymous English
church corruption. Though his followers, the poet produced Sir Cawain and the Green
Lollards, were suppressed, his ideas spread to John Knight, recounting the marvelous adven-

Huss in central Europe and through him influenced tures of a knight of Arthur's court. A
century later, in Le Morte d'Arthur, Sir
the later religious reformer Martin Luther.
Thomas Malory retold a number of the
French Arthurian tales in Middle English.

The Hundred Years' War

Wycliffe's reform efforts took place during
the Hundred Years' War, a long struggle
between England and France that had
begun in 1337 during the reign of Edward III. As
the war continued on and off for more than a century,
England also had to weather several domestic crises,

including a great epidemic of plague known as the

Black Death, which killed a third of England's popu-

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 25
Development of the
lation; the Peasants' Revolt of 1381; and Richard IPs
English language forced abdication in 1399, which brought Henry IV
to the English throne. The war itself had many
As warfare with France dragged on, famous episodes — like
English not only survived but triumphed. Henry V's great victory over
Among England's upper class it came the French at Agincourt
to seem unpatriotic to use the language
and the French army's lift-
of the nation's number one enemy, espe-
cially since the Anglo-Norman variety of ing of the siege of Orleans

French was ridiculed by the "real" French under the inspired leader-
speakers across the English Channel. ship of the young peasant
By the end of the Hundred Years' War, woman Joan of Arc. When
English had once again become the first
the war finally ended in
language of most of the English nobility.
1453, England had lost

nearly all of its French pos-

sessions. It was also on the
verge of a conflict in which

Literary History two rival families claimed

the throne —the house of
York, whose symbol was a In medieval art, the Black
In the rebirth of English as a language Death was often portrayed
white rose, and the house of
of literature, no writer was more impor- as a skeleton.
tant than the 14th-century poet Geoffrey Lancaster, whose symbol
Chaucer, the towering figure of Middle was a red rose. The fighting,

English letters. Chaucer's masterpiece, known as the Wars of the Roses, ended in 1485,
The Canterbury Tales, is a collection of when the Lancastrian Henry Tudor killed the
tales supposedly narrated by a group of
Yorkist king Richard III at Bosworth Field and took
pilgrims traveling from London to Canter-
the throne as Henry VII. This event is usually taken
bury to visit the shrine of Thomas a
Becket. The pilgrims, who come from all as marking the end of the Middle Ages in England.
walks of medieval life—the castle, the farm,
the church, the town— are introduced in

the famous "Prologue," where Chaucer

weaves a vivid and charming tapestry of
English life in the later Middle Ages.

During the Hundred

Years' War, the use
of the longbow helped
the English to inflict
heavy casualties on the
French, who were armec
with the less efficient
crossbow.

26
 Lord Randall
‘O where ha you been, Lord Randall, my son?
And where ha you been, my handsome young man?’
‘I ha been at the greenwood; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’

‘An wha met ye there, Lord Randall, my son?

An wha met ye there, my handsome young man?’
‘O I met wi my true-love; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’

‘And what did she give you, Lord Randall, my son?

And what did she give you, my handsome young man?’
‘Eels fried in a pan; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’

‘And wha gat your leavins, Lord Randall my son?

And wha gat your leavins, my handsome young man?’
‘My hawks and my hounds mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’

‘And what becam of them, Lord Randall, my son?

And what becam of them, my handsome young man?’
‘They stretched their legs out and died; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.’

‘O I fear you are poisoned, Lord Randall, my son!

I fear you are poisoned, my handsome young man!’
‘O yes, I am poisoned; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’

‘What d'ye leave to your mother, Lord Randall, my son?

What d'ye leave to your mother, my handsome young man?’
‘Four and twenty milk kye; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down. '

' What d'ye leave to your sister, Lord Randall, my son?

What d'ye leave to your sister, my handsome young man?’
‘My gold and my silver; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’

‘What d'ye leave to your brother, Lord Randall, my son?

