FOR REY WRITER - british english paper

Writing Assignment #1 Wulf and Eadwacer, Beowulf, Bisclavret , Sir Orfeo Pick one of the four prompts on the following page (you cannot combine prompts) and write a 3-page, double -spaced paper addressing it. In formatting and proofing your paper, read all directions and be sure that you are addressing all requirements. Failure to follow requirements will result in my returning your paper and marking it late. 1. Formatting Requirements Margins: 1” (one inch) on all four sides Spacing: double (note: only hit enter once to begin a new paragraph) ; no extra double - spacing Font: 12 -point Times New Roman STAPLED WITH COVER SHEET. Your name/date/class should be on the cover sheet; none of this information can be on the first page of the paper itself. If you d o not know how to change margins or default settings in your word processor, it is your responsibility to look up how to do so. This information is easily found online, or from tech support in the computer labs. Format your document before you begin writin g. 2. Citation Requirements While you will not be using outside sources, citing from your texts is crucial to responsible academic work. You must cite all poetry (so, all the texts we have read so far) by line number in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase. Observe the following requirements: Direct quotes: You should not be quoting passages longer than six lines in your text, thus all quotations should be incorporated into the paragraph. Indicate line breaks by using the / (forward -slash) ma rk between lines: “Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, / nursed a hard grievance” (86 -7). Paraphrase: If you don’t need to quote directly but feel that a particular passage needs to be described in your own words, give the line numbers at the end of the passage. For example, instead of quoting the entire passage, you might write, “At the beginning of the poem, we see that Grendel’s anger is roused by the song of creation performed in Heorot (86 -98).” 3. Proofing Requirements and Profession alism I expect your papers to be written in clear, grammatically and orthographically correct English.

As stipulated in the syllabus, I will return papers with an excessive amount of grammatical/spelling errors. Chronically misspelling or omitting the name s of major characters and places in the texts (e.g. Grendal fo r Grendel, Beowolf for Beowulf, Heret for Heorot , “the king” for “Hrothgar”) will also result in your paper being returned; you have the names spelled out numerous times in the texts and the rea ding guides. The production of a readable and polished piece of writing is not only a requirement for English but for professional communication across all disciplines and fields of work. Ensuring that your paper meets the expectations for presentation an d professionalism, from proper citation to grammar and spelling that are up to standard is your responsibility. 4. Exercise description and goals In this short paper, you will focus carefully upon the language in a short passage and show how words, definitions, characters, or images develop a specific theme in the passage you have selected. Your thesis will state how the passages you’ve chosen illustrate a specific aspect of the topic you are examining. The body of the essay, in support of your thesis, will “pick apart” the passage you’ve picked by examining how they are connected to other events in the poem; looking at textual features such as important images or ideas that appear in this passage that are referenced elsewhere; specific des criptive techniques applied to character appearance or setting; specific terms used to describe the nature of a character; the uses of titles or proper names (or other identifiers); how a particular aspect of character is represented through the use of con crete details of time, place etc.; the relation of landscape or physical environment (i.e. setting) to character; or, how interactions between characters reveal underlying ideologies surrounding social structure. For a strong example of a close reading es say, see the paper uploaded to Blackboard. Prompts 1. Wulf and Eadwacer : Produce a grammatically correct translation that advances one of the following interpretations of the poem (see below). Write an essay that close -reads your translation, focusing o n the ways in which the poem develops the relationship between feminine grief and isolation or loneliness. Include your translation, single -spaced, as a cover page to your essay. You can find a clean copy of the Wulf and Eadwacer translation on Blackboard. • The speaker is a woman lamenting the loss of her lover, Wulf, and Eadwacer is her husband. • The speaker is a dog lamenting the loss of its wolf lover and Eadwacer is another guard dog. 2. Beowulf : Provide a close -reading that supports a thesis on how the passage associates monstrosity/evilness/otherness with the state of being exiled or outcast. “I have heard it said by my people in hall, 1345 counselors who live in the upland country, that they have seen two such creatures prowling the moors, huge marauders from some other world. One of these things, as far as anyone can discern, 1350 looks like a woman; the other, warped in the shape of a man, moves beyond the pale bigger than any man, an unnatural birth called Grendel by country people in forme r days. They are fatherless creatures, 1355 and their whole ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts. They dwell apart among wolves on the hills, on windswept crags and treacherous keshes, where cold streams pour down the mountain and disappear 1360 under mist and moorland.” (Beowulf 1345 -61) 3. Bisclavret : Close -read the following passage and write an essay on how Bisclavret contrasts marital and feudal relationships (i.e. the relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between a king and his follower). She sent a messenger to summon a knight who lived in the region and who had loved her for a long time, wooed her ardently and served her generously. She had never loved him or promised him her affection but now she told him what was on her mind. ‘Friend,’ she said, ‘rejoice: without further delay I will grant you that which has tormented you; never again will you encounter any refusal. I offer you my love and my body; make me your mistress.’ He thanked her warmly and accepted her pledge, whereupon she received his oath and told him of her husband and what became of him… Thus was Bisclavret betrayed and wronged by his wife. ( Bisclavret 69) The king then left with Bisclavret following him. He kept very close to the king, as he did n ot want to be separated from him and had no wish to abandon him… [The king] considered the wolf to be a great wonder and loved it dearly, commanding all his people to guard it well for love of him and not to do it any harm. None of them was to strike at it and plenty of food and water must be provided for it. His men were happy to look after the creature and each day it would sleep amongst the knights, just by the king. It was loved by everyone and so noble and gentle a beast that it never attempted to caus e any harm. Wherever the king might go, it never wanted to be left behind. It accompanied him constantly and showed clearly that it loved him. ( Bisclavret 70) 4. Orfeo : Close -read the following passage and write an essay on how the Orfeo poet depicts the otherworld, or the space of the monstrous) as a liminal space, at the border between beautiful (the castle) and terrifying (the fairy king’s “collection”), where humans are turned into objects , and what this suggests about the boundary between the human an d the Other . Amidde the lond a castel he sighe, 355 Riche and real and wonder heighe. Al the utmast wal Was clere and schine as cristal; An hundred tours ther were about, Degiselich and bataild stout. 360 The butras com out of the diche Of rede gold y -arched riche. The vousour was avowed al Of ich maner divers aumal. Within ther wer wide wones, 365 Al of precious stones; The werst piler on to biholde Was al of burnist gold. Al that lond was ever light, For when it schuld be therk and nig ht, 370 The riche stones light gonne As bright as doth at none the sonne. No man may telle, no thenche in thought, The riche werk that ther was wrought. Bi al thing him think that it is 375 The proude court of Paradis. In this castel the levedis al ight; He wold in after, yif he might. ….. Than he gan bihold about al, And seighe liggeand within the wal Of folk that were thider y -brought And thought dede, and nare nought. 390 Sum stode withouten hade, And sum non armes nade, And sum thurth the bodi hadde wounde, And sum lay wode, y -bounde, And sum armed on hors sete, 395 And sum astrangled as thai ete; And sum were in water adreynt, And sum with fire al forschreynt. Wives ther lay on childe bedde, Sum ded and sum awedde, 400 And wonder fele ther lay bisides Right as thai slepe her undertides; Eche was thus in this warld y -nome, With fairi thider y -come. Ther he seighe his owhen wiif, 405 Dame Heurodis, his lef liif, Slepe under an ympe -tre - Bi her clothes he knewe that it was he. (Sir Orfeo 355 -407 )