Weeks 1 – 3
Here are the questions for weeks 1 - 3. Please use the comments section to post your answers. Do not make a new blog. Do not necessarily answer all the questions, but select those you want to answer. You may combine more than one question into a single answer.
1. What genres do the following texts belong to?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to site from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to site from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ?
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer).
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ReplyDeleteA pretty good answer, Lydia, except that the Vulsunga Saga is a saga! Look up the word saga.
DeleteWhat are some possible features of residual, or "secondary" orality preserved in The Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
ReplyDeleteThe Voluspa is dated to the 10th century AD. The century before the official christianization of Iceland. Henry Adams Bellows (1936) stated,
“That the poet was heathen and not Christian seems almost beyond dispute; there is an intensity and vividness in almost every stanza which no archaizing Christian could possibly have achieved. On the other hand, the evidences of Christian influence are sufficiently striking to outweigh the arguments... that the Voluspo is purely a product of heathendom. The roving Norsemen of the tenth century, very few of whom had as yet accepted Christianity, were nevertheless in close contact with Celtic races which had already been converted, and in many ways the Celtic influence was strongly felt. It seems likely, then, that the Voluspo was the work of a poet living chiefly in Iceland, though possibly in the "Western Isles," in the middle of the tenth century, a vigorous believer in the old gods, and yet with an imagination active enough to be touched by the vague tales of a different religion emanating from his neighbor Celts.”
With this in mind it is not too far of a stretch to imagine that the recorder of the Voluspa intended to record the myths and beliefs of his own people in a more permanent fashion. Transforming it from an oral text into a literary text in the fashion of this new Christian religion. Perhaps even to strengthen it against its fast spreading influence. The participatory nature of the first few stanzas imply that it was recorded specifically for it to be memorized and recited by others in the future and highlights the secondary nature of the Voluspa's orality.
Ong states that orality is ‘empathetic and participatory rather than objectively distant’. The participatory and therefore oral nature of the Voluspa is perfectly displayed in the first two stanzas of the poem. The very first lines of the Voluspa are “I’ll speak the ancient lore/ the oldest of all that I remember”, signifying not only the first person narration of one woman speaking to her audience, but also a deeply rooted oral tradition that is still apparant even this many hundreds of years later. However, the author has transcended the text from primary into secondary orality as Ong also states, "Orality is evanescent and not permanent." A statement that can certainly not be applied to a poem that has stood the test of time and is still widely known across the globe to this day.
References:
Ong.W.J, Orality and Literacy, 1982
Bellows. H.A, The Poetic Edda, 1936
The Voluspa, Retrieved from http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa.html
Interesting answer, but only the last paragraph addresses the question.
DeleteQuestion one:
ReplyDeleteWhat genres do the following texts belong to?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
1) Voluspa is an example of themythological Old North poetry genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: “Hear my words, you holy gods” (Stanza 1, Line 1) “By Odin’s Will I’ll speak the ancient lore”, etc [1].
Mythological poetries are bodies or collections of myths written in verse,
that belong to someone about the history, origin, deities and heroes.
2) Volsunga Saga is an example of the epicgenre, as the following references illustrate: “When the dragon awoke, trouble flared again. / He rippled down the rock, writhing with anger / when he saw the footprints of the prowler who had / stolen too close to his dreaming head. / So may a man not marked by fate / easily escape exile and woe / by the grace of God” [2].
Epic poems are about serious subjects such as heroic deeds and
events that are significant to a nation and a culture.
3) Beowulf is an example of the epic heroic poetry genre, as the following references illustrate: “Nor have I ever seen, / Out of all the men on earth, one greater / Than has come with you; no commoner carries/ Such weapons, unless his appearance, and his beauty,/ Are both lies” [3]. (Page 31)
4) The Hobbit is an example of the fantasy novel genre, as the following reference illustrate: “The dwarves of yore made mighty spells, / While hammers fell like ringing bells” [4].
Fantasy is a fictional literature genre that includes magic and supernatural
powers.
5) Lord of the Rings is an example of the epic high-fantasy novel genre, as the following reference illustrate: “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for” (heroic and epic); “Oh, it’s quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password, and the doors will open” (magical and in fantasy) [5].
Reference:
[1] Voluspa. Retrieved from http://www.voluspa.org/voluspa.htm.
[2] Volsunga Saga. Retrieved from http://omacl.org/Volsunga/.
[3] Beowulf. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/180445.
[4] The Hobbit. Retrieved from http://www.readanybook.com/online/17.
[5] Lord of the Rings. Retrieved from http://www.rednovels.net/series/Lord_of_the_Rings.html.
Pretty good answer. the Volsunga Saga is a saga!
DeleteResidual orality according to Ong (1982) refers to thought and how thought is expressed in cultures that have been exposed to writing and type but are not yet fully involved in the written tradition. This residual orality is very prominent in the text Voluspa. For example in the first lines of Voluspa, the speaker says, “I’ll speak the ancient lore/the oldest of all that I remember” (3-4), the use of the word ‘speak’ highlights the deep rooted oral tradition of the time since the text is written in the 14th century. Also the line “I’ll speak the ancient lore/ the oldest of all that I remember”. The word ‘speak’ adds to the orality of this text as it
ReplyDeleteThis piece itself reads like a story that is being told orally, as if telling it to an audience, "I remember giants of ages past" (5). Also it is notable that the first two stanza of the poem are told in first person, this adds to the oral nature of the piece, as it feels as a reader like you are being spoken to not that you are reading. It also makes these stanzas stand out from the rest of the poem because later it switches point of view. As Ong (1982) said, "orality is 'evanescent' not permanent", this is seen in the first two stanzas of Voluspa as it is told in a story-like form which is more non-permanence compared to the rest of the poem told in third person and a more permanent record as it is written in way more similar to modern poetry.
In the poem, the narrator makes reference to many God's names, various mythical characters and locations that are common within the culture of the 14th century. It does not say "Hel, the place of post death", but simply "The giant goes free: terror haunts all of Hel”. The poem itself is so closely connected with the world, the environment, it is as if it does not need to explain what is already familiar to the audience. The repetition of things which are common knowledge to people of the time, shows the poem is very closely connected with the environment of the lives of those in the audience. As in a mainly oral tradition what is not talked about, is forgotten. So the events of history and important ideas are discussed repeated and retold in order to stay firmly in the memories of people. This is very relevant through the piece Voluspa, as this itself is a retelling of a very important historical event, the story of creation and the end of the world itself. Ong (1982) talks about how cultures in the past were only able to preserve their heritage through stories that carefully passed down between the generations over the years. He also speaks about by Ong (1982) as he talks of the nature of oral cultures being situational and non abstract in the way they express ideas. As the way the text is written is very close to the real world telling of events. Voluspa also shows features of through its subject focus of the story, as this saga is like a retelling of the creation of the world. In a primarily oral culture it was very important to keep talking about things in history otherwise they may be lost of forgotten. Voluspa and many other pieces of literature written in this time played on important events in history retelling them in a new way.
Pretty good answer,Shannon. Rhyme and meter or rhythm can also be counted as oral features of written language.
ReplyDelete