tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14710289913995053202024-03-13T09:05:52.989-07:00the middle pagefumbling thoughts on faerie, fantasy, and folk tales.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-51719616144702374062017-06-07T17:55:00.000-07:002017-06-07T18:06:11.369-07:00Mythmoot & Invoking Wonder: Storytelling in J.R.R. Tolkien <span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-family: inherit;"> This past weekend I attended <a href="https://mythgard.org/events/mythmoot-iv/" target="_blank">Mythmoot IV,</a> a scholarly conference for all those involved with <a href="http://mythgard.org/" target="_blank">Mythgard Institute </a>and <a href="https://signumuniversity.org/" target="_blank">Signum University</a> and open to all who love Tolkien's work. Special guests at the conference included Corey Olsen, Verlyn Flieger, Michael Drout, Ted Nasmith, S<span style="background-color: white; color: #323232;">ør</span>ina Higgins, and John Di Bartolo. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> With the theme of the conference being <i>Invoking Wonder,</i> Verlyn Flieger's plenary address examined the subtle ways that J.R.R. Tolkien himself invokes wonder within his <i>Lord of the Rings</i>, noting that the way in which he does so almost always includes a "rebound effect" in which the reader experiences wonder and awe not directly from the narrator, but by means of redirection through a character within the story. One of her most clear examples of this within <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> was the scene in which Frodo encounters Lórien for the first time:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
<a href="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/f/f6/Tolkien_-_Lorien_in_Spring.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151229064230" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="422" src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/f/f6/Tolkien_-_Lorien_in_Spring.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151229064230" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"The others cast themselves down upon the fragrant grass, but Frodo stood awhile still lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lórien there was no stain" </i>(350).</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/61/70/a5/6170a52cad5a357ded2d237f1c8be86a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Lórien, therefore, is not merely described, but experienced—and specifically experienced through Frodo. In fact, it is singularly through Frodo, as if there is a spotlight on him as he alone stands "lost in wonder" as the others take respite among the grass. In this moment of quiet and solitary wonder Frodo, as Flieger noted in her address, sees things anew: familiar colors "were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them" and ordinary shapes seem "as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes." For Frodo has been blind (and literally so, as he was until this moment blindfolded) until this raw moment of wonder when he sees things fresh and anew.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Tolkien rebounds the sense of wonder from the character to the reader so that the thought and experience of Frodo becomes our own. And, as Flieger noted, an important element in invoking this wonder is Tolkien's removal of language within the passage. Familiar and defining words are gone as the narrator states, "a light was upon it for which his language had no name." Likewise the colors Frodo sees are indefinable and new, being "as if he had at that moment perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful." In the removal of language here, Flieger noted, Tolkien makes us experienc<span style="font-family: inherit;">e something new. We and Frodo alike are no longer grounded in familiar definitions and language. Here is a scene immeasurable in language, experienced only in thought, in <i>wonder</i>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> While Flieger suggests that Tolkien uses language</span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">or rather the lack of language to invoke wonder, I would expand this to suggest that he likewise does so with storytelling and song, using Frodo and the hobbits to redirect wonder upon the reader. As he did by removing the words or language, Tolkien often removes the story from the hobbits or reader. And often true wonder is achieved best through a lack of the story rather than the story itself. While there are plenty of moments Tolkien gives us history and information (like what we see in the <i>Shadow of the Past</i> and histories of Gondor in later in <i>LotR</i>) and even songs, when it comes to the story and storytelling, a lot of the time Tolkien gives us pieces rather than the whole [1]. </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <i>On Fairy Stories </i>Tolkien calls fantasy "the making or glimpsing of Other-worlds" (14). This idea that we experience fantasy with a <i>glimpse </i>of the otherworld rather than a whole view is one that is essential to Tolkien and his own fantasy. Significantly, the reader's introduction to the magic within <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, for instance, is not done with an immediate and full picture of the elves. It is done with fragmented stories and glimpses, found only </span><span style="font-family: "times";">within the "shadowy marshes" (OFS) of Tolkien's own Perilous Realm. In The Green Dragon we learn that Sam, </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "times";"><i>"believed he had once seen an Elf in the woods, and still hoped to see more one day. Of all the legends that he had heard in his early years such fragments of tales and half-remembered stories about the Elves as the hobbits knew had always moved him most deeply" </i>(77).</span></span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/0T2x6SC3rxuaZTEZb3uOz0EhFH0nJkRCSbwVJ85RFgXcO2HoPOpKRsrPpmRjTrWxBHb6y9473PepG6ZNaEXy9okkTPoV5NdH6mM2V6dZuOWnbmFVRDOWJ3KJ8K-5oArOFvz-eeJRgKXL7l-NoHVpyvI" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tednasmith.poverellomedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TN-Elves_in_the_Woody_End.jpg" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="800" height="206" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tednasmith.com/" target="_blank">Ted Nasmith</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As readers, we are invited to share in Sam's wonder of the Elves. But more than that, we are invited to share in Sam's faith in stories. Believing beyond doubt, in the face of cold reality ( or Ted Sandyman) that these fleeting, fragmented stories are true. This glimpse into Faerie, coupled with the invocation to believe, invokes wonder within stories that are <i>not</i> <i>actually told</i> to us as the reader.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "times";">So when we come to hear tales later on in the novel, it's no surprise that the most enchanting stories</span>—like those fragmented tales Sam once heard—are the ones that aren't told in full. No clearer is this felt than in the House of Tom Bombadil, where wonder is invoked not through answers but by riddles. Not by fully recounted stories, but by the enchantment felt from storytelling: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">"When they caught his words again they found that he had now wandered into strange regions beyond their memory and beyond their waking thought, into times when the world was wider, and the seas flowed straight to the western Shore; and still on and back Tom went singing out into ancient starlight, when only the Elf-sires were awake. Then suddenly he stopped, and they saw that he nodded as if he was falling asleep. The hobbits sat still before him, enchanted; and it seemed as if, under the spell of his words, the wind had gone, and the clouds had dried up, and the day had been withdrawn, and darkness had come from East and West, and all the sky was filled with the light of white stars. Whether the morning and evening of one day or of many days had passed Frodo could not tell. He did not feel either hungry or tired, only filled with wonder" (168).</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are given no complete story here. Instead, we experience enchantment and wonder through Frodo. As readers, we are no longer being asked to believe in the truth of stories, but rather in their ability to bring us to enchantment. Tolkien does this again in Rivendell when Frodo listens to the singing of the elves:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">"At first the beauty of the melodies and of the interwoven words in elven-tongues, even though he understood them little, held him in a spell, as soon as he began to attend to them. Almost it seemed that the words took shape, and visions of far lands and bright things that he had never yet imagined opened out before him; and the firelit hall became like a golden mist above seas of foam that sighed upon the margins of the world" (281).</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Frodo is swept away by words he doesn't understand, far lands he has never seen, and "bright things he had never yet imagined." It is in this context that we are shortly given Bilbo's song of Eärendil, a tale that is wondrous all the more for the build up in enchantment that precedes it. It's clear that the reader would not experience the same level of wonder in the songs, histories, and stories actually given (like those of Eärendil, Tinùviel, or Nimrodel) without these moments in which Tolkien leaves out a complete story or song to show us the ultimate power of storytelling and song. By doing so, Tolkien ensures that we are never become disillusioned with the magic or history within <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. Even though we, like Sam, come to know and experience it, we are always guided to a new, deeper enchantment: the enchantment of a story we have never—will never—hear. There is always more, always something deeper that we cannot quite touch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> This concept extends out to the actual experience of reading the very book in our hands. Our wonder is elevated when we experience this second layer enchantment reached through storytelling within the novel itself. It reminds us of what the best literature, the best stories, can evoke. Throughout <i>The Lord of the Rings </i>the reader is subtly, but strongly reminded of the magic of storytelling itself, even as she takes part in reading that same story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> In his <a href="http://alasnotme.blogspot.com/2017/06/wonder-invoked-on-uses-of-enchantment.html?spref=fb" target="_blank">own write up</a> about the Mythmoot IV conference fellow Mythgardian and friend Tom Hillman points to the poem Bilbo recites shortly before Frodo and the company leave Rivendell:</span></span><br />
<br />
<h1 class="quoteText" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<div style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">I sit beside the fire and think </span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><div style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of all that I have seen</span></i></div>
<div style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of meadow flowers and butterflies</span></i></div>
<div style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">In summers that have been</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Of yellow leaves and gossamer</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>In autumns that there were</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>With morning mist and silver sun</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And wind upon my hair</i></div>
</span></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I sit beside the fire and think</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Of how the world will be</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>When winter comes without a spring </i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>That I shall ever see</i></div>
</span></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>For still there are so many things</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>That I have never seen</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>In every wood in every spring</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>There is a different green</i></div>
</span></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I sit beside the fire and think</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Of people long ago</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>And people that will see a world</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>That I shall never know</i></div>
</span></span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>But all the while I sit and think</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Of times there were before</i></div>
</span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I listen for returning feet </i></div>
</span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-weight: normal;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">And voices at the door</span></i></div>
</span></span></i></h1>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This poem isn't about Bilbo's grand adventures. No dragon, dwarf, gold, great mountain, or wizard makes an appearance. It has no story. And yet is clearly nonetheless about wonder. There is a clear connection between past and present: of what was, what is, and what will be. But it is equally about what never was, no longer is, and what will not be for Bilbo himself. This poem is recited just after Bilbo reflects, "I’ll do my best to finish my book before you return. I should like to write the second book, if I am spared" (333). And thus the wonder and poignancy lies within what this poem <i>doesn't describe</i>. Perhaps even within the story that Bilbo's book </span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and thus the very book in our hands</span><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">—</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">can never tell. Like the maps of Hobbiton, the enchantment lies in what's beyond the edges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And so it is along the edges we walk. Within the "margins of the world" we touch upon greater legends, greater stories, enchanting storytelling. If we go back to the scene in Lothlórien, with Frodo standing alone in wonder and awe of the world before him, we can see that Tolkien doesn't go very far before reminding us what story and song means within his work:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/61/70/a5/6170a52cad5a357ded2d237f1c8be86a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="685" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/61/70/a5/6170a52cad5a357ded2d237f1c8be86a.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tednasmith.com/" target="_blank">Ted Nasmith</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"He turned and saw that Sam was now standing beside him, looking round with a puzzled expression, and rubbing his eyes as if he was not sure that he was awake. ‘It’s sunlight and bright day, right enough,’ he said. ‘I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars: but this is more Elvish than anything I ever heard tell of. I feel as if I was inside a song, if you take my meaning’" </i> (351).</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Naturally, in this moment of wonder, there is no actual song. Wonder is invoked all the more clearly and strongly without one. Just as Tolkien removed the words to describe Lórien from Frodo, he likewise removes the song from Sam. And as so often is the case with Tolkien, wonder is felt most strongly in its absence. As readers we may walk along the edge, but every so often if we're lucky, we stumble into the indescribable Perilous Realm, gaining a glimpse of something new. We become part of a story that has yet to be told, a song in the making.</span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tednasmith.poverellomedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TN-White_Ships.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tednasmith.poverellomedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TN-White_Ships.jpg" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="800" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tednasmith.com/" target="_blank">Ted Nasmith </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">[1] Meaning not of course, what was posthumously published in <i>The Silmarillion,</i> of which we are often given a song in <i>LotR </i>instead of the story in its entirety.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2cover-red-front-202x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2cover-red-front-202x300.png" /></a><b>Some very exciting news to share with you all! </b>The newest book of <i>Harry Potter</i> studies, "<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Nerds-Kathryn-McDaniel/dp/099088211X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446180454&sr=1-1&keywords=harry+potter+for+nerds+2" target="_blank">Harry Potter for Nerds 2</a></i>" edited by Travis Prinzi of <a href="http://thehogshead.org/" target="_blank">thehogshead.org</a> and Kathryn McDaniel features my essay on the Hogwarts ghosts and their liminal status between gothic and comic traditions (just in time for Halloween!). This book includes some amazing works of scholarship: everything from house-elves, Remus Lupin, dystopian elements, philosophy, quidditch, reverse alchemy, and Native American elements are all explored by some of my favorite fantasy scholars writing today.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I'm particularly honored to be included in this volume because my favorite Potter scholars and fellow mythgardians are a part of it as well: <a href="http://mythgard.org/" target="_blank">Mythgard</a> Professor</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px;"> </span><a href="http://eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Dr. Amy H. Sturgis</a> <span style="background-color: white;">and fellow students <a href="https://ravingsanity.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Katherine Sas</a>, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/kris_swank" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Kris Swank</a><span style="background-color: white;">,</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://leesmyth.blogspot.com/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Laura Lee Smith</a><span style="background-color: white;">, and Emily Strand all have outstanding essays in this book. </span></span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">f you are a fan of </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Harry Potter,</i><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> love studying </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Literature, or are just a Ravenclaw at heart, I think that you will not only enjoy this book and learn a lot from it, but also be down-right blown away at the ways in which these scholars talk about the series. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">All the essays are</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"> accessible, brilliant work on Rowling's world and the Hogwarts Professor John Granger himself calls it a "seismic event" within Harry Potter scholarship!</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;">"For Serious Readers of Harry Potter, this is essential reading for greater understanding of the Hogwarts Saga, powerful scholarship in conversational language that delivers insight after insight." </span> </blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;"> -<a href="http://hogwartsprofessor.com/" target="_blank">John Granger, The Hogwarts Professor</a> and author o</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;">f </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425229793/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i6?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1XEBD1TYSXH1NNKN9G0E&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2253014322&pf_rd_i=desktop" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; font-style: italic; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;">Harry Potter's Bookshelf.</span> </a></blockquote>
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<b>My own chapter, "<i>When Gothic Meets Comic: Exploring the Ghosts of Hogwarts Castle</i>" looks deeply</b> at some of the most important--but often overlooked-- liminal characters within the <i>Harry Potter</i> world. The Hogwarts ghosts, it turns out, are complex: they are not only textually in between life and death, but they are also in between two literary conventions: the gothic and the comic. Rowling herself has said that death "is one of the central themes in all seven books." My essay explores how the ghosts, as supernatural beings that are "neither here nor there," have a profound influence over Harry's developing attitude towards death. I really hope you get a chance to read it and the other marvelous and stunning essays that are included in the volume. The book is available both on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Nerds-Kathryn-McDaniel/dp/099088211X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446180454&sr=1-1&keywords=harry+potter+for+nerds+2" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/harry-potter-for-nerds-ii-kathryn-mcdaniel/1122631393" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>!<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;">"T</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;">o have </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; text-align: right;"><span style="line-height: 30px;">essays</span><span style="line-height: 30px;"> of this depth still coming out…there's more to say still, there's deeper things to say and there's better conversations to be had--and I think this book represents that."</span></span></i> </blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;"> - Travis Prinzi, editor of Nerds 2, and author of</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "open sans regular"; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Open Sans Regular'; line-height: 30px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Imagination-Between-Worlds/dp/0982238517/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446179536&sr=1-1&keywords=harry+potter+and+imagination" target="_blank">Harry Potter and Imagination</a></i></blockquote>
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<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="http://mugglenet.com/" target="_blank">MuggleNet.com</a>'s <a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/specialty-site/mugglenet-academia/" target="_blank">MuggleNet Academia</a> recently devoted a whole episode to discussing this book, which you can check out right below:</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3875238/height/360/width/640/theme/legacy/direction/no/autoplay/no/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/preload/no/no_addthis/no/" style="border: none;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 25px;"><b>Psstt! also! Unlocking Press is offering something special for everyone </b>who buys a hard copy or eBook before Halloween. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 25px;">Send your proof of purchase to John at HogwartsProfessor dot com and you will receive a link to the <em>Harry Potter</em> <em>For Nerds </em>members only website, where </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 25px;">you’ll have access to free videos and live or recorded discussions with the world’s finest Potter Pundits, which includes a talk with one of my favorite Harry Potter scholars and <a href="http://mythgard.org/academics/fall-2015-courses/the-force-of-star-wars-examining-the-epic/" target="_blank">current Star Wars professor</a> (!!) Amy H. Sturgis! Woo! </span></div>
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Read more about <i>Harry Potter for Nerds 2</i> and purchase the book on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26531128-harry-potter-for-nerds-ii" target="_blank">Goodreads</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Nerds-Kathryn-McDaniel/dp/099088211X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446180454&sr=1-1&keywords=harry+potter+for+nerds+2" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/harry-potter-for-nerds-ii-kathryn-mcdaniel/1122631393" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble.</a><br />
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Further reading and listening for Harry Potter scholarship:<br />
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<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-For-Nerds-Academics/dp/0982963327/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=414NQTVRpIL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR108%2C160_&refRID=0NWH1B6MK2S179Q1046Q" target="_blank">Harry Potter for Nerds Vol. 1</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-For-Nerds-Academics/dp/0982963327/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=414NQTVRpIL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR108%2C160_&refRID=0NWH1B6MK2S179Q1046Q" target="_blank">Harry Potter and Imagination</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Harry-Cast-His-Spell/dp/1414321880/ref=pd_sim_14_11?ie=UTF8&dpID=51ucJT270rL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=0NWTAN8Y68T2BEE88R1W" target="_blank">How Harry Cast his Spell</a></i><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0990882101/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0EJ7AK6F9ZEGF5SX8A9R&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2253014322&pf_rd_i=desktop" target="_blank"><i>The Ravenclaw Reader</i></a><br />
<a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/category/academia/" target="_blank">MuggleNet Academia</a> episodes! Particularly:<br />
episode 31: "<a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/2015/07/mugglenet-academia-lesson-31-books-within-the-books-of-harry-potter-is-now-available-for-download/" target="_blank">Books Within the Books of Harry Potter</a>" (I guest host!)<br />
episode 9: "<a href="http://www.mugglenet.com/2012/09/mugglenet-academia-lesson-9-fairy-stories-comparing-tolkien-and-rowling-literature-is-now-available-for-download/" target="_blank">Fairy Stories--Comparing Rowling and Tolkien</a>"<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-32966306931694713822014-12-22T16:49:00.000-08:002017-06-05T11:50:27.656-07:00Battle of the Five Armies Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em> </em><b><em>The Desolation of Smaug</em> ended with Bilbo’s horrifying realization</b> that he has just played a part in releasing an angry dragon on the town of Esgaroth: “what have we done?” he asks in horror before the screen turns black. <em>The Battle of the Five Armies </em>opens with the terrifying answer. Smaug’s attack on Lake-town is a visually superb experience: we get some beautiful shots of Smaug flying in the night sky paired with images of the terrible carnage and chaos he inflicts on the town. After watching the cat and mouse game between Smaug and the dwarves in the previous film, it was a treat to actually see Smaug as a formidable and frightening creature. <em>This</em> is the Smaug that attacked Erebor all those years ago. <em>This</em> is Smaug, the last of the great dragons of Middle-earth. His desolation of the town was paced well with the exploits of the master, Tauriel and the dwarves, and Bard. The ensuing conversation between Smaug and Bard begins to pull us out of this experience, yet those who have read <em>The Silmarillion</em> are reminded that this too, is how Tolkien’s dragons fight. They manipulate humans with words, feeding of their weakness and fear. Here, Smaug mistakes love for weakness and tries to instill fear and cowardice in Bard by taunting him with his son’s demise. But this moment only drives home what will be one of the main themes of film: that love, family, and home should be valued above the anger and greed that comes with gold. Bard shows just how powerful family is in defeating Smaug when he figuratively and literally uses his son as a weapon against the dragon.<br />
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Given how much of Smaug we saw in the previous movie, I thought a proportionate amount of screen time was given to his death. When the titles appear <em>after </em>Smaug’s death, we are reminded that this film is not about the dragon's desolation; it’s about what happen's next. <br />
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Unfortunately, after a strong opening, the film continues as a confusing and unbalanced mess. Too much time is spent on Lake-town characters no one cares about (I’m looking at you, Alfrid), on the forced romance between Tauriel and Kili, and on battle scenes that are not only difficult to follow visually, but also full of absurd, over the top, CGI stunts.<br />
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<strong>The scenes of the Lake-town </strong>residents could have been great. But much—too much—time in Lake-town, or what was left of Lake-town, was devoted to either putting Bard’s children in danger only to have them be saved or to showing Alfrid desperately trying to leave town again and again with a few coins in his hand. It’s true that Bard’s family and Alfrid play an important role in the film. Putting Bard’s family in danger heightened our sense of urgency, made us sympathize with the people of Esgaroth, and deepened Bard’s character. The only real problem with them was that they were put in harms way—and then quickly saved from it—one too many times during the film. The point of Alfrid, and I think it's a very good one, is to show the evil of greed on a smaller scale. We saw the destruction greed and love of gold did on the larger scale when Smaug destroyed Lake-town. We begin to see it on perhaps an even grander scale when Thorin becomes infected with dragon sickness. But Alfrid (and the Master, though he dies early on in the film) shows the repercussions of greed on the ordinary, every day level. Alfrid’s continuous mission to try and flee the town with a handful full of treasure contrasts Bard’s mission to save his family and provide the town with what it needs to rebuild. But this important contrast becomes trite when we see it unfold twice, thrice, what felt like ten times over. When he cartoonishly puts on a dress and stuffs gold into his bodice to run away, it becomes just embarrassing. Time and time again he was used as the comic relief only to fail terribly. His humor (if you can call it that) felt forced and desperate. One, <em>maybe</em> two scenes with Alfrid after his initial screen time with the Master could have been enough for audiences to grasp his point in the film. In the end, there was too much time spent trying, and failing, to use this character to make us laugh. And certainly too much time building up a character who wasn’t all that significant or interesting. Time that could have been spent including something as important and touching as, oh I don't know, <em>Thorin's funeral scene.</em><br />
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<strong>Of Thorin in <em>The Battle of the Five Armies,</em></strong> one cannot ignore the incredible acting of Richard Armitage. Though the “dragon sickness” throughout the film was definitely a bit too heavy handed, Armitage played it well. And while there are a few scenes I could have done without, the deepening dragon sickness ultimately showcased Thorin’s strength when he eventually overcame it. Thorin’s scene with Bilbo after he discovers his acorn was particularly well acted and touching. This moment sharpened their friendship and made Thorin’s death scene all the more powerful. It was a shining moment for both Armitage and Freeman. And if the producers of <em>The Hobbit</em> trilogy did one thing right in these films, it was casting these two actors. One of the things I liked most in <em>The Battle of the Five Armies</em> was the fact that this film finally gave Freeman the opportunity to play the Bilbo Tolkien would have wanted: the Bilbo that brings not weapons into a fight, but humanity, heart, and steadfast courage to do the right thing. However, even this version of Bilbo is unsurprisingly and frustratingly inconsistent with the films’ previous portrayal of the character. From the start, the films have been hypocritical in their depiction of Bilbo, setting him up as an ordinary person with the capability to be a hero by just being who he is. But he is celebrated (and indeed, only accepted by Thorin) for his heroism and courage most when he jumps into battle. So much time is spent <a href="http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/hobbit-battle-five-armies-bilbo-poster.jpg">showcasing Bilbo as a warrior</a>, as someone who out-fights more than he out-wits, so that in <em>BotFA</em>, when we hear Bilbo proclaim to Gandalf, “I am not a warrior,” we are once again getting conflicting messages. Are we meant to forget that not too long ago Bilbo jumped out of a tree and killed an orc right in front of Azog himself? This film's Bilbo, the Bilbo that uses his mind instead of his sword, is the one I would have like to be watching all along. And while I’m glad of his portrayal in the <em>Battle of the Five Armies</em>, it is not wholly consistent within the trilogy’s own characterization of Bilbo.<br />
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<strong>Thorin’s death scene with Bilbo</strong> was—I’m going to go ahead and say it—perfect. His delivery of the line everyone was waiting for (a slightly altered, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song…”) was more than satisfactory, it was poignant, essential, and heartbreaking. Bilbo’s repetition of “but the eagles…the eagles…” was a brilliant touch. The eagles play a pivotal eucatastrophic role but their arrival does not undo or fix the damage that is already done. By Tolkien’s definition, even eucatastrophic endings cannot exist without loss, sorrow, or grief. In fact, eucatastrophe relies on it:
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“ [Eucatastrophe] does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief” – <em>On Fairy Stories</em>.</blockquote>
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Bilbo’s desperate plea “…but the eagles…” shows the heartbreaking, but essential <em><a href="http://www.themiddlepage.net/2014/02/dyscatastrophe-and-eucatastrophe-in.html" target="_blank">dyscatastrophe</a></em> of eucatastrophe and is one of the (if not <em>the</em>) most important, emotional, and finest scenes in the whole trilogy.<br />
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<strong>One of the worst faults of <em>The Battle of the Five Armies</em></strong> <strong>was unsurprisingly, the look and feel of it.</strong> The location shooting and film sets of <em>Lord of the Rings films</em> were an essential part of what made the original trilogy so successful. Orlando Bloom’s performance in those films allows us to feel the magic of the elves physical agility in small, precious moments.