What d'ye leave to your brother, my handsome young man?’
‘My houses and my lands; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down.’

' What d'ye leave to your true-love, Lord Randall, my son?

What d'ye leave to your true-love, my handsome young man? '
' I leave her hell and fire; mother, mak my bed soon,
For I'm sick at the heart, and I fain wad lie down. '

Anonymous (13th- 15th centuries)

-Explain which of the characteristics of ballads are present in “Lord Randal”.

-What is “Lord Randal” about?
-What is a refrain?
- Find in the ballad:
- Refrains
- Archaisms
- Turning point or climax
- Alliterations
- Elements of medieval life (Inheritance and passion for hunting).
PREPARING to 0iead
Comparing Literature
of the World
fmm Le Morte d' Arthur Le Morte d 'Arthur
and the Ramayana
Romance by SIR THOMAS MALORY This lesson and the one that follows
Retold by KEITH BAINES present an opportunity for comparing
legendary deeds in Le Morte d'Arthur
and the Ramayana. Specific points of
comparison in the Ramayana lesson
Connect to Your Life) will help you contrast characters and

scenes in Le Morte d'Arthur with those

A Second Chance Have you ever done or said something that
in Valmiki's epic.
you later regretted? If so, why did you regret it? Given a
second chance, how would you have behaved differently?

Share your thoughts with your classmates.

Build Background Focus Your Reading

Arthurian Legends The legend of King Arthur is one LITERARY ANALYSIS CHARACTERIZATION
of the most popular and enduring legends in Characterization way in which writers guide
is the
Western culture. Some historians believe that the readers' impressions of characters. Malory combines
fictional Arthur was modeled on a real fifth- or sixth- details of appearance, speech, thoughts, and actions

century Celtic military leader whose cavalry with comments on the characters to establish the
defended Britain against the invading Anglo-Saxons. essential nature of his characters.
However, the historical Arthur was undoubtedly very
During the absence of King Arthur from Britain, Sir
different from the king of later legend, who ruled an
Modred, already vested with sovereign powers, had
idealized world of romance, chivalry, and magic.
decided to usurp the throne. Accordingly, he had false
Since the sixth century, there have been many —announcing the death of King Arthur
letters written
variations of the stories celebrating King Arthur. Most
in battle—and delivered himself. to
English-speaking readers have been introduced to the
Arthurian legends through Thomas Malory's Le Morte As you read this story, be aware of details of appearance,

d'Arthur or one of its many adaptations. Malory's

behavior, and action that contribute to characterization.
work consists of a number of interwoven tales that
ACTIVE READING UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERIZATION
chronicle the rise and fall of the Arthurian world.
These tales are based on earlier English and French In describing Malory's characterizations, one critic has

stories about Arthur's court and are populated by said that Launcelot always seems noble in spite of his

such famous characters as Merlin the magician, faults.As you read the selection, note Launcelot's
Queen Gwynevere (also spelled Guinevere), and a words and actions and those of other characters in
host of knights, including Sir Launcelot, Sir Gawain— response to him. Think about whether these details of

whom you encountered in the previous selection— Sir characterization support the view of Launcelot as

Tristram, and Sir Galahad. Although the title Le Morte flawed but noble.
d'Arthur ("The Death of Arthur") perhaps applies best rp READERS notebook Use a cluster diagram to
to the last section of Malory's work, it is by this title record examples of Launcelot's speech and behavior,
that the entire work has come to be known. as well as the words
and acts of others,
WORDS TO KNOW Vocabulary Preview that contribute to
acquiesce ensue ravage
Malory's charac-
assail entreaty redress
depredation forbearance reeling terization of him.
dissuade guile succor
dwindle incumbent usurp

