http://godinakilt.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] godinakilt.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2006-02-02 07:28 pm
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Arthurian Traditions (02/02)

[[Sorry for the lateness and the shortness. Day of death. Don't have the energy to do more. Just let me know how you did on the quiz.]]

"Alright, class, time for your quiz." Camulus moves around the room, placing two pages facedown on each desk. "Fifteen multiple choice on the first page worth one mark each, five passages on the back, two marks each, I just want the title and the author. I hope you all read 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' because it is on here. If you read the stories, you should get a hundred percent. Begin now."

Once the quiz was passed in, Camulus moved back to the front of the class and waved around 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. "Alright. Written around 1400 BCE by an unknown poet, usually called simply the Gawain-poet or the Pearl Poet, who is also credited with three other poems found on the same manuscript. The first modern translation was produced in 1925 by JRR Tolkien, who I understand is rather more famous for some fantasy children's story or something like that.

"You'll notice a few things about the poem, namely the use of assonance, similiar sounds in a string of words to emphasise points. While I say that this is a translation, it's really only more of an update, showing the words in their modern forms, so this assonance was deliberately done by the original poet. The use of clashing 'g's and hard 'c's, mirroring the battle or conflict in the story.

"The bob and wheel. The small verse at the end of each stanza, which summarises what went before or gives a preview for what comes next. Four three-beat lines rhyming abab (the wheel) and a one-beat tag that rhymes a (the bob). The 'bob and wheel' is what the Gawain-poet is known for.

"One last thing. There are a couple of very Celtic motifs running throughout the poem. The first is the idea of three-fold repetition. There are three hunts, three Masses, three of anything important. The pattern of threes repeat itself again and again in Celtic lore, and there were several three-fold goddesses, each expressing a different aspect of a central idea. Another of the Celtic motifs is something we like to call The Beheading Game. This is the challenge that is made to Gawain at the beginning of the poem - he can behead the Green Knight if he promises to receive the same stroke at a point a year hence - a pattern of action which is mirrored in several Celtic tales as well, including the Mabinogian."

He says all this while writing key phrases on the board. While his back his still turned, he says, "Do you have anything to add, Miss Alexander?"

[identity profile] allie-cameron.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Allie took the quiz and got a B.
sensethevisions: (Default)

[personal profile] sensethevisions 2006-02-03 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
Phoebe was listening to Camulus' lecture and grading papers.

[identity profile] kawalsky.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
Having spent a decent amount of time studying, Kawalsky managed a C+ on the quiz.

[identity profile] sea-incarnadine.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Because his mun doesn't understand the A B C grading system so well, having grown up in a school-system governed by percentages rather than letters, Macbeth passes. Barely. Because he doesn't understand what to do with a multiple choice test, so his answers are somewhat uncertainly circled.
Because he's never seen multiple choice in his life.

After the test, he finds himself rather bemused once Camulus begins to explain the idea of three-fold repitition.
Now what trouble had he gotten into himself that involved a trio?
He just couldn't put a finger on it....

[identity profile] psi16.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
Lyta smirked at Camulus' back. Bastard. Just because I've read this before? "Not a damned thing, sir," she replied.

And just for that, she aced the exam.

[identity profile] psi16.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm accustomed to participating in class. Of course, if you'd rather me not, you can just say so." There is no dare in her voice; she's simply stating it like it is. Was. Used to be.

Damn it, why didn't Lorien just let her start from scratch?

[Eh, I tend to feel snarky after karate class. Go fig. ::grin::]

[identity profile] psi16.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Lyta narrowed her eyes in appraisal of the system lord professor. Still not sure what to make of him, and dismissing the contemplation for later, she gave an abrupt nod of thanks. "Thank you, Professor."

She pursed her lips and returned her attention to the class. She'd read the Tolkien translation -- or rather tried to read it. Olde English wasn't her strong suit. She did well with, well, the modern version. Then again, she'd also read some of Tolkien's other works. She wasn't sure he had been speaking English there, either.

[identity profile] apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com 2006-02-03 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
John aces the test. woo! B! Woo!