When Legolas was the only one walking atop the snow on Caradhras, when he saw far ahead and reported back things we as the audience couldn’t even see, his extraordinary skill with a bow; all those subtle moments made Legolas an <em>elf </em>contributed to his otherworldliness. And all of that magic is missing from the <em>Hobbit</em> films. The action shots with Legolas in <em>The Battle of the Five Armies</em> make us long for the days when we rolled our eyes at his shield surfing abilities in <em>The Two Towers</em>. It’s not good to have too much of anything, and when that something detracts from the experience, when it takes us <em>out</em> of the moment rather than pulling us <em>in</em>, it only does the film damage.<br />
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<strong style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">The same can be said of the CGI throughout this film. There was so much of it, that it consistently pulled me out of the film.</strong>Is it possible that<br />
<del>George Lucas</del><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/fQsqrZ06KO3nNBxcD675GXgXebYJUkJYCpwES7ZCX6xXbuGcmb_Pdlt6IBIrhmOYuCqh66rmevbYGER4qtb_qw5iKeeeGTOt4MedMf1RzIOR5J72PHyxhjbKXyLvstk7igdS3i0BTvlKtmxLiVJQDDxkLy6LFns98sQQ0y8CBEmU6nIZXawASnpkEYRQgw0Q7yZiUzkBb1pgUATvqcT6TE86npO-sV7084_fHilCGEcENWml7doq7-uEJmofZq3e_8IAGU1b2bsUnehGxQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class=" alignright" src="http://static.squarespace.com/static/51b3dc8ee4b051b96ceb10de/t/53d7fb30e4b021cae99e77ec/1406663472865/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies-4k-trailer-and-ultra-hi-res-stills-2.jpg" height="167" width="400" /></a>Peter Jackson and company have never heard of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley">uncanny valley</a>? Or is it that they just don’t care? Do they not expect viewers of the movie to be jolted out of the experience when we go from looking at Richard Armitage in Thorin costume to Dain Ironfoot, completely CGI? If I wanted to see my favorite scenes played out like a video game, I’d be playing LotRO. It goes without saying that the Battle scenes were likewise so computer animated that, at best, they were hard to follow. And, even taking CGI out of the equation, the orc army seemed so massive and unending that the other armies, even pulled together, seemed completely outnumbered by the orcs. If these were the same, dumb witted, barely armed orcs we saw in <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>, it would be one thing. But the orcs in <em>BotFA</em> were dressed head to toe in thick armor and weaponry, were taller and more muscular than any of the (CGI) dwarves, men, and elves and seemed to have a modicum of intelligence (not to mention, their own battle strategies). On top of that, many things about the battle scenes just didn’t make sense. Massive trolls were brought in only to be taken down oddly quickly. The orc army could persuade an army of<br />
<del>sandworms</del>were-worms to help them, but didn't dig straight under Erebor? And if the were-worms are another agent of evil we need to reckon with, where are they in <em>LotR</em>? The inclusion of these were-worms was clearly, unapologetically meant for ten seconds of “wow” factor and offer nothing else.<br />
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The hard work of the CGI team, and surely, the <em>whole</em> team behind the <em>Hobbit</em> films, does not go unrecognized or unappreciated. But surely there could have been less animation, less over the top CGI action stunts, and more real actors, real costumes, and real make-up to create an authentic experience. An experience we know Peter Jackson and company are extremely capable of. When so many shortcuts are done in place of quality and authenticity, it's hard not to believe these movies are, in fact, a blatant cash grab. And it's even harder to believe that Jackson and company truly believe in the whole message that they send out in <em>The Battle of the Five Armies</em>. Ultimately, what this last <em>Hobbit</em> film (and indeed, this entire franchise) proves is something nearly everyone learns at a young age: <em>“More” does not always mean “better.”</em><br />
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Here are a few moments that I really liked:
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<li> The “almost death” of Azog. I think it would have been a death that Tolkien would have liked as well. In Tolkien’s work evil destroys itself and I think he would have approved of a death in which Azog is killed by the (literal and metaphorical) weight of his own weapon. It reminded me of the “almost death” of Smaug in <em>DoS</em>, where it seemed like Smaug was drowning in his own melted gold.</li>
<li>Seeing Saruman fight was a real treat. Knowing how much power he has in a fight makes his duel with Gandalf in <em>Fellowship</em> all the better. All of the White Council battle was impressive and interesting. I have no real problems with it except for an extreme personal dislike for the strange, green, deep-voiced and ghostlike version of Galadriel's power as we saw it in <em>Fellowship</em>. I know it makes Galadriel visually and appropriately otherworldly and powerful, but I wish this were done differently.</li>
<li> The one thing I think most moviegoers can agree upon is that the acting throughout the <em>Hobbit</em> films has been phenomenal. Richard Armitage has a powerful presence on screen and he delivers is his strongest performance of Thorin yet in <em>Battle of the Five Armies</em>. Likewise, Martin Freeman is one of the most interesting actors to watch on screen and his Bilbo is played with affection, strength, and wisdom. Luke Evans rose up to the challenge of a more complex Bard, playing Tolkien’s “grim-voiced and grim-faced” man as a concerned and loving father figure.</li>
<li>The arrival of the eagles was nicely done and, as mentioned above, strengthened by Bilbo's effort to save Thorin. Beorn’s prescence, brief as it was, was precisely what we needed. I didn’t need any more Radagast in these films and so a brief moment with him and Beorn is enough to show us that other races of the world will help fight against evil.</li>
<li>I was glad to not see Frodo at the end of the film. This film set up <em>The Lord of the Rings</em> films plenty and bled into <em>Fellowship</em> nearly perfectly so I am happy enough with the last <em>Hobbit</em> film ending with the titular hobbit.</li>
<li>The scene with Bilbo and Gandalf sitting down after the battle was another highlight. This moment is certainly meant to reflect one of the beginning scenes in <em>Fellowship</em>, where Bilbo and Gandalf sit down and smoke before the party. The mirroring of the pair sitting over a battle's end in <em>BotFA</em> and sitting over a party's beginning in <em>Fellowship</em> was a very nice touch.</li>
</ul>
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://i.imgur.com/pd3TV.jpg" height="270" width="640" />
[A couple of notes:
I know there are many who believe we cannot yet judge this film because the Extended Edition are the “real” movies Jackson and company wanted to show, but couldn't. I can't understand that sentiment. The team had <em>three</em> movies to tell this story and made the editorial decision of what was essential enough to be in the theatrical release and <em>that</em> is the movie I am currently reviewing.
As a student on Tolkien and long time fan, it’s admittedly difficult to look at these films with an entirely unbiased view. I want to be able to judge these movies as movies in their own right (which is giving a lot considering that they <em>are</em> an adaption of a novel). But whether or not I view the films as a reinterpretation of Tolkien’s <em>Hobbit,</em> they don’t stand up as quality films. Let me know what you think and if you disagree with any of my points, I ask that you do so amicably<em>.</em>]
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<a href="http://distrito13.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Peeta-Mellark-e-Presidente-Snow-em-foto-promocional-de-A-Esperan%C3%A7a-Parte-1-900x1082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://distrito13.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Peeta-Mellark-e-Presidente-Snow-em-foto-promocional-de-A-Esperan%C3%A7a-Parte-1-900x1082.jpg" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="665" height="320" width="266" /></a><i><br /></i>
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<i>(This is the second part in a series exploring the literary alchemy of the Hunger Games. You can read a brief outline of the alchemical imagery of the trilogy in Part One, right <a href="http://the-middle-page.blogspot.com/2014/07/literary-alchemy-in-hunger-games-part.html">here.</a>) </i></div>
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President Snow's chilling address to Panem in the first teaser trailer for <i>Mockingjay Part One</i> was released last week. One of the most interesting things about it is the use of the color white throughout. Even the casual reader or viewer of <i>The Hunger Games</i> can sense that this first trailer is all about President Snow and that the whiteness reinforces Snow's power, corruption, and control over Panem.<br />
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If you read my previous post, however, you'll remember that the color white in an alchemical novel is part of the cleansing, purifying white "<i>Albedo</i>" stage-- something that President Snow far from represents to Katniss. This trailer, by dousing President Snow and Peeta in white imagery and putting them side by side, points to something that is a bit more subtle in the books: that Peeta and Snow are both "white" characters that compliment and contrast one another…<br />
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<b>Throughout <i>The Hunger Games</i> series Peeta is a constant figure of Katniss's <i>Albedo</i> stage.</b> He continually enlightens, purifies, and cleanses Katniss and her <i>albedo</i> moments almost always prominently feature Peeta and vice versa. The <i>Albedo</i> stage, if you'll recall, is often marked with images of <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">water, silver, the moon, and whiteness and e</span>ven Peeta's appearance is full of white and water imagery. When we first see him in <i>The Hunger Games </i>for instance, he is described as having "blonde hair that falls in waves over his forehead" (25). Likewise, his eyes are blue and as a baker he is associated with white bread and flour and (though maybe not explicitly) a white smock. Katniss' earliest memory of him not only includes "the rain... falling in relentless icy sheets" (28), but also Peeta saving her and her family from starvation by tearing off the black, burnt pieces of bread and throwing her the leftover white pieces (28).<br />
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Later on in the first novel, after Katniss learns of the rule change that declares two tributes can win the Games if they are both from the same district, she immediately runs to find Peeta. She finds him near a stream of water so badly hurt that she plunges into to the water in order to pull him in:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I've got two water bottles and Rue's water skin. I prop them against the rocks in the stream so that two are always filling while I pour the third over Peeta's body…I wash away all the traces of dirt from his hair and skin" (254-255).</blockquote>
Peeta is described as "pale" (255) and "paper white" (260) and his sickness is the first step in helping cleanse Katniss. In the wet, cold cave (<a href="http://symbolreader.net/2013/11/18/images-of-the-zodiac-contemplating-scorpio/comment-page-1/" target="_blank">another alchemical symbol</a>) she not only becomes aware of her possible real feelings for Peeta ("His hand brushes the loose strands of my hair off my forehead. Unlike the staged kisses and caresses so far, this gesture seems natural and comforting" [265]), she also becomes caregiver, healer, and lover, even if just for a moment.<br />
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<b>Perhaps the most significant <i>albedo</i> moment featuring both Peeta and the symbols of water, silver, and whiteness, however </b>is the scene in which Peeta gives Katniss the pearl in <i>Catching Fire:</i><br />
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"But it’s lovely, deep down under the water, like being in a different world. The water’s very clear...Peeta’s just pried open an oyster when I hear him give a laugh. 'Hey, look at this!' He holds up a glistening, perfect pearl about the size of a pea….Peeta rinses the pearl off in the water and hands it to me. 'For you.' I hold it out on my palm and examine its iridescent surface in the sunlight. Yes, I will keep it. For the few remaining hours of my life I will keep it close. This last gift from Peeta. The only one I can really accept. Perhaps it will give me strength in the final moments" (365-366).</blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/193/a/c/katniss_an_the_pearl_by_kiippari-d3nfyge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/193/a/c/katniss_an_the_pearl_by_kiippari-d3nfyge.jpg" height="320" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/331183512?view_mode=2" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This moment, set in the second and most <i>Albedo</i> novel of the series, is all about illumination and clarity. The water is "clear," the pearl "iridescent," and above all, Katniss' resolve and purpose in saving Peeta's life instead of her own is made more clear than it ever:<br />
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“ 'Thanks,' I say, closing my fist around it. I look coolly into the blue eyes of the person who is now my greatest opponent, the person who would keep me alive at his own expense. And I promise myself I will defeat his plan" (366).</blockquote>
Peeta is clearly more than just a third figure for the quintessential 'love triangle'. He is an important part of Katniss' <i>Albedo </i>stage and her journey towards finding the spirit. There is no denying that Katniss shares a close connection with Gale. But from his early moments in the woods hunting with Katniss to his eventual leadership role in the rebellion, Gale steadfastly represents the hunter, the killer. Peeta, on the other hand is the baker, healer, and cleanser and is crucial to Katniss's alchemical, spiritual transformation. (I love scholar John Granger's <a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">point</a> that "Gale i<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">s justice, an eye for an eye, and Peeta is mercy".</span>)<br />
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<b>Interestingly, however, President Snow is a figure that is equally associated with white imagery; </b>from his very name, Snow, to his white beard, to the white rose he is constantly associated with, Snow is white all over. This white imagery of President Snow certainly drives home Katniss' <i>albedo</i> stage (it's no mistake that the <i>albedo</i> novel of the series, <i>Catching Fire</i>, opens up with both snow on the ground outside and Snow waiting for Katniss inside). However, it's difficult to examine President Snow's "whiteness" without contrasting it to Peeta's own:<br />
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For instance, the first time we see President Snow in <i>The Hunger Games</i> he is described as "a small, thin man with paper-white hair" (71). Two hundred pages later, "paper-white" is exactly how Peeta is described as Katniss finds him suffering from a wound to the leg. While Peeta's paleness represents his vulnerability in the Games and his human mortality, Snow's paper-whiteness is set in the eerie world of the Capitol, where people are "so dyed, stenciled, and surgically altered they're grotesque" (HG 63). Peeta's whiteness amplifies his humanity and natural physical weakness. Snow, however, is a resident and supporter of a world where humans constantly alter themselves physically and his white description represents the turn away from all that is natural in human body.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/6b/1a/70/6b1a703fb2f241c4347cc8c7b8932a5e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/6b/1a/70/6b1a703fb2f241c4347cc8c7b8932a5e.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/434175220297843100/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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Furthermore in <i>Catching Fire, </i>Peeta finds a pearl by opening up an oyster. As he offers it to Katniss he solidifies his own salvation and Katniss gains a new resolve on her own selflessness and sacrificial nature. In the same novel, President Snow is also identified with pearls. His pearls, however, come in the form of an overly elaborate wedding dress: "Heavy white silk with a low neckline and tight waist and sleeves that fall from my wrists to the floor. And pearls. Everywhere pearls" (247). Not only do Snow's pearls add to the general pageantry of the Capital, but they also represent the false, orchestrated "love" between Peeta and Katniss. They also become a symbol for President Snow's control over Katniss:<br />
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"Johanna Mason actually stops to straighten my pearl necklace. 'Make him pay for it, okay?' she says" (p. 250). </blockquote>
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While Snow's pearls show off his intent of playing with and manipulating Katniss, Peeta's single pearl ultimately frees, rather than constrains Katniss as she makes the choice to give up her own life for his. Similarly, while Snow's pearls symbolize all that is fake between Katniss and Peeta, Peeta's pearl is shown in its natural place, and we see it become a moment of true, growing love between him and Katniss.<br />
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<b>President Snow's artificiality and his control over Katniss is furthered in yet another should-be natural image: that of the white rose</b>. Flowers in <i>The Hunger Games</i> series are part of the natural, healing world and cleansing characters like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primula_vulgaris" target="_blank">Primrose</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_graveolens" target="_blank">Rue</a> are named after them. President Snow, however, is constantly associated with a white rose that smells so strongly of artificial perfume that it makes Katniss sick:<br />
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The smell of roses and blood has grown stronger now that only a desk separates us. There’s a rose in President Snow’s lapel, which at least suggests a source of the flower perfume, but it must be genetically enhanced, because no real rose reeks like that (CF 21-22)</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hungergamesfandom.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/blood_and_roses_by_petalomam-d58rjfg.jpg?w=549&h=757" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://hungergamesfandom.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/blood_and_roses_by_petalomam-d58rjfg.jpg?w=549&h=757" height="320" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">source</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Snow is forever turning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">away</i> from the natural world and his
white roses, instead of signifying purity of the natural world, promote instead
the unnatural, synthetic life. </span>More than that, the white
rose symbolizes Snow’s overall obsession with perfection through fabrication and even
his own sort of “cleansing.”</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The smell’s very faint but still laces the air. It’s there. The
white rose among the dried flowers in the vase. Shriveled and fragile, but
holding on to that unnatural perfection cultivated in Snow’s greenhouse"
(M 381).</blockquote>
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For Snow, the white
rose does more than symbolize a cleansing of the world’s imperfections. It
cleanses his own. We learn in <i style="font-family: Times;">Mockingjay</i>
that in his rise to power, Snow used poison to murder those who might stand in his way and in order to avoid suspicion he drank from the poisoned cup
himself: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">“But
antidotes don’t always work. They say that’s why he wears the roses that reek
of perfume. They say it’s to cover the scent of blood from the mouth sores that
will never heal” (M 169-170). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Snow’s “cleanse” is ultimately
shallow. It is only a temporary solution on the surface. And this sort of
false, artificial cleansing <span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">is a perversion of the pure <i>Albedo</i> cleansing of Peeta. President Snow
and the Capitol strip themselves not only of their natural humanity through
physical alterations, but of the intangible qualities that make them human:
compassion, love, empathy. And it makes sense that Snow would use the image of the white rose to try
to break Katniss: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
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"President Snow must be wondering how that blood-splattered floor and his roses are affecting me. If he wants me broken, then I will have to be whole" (M 166)</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><o:p> And that </o:p></span>Peeta uses it to help heal her: </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">“I
went to the woods this morning and dug these up. For her,” [Peeta] says. “I thought
we could plant them along the side of the house. I look at the bushes, the
clods of dirt hanging from their roots, and catch my breath as the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rose</i> registers. I’m about to yell
vicious things at Peeta when the full name comes to me. Not plain rose but
evening primrose. The flower my sister was named for (M, 381). </span></blockquote>
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While Snow's white rose represents death, blood, murder, and artificiality, Peeta makes it symbolize what it was truly meant
to: life, renewal, a cleansing beginning. This trailer for <i>Mockingjay Part 1</i>, portraying the real, natural,
cleansing Peeta complying with the artificial and poisoning Snow couldn't more
clearly illustrate and foreshadow one of the fundamental themes of the novel: "Real
or not real?" Because Peeta's
<i>albedo</i> connection to the natural
world points to Katniss's
own journey, her search for <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">the "real" in a world of "not
real." Her journey, ultimately, of finding herself in the natural, peaceful
world:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 19px;"><i>"Tall leaves like arrowheads. Blossoms with three white petals…'Katniss,' I said aloud. It's the plant I was named for. And I heard my father's voice joking, 'As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve" (52). </i></span></blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/where-did-katniss-get-its-name-64515527/?no-ist" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-34305318814793760192014-07-01T17:40:00.001-07:002017-06-05T12:03:11.108-07:00Literary Alchemy in 'The Hunger Games': Part One<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/peeta-mellark/images/35651567/title/peeta-mellark-fanart" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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If you're a serious reader of <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>The Hunger Games</i>, chances are you've heard of John Granger, the<a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/" target="_blank"> Hogwarts Professor</a> (and if you haven't heard of him, you should go ahead and click on that link). You might even recognize his name from this very blog, as he was the one who introduced me both to literary alchemy and ring composition, which I've touched on before <a href="http://themiddlepage-orazi.blogspot.com/2013/02/alchemical-framework-and-imagery-in.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://themiddlepage-orazi.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-ring-structure-in-harry-potter.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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In light of the <a href="http://legendarium.mymiddleearth.com/2014/06/26/first-mockingjay-part-1-teaser-released/" target="_blank">first teaser trailer</a> of <i>Mockingjay Part 1</i> released just last week, I'd like to turn to literary alchemy once again. Because once you know the symbols and images that correlate to alchemy, it's near impossible not to feel as if the trailer is wrought with alchemical meaning. John gives a lengthy but extremely readable discussion of literary alchemy and how Suzanne Collins particularly, uses it to structure her Hunger Games series <a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">here</a>. I recommend reading through it at least once, but here is a short snippet that very simply describes the process of alchemical literature: </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Alchemy is a three stage work in its simplest outline...with each stage represented traditionally by a different color and set of meaningful images. In the first, the person to be enlightened is broken down, shattered really, to their core idea or ‘prime matter.’ <span style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;">This process when represented in metallurgy was one of “burning down” and was known as the </span><em style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>nigredo</b></em><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;"> or black stage because of this process</span>. The second stage is one of purification or cleansing. The shattered survivor of the <i>nigredo</i> here is washed and restored in preparation for the chrysalis of the remaining stage. <span style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;">Unlike the first stage, then, which was represented by the color black and fire, the second stage, the </span><em style="line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #999999;">albedo</span></b></em><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 22px;">, that is the opposite of the first, is about the color white and purifying water. </span>The last stage is red <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">because the person’s transformation and illumination accomplished in the </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">albedo </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">is revealed usually in the red-hot crucible of the story’s final crisis. It is is called the </span><em style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #990000;">rubedo</span></b></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> and as you’ve probably guessed is represented by red figures."</span></span></blockquote>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">So it is in a series of three stages then, that the hero of an alchemical work--like the alchemist and his base metal itself-- is transformed metaphorically from lead into gold. John argues that each of the three books of the <i>Hunger Games</i> series relates to a stage; the first stage is played out in <i>The Hunger Games</i>, the second in <i>Catching Fire</i>, and the </span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">third, of course, in <i>Mockingjay</i>. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://symbolreader.net/2013/11/18/images-of-the-zodiac-contemplating-scorpio/comment-page-1/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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<b>There's no doubt that <i>The Hunger Games</i> thrusts us right into the <i>Nigredo</i> stage.</b> This first stage, which is often marked with a world-shattering moment and flooded with imagery of darkness and the color black, dominates the opening chapters of <i>The Hunger Games.</i> For instance, before we really even know anything about Katniss herself, we're given details of the dark and bleak community she grew up in: the coal mining District 12, where men and women "have long since stopped trying to scrub the coal dust out of their broken nails"(4) and which is filled with "black cinder streets" (4) and "squat grey houses" (4). Likewise Katniss' entire world is shattered once she hears Prim's name called out at the reaping:<br />
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"It was as if the impact had knocked every wisp of air from my lungs, and I lay there struggling to inhale, to exhale, to do anything. That's how I feel now, trying to remember how to breathe, unable to speak, totally stunned as the name bounces inside of my skull" (21).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://samspratt.tumblr.com/post/19736216002/sam-spratt-hunger-games-katniss-painting" target="_blank">Art by Sam Spratt</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Everything that Katniss had and loved--her family, her relative safety, her stolen moments of peace in the woods with Gale--has been taken away from her by the end of the novel's very first chapter. And like the base metal in an alchemical transformation, Katniss is brought to her core. While the reaping shatters her world, the Games strip her down to her most basic human element: the need to survive. But <i>The Hunger Games </i>isn't truly about Katniss' <i>own</i> survival. This first novel, like a true<i> Nigredo</i>, is about breaking her down to her true "base": that is, her sacrificial nature. From the moment she heartbreakingly volunteers to take Prim's place as tribute ("With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me.</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> 'I volunteer!' I gasp. 'I volunteer as tribute!'" [22]), to her risking her own safety in order to give Rue a sort of burial </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">("Slowly, one stem at a time, I decorate her body in the flowers" [237]) to her eventual desire to always place Peeta survival above her own, the Games break Katniss down to her core, sacrificial self. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>The second stage of the alchemical process, <span style="color: #999999;">the cleansing albedo stage</span>, is immediately made clear in <i>Catching Fire</i>.</b> Now that Katniss<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> has been broken down to her base material (John <a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">call's this</a> her "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">core identity: sacrificial lover of Peeta"), </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">the second novel in the series is all about Katniss being purified and cleansed.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> Images of this stage-- water, silver, the moon, whiteness-- permeate throughout <i>Catching Fire</i>. As the novel opens, for instance, we see t</span>he black streets of District 12 made white with snow. The light snow that starts to fall in the opening pages of the novel turns wet and heavy and it sticks throughout Katniss' time there: "</span>My eyes peer through the trees, past the fence, into the Meadow. All I can see is the wet snow illuminated here and there by the light from the windows on the edge of the Seam" (152). Also, t<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">ime and time again, we see snow and water not only as images of cleansing, but as healing agents and lifesavers. </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">John Granger states,</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Snow is a perfect token of the white stage because it is both water and white. To drive home the 'purification' symbolism of this stage of Katniss’ transformation, the arena has water at its center, the most deadly of its challenges is a nerve gas that attacks in a cloud of white mist, and the cure for its effects are washing in water" (once again, from <a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">Unlocking Mockingjay</a>). </span></blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://teenfictionbooks.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/making_a_stand_by_rohanelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://teenfictionbooks.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/making_a_stand_by_rohanelf.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://teenfictionbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/fan-art-friday-catching-fire-the-right-in-the-feels-edition/" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">Even before Katniss returns to the Arena, we are shown the healing powers of water and snow. For Katniss' mother,</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> a healer, relies on snow to help the injured. Before giving Gale more medicine after he's been whipped, for instance, she uses snow instead: </span><br />
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"Prim comes over, stirring what appears to be a large bowl of snow. But it’s tinted a light green and gives off a sweet, clean scent. Snow coat. She carefully begins to ladle the stuff onto the cloth. I can almost hear the sizzle of Gale’s tormented skin meeting the snow mixture. His eyes flutter open, perplexed, and then he lets out a sound of relief " (124). </blockquote>
Katniss, too, feels the healing effects of snow firsthand: "I hold it to the weal on my cheek. Instantly the pain withdraws" (125).<br />
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And once in the arena, there is not only water at the "clock's" center and harmful white mist that is healed with water, but water that continually saves Katniss and Peeta. The moment she receives the life saving (and <i>silver</i>) spile (that's delivered in a <i>silver</i> parachute [292]) is bathed in imagery of both moonlight and water: "I wipe the sweat from my eyes and hold the gift out in the moonlight. I move it this way and that, viewing it from different angles, covering portions and then revealing them. Trying to make it divulge its purpose to me….We fill the basket and pass it around, taking deep gulps and, later, luxuriously, splashing our faces clean " (293). Water cleanses and heals them throughout <i>Catching Fire</i> and is a constant symbol of Katniss' <i>albedo </i>stage.<br />
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<b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The third stage, seen in the final book in the series, Mockingjay, is the <span style="color: #990000;">golden-red </span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Rubedo</span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: #990000;"> stage.</span></b><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"> Katniss has been broken down to her "base material" and has been washed and purified; she is ready to be perfected, to be transformed into gold. Unsurprisingly, this final stage of the alchemical work is signified by splendrous light and by red and golden colors. Here the phoenix imagery that pervades throughout the series is brought on full force. Since the first book, Katniss has been the "Girl on Fire", bu</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">t it isn't until the third and final book where the metaphor becomes literal. Fire--<i>real</i> fire-- is everywhere in </span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Mockingjay</i><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span></span>“ 'President Snow says he’s sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?' One of the cameras follows as I point to the planes burning on the roof of the warehouse across from us. The Capitol seal on a wing glows clearly through the flames. 'Fire is catching!' I am shouting now, determined that he will not miss a word. 'And if we burn, you burn with us!' " (97-98).</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">As the rebellion wages on, fire becomes more than just a dress and more than a symbol. It literarily destroys. And yet, fire in </span><i style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Mockingjay</i><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"> destroys to in order to help heal. Collins uses red imagery and fire to illustrate Katniss's ultimate alchemical transformation and rebirth from warrior, fighter, and leader to lover, nurturer, and mother. And in the book's final pages Collins uses two contrasting golden images to illustrate Katniss's turn away from bloodshed and anger towards peace and </span></span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">unity:</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "times" , "freeserif" , serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/342/4/e/catching_fire_by_kris_kamikakushi-d6w70d5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/342/4/e/catching_fire_by_kris_kamikakushi-d6w70d5.jpg" height="160" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/art/Catching-fire-416871833" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"...what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that" (386). </blockquote>
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<br />
This only briefly outlines what one can find in the <i>Hunger Games</i> trilogy if we look through the lens of literary alchemy. What's so very interesting in the latest teaser trailer for the movie <i>Mockingjay Part One</i>, however, is that we don't have to look very hard at all. The trailer is doused in white, white, white and it begs, I think, for a comparison of Peeta and President Snow as <i>albedo</i> figures, something I'll explore in the second part of this post in the upcoming days...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-32266402463052554292014-05-30T20:34:00.000-07:002017-06-05T12:05:33.387-07:00Interpretation and Dream Visions in Chaucer’s Early Poems<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
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Many of Chaucer’s early poems show a deep interest in dreams
and medieval dream theory. Of his early poetry, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, the Parliament of Fowles, </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Legend of Good Women</i> are all in
fact framed as a dream vision where the narrator of the poem takes it upon
himself to describe and interpret his dream in poetical form. Even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Troilus and Criseyde</i>, the only lengthy
poem of his earlier works that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>a
dream vision includes a discussion of the importance of dreams. However,
throughout his early works, it is clear that Chaucer is not just using dream
visions as a simple convention of the time, but exploring the value and
interpretive difficulty of dreams to examine the nature of interpretation in
poetry itself. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: times;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;">In Chaucer’s first major poem, </span><i style="font-family: times;"><a href="http://omacl.org/Duchess/" target="_blank">The Book of the Duchess</a></i><span style="font-family: times;">, the narrator is presented as an outsider
to sleep, dreams, and interpretation. He is incompetent in all these things,
for he opens the poem by addressing his inability to fall asleep, stating “I
may not slepe wel nygh nought/I have so many an ydel thoght/Purely for defaute
of slep” (BOD, 3-5). Furthermore,
throughout the poem the narrator seems unable to grasp the depth of the stories
and dreams he encounters. As he recalls his reading of Alcyone and Ceyx he
describes being deeply moved, stating, “Amonge al this I fond a tale/that me
thoughte a wonder thing” (BOD, 60-61). But after reading this tragic and touching
tale, the narrator seems to have been moved only by one thing—learning that
there is a god “ that koude make/men to slepe” (BOD, 235-236). Though the
narrator seems oblivious to the fact that he has missed an interpretive opportunity
in the story he has just read, he soon calls attention to not only the idea
that his own dream must be interpreted, but that it is incredibly difficult to
do so. In fact, he almost dares the reader to interpret his dream, stating,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times";"> Me mette so ynly swete a sweven<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"> So wonderful that never yit<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"> Y trowe no man had the wyt</span><br />
<span style="text-indent: -4.3pt;">To konne we my sweven rede (BOD, 276-279)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thus the reader of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book of the Duchess</i> is openly put into the position of interpreter.
But our position as reader seems also to be specifically aligned with that of
the narrator himself. The narrator cannot (or perhaps simply does not even try
to) interpret the stories he encounters. Even within his dream, the narrator is
unable to understand the black knight, missing until the very end the fact that
the black knight is not mourning unrequited love of a lady, but grieving her
death. The black knight is forced to leave his poetic and courtly language
behind and bluntly shout, “She ys ded!” (BOD, 1309) in order for the narrator
to finally understand. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=IFN-8100222&E=JPEG&Deb=64&Fin=64&Param=C" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=IFN-8100222&E=JPEG&Deb=64&Fin=64&Param=C" height="308" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/ConsulterElementNum?O=IFN-8100222&E=JPEG&Deb=64&Fin=64&Param=C" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book of the
Duchess</i>, the narrator’s inability to understand the stories he encounters is
more than just comical—it’s absurd. As readers we are called to question how
different we are to this narrator. Are there things simply going over our head?
Are we laughing with or at the narrator’s ignorance? Chaucer’s interaction with
dreams and poetry here shows us the importance of telling a story that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meant</i> to be interpreted. For as soon as
the black knight must abandon his storytelling and his narrative voice, the
dream ends. And the narrator, unable or unwilling to interpret this dream, ends
his poem just as abruptly, leaving the reader with the responsibility of
interpretation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If the dream in <i>The </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book
of the Duchess</i> calls attention to the reader’s role to interpret, then the
dream in Chaucer's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://omacl.org/Houseoffame/" target="_blank">House of Fame</a></i> </span>(c. 1379) shows the anxieties
and fears of the writer of being interpreted. As the narrator opens up the poem he
describes how difficult it is to interpret dreams, discussing the different
types of dreams and our inability to know exactly why certain dreams come to
us. He states,<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times";">For
hyt is wonder, be the roode<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">To
my wyt , what causeth swevenes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">………………………..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">why
that is an avison<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">And
why this a revelacion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Why
this a drem, why that a sweven (HOF I. 2-9)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> Here, t</span>he narrator recalls the dream classifications of ancient Roman writer and thinker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobius" target="_blank">Macrobius</a>, whose <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobius#Commentary_on_the_.22Dream_of_Scipio.22" target="_blank">Commentary of the Dream Of Scipio</a> was an influential work in the later middle ages. While some dreams are
significant or prophetic, others are simple and meaningless and it is difficult
to know what to make of the dreams that come to us. In fact, the narrator
states “wel worth of this thing grete clerkys/ That trete of this and other
werkes/ For I have noon opinion” (HOF I. 53-55). Like the narrator in <i>The </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Book of the Duchess</i>, the narrator simply does
not know how to interpret his dream. <i>This </i>narrator, however calls more attention to his own ignorance. In fact, he seems to highlight the difficulty of
interpretation to show just how important it is in poetry. For the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">House of Fame</i> is largely concerned with
what and why the poet writes when he knows that the reader will make his own
interpretation.
The narrator’s anxieties of how his poem will be interpreted run throughout the
poem and his dream vision of the house of Fame demonstrates that one of the
most important reasons to write poetry is to, in fact, be interpreted. For in
the end fame and reputation are like the whispers the fly through Fame’s halls:
</span><span style="font-family: "times"; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">“fals and
soth compouned/togeder fle for oo tydyng” (HOF, III. 2108-2109). Interpretation
of dreams and poetry alike is made all the more important. </span><span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media3.school.eb.com//eb-media/33/129333-050-D3E1E1B8.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is clear therefore, that one of the most important ways Chaucer uses dreams and dream visions is to
explore the nature of writing and reading poetry. In the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://omacl.org/Parliament/" target="_blank">Parliament of Fowls</a></i>, the narrator is meant to be simply an observer
to his dream and is told by Africanus, “I shal the shewe mater of to wryte”
(POF, 168). Yet even in this prophetic dream, the narrator must actively
interpret what is going on around him. Even in simply writing his dream down,
the narrator is both interpreting his own dream and openly inviting us do the
same—he (and the reader alike) is never simply just an observer. This idea is
furthered at the very end of the poem when the narrator suggests that the dream
has inspired him to read. He declares, “thus to rede I nyl nat spare” (POF, 699).
Whether he is reading a book or dreaming in sleep he is actively learning
and interpreting. Through the dream vision framework then, Chaucer ensures that
readers are aware of their interpretive responsibility. Poetry is not about one
writer didactically telling us things we need to know. It is about reading and
writing creatively. Questions of where dreams may come from, whether they are
didactically prophetic or meant to be interpreted at all, all seems to connect
with the way Chaucer uses poetry itself: never as a means to explain something
directly to the reader, but to create dialogue and encourage independent
interpretation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";"><o:p> _______________________________</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times";">Benson,
Larry, ed. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Riverside Chaucer</i>.