LE MORTE D'ARTHUR 225

RELATED
Primary Source

Reading for Information

from
The preface to a literary work
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION typically sheds light on why the
9 author wrote the work. Imagine that
Le Morte d Arthur you are a printer at a time when
books are scarce. What might you
William Caxton, the first English printer, had a significant
want to include in your preface to a
impact on the literature of his day. In his preface to the first first edition?
edition of Malory's Le Morte d 'Arthur, published in 1485, Caxton

describes his anticipated audience and reveals his purpose in publish- PARAPHRASING AND SUMMARIZING
ing the work. As you might expect, Caxton's
language and syntax are typical of
15th-century English. To unlock the
meanings of such challenging texts,
you can use the skills of
paraphrasing and summarizing.

have, after the simple cunning that God hath sent to me, under Review the primary source as you
) I

complete these activities:

the favor and correction of all noble lords and gentlemen, enprised to
enprint a book of the noble histories of the said King Arthur and of O Paraphrase, or restate in your
own words, the first paragraph.
certain of his knights, after a copy unto me delivered, which copy Sir
What sources does Caxton sug-
Thomas Malory did take out of certain books of French and reduced
gest Malory used? Certains books of French
it into English.
© Refer to your paraphrase of the
f And I, according to my copy, have done set it in enprint to the second paragraph. What was
intent that noble men may see and learn the noble acts of chivalry, Caxton's purpose in publishing Le
the gentle and virtuous deeds that some knights used in tho[se] days, Morte d'Arthur? What virtues
by which they came to honor, and how they that were vicious were does it portray? Who does Caxton
expect will be his audience?
punished and oft put to shame and rebuke; humbly beseeching all

noble lords and ladies with all other estates, of what estate or degree Look at your paraphrase of "that
they take the good and honest
they been of, that shall see and read in this said book and work, that
acts in their remembrance, and to
J they take the good and honest acts in their remembrance, and to
follow the same." What is Caxton
follow the same; wherein they shall find many joyous and pleasant
hoping his readers will do?
histories and noble and renowned acts of humanity, gentleness, and
Summarizing With a partner,
chivalries. For herein may be seen noble chivalry, courtesy, humanity,
summarize Caxton's main points.
friendliness, hardiness, love, friendship, cowardice, murder, hate,
How has reading Caxton's words
virtue and sin. Do after the good and leave the evil, and it shall bring affected your understanding of Le
you to good fame. Morte d'Arthur. In what ways, if any,

2. That the noble men learn from the acts of chivalry, the deed that has your reaction to characters such
the nights used to came to honor and how the vicious were
punished.
as Sir Gawain changed?
Noble lords and ladies of whatever estate or degree they are from

