ENGL4599.35 Fall 2020 Readings and Research [Stanton]

 Images from The Wonders of the East in Cotton Tiberius B v (2nd quarter of the 11th century). L-R: elephant, blemmya, homodubii.

ENGL4599 Readings and Research (Old English Language and Literature)
Fall 2020                 W9 on Zoom
Prof. Robert Stanton (stantoro@bc.edu)

This course opens a window on an age when English was young, warriors were loyal to their lord (or else), and monsters were real. The Anglo-Saxons ruled England from the fifth century until the Norman Conquest (1066), and the language they spoke and wrote now shimmers between the deeply familiar and the deeply strange. The hard core of English - stone, wood, water and bone, sun and moon, mother and father, God, man and woman, wild and weird — all comes straight from Old English, but thanks to successive invasions, political and intellectual upheavals, cultural revolutions, and an almost limitless capacity for absorption, English has changed a lot in 900 years. Old English had a grammatical system that makes it look more like modern German, Scandinavian, or Dutch than modern English, and the grammar must be learned thoroughly and pretty quickly. Once you have done that, a world of literature opens up: powerfully violent heroic poetry, mournful elegy, intensely spiritual meditations, and fanciful romance.

We will read excerpts from some of the most famous Old English prose works, such as King Alfred's Preface to the Pastoral Care (in which he plans the revitalization of English learning), Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (including the famous story of Cædmon, the first English poet), the mesmerizing apocalyptic Sermon of the Wolf to the English by the fire-and-brimstone preacher Wulfstan, the earliest version of the Bible in English, and the fantastic travel narrative The Wonders of the East; bits of saints' lives written by the famous abbot Ælfric in rhythmical prose (a kind of semi-poetry); and some of the most famous Old English poems in their entirety or in excerpts: the moody elegies The Wanderer, The Wife's Lament, and Deor, the splendid Christian psychedelia of The Dream of the Rood, the cryptic legendary remnant Wulf and Eadwacer, the delightful Exeter Book Riddles (which range from sublime to filthy), the stirring martial poetry of The Battle of Maldon, and of course the towering epic of heroic literature, Beowulf.

We will be working systematically through our textbook, Murray McGillivray's A Gentle Introduction to Old English. This text is designed to get you reading (and understanding!) Old English as quickly as possible. Each chapter is a separate lesson, which gives you information about some grammatical topic (e.g., cases, nouns, verbs, syntax), along with grammatical exercises and occasional short passages to get you started reading right off the bat. We will cover approximately three chapters per week: you will need to read the chapters, complete the exercises (not handed in but taken up in class), memorize some vocabulary, translate the reading passages in both chapters, be prepared to translate aloud in class (don’t worry – you’ll have plenty of practice on pronunciation), and write a quiz. Be sure to make a note of any questions that occur to you, bring them to class, and don’t be shy about asking them!

After mastering the basic grammar, you'll do some transcription of Old English manuscripts and translations of the texts. We'll see how quickly we can move along with this, but confronting a medieval manuscript, even in digital facsimile, is a heady and exciting experience. In the later part of the course, we'll move to the companion volume, McGillivray's Old English Reader, which has all the works mentioned above, and more, along with a very full glossary. Our choice of texts will be influenced by the digital facsimiles available, so that we can do some robust transcription. I am also very open to suggestion from students about what texts you'd like to read. I want us to read as much literature as we can, as soon as we can. This means learning a lot of language in a short time, and the first part of the course will be very grammar-intensive. If you fall behind in a class this busy, it will be hard to catch up.

There will also be a paper and a final take-home exam.

When it comes to writing a paper, you will write about the language itself only if you are keen to do so: most of the paper topics will concern some aspect of Anglo-Saxon history and culture, such as the role of women, how the Danes conquered England, the production of fabulously intricate manuscript illumination, how they dressed, or what they thought about the devil. There will also be the option to write a creative piece. Here are some suggested topics.

Some of the work for the course is intended to be pure (or very nearly pure!) fun, and to help you engage with the way the language was formed and held together. Each class, one student will make a brief (5-minute) presentation involving researching the history of a word or a semantic group, writing a short diary entry in Old English, or translating a short piece of modern English text into Old English.

Regular attendance is required, and the class participation grade reflects both attendance and level of preparation for translating.

Required Texts:
Murray McGillivray, A Gentle Introduction to Old English. Peterborough ON: Broadview, 2011. ISBN 978-1-55111-841-3
Murray McGillivray, ed., Old English Reader. Peterborough ON: Broadview, 2011. ISBN 978-1-55111-842-0

Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is the act of representing the work of others as your own. Plagiarism has severe consequences, which can include failing the course or being suspended from the university. Do not cite the words or ideas of others in your papers without citing them in proper MLA format; do not hand in a paper you have written for another course; do not hand in a paper written by someone else. You are expected to adhere to the university’s academic integrity policy, which is available here.

Students With Disabilities
If you have a disability and will be requesting accommodations for this course, please register with either Dr. Kathy Duggan (dugganka@bc.edu), Associate Director, Connors Family Learning Center (learning disabilities or ADHD) or Dean Paulette Durrett, (paulette.durrett@bc.edu), Assistant Dean for students with disabilities, (all other disabilities). Advance notice and appropriate documentation are required for accommodations.

Grading Scheme (undergraduate students)

Grade Ranges 

Schedule (subject to change; I am VERY open to suggestions for different readings!)

Final Paper Due: Friday December 18, midnight (via Canvas)