Oxford: Oxford Universtity Press. 1987. Print</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-33437886622530066782014-02-10T12:50:00.000-08:002014-12-31T15:39:21.841-08:00Dyscatastrophe and Eucatastrophe in Tolkien's Greatest Love Story, 'Beren and Luthien'<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r3aGdEG2EYM/Uvkwj15v3yI/AAAAAAAAALM/U8u1axeEO6k/s1600/luthien_i_by_calealdarone-d4vfvi0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r3aGdEG2EYM/Uvkwj15v3yI/AAAAAAAAALM/U8u1axeEO6k/s1600/luthien_i_by_calealdarone-d4vfvi0.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/art/Luthien-I-294673464" target="_blank">Calealdarone</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"> In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On Fairy Stories</i> J.R.R. Tolkien states that <a href="http://themiddlepage-orazi.blogspot.com/2013/03/tolkien-reading-day-2013-what-is.html" target="_blank">eucatastrophe</a> “does not
deny the existence of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dyscatastrophe</i>,
of sorrow and failure; the possibility of these are necessary” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OFS</i> 153). Eucatastrophe, the “sudden joyous
turn”(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OFS </i>153) in a good fairy story is
not only made possible by dyscatastrophe, but relies upon it. By turning <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">away</i> from sorrow and despair, the turn
towards joy is made all the more great; the moment becomes more than just a
happy ending and becomes eucatastrophe. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Silmarillion</i> Beren and Lúthien<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>face
seeming failure and doom many times but there is always an extraordinary turn
towards eucatastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Many of the dyscatastrophes that Beren face come as a
result of being separated from Lúthien. Thus the sudden turn to eucatastrophe
always occurs when Beren and Lúthien are reunited. For example, although Beren is
physically tormented and worn from his first journey to Doriath, it is only
after Lúthien inexplicably “vanishe[s] from his eyes” (165) where he first experiences
dyscatastrophe: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times;">“He fell into a sleep as it were into an abyss of shadow and
waking he was cold as stone, and his heart barren and forsaken” (165). </span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">Beren is
in a deep sorrow and despair but when Lúthien returns to him and lays her hand in
his, it is a moment of eucatastrophe because she does so “beyond his hope”
(166). We are then told “no others of the Children of Illúvatar have had a joy
so great” (166). This is a formula that happens throughout the story of Beren
and Lúthien: the pair first gets separated, Beren then comes close to death and
despair, and finally Lúthien comes to Beren, in true eucatastrophe fashion,
unlooked for. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110730122546/lotr/de/images/3/38/Finrod_felagunds_death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110730122546/lotr/de/images/3/38/Finrod_felagunds_death.jpg" height="182" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://de.lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Beren_Erchamion?file=Finrod_felagunds_death.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lúthien’s arrival is “never counted on to occur” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OFS</i> 153) and is always a “sudden and
miraculous grace” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OFS</i> 153) for
Beren. For instance, in another eucatastrophic moment, Lúthien comes to Beren
in the dungeons of Sauron and saves him from despair and misery. All of Finrod Felagund
and Beren’s companions have died by the work of Sauron and when Felagund finally
dies Beren “mourned beside him in despair” (174). Beren is not only in deep
physical misery and danger, but he is mentally anguished as well. All hope is
lost and yet, </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times;">“In that hour Lúthien came, and…she sang a song that no walls of
stone could hinder” (174). </span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">Whether intentional or not, this moment also echoes
the way Tolkien describes eucatastrophe as a “Joy beyond the walls of the
world” (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">OFS</i> 153). Lúthien’s song is
unhindered by “walls of stone” and Beren is able to feel a joy beyond the walls
of his prison. Despite the darkness, he envisions stars and trees and
nightingales and begins to sing an answering song (174). Once Lúthien wraps her
arms around Beren he comes fully “back into the light out of the pits of
despair” (175). Beren, near death and full of sorrow, once again experiences
eucatastrophe through an unlooked for reunion with Lúthien. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5__9k0WcGlw/Uvkspvkl89I/AAAAAAAAALA/o8mOi9r1InI/s1600/of_beren_and_luthien_by_calealdarone-d4yatyh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5__9k0WcGlw/Uvkspvkl89I/AAAAAAAAALA/o8mOi9r1InI/s1600/of_beren_and_luthien_by_calealdarone-d4yatyh.jpg" height="320" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/art/Of-Beren-and-Luthien-299477033" target="_blank">Calealdarone</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times;">While eucatastrophe does not deny <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dyscatastrophe</i> (and indeed, relies upon it), what eucatastrophe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> deny, Tolkien states, is “universal
final defeat” (153). A true eucatastrophic moment saves the character from
ultimate and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">final</i> despair. Thus the
greatest and final eucatastrophe in the story of Beren and Lúthien is their
return from the Halls of Mandos (death). After Beren dies Lúthien once again
comes for him wholly unexpected. Among the dead Lúthien has beauty “more than
their beauty and sorrow deeper than their sorrow” (186) and is able to move
Mandos to pity. It is from this mixture of sorrow and beauty that the great
eucatastrophe of Beren and Lúthien occurs: they are released from Mandos and Lúthien
is able to chose to live a mortal life with Beren.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thus Beren’s final great eucatastrophe is twofold: not
only does he come back to the living world to be with Lúthien, but he and
Lúthien are no longer to be separated by their race. We’re told, “whatever
grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Lúthien might be joined, and
their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world” (187). Here is a
perfect illustration to Tolkien’s description of eucatastrophe as a Joy
“poignant as grief” (153). Lúthien’s death is certainly sorrowful, but it is equally
wonderful and joyous because she is ultimately able to live and love with Beren.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nqUDGR0oqL0/UvkyaBPynXI/AAAAAAAAALY/lUVpS0VMPuM/s1600/of_beren_and_luthien_by_ullakko-d4s13ff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nqUDGR0oqL0/UvkyaBPynXI/AAAAAAAAALY/lUVpS0VMPuM/s1600/of_beren_and_luthien_by_ullakko-d4s13ff.jpg" height="227" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/art/Of-Beren-and-Luthien-288945051" target="_blank">ullakko</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<a href="http://public.callutheran.edu/~brint/Arts/Tolkien.pdf" target="_blank">Tolkien's On Fairy Stories</a><br />
<div>
<a href="http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~melmoth/p1.html" target="_blank">Beren and Luthien Story</a> (chapter 19 in <i>The Silmarillion</i>)</div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.mythgard.org/" target="_blank">Mythgard Institute</a><br />
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</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-60895726563572937562013-11-13T10:31:00.000-08:002014-07-01T17:42:57.215-07:00The Dystopian Game: Isolation and Manipulation in "Ender's Game" and "The Hunger Games"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a1.s6img.com/cdn/box_006/post_16/742281_4828115_lz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://a1.s6img.com/cdn/box_006/post_16/742281_4828115_lz.jpg" height="200" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://society6.com/sdavisillustration/Enders-Game-0Vf_Print" target="_blank">Steven Davis</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Over the past few years dystopian literature has been dominating the YA bookshelves and there's no question that much of this has to do with Suzanne Collins' wildly popular <i>Hunger Games</i> series. I recently reread <i>Ender's Game</i> by Orson Scott Card in preparation for the movie and unsurprisingly found that it had a lot in common with <i>The Hunger Games. </i>Since these two novels (along with George Orwell's <i>1984)</i> are the most popular and iconic dystopian novels still read today, it begged the question: what makes these dystopian novels <i>great</i>? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
First, a basic explanation of the characteristics of a dystopian novel: </div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5joW5CBgzI/UoKeWKc92uI/AAAAAAAAAIo/adfJ97Tt85U/s1600/HUNGER_GAMES_Suzanne_Collins_FalcoParisi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r5joW5CBgzI/UoKeWKc92uI/AAAAAAAAAIo/adfJ97Tt85U/s200/HUNGER_GAMES_Suzanne_Collins_FalcoParisi.jpg" height="200" width="132" /></a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> "A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system" (<a href="http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson926/DefinitionCharacteristics.pdf" target="_blank">source</a>).</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
There's no doubt that <i>Ender's Game</i> and <i>The Hunger Games </i>can be considered dystopian novels. Under a oppressive government, both Ender and Katniss are thrust into a world where their every move is watched, where important information is kept from them, and where peace and resolution rests on their shoulders. But I think there are a few things that happen to Ender and Katniss that make these novels truly great dystopian books:<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/196/6/c/the_battle_room_by_brink_maniac-d6docw5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/196/6/c/the_battle_room_by_brink_maniac-d6docw5.jpg" height="200" width="160" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://brianmcarey.com/2013/10/22/heres-the-coolest-enders-game-fan-art/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b> Ender's and Katniss' physical and emotional isolation from their family and friends</b> is one of the most important and influential part of these novels. As a third, Ender is resented and bullied (putting it lightly) by his older brother Peter but has a strong and loving relationship with his sister Valentine. Likewise, Katniss' relationship with her cold and detached mother couldn't be more different than her strong and protecting relationship with her younger sister, Prim. But both Ender and Katniss are not just pulled away from their family and their loving sisters, but are manipulated to go willingly. Ender is told, "If there's a chance that because you're with the fleet, mankind might survive and the buggers might leave us alone forever -- then I'm going to ask you to do it. To come with me" (25). Colonel Graff makes Ender agree three times until he gives the answer he wants to hear: "' I don't want to go,' said Ender, "but I will '" (26).<br />
Katniss, too, is "powerless against the reaping" (15) but leaves her family willingly, "With one sweep of my arm, I push her behind me. 'I volunteer!' I gasp. 'I volunteer as tribute!'" (22). The dystopian society of each novel has no problem forcing children to leave their homes, but by making them leave <i>willingly</i>, Ender and Katniss isolate themselves in a way the Capitol or battle school never could.<br />
<b>Once they decide to leave, both Ender and Katniss enter a completely <i>unnatural</i> world</b>, a pseudo earth where the game makers and the IF manipulate their every move. While Ender's world is literately turned upside down ("the enemy's gate is DOWN"), Katniss enters an arena that is not only designed, but is actively controlled by the game makers. But these unnatural worlds of the space station and the arena only reflect the deeper distortion of life inside. Here, they suffer through the manipulations of Colonel Graff and President Snow and are even further isolated by losing the friends they manage to make there. Both Rue and Alai are fellow competition, but they accept, befriend, and help Katniss and Ender respectively. There's no reason for Rue to help Katniss, but in the form of a small finger pointing up to a wasp nest she does -- and their alliance in the games turns quickly into a real friendship. Likewise Ender views Alai as an enemy, part of Bernard's gang, "what did Ender have to say to him?" (58) But in the game room, like Rue and Katniss, they learn to help one another and they, too become fast friends:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"'Here, snag my hand!'" Alai called. Ender held out his hand. Alai took the shock of impact and helped Ender make a fairly gentle landing against the wall (59). </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Bernard knew that Ender and Alai had learned to use the guns together. And Ender and Alai were friends. Now others might believe that Ender had joined his group, but it wasn't so. Ender had joined a new group. Alai's group" (61). </blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/346/9/4/rue_s_farewell_by_mafin10-d4yamd3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/346/9/4/rue_s_farewell_by_mafin10-d4yamd3.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/art/rue-s-farewell-299467191" target="_blank">Mafin10</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Because both Ender and Katniss find friendship when they thought they could not (and indeed, when it was <i>designed</i> so that they could not)<b> the loss of their friends cuts even deeper.</b> As Rue dies, Katniss, forgetting her own risk in the Games, sings her a song from her own childhood:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Rue's eyes have fluttered shut. Her chest moves but only slightly. My throat releases the tears and they slide down my cheeks. But I have to finish the song for her" (235). </blockquote>
More than that, Katniss "decorates [Rue's] body in the flowers. Covering the ugly wound. Wreathing her face. Weaving her hair with bright colors" (237)<br />
<br />
Alai does not die in <i>Ender's Game</i>, but he nonetheless represents a symbolic death of Ender's friends in battle school. One of the most poignant moments in the novel is Alai's kiss and whisper of "Salaam" to Ender shortly after they become friends: "Whatever it meant to Alai, Ender knew it was sacred; that he had uncovered himself for Ender…that was what Alai had given him; a gift so sacred that even Ender could not be allowed to understand what it meant" (69-70). But Colonel Graff continues to isolate Ender away from his friends and Alai eventually tells Ender:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Alas, it is not meant to be." "What isn't?" "Peace. It's what salaam means. Peace be unto you." …Ender turned around. Alai was already gone. Ender felt as if a part of himself had been taken away, an inward prop that was holding up his courage and confidence…The most terrible thing, though was the fear that the wall could never be breached, that in his heart Alai was glad of the separation, and was ready to be Ender's enemy. For now that they could not be together, they must be infinitely apart, and what had been sure and unshakable was now fragile and insubstantial" (171).</blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thehungergames2012.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/the_hunger_games___katniss_the_mockingjay_by_curry23-d4q40ub.jpg?w=1024&h=751" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://thehungergames2012.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/the_hunger_games___katniss_the_mockingjay_by_curry23-d4q40ub.jpg?w=1024&h=751" height="146" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thehungergames2012.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/the_hunger_games___katniss_the_mockingjay_by_curry23-d4q40ub.jpg?w=1024&h=751" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Separating the protagonists from natural love and friendship amplifies this feeling of being "fragile and insubstantial" in both Katniss and Ender and in this isolation they lose a part of themselves. On top of this, their time in the arena and in battle school forces Ender and Katniss to see the worst of humanity. <b>They end up not only loosing the ability to trust others, but the ability to trust themselves. </b>Both Katniss and Ender are not killers, yet throughout both novels, they have to kill to survive and they doubt their own humanity over and over again. Katniss knows Peeta as the boy who gave her bread when she was hungry, but the games shift her perspective: "He hasn't accepted his death. He is already fighting hard to stay alive. Which also means that the kind Peeta Mallark, the boy who gave me the bread, is fighting hard to kill me" (60). We later find out that nothing could be further from the truth, but the games force Katniss to lose trust in people, even the best of people. Later, in the middle of the games Katniss reflects on her first kill:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I don't know why I should even care about the boy. Then I realize…he was my first kill….Numerous animals have lost their lives at my hands, but only one human. I hear Gale saying 'How different can it be, really?'…I killed a boy whose name I don't even know. Somewhere his family is weeping for him"(243). </blockquote>
Similarly Ender is smart enough to know that everything that happens to him in battle school is part of the 'game'. But it doesn't stop himself from constantly questioning his ability to be a killer: "This was supposed to be a game. Not a choice between his own grisly death and an even worse murder. I'm a murderer, even when I play. Peter would be proud" (65). His ability to be like Peter in any way haunts Ender throughout his time in battle school:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"This game tells filthy lies. I am not Peter. I don't have murder in my heart. And then a worse fear, that he <i>was</i> a killer, only better at than Peter ever was; and that it was this very trait that pleased the teachers" (118).</blockquote>
Katniss and Ender both are forced to let go of the world they know, forced over and over again to suffer deep loss and witness the worst of humanity, <b>and for that their efforts to ultimately save humanity is all the more poignant. </b>Because in this isolated, manipulated world they learn more about the world than they ever would have. Ender reflects:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"That is the Earth, he thought. Not a globe thousands of kilometers around, but a forest with a shining lake, a house hidden at the crest of the hill, high in the trees, a grassy slope leading upward from the water, fish leaping and birds strafing to take the bugs that lived at the border between water and sky. Earth was the constant noise of crickets and winds and birds. And the voice of one girl…" (245).</blockquote>
Isolation from family, friends, and the natural earth illustrates just what Katniss and Ender are fighting for: Humanity. Not, as the Capitol and Colonel Graff would believe, humanity's <i>existence</i>, but for what humanity is at its core, for <i>everything that makes us human. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/188/6/e/ender_s_dream_by_nickdespain-d6chbre.jpg" height="216" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://nickdespain.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Nick De Spain</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/188/6/e/ender_s_dream_by_nickdespain-d6chbre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-9411580204939525872013-10-31T19:09:00.001-07:002013-10-31T19:09:22.026-07:00Evolution of Witchcraft in Art and Literature: Part Two, Early Renaissance
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<a href="http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/anxiousbench/files/2013/06/witches-sabbath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/anxiousbench/files/2013/06/witches-sabbath.jpg" width="231" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><i>Happy Halloween! Here is a little more about witchcraft during the late medieval and early renaissance era, focusing a bit more on the literature of the time and how it helped shaped ideas of women and witches. The first part can be found right below or by clicking <a href="http://themiddlepage-orazi.blogspot.com/2013/10/evolution-of-witchcraft-in-art-and_24.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Enjoy!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Martin Le Franc's 1440 poem <i>Le
Champion de Dames </i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> is another important work that helped shape the late medieval image of the witch. Largely a discussion between the Defender and the Adversary of the
achievements and faults of women respectively, this poem not only shows late medieval attitudes concerning women, but also shows women's association with witchcraft. In response to the Defender's claim that women
hold high achievements in arts, the Adversary quickly begins to describe their
deep connection with the devil and witchcraft, painting an incredibly detailed
and fascinating picture. He states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">...not just two or three old women, but more than three
thousand, go together to hidden places to seek out their familiar demons. This
is no joke; this isn't fooling. I'm not trying to lie to you in speaking of
this sorcery...I tell you that I've seen in a written trail record where an old
woman confessed how, since the time she was just sixteen years old that on
certain night she flew on a broomstick from Valpute and went directly to the
awful synagogue of devils.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcZ1rCNRVgJxpb9hoDEa9D63N44aGg1E95b4BMNC6OQ7-s4erNbw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcZ1rCNRVgJxpb9hoDEa9D63N44aGg1E95b4BMNC6OQ7-s4erNbw" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This scene is incredibly telling.
Firstly, it gives the image of the witch as a part of a group even before the
publication of the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> (1487) as well as before popular art
pieces began portraying the Waldensians, revealing just how much literature such
as this could have had a profound impact on defining practices of the witch.
Secondly, alongside the discussion of women's dealings with witchcraft is an
equally sound discussion of women's worthy achievements. This notion suggest
that both positions perhaps have an equal merit and gives reason to believe
that on some level, witchcraft was just as solidly believed to be a part of a
women's daily life as was any other worthy achievements. Finally, this scene stresses
the importance of written literature when the Adversary swears he has read the
account of the trial himself. This is an interesting point, for it suggests the
importance of literature to the 15<sup>th</sup> century society, and as a piece
of literature itself, suggests the influence its discussion of witchcraft might
have over society. Scholar Alan Charles Kors furthers this idea, stating, “Le
Franc's arguments are important illustrations of the new constellation of
witchcraft beliefs that circulated not only among theologians, lay magistrates,
inquisitors, and canon lawyers, but now also among literary elite.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Thus in addition the suggesting its own impact, the <i>Champion des Dames</i>
gives insight to the medieval society's changing perception of witchcraft. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another fundamental aspect of
witchcraft included the ability to transform, either themselves or another,
into a creature or beast. This strong and terrifying notion is expressed in the
<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> with explicit influence of past literature. Upon
this matter the authors Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger state:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For we have learned much of this matter from the Knights of
the Order of S. John of Jerusalem in Rhodes; and especially this case which
happened in the city of Salamis in the kingdom of Cyprus. For that is a seaport
and once when a vessel was being laden with merchandise...a young man went to
the house of a women standing outside the city on the seashore and asked her if
she had any eggs to sell... </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Hexensabbat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Hexensabbat.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The story goes on to tell how the man bought and ate the
eggs from the old woman, and although he thought he was simply rendered
incapable of speech soon after eating the eggs, he was actually transformed
into an ass, and had to serve in the witches company for three years, for they
were they only beings who would respond to him as if he was human.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Yet historian Gareth Roberts notes that this particular story is given again in
the 16<sup>th</sup> century <i>Demonomanie</i>, in which its author Bodin
accredits the story to William Archbishop of Tyre, noting that, “If Bodin was
right...the story would go back to at least the twelfth century.” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Regardless of the tale's actual date, the discussion of the validity of the
tale shows how that <i>The</i> <i>Malleus
Maleficarum</i> relied on past accounts or tales. Certainly literature played a
significant role in influencing Kramer and Sprenger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Interestingly, the witch’s
ability to transform is also heavily influenced by figures from the classical world.
As old mythological texts from the ancient world were slowly being incorporated
into the14<sup>th</sup> and 15<sup>th</sup> century society, they were entering
a world in which the image of harmful magic and the witch was slowly being
formulated. The result of this is a
reinterpretation of figures such as Circe, who in classical mythology
transformed those traveling with Odysseus into various animals. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
With Homer's Circe as influence, Roberts suggests that Circe “often figures as
evidence of witchcraft and her reputed power to transform obviously exercised
demonological discussions.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Although the assistance of a demon was absent in Homer's characterization of
Circe, intellectuals and writers during the renaissance, fueled by current
discussions of demons, necromancy and witchcraft, reinserted her image into
literature and art to fit their own ideas. The 1493 woodcut published in
Hartman Schedel's <i>Nuremberg Chronicle</i>, for instance shows an elaborately
dressed Circe mixing potions and overseeing a ship full of transformed animals.
Next to her sits her assistant, who points a wand at a dish over a number of
different objects. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The
depiction of Circe mixing potions and charms and the inclusion of an assistant
suggests an element of sorcery or witchcraft and that more closely resembles
the sort of alluring magic we see in the piece <i>Necromancy's Messenger Shows
the Pilgrim how Spirits are Raised</i>, mentioned earlier. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/earlyprinting/nc41_fcu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/earlyprinting/nc41_fcu.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Circe and Ulysses</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In both cases the
one doing magic must hold an instrument to do so (whether it is a sword or
wand), and each sorcerer someone to the left of them, learning or assisting the
other. Although these two pieces are quite different depictions of two very
separate scenes, the image of Circe as one practicing the arts of magic to do
harm to another stands strong, and certainly resonates strong with images of
demon assisted magic. Despite these texts and figures belonging to an entirely
different age, the inclusion of Circe in art shows the late medieval society
actively turning to literature of the past to help define their idea of
witchcraft. From ancient texts, to contemporary art pieces, the evolution of
magic throughout Europe during the Renaissance not only reflects the changing
attitudes toward magic and witchcraft, but also played a significant part in
shaping its definition. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kors, Alan, Edward Peters. <i>Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700</i>.