3. He hopes the readers to take the good acts and to follow them, to do the good and not the evil

239
 LE MORTE D'ARTHUR
King Arthur and of his Noble Knights of the Round Table

By Sir Thomas Malory

CHAPTER VI.
How King Arthur pulled out the sword divers times.
Now assay, said Sir Ector unto Sir Kay. And anon he pulled at the sword with all his
might; but it would not be. Now shall ye assay, said Sir Ector to Arthur. I will well, said
Arthur, and pulled it out easily. And therewithal Sir Ector knelt down to the earth, and Sir
Kay. Alas, said Arthur, my own dear father and brother, why kneel ye to me? Nay, nay,
my lord Arthur, it is not so; I was never your father nor of your blood, but I wot well ye
are of an higher blood than I weened ye were. And then Sir Ector told him all, how he was
betaken him for to nourish him, and by whose commandment, and by Merlin's
deliverance.
Then Arthur made great dole when he understood that Sir Ector was not his father. Sir,
said Ector unto Arthur, will ye be my good and gracious lord when ye are king? Else were
I to blame, said Arthur, for ye are the man in the world that I am most beholden to, and
my good lady and mother your wife, that as well as her own hath fostered me and kept.
And if ever it be God's will that I be king as ye say, ye shall desire of me what I may do,
and I shall not fail you; God forbid I should fail you Sir, said Sir Ector, I will ask no more
of you, but that ye will make my son, your foster brother, Sir Kay, seneschal of all your
lands. That shall be done, said Arthur, and more, by the faith of my body, that never man
shall have that office but he, while he and I live Therewithal they went unto the
Archbishop, and told him how the sword was achieved, and by whom; and on Twelfth-
day all the barons came thither, and to assay to take the sword, who that would assay. But
there afore them all, there might none take it out but Arthur; wherefore there were many
lords wroth, and said it was great shame unto them all and the realm, to be overgoverned
with a boy of no high blood born. And so they fell out at that time that it was put off till
Candlemas and then all the barons should meet there again; but always the ten knights
were ordained to watch the sword day and night, and so they set a pavilion over the stone
and the sword, and five always watched. So at Candlemas many more great lords came
thither for to have won the sword, but there might none prevail. And right as Arthur did at
Christmas, he did at Candlemas, and pulled out the sword easily, whereof the barons were
sore aggrieved and put it off in delay till the high feast of Easter. And as Arthur sped
before, so did he at Easter; yet there were some of the great lords had indignation that
Arthur should be king, and put it off in a delay till the feast of Pentecost.
Then the Archbishop of Canterbury by Merlin's providence let purvey then of the best
knights that they might get, and such knights as Uther Pendragon loved best and most
trusted in his days. And such knights were put about Arthur as Sir Baudwin of Britain, Sir
Kay, Sir Ulfius, Sir Brastias. All these, with many other, were always about Arthur, day
and night, till the feast of Pentecost.
 CHAPTER VII. How King Arthur
was crowned, and how he made
officers.
AND at the feast of Pentecost all manner of men assayed to pull at the sword that would
assay; but none might prevail but Arthur, and pulled it out afore all the lords and
commons that were there, wherefore all the commons cried at once, We will have Arthur
unto our king, we will put him no more in delay, for we all see that it is God's will that he
shall be our king, and who that holdeth against it, we will slay him. And therewithal they
kneeled at once, both rich and poor, and cried Arthur mercy because they had delayed him
so long, and Arthur forgave them, and took the sword between both his hands, and offered
it upon the altar where the Archbishop was, and so was he made knight of the best man
that was there. And so anon was the coronation made. And there was he sworn unto his
lords and the commons for to be a true king, to stand with true justice from thenceforth
the days of this life. Also then he made all lords that held of the crown to come in, and to
do service as they ought to do. And many complaints were made unto Sir Arthur of great
wrongs that were done since the death of King Uther, of many lands that were bereaved
lords, knights, ladies, and gentlemen. Wherefore King Arthur made the lands to be given
again unto them that owned them.
When this was done, that the king had stablished all the countries about London, then
he let make Sir Kay seneschal of England; and Sir Baudwin of Britain was made
constable; and Sir Ulfius was made chamberlain; and Sir Brastias was made warden to
wait upon the north from Trent forwards, for it was that time the most party the king's
enemies. But within few years after Arthur won all the north, Scotland, and all that were
under their obeissance. Also Wales, a part of it, held against Arthur, but he overcame
them all, as he did the remnant, through the noble prowess of himself and his knights of
the Round Table.
- Make a list of the characters mentioned in both chapters. Are they related? How?
- Which places are mentioned in the chapters?
- Is there any supernatural element present in the story?
- Is there any reference to Christianity?
- What are the themes you can mention?

Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord
Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again, and he shall win the holy cross. I will not
say it shall be so, but rather I will say: here in this world he changed his life.

Narrator, 926

This final consideration of Arthur's legacy and power helps explain the king's mythic power. The narrator posits King
Arthur as a Christ-like figure who will “come again.” The holy cross is a reference to the Crusades. In early
Arthurian literature, Arthur does take part in the Crusades, although Malory chose not to include that particular
story within his collection of Arthurian tales. It is important to note here the direct address, as the narrator gives his
unambiguous opinion: “I will not say it shall be so, but rather I will say: here in this world he changed his life.”
Arthur was both man and king, who struggled with the limits of his mortality and yet ironically became a myth in
the process.