(Pennseylvania: University Pennsyvania Press. 2001), 167.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Kors, Peters, <i>Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700</i>, 168<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kors, Peters, <i>Witchcraft in Europe, 400-1700</i>, 167.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Kramer, Sprenger. <i>The Malleus Maleficarum</i>, 173.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kramer, Sprenger. <i>The Malleus Maleficarum</i>, 173.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Barry, Hester, and Gareth Roberts. <i>Witchcraft in Early
Modern Europe</i>. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1996), 193.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Zika, <i>The Appearance of Witchcraft</i>, 133</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Barry, Hester, Roberts. <i>Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe</i>,
192.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <i>Circe and Ulysses</i>. 1493 woodcut.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Hartman Schedel's <i>Nuremberg Chronicle,</i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Zika, <i>The Appearance of Witchcraft</i>, 134.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-53684112134803429072013-10-24T16:02:00.000-07:002013-10-24T16:02:44.405-07:00Evolution of Witchcraft in Art and Literature: Part One, Late Medieval<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Wickiana5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Wickiana5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">It's almost Halloween! To celebrate, here is the first in a two part series looking at the evolution of late medieval and renaissance perceptions </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">of witches, which is one of my favorite subjects. Enjoy!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the midst of the medieval world
was a growing fear of harmful magic that would soon lead to the massive
execution and torture of men and women accused of witchcraft. Yet magic, both
its helpful remedies and harmful effects was nothing new to the late medieval
society. With the recovery of ancient texts on magic, the spread of the
printing, and earlier medieval literature, the idea of magic and witchcraft
during the late middle ages stood on a strong foundation of past works. Although
changing political and religious spheres undoubtedly played a role in helping
shape the idea of witchcraft, the literature and art circulating in the Renaissance
became an integral part of society, both reflecting and shaping the perception
of witchcraft. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the Renaissance era as a time
of intellectual and artistic innovation and brilliance, the predominant belief
in what can now be seen as superstitious, almost stands in a stark contrast.
Yet, as historian Joseph Klaits notes, it is perhaps this very culture that was
ripe for a formation of the witch phenomenon, stating that the rediscovery of
ancient works on magic, as well as an idea of practical magic “produced an
environment favorable to the crystallization of the witch stereotype.” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>With
literature serving to both reflect and influence society, using it as a focal
point can help illuminate this environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tristan-200x219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/tristan-200x219.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus it is to these earlier works,
that we must turn in order to uncover the evolving medieval attitudes towards
magic and witchcraft. Early literature of the Middle Ages that involved magic
often associated it with the courtly values of romance and chivalry. In early
romance fictions such as those of Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes, magic
serves a multitude of purposes, as at times it is invoked to help heal a
wounded knight, while in others, it serves as a challenge. In Marie de France's
<i>Guigemar</i>, for instance, Guigemar is bestowed a magical wound in which he
can “never find a cure, nor may any herb, root, doctor, or potion ever heal.” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> It
is only until he falls into the hands of a lady in which he is healed as she
brings “water in golden basins, washed his wounded thigh, then removed the
surrounding blood with a fine piece of white linen and bound it tightly.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
It is with her loving care that he is able to be healed, and thus <i>Guigemar</i>
demonstrates magic being used to both inflict harm upon someone, as well as a
healing agent. Though seemingly disconnected from the ideas of witchcraft, this
early work provides an excellent example of how magic in a fictional setting
mirrored the realities of society. A 15<sup>th</sup> century document found in
the Wolsthurn Castle shows how the idea of curing someone with magic was not
only accepted, but actually practiced. Scholar Richard Kieckhefer gives the
following description of the handbook:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It contains instructions for almost every aspect of running
a household. It tells how to prepare leather, make soap or ink, wash clothes,
or catch fish...the compiler tells how to diagnose and treat fevers, ailments
of the eyes, and other medical problems...the book at hand contains elements we
can call magic. It recommends taking the leaves of a particular plant as a
remedy for ' fever of all sorts</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although Keickhefer points out that this particular remedy
would “count as science” and that the inclusion of writing Latin words on the leaves
would “count as religion,” he goes on to argue how these sort of procedures may
actually be a sort of magic, stating that “magic enters in with the notion that
the disease itself has a kind of personality and can respond to a command.” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Thus it is clear how magical remedies portrayed in stories, even those as early
as the 12<sup>th</sup> century story of <i>Guigemar</i> could have been both a
reflection of what was attempting to be done in reality, as well as an
influential source for the practical use of magic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Champion_des_dames_Vaudoises.JPG" width="236" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Earlier ideas of magic, therefore,
provide a fascinating link to the opinion of magic circulating in the 14<sup>th</sup>
and 15<sup>th</sup> centuries in Europe, which placed magic not in the court,
but in the hands of a harmful witch. Literature and art played an important
role of this transition, as it slowly began depicting the ideas of demonic
magic and necromancy that would eventually become attributed to witchcraft.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Wirnt von Gravenberg's Arthurian romance, <i>Wigalois,</i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
tells the tale of Gawain's son who, through a series of challenges must seek
out and prove his worth to his father. One such challenge arises in the form of
a demonic magician and results in what scholar James Schultz describes as a
“lengthy and explicit contest between demonic magic and divine providence
[which] can be found in Arthurian romance only in <i>Wigalois.</i>”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The story of Wigalois, and its inclusion of a magician who has explicit
connections with the devil, stands as an excellent example of the demonic ideas
that were beginning to become an integral part of literature and society. As a
13<sup>th</sup> century Arthurian tale, <i>Wigalois</i> stands as a sort of
bridge between how magic had been treated in the past Arthurian tales of
Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France and the upcoming demonic magic
associated with witchcraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9rubmpul91qcgqs9o1_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9rubmpul91qcgqs9o1_400.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An image similar to Necromancy's Messenger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the role of magicians changing
to include the aid of demons, a growing concern and practice of necromancy soon
found its way into the early Renaissance. Although medieval magic certainly did
not lack a dark or sinister side to it, the art of necromancy dramatically
shifted from medieval magic as it included the conjuring of spirits or demons in
order to create illusions, inflict harm on others, or use divination to gain
knowledge of the past or future. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
We begin to see the inclusion of the necromancer's art in such works as the
1355 pen and ink drawing published in Guillaume de Deguileville's <i>The
Pilgrimage of the Life of a Man</i>.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
This piece, entitled <i>Necromancy's Messenger Shows the Pilgrim how Spirits
are Raised</i>, gives insight to the attributes of necromancy in the late
medieval era, depicting the messenger of Necromancy as enclosed in a circle
with figures or rune-like characters surrounding him. He holds a sword and
stands inside the circle with treasure, while the demon he has raised stands
just outside of it. The pilgrim stands to the left of all this, watching and
learning.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> This
piece has several interesting points. For instance, it gives the reader of
Deguileville a concrete image of the art of necromancy and its involvement with
protective circles, treasures, and demons. More interesting however, is the
notion that this piece depicts necromancy as something to be taught and <i>learned.
</i>If the messenger, with all his treasures, sword, and assumed power was not
enough to allure the viewer into the art, the image of the pilgrim learning and
absorbing all of this hints at man's fascination and enticement of necromancy
within the image itself. Thus images like this not only reflect the sort of
actions already associated with magic, but also serve to suggest how art
influenced medieval attitudes of fear or excitement towards demonic magic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The idea of demonic magic used to
lay harm on another is absolutely central to the formation of witchcraft. Soon,
the idea that magic or sorcery could be performed <i>without</i> the assistance
of the devil became obsolete. Klaits suggests the image of the witch began to
solidify in 1398 when the, “University of Paris declared devil-aided malefice
tantamount to heresy.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Klaits suggests that when other authorities followed suit, “authorities
combined the doer of malefice with the worshiper of Satan.” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
It is clear how art depicting the conjuring of demons, as well as popular
literature portraying harmful magicians helped influence this inability to
separate magic from devilry. Furthermore, in looking at the art and literature
circulating during the 15<sup>th</sup> century, it is clear how much influence
it had over important manuscripts such as the Bull of Innocent VIII and what is
possibly the most instrumental handbook to the witchcraft phenomenon, <i>The</i>
<i>Malleus Maleficarum. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For instance, in the 1484 Bull <i>Summis
desiderantes</i>, Innocent VII states <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt;">…many persons of
both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith,
give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations,
charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges,
offences, crimes,…</span><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">afflict and torment men and women.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zluIDigr9hA/Ummlc9tB3GI/AAAAAAAAAIA/SLCH1RxPzuU/s1600/Europe's_Inner_Demons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zluIDigr9hA/Ummlc9tB3GI/AAAAAAAAAIA/SLCH1RxPzuU/s1600/Europe's_Inner_Demons.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waldensians Worshipping the Devil</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This statement illuminates how the idea of devilry is firmly
situated in the act of magic. Some of the most powerful images and literature
that could have influenced this Bull involve the heretical group of
Waldensians. The 1470 art piece entitled <i>Waldensians Worshiping the Devil </i>printed
in Johannes Tinctor's <i>Treatise against the Sect of the Waldensians</i>
blends the diabolical with the heretical.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In this image, the heretical group of Waldensians stand around the devil, who
has the appearance of a goat. One worshiper kneels ready to kiss the goat on
the anus, while others stand around watching and worshiping. Because devil
aided malefice had been deemed heretical in the late 14<sup>th</sup> century,
images such as this, which promotes the devil and the heretic together,
undoubtedly not only helped shape the devil worshiping we see in Innocent
VIII's Bull, but also promoted the picture of the witch as part a group.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The idea of witches meeting in groups to worship the devil is later seen in the
<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>, which, upon describing how witches make the pact
with the devil states:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now, the method of profession is in twofold. One is a solemn
ceremony, like a solemn vow. The other is private, and can be made to the devil
at any hour alone. The first method is when witches meet together in conclave
on a set day, and the devil appears to them in the assumed body of a mad, and
urges them to keep faith with him.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With images encouraging the idea of heretics such as the
Waldensians worshiping the devil in large groups, heretical witchcraft soon
adopted the same image. In addition to this worship, however, was an inclusion
of the sort of relationship with the devil similar to that of the necromancer.
This passage from <i>The</i> <i>Malleus
Maleficarum</i> shows that by the late 15<sup>th</sup> century, witchcraft
included both ideas associated with that of necromancy, as well as heretics
that were previously portrayed in both art and literature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Klaits, Joseph. <i>Servants
of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts</i>. (Maryland: Indiana University Press.
1985), 4</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marie de France. <i>The Lais of Marie de France</i>. (London:
Penguin Books. 1986), 44.</span><span lang="FR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span lang="FR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: FR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Marie de France. </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
Lais of Marie de France</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, 48.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kieckhefer, <i>Magic in the Middle Ages</i>. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. 1989), 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kieckhefer, <i>Magic
in the Middle Ages</i>, 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Klaits, <i>Servants of Satan, </i>35</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kieckhefer, <i>Magic
in the Middle Ages</i>, 112</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thomas, Neil. <i>Wirnt von
Gravenberg's Wigalois: intertextuality and interpretation</i>. (Cabridge:
Boydell and Brewer. 2005), 72.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kieckhefer, <i>Magic in the Middle Ages</i>, 158.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Zika, Charles. <i>The Appearance
of Witchcraft</i>. (New York: Routledge. 2007), 53</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Necromancy's Messenger Shows the Pilgrim how
Spirits are Raised</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, pen and ink colored drawing on vellum (1355) in Zika, Charles. <i>The
Appearance of Witchcraft</i>, 54</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Klaits, <i>Servants of Satan, </i>38</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Klaits, <i>Servants of Satan</i>, 38</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kramer, Heinrich and James Sprenger. <i>The Malleus
Maleficarum</i>. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1971), xLiv</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Workshop of the Master of the Dresden Hours, <i>Waldensians
Worshiping the Devil. 1470, </i>in<i>
Zika, The Appearance of Witchcraft, </i>62.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1471028991399505320#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Zika, <i>The Appearance of Witchcraft</i>, 59.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kramer, Sprenger. <i>The Malleus Maleficarum</i>, 99.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-91635603466787403642013-09-15T17:56:00.000-07:002013-09-15T17:57:28.375-07:00The Creation Stories of Narnia and Middle Earth<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> It probably won't come as a surprise to you that Tolkien's creation story for Middle Earth, "A</span>inulindale," and<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> C.S. Lewis' novel about the beginning of Narnia, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Magician's Nephew</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> closely </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">resemble each other. Like many creation myths, both Narnia and Middle-earth start out in a sort of 'nothingness' and both tales explain how the material and spiritual world come into being. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Baynes-Map_of_Middle-earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Baynes-Map_of_Middle-earth.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Baynes" target="_blank">Pauline Baynes</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But both Tolkien and Lewis are particularly interested in the presence of evil during creation and especially the presence of music during creation. For both Narnia and Middle earth are <i>sung</i> into creation and music and harmony play an essential role in their worlds. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> There are, however, important differences in each creation story. As</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> the narrator in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Magician's Nephew</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is quick to point out, “For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where your standing” (125). Although there are clear similarities in the way each author describes his world's creation, there is an important and fundamental difference in “where one is standing” in each text. Tolkien's “Ainulindale” places the reader among Illuvatar and the Ainur, and </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">internal</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> growth within the world's creators plays a significant role. In Lewis' </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Magician's Nephew </i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">however, the reader is placed alongside Digory and Polly who </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">visit Narnia as outsides and are thus </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">external</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to its creation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/177/e/1/music_of_ainur_by_breathing2004-d5r7d6y.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/177/e/1/music_of_ainur_by_breathing2004-d5r7d6y.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://breathing2004.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">breathing2004</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>From the start of Tolkien's “Ainulindale” we are</b> <b>invited to learn</b> more about Middle Earth's creators than Middle Earth itself. The Ainur's music is ultimately revealed to be the world “foreshadowed and foresung”(20), but “Ainulindale” is largely about the Ainur's experience of creating the music. Unlike <i>The Magician's Nephew</i>, which describes the harmonious singing and Narnia's creation as “two wonders happen[ing] at the same moment” (99), Middle Earth (both the vision and the tangible world) is not revealed to the Ainur until they have a deeper understanding of themselves and of Illuvatar. It is clear that they must first grow together through music and learn more than “that part of the mind of Illuvatar from which he came” (15). As they do so, they are described as coming “to a deeper understanding, and increas[ing] in unison and harmony” (15). This harmonizing is integral to the creation of the world, for it is only after this initial music that Illuvatar begins to “declare to them a mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed” (15). Middle Earth's creation is thus founded in a growing knowledge of Illuvatar. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><b>Narnia, however, is fundamentally different than Middle Earth in that it is but one world among many. </b>As such, Digory and Polly themselves are external to it. Unlike the Ainur who come to know much of illuvatar and are told much of “what is, what was, and is to come” (18) in the world, the children and their party enter Narnia quite literally in the dark. They do not take an active part in creating Narnia, but rather hear a voice singing that “seemed to come from all directions at once” (98) and watch as “a thousand, thousand points of light leaped out” (99). Illuvatar may have direct contact with the Ainur before Middle Earth is created, but Aslan lets the children witness Narnia's creation from the outside, revealing himself only after the world of Narnia takes shape. This has two effects that are very different from what we see in “Ainulindale:"</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first is that unlike the Ainur, the children can see that Narnia is being brought to life with music. For, just as the singing voice creates “the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose” (101).</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rUlU5tATuZk/UjZN6x1V7yI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Z5es7LqzRSk/s1600/Narnia__The_Magician__s_Nephew_by_DreamsOfALostSpirit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rUlU5tATuZk/UjZN6x1V7yI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Z5es7LqzRSk/s200/Narnia__The_Magician__s_Nephew_by_DreamsOfALostSpirit.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dreamsofalostspirit.deviantart.com/art/Narnia-The-Magician-s-Nephew-114284949" target="_blank">dreamsofalostspirit</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second effect is the feeling evoked when the children first see Aslan. The narrator describes, “The earth was of many colours: they were fresh, hot, vivid. They made you feel excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else” (101). We are not asked to come to know Aslan first and feel closer to him because of his creation (as the Ainur feel closer to the mind of Illuvatar after seeing the vision for his Children). But instead to see Narnia first in order to more easily recognize Aslan's magnificence and power.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <b>Digory and Polly not only learn of Aslan</b> and Narnia differently than the Ainur learn of Illuvatar and Middle Earth, but they have an equally different experience with the creation of evil. The children expose Narnia to evil by bringing<i> in</i> Jadis. But in “Ainulindale” the evil of Melkor is weaved within the creation of the world itself. As the music progresses, Melkor seeks “to increase the power and glory of the part assigned to himself” (16), creating immediate discord among the Ainur. Illuvatar allows for <i>within</i> its very conception. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I3ivb2lLUCY/UjZOx6KXXpI/AAAAAAAAAHI/js_ESeQMZCg/s1600/Narnia__The_Magician__s_Nephew_by_DreamsOfALostSpirit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I3ivb2lLUCY/UjZOx6KXXpI/AAAAAAAAAHI/js_ESeQMZCg/s200/Narnia__The_Magician__s_Nephew_by_DreamsOfALostSpirit.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dreamsofalostspirit.deviantart.com/art/Narnia-The-Magician-s-Nephew-114284949" target="_blank">dreamsofalostspirit</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Melkor to sing and does not directly stop the discord from “spread[ing] ever wider” (16). Jadis embodies a similar evil from the outset of the novel, but once she enters Narnia, it is clear Aslan feels that he must protect Narnia from her, and that it is “Adam's race that has done the harm”(137), suggesting that Jadis does not belong in Narnia at all. Illuvatar, however, does not try to eliminate Melkor altogether. Rather he combats Melkor with his own second and third theme, knowing that in doing so he not only creates a music that “ gathered power and had new beauty” (16), but actively blends evil into the creation of the world. The two musics of the third theme is illustrative of this: as the loud, vain, and unharmonious music gains volume against the beautifully somber one, its “most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern” (17). Evil is thus not brought into Middle Earth as Jadis is brought to Narnia, but is brewed <i>within</i> its very conception.</span><br />
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<a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/323/e/9/Magician__s_Nephew_Floorcloth_by_YFish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/323/e/9/Magician__s_Nephew_Floorcloth_by_YFish.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.narniafans.com/fansection/fanart/yfish.php" target="_blank">Emma Guild</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-77378445333281558262013-08-25T16:44:00.000-07:002013-08-25T16:44:17.708-07:00I'm Getting Published!<br />
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<a href="http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/303/files/2013/08/SL5_fcover-244x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/303/files/2013/08/SL5_fcover-244x300.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
<a href="http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/303/files/2013/08/SL5_fcover-244x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a> Just wanted to share the news that an article of mine will be appearing in the latest issue of <a href="http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/products/silver-leaves-journal/" target="_blank">Silver Leaves</a>! Silver Leaves is a Tolkien studies journal that has featured scholarly and creative work on topics ranging from the Inklings, Dragons, and Fantasy art/artists. In the past, scholars like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Shippey" target="_blank">Tom Shippey</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_D._C._Drout" target="_blank">Michael C. Drout</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Sibley" target="_blank">Brian Sibley</a> and<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle" target="_blank"> Peter S. Beagle</a> have contributed and I feel honored to be a part of this year's issue. My article is a short piece comparing the Rivendell Elves of the published <i>Hobbit</i> and its original manuscript. Fellow Mythgardian and Potterhead <a href="http://pima.academia.edu/KrisSwank" target="_blank">Kris Swank</a> (who also writes regularly for the <a href="http://thehogshead.org/" target="_blank">Hog's Head</a>) is having 4 different poems published as well!<br />
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<a href="http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/products/silver-leaves-journal/silver-leaves-issue-5/" target="_blank">Issue #5 of Silver Leaves</a> on <i>The Hobbit </i>is being released this September. I hope some of you get the chance to read it!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-24344716537815221152013-07-03T18:40:00.000-07:002013-07-03T19:05:12.258-07:00"Honour to the Lincoln Green!": Robin Hood in the Poems of John Keats and John Hamilton Reynolds<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mlpeters.deviantart.com/art/Robin-Hood-94694428" target="_blank">mlpeters</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2013/06/30/reading-robin-hood-introduction-post/" target="_blank">Pages Unbound</a> is hosting another reading event! This time, it's on the legend of Robin Hood. Their <a href="http://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/features/events/" target="_blank">last</a> one on C.S. Lewis produced some great book reviews and analysis (my own contribution can be found <a href="http://themiddlepage-orazi.blogspot.com/2013/02/cs-lewis-read-along-edmund-and-narnias.html" target="_blank">here</a>). This one is only a week long event, but already some great reviews of modern Robin Hood tales and re-tellings are showing up over on their page.<br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="text-align: center;"> Personally, I </span><i style="text-align: center;">love</i><span style="text-align: center;"> it when Robin Hood pops up in a story. Among legendary figures, I think he stands out tremendously. Not only is he a more ordinary and down to earth figure than say, Beowulf or King Arthur, but he's a downright </span><i style="text-align: center;">fun</i><span style="text-align: center;"> one. As much as I love them, a surprise appearance from any other legendary hero in a novel just doesn't give me that happy jolt in the stomach that Robin Hood seems to do. I think it's far from a coincidence that two of my all time favorite novels, </span><i style="text-align: center;">Ivanhoe</i><span style="text-align: center;"> and </span><i style="text-align: center;">The Once and Future King,</i><span style="text-align: center;"> both feature a Robin Hood character.</span></div>
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And so I don't find it surprising at all that my favorite poet, John Keats once wrote a poem about Robin Hood. (If you haven't read any John Keats yet please, <i>please</i> do so <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15563" target="_blank">now</a>.) As a Romantic poet, Keats is often studied with poets like Wordsworth and Shelley, but his love for Faerie and folklore (which shines in poems like <i>La Belle Dam Sans Merci</i> and re-tellings of Medieval tales like <i>Isabella</i>) sets him far apart. His poem on Robin Hood was written in 1818, in response to his good friend and fellow poet, John Hamilton Reynolds, who wrote and sent him these three sonnets celebrating Robin Hood:<br />
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<b>I.</b><br />
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://bestclipartblog.com/clipart-pics/robin-hood-clip-art-10.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://bestclipartblog.com/clipart-pics/robin-hood-clip-art-10.gif" width="128" /></a><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Robin
the outlaw! Is there not a mass</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of
freedom in the name? – It tells the story<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of
Clenched oaks, with branches bow’d and hoary, <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Leanng
in aged beauty o’er the grass;--<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Of
dazed smile of cheek of border lass <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Listening
‘gainst someold gate at his strange glory;<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And
of the dappled stag, stuck down and gory, <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lying
with nostril wide in green morass.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It
tells a tale of forest days—of times<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That
would have been most precious unto thee:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Days
of undying pastoral liberty:--<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sweeter
than music old of abbey chimes—<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sweet
as the virtue of Shakepearian rhymes—<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Days,
Shadowy with the magic green-wood tree!</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/092/f/4/robin_hood_theme_by_kakao_bean-d4uuc3m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/092/f/4/robin_hood_theme_by_kakao_bean-d4uuc3m.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kakao-bean.deviantart.com/art/robin-hood-theme-293668546" target="_blank">~kakao-bean</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<b>II.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
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<i>The
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<i> The
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> Are
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<i>With
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<i>No
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<i> Struck
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<i> To
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<i>In
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>With Robin at their
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-shadow: rgb(255, 253, 248) 0px 1px 0px;"><b>III. </b></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.mainlesson.com/books/marshall/robin/zpage078.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.mainlesson.com/books/marshall/robin/zpage078.gif" width="252" /></a><span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>With
coat of Lincoln-green, and mantle too,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> And
horn of ivory mouth, and buckle bright,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> And
arrows winged with peacock feathers light,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>And
trusty bow well gathered of the yew,--<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>Stands
Robin Hood: and near, with eyes of blue<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> Shining
thro' dusk hair, like the stars of night,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> And
habited in pretty forest plight,--<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>His
green-wood beauty sits, young as the dew.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>Oh
gentle tressed girl! Maid Marian!<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> Are
thine eyes bent upon the gallant game<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i> That
stray in the merry Sherwood? thy sweet fame<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>Can
never die. And thou, high man,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>Would
we might pledge thee with thy silver can<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i>Of
Rhenish in the woods of Nottingham.<u><o:p></o:p></u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d3a36;"> <b>These three sonnets could</b> definitely be read as one continuing poem. The first sonnet describes Robin Hood as a story, a tale of old set in an earlier, idyllic time and place, a time of "undying pastoral liberty." The second sonnet picks up right where the first one leaves off, but the "magic green wood tree" of the Robin Hood tale becomes our own "trees in Sherwood forest...old and good." </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d3a36;">The whole of Sonnet 2, in fact, suggests that the magic of the Robin Hood story has never actually left us. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d3a36;">Even though there is "no arrow found" or nothing to physically "mark the </span></span><span style="color: #3d3a36; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">revelries...of Merry Robin Hood," we can come to understand and "know" the legend simply by walking through the forest and imagining the tale. Finally, what begins as a sort of vision in the second sonnet becomes a reality in the third. Robin and Marian get detailed descriptions, as if they really are right in front of us. More than that, they grow from figures from an old tale to immortal legends, as Marian's "sweet fame/ can never die." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #3d3a36;"><br /></span></span></div>
<b>Keats' poem is</b> slightly more complex. He opens with the melancholic reply of "No! Those days are gone away/ And their hours are old and grey." The forest, the poem begins to suggest, is not a place where you will come across Robin Hood- even in your imagination. In fact, far from showing Robin Hood, the woods bury him under the "leaves of many years." Reynolds celebrated the immortality of the Robin Hood legend, but Keats repeatedly laments that it is all "gone" and that the forest is silent and empty when "the bugle sounds no more" and the "twanging bow [is] no more." Throughout the poem, Keats is concerned with Time and what it does to people, to history, and to legends. A<span style="text-align: left;">s he begins to state that </span><span style="text-align: left;">"you </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">never may behold </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Little John, or Robin bold," he, like Reynolds, paints an illustrious scene of Robin and his band. Unlike Reynolds however, Keats seems to do so in order to show what the modern world is missing, rather than what it currently holds: Gone, Gone, Gone, "All are gone away and past." Keats muses that even if Robin and Marian <i>were</i> here in the modern world, they would be sorely </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: left;">disappointed and disoriented: "She would weep and he would craze." Thus the poem is not only a lament for Robin Hood's passing, but for the condition of the modern world. </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Wonderfully, beautifully, Keats ends his poem in the way that only he can: </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: left;">"So it is" he states, "Yet let us sing!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; text-align: left;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Robin Hood</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #4d493f;">BY</span> JOHN KEATS</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>TO A FRIEND</i></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i><br /></i></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<br />
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>No! those days are gone away</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And their hours are old and gray,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And their minutes buried all</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Under the down-trodden pall</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Of the leaves of many years:</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Many times have winter's shears,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Frozen North, and chilling East,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sounded tempests to the feast</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Of the forest's whispering fleeces,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Since men knew nor rent nor leases.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> No, the bugle sounds no more,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And the twanging bow no more;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Silent is the ivory shrill</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Past the heath and up the hill;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>There is no mid-forest laugh,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Where lone Echo gives the half</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To some wight, amaz'd to hear</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Jesting, deep in forest drear.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> On the fairest time of June</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>You may go, with sun or moon,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Or the seven stars to light you,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Or the polar ray to right you;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But you never may behold</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Little John, or Robin bold;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Never one, of all the clan,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Thrumming on an empty can</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Some old hunting ditty, while</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>He doth his green way beguile</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>To fair hostess Merriment,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Down beside the pasture Trent;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>For he left the merry tale</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Messenger for spicy ale.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> Gone, the merry morris din;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Gone, the song of Gamelyn;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Gone, the tough-belted outlaw</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Idling in the "grenè shawe";</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>All are gone away and past!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And if Robin should be cast</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sudden from his turfed grave,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And if Marian should have</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Once again her forest days,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>She would weep, and he would craze:</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>He would swear, for all his oaks,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Fall'n beneath the dockyard strokes,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Have rotted on the briny seas;</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>She would weep that her wild bees</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sang not to her—strange! that honey</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Can't be got without hard money!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; min-height: 19px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> So it is: yet let us sing,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to the old bow-string!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to the bugle-horn!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to the woods unshorn!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to the Lincoln green!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to the archer keen!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to tight little John,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And the horse he rode upon!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to bold Robin Hood,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Sleeping in the underwood!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Honour to maid Marian,</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>And to all the Sherwood-clan!</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Though their days have hurried by</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Let us two a burden try.</i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th05.deviantart.net/fs7/PRE/i/2005/254/4/2/Robin_Hood_by_Artofwarble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://th05.deviantart.net/fs7/PRE/i/2005/254/4/2/Robin_Hood_by_Artofwarble.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://artofwarble.deviantart.com/art/Robin-Hood-22832962" target="_blank">Artofwarble</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="color: #505050; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-28098405076289052972013-06-06T10:14:00.001-07:002013-06-06T18:07:02.502-07:00Outer Space Gandalf<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lphac2ONFi1qeqx7ko1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lphac2ONFi1qeqx7ko1_500.jpg" width="264" /></a><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Then what are you like?"</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Gandalf- a space Gandalf with a little green light like Star Wars"</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeJ4Ak2xCkw" target="_blank">Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I haven't talked about my love for Science Fiction on this blog too much, but I love me a good science fiction novel, short story, or television show. The weird and wonderful difference between fantasy and science fiction (in my opinion) is that sci-fi translates so much better on screen. Even high budget fantasy shows like Game of Thrones (which I love) or the Harry Potter films have a hard time comparing to the magic that comes to reading the novel. And while I can't really think of any original fantasy television series that I've come across and truly loved, there are many original science fiction shows that hooked me right from the start. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who" target="_blank">Doctor Who</a> is one of them. Unsurprising for a show that's lasted 50 years and has lines like the one above ("Space Gandalf"!-I mean, what's not to love?).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/150/2/0/tardis_by_awkwardalpaca-d3hn861.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/150/2/0/tardis_by_awkwardalpaca-d3hn861.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://browse.deviantart.com/art/TARDIS-211035673" target="_blank">awkwardalpaca</a></td></tr>
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There are so many things to be said about Doctor Who. If you've been watching this latest season, you might be interested in checking out one of my favorite blogs for literary and film analysis, <a href="http://ravingsanity.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Raving Sanity</a>, a blog which also happens to be run by one of my fellow <a href="http://mythgard.org/" target="_blank">Mythgard</a> students, Katherine Sas. There are some really insightful thoughts on the latest episodes of both Doctor Who and Game of Thrones. Often my mind is boggled after watching a new episode, but somehow Katherine's able to say everything I was thinking and more. Plus, my brother, the truest Doctor Who connoisseur I know, told me he won a Who argument by having read one of her posts :)<br />
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This all brings me to the latest project concerning Doctor Who that I'm happy to help promote, a podcast called the<a href="http://kctvreview.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"> Kat & Curt TV Re-View </a>. It's run by Katherine and yet another fellow Mythgard student, <a href="http://curtisweyant.com/" target="_blank">Curtis Weyant</a>. As I already mentioned, Kat is a big fan of New Who (the 2005 Doctor Who series and beyond) and Curtis is our Joss Whedon expert, currently preparing to present a paper at the "<a href="http://jossinjune.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Joss in June</a>" conference later this month. So the podcast will be an entire re-watching of both Doctor Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy is one of those original fantasy series I know I <i>should</i> like, but just haven't given a proper chance. I'm hoping that will change as I listen in on the podcast. Curtis, a long time Buffy fan will explore the series episode by episode with Kat, who will be experiencing the show for the first time. Likewise, Kat will guide Curtis, who has never seen an episode of Doctor Who, through the episodes of New Who:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #141412; line-height: 24px;">Join us for our journey through time, space, and the halls of Sunnydale High as we battle demons, aliens, and the inscrutable process of creating quality narrative television. Whether you’re new to these ‘verses or are looking to fall in love with them all over again, we invite you to watch the shows along with us and join us in the comments to continue and deepen the discussion. Allons-y!</span></i></span></blockquote>
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The first episode is up <a href="http://kctvreview.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">now</a>. Discussion points in this introductory episode include:<br />
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<li>The history of the two shows </li>
<li>Why you shouldn't feel guilty about starting your Doctor Who experience with the 2005 series</li>
<li>The writing connection between Who and Buffy</li>
<li>Why the name 'Buffy' anyway?</li>
<li>Technobabble and the blur between fantasy and science fiction. </li>
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Enjoy!!<br />
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P.S. I can't have you leave without showing you my favorite Doctor speech from this season. It's from the end of the episode Rings of Akhaten (so, episode specific/light spoiler if you watch). You can watch it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8dbZavEXM" target="_blank">here</a>. Chills.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-65378705703757839422013-05-24T01:08:00.004-07:002017-06-05T12:13:00.478-07:00A Very Potter Post: The Limited Imaginations of Uncle Vernon and Uncle Andrew<div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/illustrations/40-beautiful-harry-potter-art-and-illustration-tributes/" target="_blank">Jay Parker</a></td></tr>
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My head is wrapped up in Harry Potter these days and for good reason. A couple of weeks ago it was Mother's day and my family watched the first four movies (my wonderful mom actually said, "Harry Potter. Pizza. Cookies. Beer. Yay!"). If that wasn't enough to put me in the mood, I also started re-reading the books in preparation for two things:<br />
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Firstly, I'm re-reading the series is because I'll not only be attending this year's <a href="http://www.leakycon.com/" target="_blank">Leakycon</a> in Portland, but actually presenting a paper about the Hogwarts ghosts while I'm there! I'm really not the best public speaker, but last year I presented a paper for the first time at Mythcon in Berkeley and managed to be fine. I hope things run at least as smoothly for Leakycon at the end of June. Wish me luck!!<br />
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The second reason I started re-reading the series is because of the Harry Potter Book Club that is being run by a few of my favorite bloggers. Jenna St. Hilaire from <a href="http://www.jennasthilaire.com/" target="_blank">A Light Inside</a>, Christie from <a href="http://spinstrawintogold.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Spinning Straw Into Gold</a>, and Masha from <a href="http://cyganeria-masha.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cyganeria</a> are all reading and discussing the series from the very beginning and invite anyone and everyone to join in. I've been enjoying their posts and would like to encourage anyone who is interested to head on over to any one of those blogs. This re-reading is a bit different than you might expect- as Jenna says in her introductory post:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IIPi26-8XNY/UXqGBlAaCTI/AAAAAAAAB7k/R0UTCxs58es/s1600/hpbc+graphic_take+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IIPi26-8XNY/UXqGBlAaCTI/AAAAAAAAB7k/R0UTCxs58es/s320/hpbc+graphic_take+1.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #000518; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i></i></span></span></blockquote>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #000518; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">This is not just any thoughtful, playful, highly interactive read-through, either. It's an extensive conversation between three disparately-experienced readers: one longtime Potter fan, one longtime not-a-Potter-fan, and one new reader of the stories. Ideally, it will be intense—and magical—and legendary—and fun. </i></blockquote>
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Start the book club by going <a href="http://www.jennasthilaire.com/2013/04/the-harry-potter-book-club.html" target="_blank">here</a> and reading the full introductory post!<br />
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<b>Here are some of my own thoughts from reading the first few chapters this time around:</b><br />
<i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</i> famously opens up with everything the series is <i>not. </i>That is, with the absurdly close minded, boring, just plain awful Dursleys. There is nothing this book series is less about than a boring "firm called Grunnings"(1) or the mindless gossip Petunia overhears by "craning [her neck] over garden fences"(1). The wonderful first sentence, "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much"(1) allows children to immediately pick up on the irony of Privet Drive and must instantaneously beg a response something along the lines of my usual one: '<i>humph! Are they now?</i>'<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/076/0/a/4_privet_drive_by_daaakota-d5ycv09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/076/0/a/4_privet_drive_by_daaakota-d5ycv09.jpg" height="247" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://daaakota.deviantart.com/art/4-Privet-Drive-360037881" target="_blank">Daaakota</a></td></tr>
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I love that throughout this first chapter there is a constant disconnect between what the reader sees and how the Dursleys act. For instance, we're told that Petunia gushes over the fact that Dudley learned a new word, but the narrator humorously tells us in parentheses that that word is "won't!"(6)- explanation point included. The Dursley's are just so blatantly <i>proud</i> that they are never mixed up with anything unusual that they're not just boring people, they are downright smug about being boring: Even as Mr. Dursley gets ready to leave for the morning, we're told, "Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work"(2).<br />
Everything is set up in these first few pages so that, as readers, we are immediately in on the joke. The narrator pokes so much fun at the Dursley's that before we even meet Harry, before we even know how truly awful the Dursley's are, there's no denying it: we're on Harry's side.<br />
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These first few pages are also the only time we really get into Mr. Dursley's head. Jenna <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.jennasthilaire.com/2013/04/the-harry-potter-book-club.html" target="_blank">states</a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #000518; line-height: 18px;">that Mr. Dursley is "so completely wrapped up in this superficial life, so shielded from imagination, that despite all the cloaks and owls and shooting stars and cats, neither Halloween nor saints ever seem to come to his mind. It's just another day to the Dursleys." Mr. Dursley does not just </span></span><span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">ignore his own imagination, he </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">actively shuts it out.</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> He puts up his own shield. When he first notices strange things happening around Privet Drive all his first instincts (to think a cat is reading a map, to think that there are a group of strange people out, and to think that it all has something to do with Harry) are actually all spot on. But Mr. Dursley simply talks himself out of believing what he's seeing. He's a veritable Uncle Andrew. If you've read C.S. Lewis' </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">The Magician's Nephew, </i><span style="line-height: 18px;">you'll remember that Uncle Andrew, along with Polly, Diggory, Frank the cabby (and his wife), and Jadis, is present at the moment of Narnia's creation. While the others are able to hear beautiful music and understand the language of animals, He and Jadis (the White Witch of </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe</i><span style="line-height: 18px;">) cannot and <i>will not</i> understand. The narrator states, "For what you see and hear depends a good deal where you're standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are" (125). Like Mr. Dursley, Uncle Andrew talks himself out believing what he is seeing and hearing:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">When the lion had first begun singing...he had realized that the noise was a song. And he disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel. Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion ("<i>only</i> a lion," as he said to himself) he tried his hardest to make himself believe that it wasn't singing and never had been singing...he thought, "I must have imagined it. I'm letting my nerves get out of order. Who ever heard of a lion singing?" (126).</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Mr. Dursley's first encounter with something magical works in much the same way:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hpcompanion.com/artists/deeterhi/" target="_blank">Deeterhi</a></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar--a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen-- then he jerked his head around to look again. There was the tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he be thinking of? It must have been the trick of the light...he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive--, no, </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">looking</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> at the sign; cats couldn't read maps </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">or</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> signs (2-3).</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"></span></span>Both uncles work hard to disprove or rationalize their way out of believing in something extraordinary, even when they witness it first hand. This moment with Mr. Dursley and the cat (McGonagall) is wonderfully paralleled just a few pages later, when Harry likewise comes face to face with an animal. Unlike his uncle, Harry <i>does not hesitate a moment</i> to believe in what he sees. The snake in the zoo winks and Harry, recognizing the snake's ability to communicate and understand, immediately responds with a wink of his own.<br />
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I just don't think I can put it better than the narrator of <i>The Magician's Nephew,</i> who states, "Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in the Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to" (126).<br />
That's precisely what Mr. Dursley is in danger of doing and is what drives not only this first chapter, but the rest of the series. The <i>Harry Potter</i> series deals so much with faith (both in and out of a religious sense) because everything about magic asks you to trust in a force you cannot see. Mr. Dursley, who doesn't trust the magical world he actually sees, is the epitome of what happens to someone as 'successful' as Uncle Andrew. I<span style="color: #000518; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 18px;">magination is human nature; if we actively push it aside we become more than boring, we become people who delight in the ordinary, we become just so squeamishly Dursley-ish. And if there's one thing this chapter does, it makes sure we don't want to have anything to do with being </span>"perfectly normal." If this is a book about expecting the extraordinary, bring it on-- we're darn sure ready to believe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XpfJuH0u4H4/TszmyQht4sI/AAAAAAAAAIo/FXefuYtBECQ/s400/1.snake1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XpfJuH0u4H4/TszmyQht4sI/AAAAAAAAAIo/FXefuYtBECQ/s320/1.snake1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://insider.pottermore.com/2011/11/pottermore-art-vanishing-glass.html" target="_blank">ShadowAsh82</a></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-36676170348293593512013-04-26T15:52:00.000-07:002013-04-26T19:03:46.208-07:00Fairy Tale Prompt From Spinning Straw Into Gold: An Experiment in Concrete Poetry.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"> </span><a href="http://takmaj.deviantart.com/art/girl-with-a-red-umbrella-284902058" style="background-color: white; color: #a31818; font-family: Vollkorn; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">takmaj </a></td></tr>
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<i>I love Christie's <a href="http://spinstrawintogold.blogspot.com/2013/04/fourth-friday-fairy-tale-prompt-volume-3.html" target="_blank">Fourth Friday Fairy Tale Prompts</a>. When I'm given a small prompt like this I feel like I can write anything and not really be too stressed about the result. This poem must be record timing, since she just posted this month's prompt today. But it's just a small poem, something that came out very quickly. Something I don't really expect anyone to be all that impressed by. But out it came, and so why not share? Once again, the prompt is the image, the poem my reply. P.S. I hope the spacing comes out alright on different computers/ phones!</i></div>
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<b>A Thousand Falling Hearts: An Experiment in Concrete.</b></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-13860932960723683262013-04-25T23:04:00.003-07:002013-04-26T10:21:00.390-07:00Ella of Frell: Linguist Extraordinaire and True "Roast Mutton" Adventurer<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/100/c/0/ella_at_the_ball_by_hil_a_ree-d3dpptb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/100/c/0/ella_at_the_ball_by_hil_a_ree-d3dpptb.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Ella-at-the-Ball-204433391" target="_blank">Hil-a-ree</a></td></tr>
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As an aspiring Tolkien scholar there is admittedly little that doesn't remind me of <i>The Hobbit</i> or <i>The Lord of the Rings. </i>I always <i>try</i> to keep my Tolkien-centered mind in check while I read other fantasy novels because I know that while there are many novelists that purposefully try to imitate Tolkien, there are many more authors whose works echo Tolkien's rather accidentally. Sometimes there is a lot significance in the connections between such novels. Sometimes there isn't. And sometimes they're just fun to talk about.<br />
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Even though I don't think there's<i> </i>too much significance to be found in their connection, I still want to write about <i>Ella Enchanted</i> and <i>The Hobbit</i>.<br />
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<i>Ella Enchanted</i> is wonderfully original (a hard thing to accomplish as a fairy tale retelling), and since it never really tries to be <i>The Hobbit,</i> I find the couple of things that remind me of Tolkien in the book all the more interesting. Just in case anyone's unfamiliar with the plot of <i>Ella Enchanted</i>, here's a short synopsis from the book:<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">At her birth, Ella of Frell was given a foolish fairy's gift—the "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day or chopping off her own head!</span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. She goes on a quest, encountering ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, fairy godmothers, and handsome princes, determined to break the curse—and live happily ever after.</span></i></blockquote>
The really great thing about Ella is that she's strong-willed <i>and</i> fiercely intelligent. Like Tolkien himself, Ella is a skilled and inspired linguist and language plays an important role in the novel. In the beginning of the book Ella tells us she first picked up languages from parrots: "The birds spoke all the languages of the earth: human foreign tongues and the exotic tongues of Gnomic, Elfian, Ogrese, and Abdegi (the language of the giants). I loved to imitate them, even though I didn't know what they were saying" (42). Moments later we find out how important the ability to know or imitate language is when Ella comforts and saves a gnome toddler from an ogre by speaking the gnomish greeting. As the novel continues it turns out that Ella not only has a "knack for languages" (64), but a passion for them. While at finishing school, she finds almost all of the classes she takes useless and tedious. But the one thing she finds comfort in is learning the Ayorthaian language from her friend Areida. Language strengthens Ella and Areida's friendship, inspires Ella to willingly learn something on her own, and even proves an important tool later on when Ella leaves finishing school and enters the wider world:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/212/d/a/cinderella_by_ithelda-d35r2k2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/212/d/a/cinderella_by_ithelda-d35r2k2.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://browse.deviantart.com/art/Cinderella-191059634" target="_blank">Ithelda</a></td></tr>
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<ul>
<li>Knowing Elfian helps reassure the elfin community that she can be trusted.</li>
<li>Knowing Abdegi helps her find her father at the giant's wedding.</li>
<li>Knowing Ayorthian saves her from having to answer Lucinda in her own language (and consequently saves her from possibly being turned into a squirrel). </li>
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And in the scene that reminds me most of <i>The Hobbit</i>, language is more important than ever. Everyone remembers the second chapter of <i>The Hobbit </i>called "Roast Mutton," where Bilbo and the dwarves find themselves surrounded by hungry trolls and are almost cooked and eaten:<br />
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"A nice pickle they were all in now: all neatly tied up in sacks, with three angry trolls (and two with burns and bashes to remember) sitting by them, arguing whether they should roast them slowly, or mince them fine and boil them, or just sit on them one by one and squash them into jelly"(39). </blockquote>
On her way to find Lucinda and fix her "gift" of obedience, Ella is put in a very similar situation. She wakes up to find she's been captured. Eight ogres surround her and immediately begin contemplating the best way to cook her: "How do you liked to be cooked? Bloody? Medium? Or done to a crisp?"(96).<br />
Unlike the trolls in <i>The Hobbit</i>, who speak a lower class, but understandable dialect, the ogres speak their own language. Luckily Ella "had studied sufficient Ogrese to understand almost everything" (96) they say. And she understands that they, just like the trolls of <i>The Hobbit</i>, are quick to argue over how and when Ella will be cooked and who she'll be eaten by. In <i>The Hobbit </i>this is solved when<i> </i>Gandalf steps in silently and mimics the trolls own voice and dialect. He confuses the trolls and makes them argue amongst themselves until the sun rises up and turns them to stone:<br />
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"Who’s a-arguing?” said William, who thought it was Bert that had spoken.<br />
“You are,” said Bert.<br />
“You’re a liar,” said William; and so the argument began all over again (40).</blockquote>
In <i>Ella Enchanted</i> it is Ella herself who mimics the ogres speech. She not only talks to them in their own language, but mimics their special ability to be "irresistibly persuasive" in their speech (43). We're told when an ogre speaks, "by the end of the second sentence, you were so won over that he could do whatever he wanted with you, drop you in a pot to cook, or, if he was in a hurry, eat you raw" (44). Like Gandalf, Ella uses the ogre's speech to confuse them long enough for her to save herself:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/tea-with-the-ogres-jeff-brimley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/tea-with-the-ogres-jeff-brimley.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fineartamerica.com/featured/tea-with-the-ogres-jeff-brimley.html" target="_blank">Jeff Brimley</a></td></tr>
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"You're not really hungry. You're full...How can you eat me? You're too full to eat-all of you are. Your bellies are as heavy as sacks of melons." ...SEEf let me go. I stepped away."You can sleep and have delicious dreams.."Sleep claimed them. They returned to their heap of the night, and grunting and snoring and groaning" (102).<br />
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Ella and Gandalf both mimic the speech and language of the captors to lull them into a false argument. They both confuse and beguile their enemies with their own voices until they come to safety and the trolls and ogres alike become still and silent.<br />
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While I was reading <i>Ella Enchanted</i> I didn't know if Levine read or liked Tolkien, but I liked to imagine that these moments were written as a sort of tribute to him. That's simply how they struck me. As it turns out, in <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=YF3Z6Q6pNCcC&pg=RA1-PA10&lpg=RA1-PA10&dq=ella+enchanted+tolkien&source=bl&ots=Q0Pa6oGkZA&sig=7cuDi5s4nEF43Xbc94BjxqHThXc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=neJ5Uf7OBIPRiwLh6IHYDg&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=ella%20enchanted%20tolkien&f=false" target="_blank">another edition</a> of <i>Ella Enchanted</i> Levine writes an appendix titled 'Gnomic Spoken Here: The Languages of <i>Ella Enchanted</i>' and states, "I made up the different languages because I liked the ones that J.R.R. Tolkien invented in his <i>Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy" (10). She even follows this statement with a small glossary of certain words and phrases of her made up languages. I'm glad to know I wasn't imagining the Tolkien allusions. But, while the influence is undeniable, <i>Ella Enchanted</i> is truly a novel that stands on its own, far away from even the Cinderella tale it is based on and farther still from <i>The Hobbit.</i><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-54078207262267309672013-04-13T13:14:00.000-07:002015-05-22T18:32:27.173-07:00Making Sense of the Frame Narrative in 'The Princess Bride'<div>
Ah, <i>The Princess Bride</i>. Is there anyone who doesn't love this film? I've watched it for years and my family quotes it almost daily (this really isn't an exaggeration). Somehow, though I always intended to, I never read the novel it was based on until now. I loved every minute of it and even though I know many of the lines by heart, I still couldn't put it down. </div>
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<a href="http://beerorwine.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/princess_bride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://beerorwine.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/princess_bride.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a>There is one alarming difference between the book and the film that I found surprisingly difficult to make sense of. Anyone coming to the book after watching the film first will notice this difference right away: it's the frame narrative. In the film, the frame is charming and simple and involves only the young boy and his grandfather, who reads the book out loud and occasionally interrupts the story as we see it play out. In the book however, the first frame is much more complicated than that:</div>
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The novel begins with William Goldman writing as "himself" (which is in reality a fictionalized, albeit close, version of himself). In it, he talks about his father reading him <i>The Princess Bride </i>by fictional author S. Morgentstern as a child. He goes on to describe his life as it is now and paints a rather sad picture. He is an unsatisfied adult. He has a wife who is a cold and analyzing psychiatrist, and a son who is overweight and an unmotivated reader. After about 25 pages of setting up this sad reality, the narrator (still as William Goldman) talks about returning to <i>The Princess Bride</i> as an adult only to find out that it is a much longer and much more boring story than what he remembers. As it turns out, his father only read to him "the action stuff, the good parts. He never bothered with the serious side at all" (27). The novel in front of us then (the second frame of the book as a whole), is Goldman's annotated and abridged version, the version his father read out loud to him, the "good parts version" (29). </div>
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While the frame narrative itself may not be too complex, I think its message certainly is. Think about about the picture this first frame paints: right before we enter a romantic, fantastic adventure tale there is one <i>huge</i> dose of bitter reality. Since <i>The Princess Bride</i> itself is a short and fast passed story, this 30 page long opening seriously stands out. Why does Goldman introduce <i>The Princess Bride,</i> the story that sparked his desire and imagination for adventure, the story he describes as "the single best thing that happened to me" (12) in this way?<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6a/ae/cb/6aaecb697a9412ca921a48129777cab5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/6a/ae/cb/6aaecb697a9412ca921a48129777cab5.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://greatshowdowns.com/" target="_blank">Scott Campbell</a></td></tr>
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On one hand, this opening seems to be a very conscious contrast of what happens in reality and what happens in stories. Right before the <i>The Princess Bride</i> starts, the narrator says:<br />
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"But take the title words- 'true love and high adventure'- I <i>believed </i>that once. I thought my life was going to follow that path. Prayed that it would. Obviously it didn't, but I don't think there's high adventure left anymore. Nobody takes out a sword nowadays and cries, 'Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father; prepare to die!'" (27)</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There are also moments in the second frame, in the story itself, that echo this sentiment. Inigo states: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Then let’s look on the bright side: we’re having an adventure, Fezzik, and most people live and die without being as lucky as we are" (234).</span></span></blockquote>
If we are to understand an overall moral of the tale, the first frame narrator without a doubt wants it to be: "Life isn't fair" (188). "That's what I think this book is about," (188) he says in his longest annotation in the book, "...and I'm telling you, one and all, you better believe it" (188). Life isn't fair because William Goldman once imagined his life could be something like his favorite book- but it wasn't. Life isn't fair because the good guys don't always win, or if they do, the bad guys get away with too much before they are finally defeated: <br />
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"You better understand this: <i>some of the wrong people die.</i> Be ready for it...forget all the garbage your parents put out. Remember Morgenstern. You'll be a lot happier" (188).</blockquote>
And life isn't fair because true love might be the most important thing in the world (besides cough drops) but the narrator knows that really,"true love, you can forget about too" (29).<br />
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This cynical and pessimistic narrator reminds us over and over again that real life just<i> isn't</i> going to be anything like the novel. And if that wasn't enough, his jarring interruptions (or "annotations") throughout <i>The Princess Bride</i> continually remind us that what we're reading isn't 'real': it is a story that was written by somebody a long time ago and is something that is now being read by you. We are <i>not</i> to get wrapped up in the story as we read. Young William's father disapproves of this as well: "it looked like you were getting too involved and bothered" and "you're taking this very serious" (221), he says when he comes to distressing or disappointing parts in the novel. <i>The Princess Bride</i> is just a novel, after all and a silly one at that.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thestuff.nakatomiinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/princesspack10001-700x416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://thestuff.nakatomiinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/princesspack10001-700x416.jpg" height="235" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://store.nakatomiinc.com/jacobborshard.aspx" target="_blank">Jacob Borshard</a></td></tr>
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There is a lot of this sort of reality infused the first frame. However, I find it hard to believe someone would write a tale this good, this funny, and this wonderful just to have the overall message be something along the lines of "Books are great, but really, not as great as you think. Also, life's terrible so suck it up." Instead, I think that Goldman could be asking us to look at the nature of stories and novels and to examine our own beliefs about them and how they affect us, not just as children, but throughout our lives. Because here's the thing: In <i>The Princess Bride</i>, happy endings abound. Westley dies but is brought <i>back to life</i>; True love really is more important than anything; Prince Humperdink hears the chilling "to the pain" speech; Inigo finally avenges his father; and Buttercup and Westley reunite through death time and time again.<br />
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William Goldman (as the author) is certainly playing with our expectations of 'happy endings' in life, but he is not ultimately warning us against reading books. Instead, he warns against growing out of the novels, of forgetting the impact novels had on your life. Part of the long opening is to show us how significant an impact reading made on the narrator's life, his <i>real</i> life:<br />
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"<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Picture this now: an all-but-illiterate old man struggling with an enemy tongue, an all-but-exhausted young boy fighting against sleep. And nothing between them but the words of another alien, painfully translated from native sounds to foreign. Who could suspect that in the morning a different child would wake? I remember, for myself, only trying to beat back fatigue. Even a week later I was not aware of what had begun that night, the doors that were slamming shut while others slid into the clear. Perhaps I should have at least known something, but maybe not; who can sense revelation in the wind?</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What happened was just this: I got hooked on the story.</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">For the first time in my life, I became actively interested in a </span><span class="italic" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; margin: 0px; outline: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px;">book" (10).</span></span></blockquote>
The problem really begins when the narrator stops thinking about the novel, when he forgets about how important is was to him:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">"My whole life really began with my father reading me the Morgenstern when I was ten...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">I knew I was going to share it with my son. ...When Jason was born, I made a mental note to buy him a copy of </span><span class="italic" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; margin: 0px; outline: rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px;"><i>The Princess Bride</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">for his tenth birthday.</span></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After which I promptly forgot all about it" (12-13).</span></blockquote>
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For the narrator who hasn't read his favorite book since he was a child, who has forgotten something so important to him, of course there's no "high adventure left anymore." Of course what happens in books is not what happens in our 'reality' - but isn't that why novels like <i>The Princess Bride </i>are so important? Adventure, if we let it, happens right here, in our very hands. The narrator's fault isn't in thinking his life would be one way and having it turn out differently, it's his refusal to acknowledge that his life already has been, and can still be an adventure. If the most important idea the first frame narrator suggests is "life isn't fair," I think that <i>The Princess Bride</i> as a whole shows us a greater one: adventure should never become something unimaginable, something unbelievable, something <i>inconceivable</i>. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/263/e/f/the_princess_bride_by_nthornborrow-d4ae8cj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/263/e/f/the_princess_bride_by_nthornborrow-d4ae8cj.jpg" height="170" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://nthornborrow.deviantart.com/art/The-Princess-Bride-259324867" target="_blank">nthornborrow</a></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-55242285245235262332013-03-25T15:06:00.000-07:002013-04-22T09:55:29.252-07:00Tolkien Reading Day 2013: What is Eucatastrophe?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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If you're an avid reader of Tolkien, you have probably heard of "Eucatastrophe," the word Tolkien uses to describe a sudden turn towards joy in a story. It comes from his essay, <i>On Fairy Stories</i> (which, if it wasn't obvious enough in this blog, I heartily recommend). There, Tolkien describes fantasy as offering three gifts for the reader: Escape, Recovery and Consolation. Eucatastrophe is included in Consolation and is perhaps the most rewarding. Tolkien not only states that every
complete fairy story must have “the Consolation of the Happy Ending” (153), but that the fairy tale’s “highest function” (153), in fact, is to provide
the opposite of tragedy, to provide “eucatastrophe” (153), the good
catastrophe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The most simple and clear examples of Eucatastrophe in Tolkien's work are his eagles. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that for those who have watched Peter Jackson's films without reading the books, the eagles are more of a 'Deus ex Machina' or seem to be, at the very least, an easy solution for a sticky situation. But they are much more than that because Eucatastrophe is much more than just a happy ending. The eagles only come <i>unlooked for</i> when <i>all hope is lost</i>. And Eucatastrophe is a joy that relies on sorrow, for it is the “sudden turn” (153) away from
sorrow and towards joy at the fairy tale’s conclusion. It is a saving grace
that comes only when we feel all is lost for the protagonist and one that Tolkien
describes as a joy that takes the reader’s breath away (154). It is an element inherent
to the story but never “to be counted on to occur” (135) (it is in this way
distinguished from Deus Ex Machina). And it is thus a joy “poignant as grief”
(153).<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tolkien believes that eucatastrophe does not only make
the reader happy or save the protagonist from a supposed certain death, but it also
helps the reader glimpse a truth of the world that is ordinarily hidden. It is,
he states, the “satisfaction and answer to that question ‘is it true?’” (155)
and it allows us to see, if only for a brief moment, a greater truth. For Tolkien,
this glimpse of truth is in harmony with “the Christian joy, the <i>Gloria</i>” (156). He suggests that even eucatastrophe’s
“fleeting glimpse of Joy” (153) is still an echo, a “far off gleam of <i>evangelium</i> in the real world” (155). The only joy, Tolkien supposes, that is
comparable to eucatastrophe could only be felt if one were to find out that a
beautiful fairy story is true. The most beautiful story for Tolkien, is the
resurrection of Christ. He suggests that this story is the “Great
Eucatastrophe” (155) because it is the one story above all other stories we
wish to find true and it is the one story that <i>is</i> true (156). <o:p></o:p></div>
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However, Tolkien also suggests that, “all tales may yet
come true” (157). And thus eucatastrophe
can resonate with any readers, religious or unreligious. When written into a
fairy story, eucatastrophe plays an important role in guiding the reader closer to a
higher truth, bringing hope where there was despair, and joy where there was
sorrow. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://news.mymiddleearth.com/files/2013/03/TRD_site_header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="82" src="http://news.mymiddleearth.com/files/2013/03/TRD_site_header.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Read 'On Fairy Stories' in celebration of Tolkien Reading Day <a href="http://bjorn.kiev.ua/librae/Tolkien/Tolkien_On_Fairy_Stories.htm" target="_blank">here</a>! You can also pick up your favorite book and read your favorite chapter or even scroll through some Tolkien quotes </i></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien?auto_login_attempted=true" target="_blank">here. </a> </i></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-71775498410008630682013-02-24T21:55:00.001-08:002014-12-30T18:06:46.956-08:00Alchemical Framework and Imagery in Beauty and the Beast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wDxH1_63Wm4/T_dHmZnQzPI/AAAAAAAAIHw/GqYxAX8Sct8/s1600/boyle_beauty9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wDxH1_63Wm4/T_dHmZnQzPI/AAAAAAAAIHw/GqYxAX8Sct8/s320/boyle_beauty9.jpg" height="320" width="250" /></a></div>
I just finished reading and watching a few different versions of the <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> tale and could not help but see some alchemical imagery and meaning in the tales. Once again, <a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/" target="_blank">John Granger</a> is the person to turn to for a full discussion on what literary alchemy is and how it applies to popular texts like Shakespeare's <i>Romeo and Juliet,</i> Suzanne Collins'<i> Hunger Games </i>series<i>, </i>and Rowling's <i>Harry Potter</i> series. To begin exploring some of the alchemical ideas in Beauty and the Beast, here is an outline of the basics from John himself:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Alchemy is a three stage work in its simplest outline...with each stage represented traditionally by a different color and set of meaningful images. In the first, the person to be enlightened is broken down, shattered really, to their core idea or ‘prime matter.’ ...The second stage is one of purification or cleansing. The shattered survivor of the [first stage] here is washed and restored in preparation for the chrysalis of the remaining stage...The last stage is red ....The end-color of the alchemical process is gold, the illumined metal or ‘solid light,’ which represents the enlightened person who has achieved something like divinization or union with the ‘Light of the World.'" </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
- From <i><a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">Unlocking 'Mockingjay': The Literary Alchemy</a> </i></blockquote>
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In a series of three stages then, the hero -like the alchemist and his base metal- is transformed from lead into gold. It's impossible to say whether the original writer or teller of the Beauty and the Beast tale intended an alchemical reading of the story. I don't think so- rather, I think the story, in all its different forms, seems to touch upon alchemical stages through similar imagery and themes. The physical and mental transformations of the characters and the wedding of opposites (we'll get to that later) makes it ripe for an alchemical retelling, and I think storytellers have picked up on that. I won't be discussing any and all versions of the tale, however. I'll just stick to three: De Villeneuve's original, Robin McKinley's <i>Beauty</i>, and the Disney film, <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>. I do so mainly because these three are a bit more popular than others and these are also the ones I have most recently read. If anybody has anything to add to the discussion about other versions, I'd be delighted. So, to begin:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The first stage that John refers to above is called the <b>Nigredo</b> Stage, or the Black stage. Here <span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">“the body of the impure metal, the matter for the Stone, or the old, outmoded state of being is killed, putrefied, and dissolved into the original substance of creation, the </span><em style="text-align: left;">prima materia, </em><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">in order that it may be renovated and reborn in a new form” (<a href="http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-09-034-f" target="_blank">Granger quoting from Lyndy Abraham</a>). In an alchemical story this is marked by the hero having his world shattered, or by the hero being in intense hardship. Its imagery involves darkness and (of course) the color black. Both de Villeneuve's original and Mickleny's <i>Beauty</i> start out in this Nigredo stage when Beauty and her family are struck by sudden misfortune. In the original tale, the family house burns down (creating <i>black</i> ashes), and then--in both versions--Beauty's father's luck in business drops altogether and the family goes from living a rich and luxurious lifestyle to a incredibly simple one in the country. The whole story hinges on this breakdown: Beauty and her family have been literally stripped away from the all that is unnecessary and begin "living in the </span>simplest way" (V, 2). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> The second stage is called the <b>Albedo</b>, or the purifying White stage. Now that the material or character has been broken done to its base material, it is now to be purified and cleansed (<a href="http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-09-034-f" target="_blank">source</a>). Images in this stage of an alchemical novel include water, silver, the moon, and whiteness. The most prevalent image in all three versions of the <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> tale is easily snow. Each version differs slightly on their treatment of snow, but in all three there is snow, snow, snow right up to the doors of Beast's castle. In the original it is "deep snow and bitter frost"(4) that prompts Beauty's father to enter the Beast's castle and its a track "presenting itself only as a smooth ribbon of white" (65) that leads the way to the castle in <i>Beauty </i>(In the Disney film, the father is chased by white wolves in white snow right up to the castle's gate). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> However, it's the Disney film and Mckinley's </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that have my favorite albedo imagery. In </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, the Beast's castle acts as a sort of shelter from outside and there's hardly a day that goes by that's not filled with nice weather. The first time it rains, however (and remember water is an important image here) the weather prompts Beauty and the Beast to spend time together inside rather than outside. With not much else to do, the Beast introduces beauty to the library, the one place above anywhere else in the castle that eventually brings Beauty and Beast together. The library not only makes Beauty's time in the castle more enjoyable, but it also sparks a new friendship between her and the Beast. Beauty narrates, "most days after that we took turns reading to each other. Once...he did not come in one day, and I missed him sadly"(159). The library not only establishes a friendship, but a trust as well: after the Beast introduces her to his favorite books and authors, Beauty decides to introduce him to her beloved horse in return (149). In the weather- sheltered world of the castle, rain plays an important role in bringing the two characters together, in cleansing their relationship. </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s3.favim.com/orig/38/art-beauty-and-the-beast-disney-illustration-snow-Favim.com-307963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://s3.favim.com/orig/38/art-beauty-and-the-beast-disney-illustration-snow-Favim.com-307963.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fairytalemood.tumblr.com/post/14678570292/not-like-she-could-leave-him-by-taijavigilia" target="_blank">Artist</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are also two similar Albedo scenes in the Disney film. When Belle runs away from the castle (after going into the Beast's 'forbidden room') she mounts her horse and rides away into the thickest snowstorm yet. She is soon attacked by a pack of wolves and rides her horse deep into a frozen lake (becoming drenched with water). Barely making it out of the lake before the wolves, Belle is then saved by the Beast, who comes out from nowhere and drives the them away. This marks the first change in their relationship: the Beast saves Belle and she, instead of continuing to run away from him, brings him back to the castle and tends to his wounds. After some sideline scenes with Gaston and her father, the film then returns to Beast showing (and then giving) Belle his library. Afterwards they play like children in the snow and they become literally covered in whiteness. The whole time they do so they form new ideas about each other (highlighted by the song "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwZEcdBMLLU" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">There's Something There</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">" playing in the background). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In all three versions then, the color white serves to illuminate their feelings towards one another. Snow and water play an important role in beginning and cleansing Beauty and the Beast's relationship, in bringing them closer to understanding and trusting one another. </span><br />
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<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2690122692_8c1fdeeb3f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2690122692_8c1fdeeb3f.jpg" height="288" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Before the last stage </b>(which we'll get to- I promise!) it's important to know that in an alchemical framework there is what John Granger calls the"resolution of contraries," or the Alchemical Wedding. Scholar Erin N. Sweeney writes, "In alchemy the polarity of masculine and feminine is united to make a whole through a process called the alchemical wedding...the major part of the work of alchemy is the union of yin [feminine] and yang [masculine]" (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Nerds-Essays-Academics/dp/0982963327" target="_blank"><i>Harry Potter for Nerds</i></a>, 180). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The very title of <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> tells us that this is a story about the coming together of two opposites. Any and all versions of the tale will be about the resolution of Feminine Beauty (the moon, silver, cool, wet, the Soul) and the Masculine Beast (the sun, gold, hot, the Spirit). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In a very long story made short (a story I think I'll forever be unraveling), an alchemical wedding involves the masculine spirit (the sun) passing above from within to unite with the receptive feminine soul (the moon) The spirit thus descends to to join the soul, and the soul must ascend to meet the spirit (Sweeney, 193).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think the contraries in the <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> tales are obvious enough, but each version deals with it a little differently. The Disney version does a particularly wonderful job illustrating this meeting of contraries alchemically. I pull the following quote from the wonderful blog <a href="http://talesoffaerie.blogspot.com/2012/07/color-symbolism-in-disneys-beauty-and.html" target="_blank">Tales of Faerie</a> about the clothing of the characters:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"In the words of Art Director Brian McEntee, 'Beast starts out in very dark colors; Belle starts off in very cool colors. As the film progresses, her wardrobe warms up and his cools down. When you get to the ballroom, she's in gold, and he's in blue: they're falling in love, so they're at the same place.'"</span></span></blockquote>
If that doesn't scream alchemical wedding, I'm not sure what does. The imagery surrounding Belle goes from cool soul to warm spirit. Likewise, Beast goes from warm soul to cool spirit. There's a couple of other "meeting in the middle" imagery in the film as well:<br />
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*When Beast tries to eat in a more human like manner (like Belle), he can't help but make a mess. So delicate Belle meets him halfway by eating in a more animalistic way (like the Beast). Then in harmony, their bowls meet each other in the middle of the table as a sort of "cheers" (you can watch this exchange in the beginning of the 'Something There' video link posted above).<br />
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*At the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ba_kgtZSfE" target="_blank">end of the film</a>, Gaston attacks Beast at the top of the castle. As Beast falls further and further down the castle turrets, Belle runs up the staircase to meet him. Bell arises and Beast descends and they meet in the middle right before the Beast's transformation and right before the third and final alchemical stage.<br />
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While its definitely most prevalent in the Disney film, the original story is not without this alchemical wedding. In alchemy the pair of opposites are also called "the quarreling couple" and though the couple in the original never outwardly argue, every night they disagree. Each time the Beast asks Beauty for her hand in marriage he is hoping for a "yes," yet she always tells the Beast a solid "no." Her final "yes" at the end of the story marks the end of the 'quarreling couple' and the beginning of their resolution.<br />
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<a href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/alchemy-16th-century-granger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/alchemy-16th-century-granger.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a>The third stage, then, is the golden-red <b>Rubedo</b> stage. The matter has been broken down to its base material, has been washed and purified. The contraries have been married and the material is ready to be perfected, to be transformed into gold. Unsurprisingly, this final stage of the alchemical work is signified by splendrous light and by red and golden colors.<br />
In the original, when Beauty finally agrees to marry the Beast golden colors and glowing imagery abounds: "As she spoke a blaze of light sprang up before the windows of the palace; fireworks crackled and guns banged, and across the avenue of orange trees, in letters all made of fireflies, was written: <i>Long live the prince and his bride</i>" (25).<br />
In Robin Mckinley's <i>Beauty </i>Beauty is trying to return to the Beast, but gets lost in darkness in the forest. She doesn't find him until a full day and night of riding and when she does, it is "nearly dawn" (237). Light is returning and she notices "The Beast was wearing golden velvet...instead of the dark brown I had last seen" (237). When she tells him she loves him and wants to marry him, "there was a wild explosion of light, as if the sun had burst...I was buoyed up by light and sound" (239). After the Beast has his transformation (still wearing his gold vest), Beauty looks into a "mirror with a golden frame" (242) and has a realization that she's had her own sort of transformation as well into a beautiful girl with "copper red hair" and "amber" eyes. Finally, as they leave the castle together and as the novel ends, "thousands of candles in the crystal chandeliers blazed in greeting, till they rivaled the light of the sun" (247).<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Disney film's version is also steeped in golden and light imagery. (Watch the Beast's transformation <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3j3S465oo" target="_blank">here</a>.) There's not only falling light as the Beast transforms, but golden fireworks as the two embrace and a golden falling light that transforms the whole castle back to its more lively and purified self.</span><br />
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<a href="http://wallpapers5.com/images/wallpapers/79639280/Art/Beauty-and-The-Beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://wallpapers5.com/images/wallpapers/79639280/Art/Beauty-and-The-Beast.jpg" height="640" width="246" /></a><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alchemy is about transforming both an external material and one's internal self</b><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Likewise, the </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beauty and the Beast</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> tale is never about just one transformation, but two: the Beast's external transformation and Beauty's internal one. In the end, both have been cleansed and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">purified. Through their relationship, both ultimately come to a deeper understanding of the world and of the transformative power of love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do you all think? Is this a classic case of "too much </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">analyzing" or could these storytellers (and </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">story re-tellers) have alchemy in mind? What do you make of elements of the story I didn't go into, like the rose?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As you can probably tell, I've only just scratched the surface of describing what alchemy really does. Finding alchemical imagery is easy enough, but the rest continues to boggle my mind. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While I will try my hardest to answer any question you have about alchemy, I will not pretend to be any expert in the field. Thus, while I urge you to of course leave questions and comments, I'd also have you </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">check out the following books and </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">websites if I have piqued your curiosity:</span></i><br />
<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/unlocking-mockingjay-the-literary-alchemy/" target="_blank">Anything John Granger</a> (<a href="http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-09-034-f" target="_blank">this</a> is a great resource)</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://humanitiesresource.com/ancient/articles/beauty_and_beast-final.pdf" target="_blank"><i>The original Story</i></a></span><br />
<i><a href="http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-09-034-f" target="_blank">Beauty</a> by Robin Mckinley</i><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beauty-Beast-Paige-OHara/dp/B003DZX3SA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361771040&sr=8-1&keywords=beauty+and+the+beast" target="_blank"><i>Disney film</i></a><br />
<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Alchemical-Imagery-Lyndy-Abraham/dp/0521000009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361771150&sr=1-1&keywords=dictionary+of+alchemical+imagery" target="_blank">Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery</a></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-87299664848406070462013-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:002013-02-16T21:54:25.799-08:00The Tale of Sweeney Astray: Poetic Lament and Liberation<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; line-height: 200%; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/286/b/9/black_bird_watercolour_iv_by_shmeeden-d4cpyxn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/286/b/9/black_bird_watercolour_iv_by_shmeeden-d4cpyxn.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art: <a href="http://shmeeden.deviantart.com/art/Black-Bird-Watercolour-IV-263231771" target="_blank">Shmeeden</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;">“My
curse fall on Sweeney</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">for his great offense</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">... it will curse you to
the trees </span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i> bird brain among branches”</i> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"> Based </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 200%;">on the </span>earlier<span style="line-height: 200%;"> Irish folktale </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buile_Shuibhne" target="_blank">Buile Shuibhne</a>, </i>Seamus Heaney's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sweeney-Astray-Seamus-Heaney/dp/0571210090/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361066866&sr=8-1&keywords=sweeney+astray" target="_blank">Sweeney Astray</a></i> tells the story of young king named Sweeney, who was cursed by a saint to become a bird. Much of the story follows Sweeney and the resulting madness endured from the transformation. T</span></span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">he association with the bird is meant to bind Sweeney
to an inhuman way of life, and it certainly does so. But the curse also gives Sweeney a bird-like
liberation in flight and song and throughout the story, Sweeney find's solace and identity through poetry and song.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5268724/il_340x270.341253360.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/5268724/il_340x270.341253360.jpg" width="200" /></a> The story itself (both versions) is a mix of poetry and prose. Interestingly, Sweeney's physical transformation is written in one
stanza and the poetic form of this scene allows images to flicker
between his loss of and liberation from humanity. As his mind turns
away from humanity to become “revolted by the thought of known
places,” he also “dreamed of strange migrations”(9). Similarly
his <span style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;">body rejects human workmanship as “weapons fell from his hands”
but he soon “levitated in a frantic cumbersome motion/like a bird
of the air” (9). Sweeney is thrust from his familiar world of
humanity, but the poetic form highlights his simultaneous acceptance
into a new world. As Sweeney will spend the rest of the tale both
lamenting his past and celebrating his place in the wilderness, this
moment is important in establishing poetry as a means for Sweeney to
understand his place in the world.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Throughout
<i>Sweeney Astray</i>, poetry shifts from a reflection of Sweeney's
madness to a means to find his identity. Sweeney's madness is derived
not from his current state in the wild, but by continually
remembering his past. Sweeney's early poetry is an outlet
for obsessively reflecting upon his former “good luck and kingship”
(18) and for lamenting his fall “from noble heights” (16). But poetry
soon becomes a means to explore and praise his current condition. He
begins his exile by proclaiming:</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.97in;">
I am the madman of Glen Bolcain,</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.97in;">
wind scourged, stripped</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.97in;">
like a winter tree</div>
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clad in black frost</div>
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and frozen snow (17).
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The
poetic form, calling for metaphor, prompts Sweeney to compare his
deprived state to that of a winter tree. Although Sweeney does so in
order to describe his condition as miserable, we see the beginnings
of Sweeney using poetry to discover his relationship with nature.
Even in initially identifying himself as a madman, he identifies his
tie to the land “of Glen Bolcain.” Though this early poem
associates nature more with his state of madness, Sweeney eventually
uses poetry to identify the tranquility found in nature.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs9/i/2006/051/e/4/the_bird_by_kluzehellion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs9/i/2006/051/e/4/the_bird_by_kluzehellion.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art <a href="http://browse.deviantart.com/art/the-bird-29360912" target="_blank">kluzehellion</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sweeney's
“ bird brain” ultimately allows him to both physically and
poetically leave his former world and accept a new identity in the
wild. In the middle of his chase with the hag, Sweeney is so moved by
hearing a hunted stag in the woods that he makes “a poem in which
he praised aloud all the trees of Ireland, and rehearsed some of his
own hardships and sorrows” (36). This poem, the longest in the
tale, is not the bitter reflection of the past of his former poetry,
but a form of catharsis in which he praises nature and reveals his
affinity with living things, stating that the bellowing stag
”startles my heartstrings”(36) and “the alder is my
darling”(37). Sweeney's former life is both removed and replaced as
he crowns the birch tree “queen of trees”(38) and proclaims his
preference of the“rhapsody of blackbirds /to the garrulous
blather/of men and women” (43). No doubt, this sort of exile and
exclusion from the social world is what was meant to send Sweeney
mad. It is however, in his exile that Sweeney turns to poetry, and in
using poetry to find a peace and kinship with nature, ultimately
finds peace within himself. For in nature, “what enmity is
possible?”(62). </div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-72233106251121901302013-02-06T01:06:00.000-08:002013-02-06T01:06:32.419-08:00On Tolkien, Beowulf, and Tragedy<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.artflakes.com/artwork/products/324933/zoom/beowulf-thief-and-dragon.jpg?1308476687" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://www.artflakes.com/artwork/products/324933/zoom/beowulf-thief-and-dragon.jpg?1308476687" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist<a href="http://www.artflakes.com/en/products/the-thief-and-the-dragon" target="_blank"> Anke Eissmann</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is well known that the early medieval poem </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was an influential work for Tolkien. It might be somewhat lesser known that Tolkien had an equally, if not more, important role in shaping modern Beowulf scholarship. In his essay, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Monsters and the Critics</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, J.R.R. Tolkien defends </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> as a poem and as a tragedy, arguing, “</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>He is a man, and that for him and many is sufficient tragedy</b></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">” (18). This poignant response is aimed to critics such as W.P. Kerr and Raymond Chambers, who believe that there is “nothing much in the story” (10) and that “the poem puts the irrelevances in the centre and the serious things on the outer edges” (11). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">The “irrelevances” </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"> critics point to are the three episodes in which Beowulf fights monsters. W.P. Kerr compares these episodes with the exploits of traditional heroes of tragedy saying, “there are other things in the lives of Hercules or Theseus besides the killing of the Hydra or of Procrustes” (10). The monster battles in </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"> are certainly the bulk of the poem and some are even told twice (once by the poet narrator and then again in dialogue). And while it is true that little else happens to Beowulf besides these adventures, Tolkien argues against their belonging in “the outer edges.” He states, “the monsters…are essential, fundamentally allied to the underlying ideas of the poem” (19). And for Tolkien, </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">’s most significant underlying theme is the idea that “lif is læne” (life is loan) (19). Nothing illustrates this more than the three separate encounters with monsters, for each fight focuses on the tragedy of the life cycle and of human mortality. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In his first battle with Grendel, for instance, Beowulf is a man in his prime. He is not merely fit and able, but a man with extraordinary strength and seemingly endless endurance. Grendel knows immediately “he had never encountered, in any region/of this middle-earth, in any other man/a stronger hand grip” (</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beowul</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">f lines 751-3). Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’s mother further proves he is an exceptionally strong youth. These scenes illustrate Beowulf’s strength as a man and highlights what Tolkien calls his “first achievement” (28). But they also hint at the tragedy of man because Beowulf fights not for his love of life, but for fame and to be remembered: the poet tells us “So must a man/ if he thinks at battle to gain any name/a long living fame, care nothing for his life” (</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Beowulf</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lines 1534-6). Beowulf fights because his </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">life is loaned</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and he wants to be remembered after death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Beowulf’s third encounter with a monster (this time with the dragon) the tragedy of “being man” comes to the forefront. Tolkien states that in this episode, “Disaster is foreboded. Defeat is the theme” (30). The fight with the dragon does not only mark Beowulf’s death, but the end of his life. By now, Beowulf is an old man and his kingship and life is coming to an end with or without the dragon. Where the first two fights represented Beowulf’s crowning achievements and seemingly endless youth, this last fight represents his final battle and, as Tolkien states, the “inevitable victory of death” (30). </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thus Beowulf does not need to be more like the hero of a traditional tragic epic to be a tragic figure. His tragedy, like the ordinary man, is in life; it is ultimately living and fighting and dying that is “</span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sufficient tragedy</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">” for everyone.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tolkienshop.com/contents/media/l_beowulf_dragon_eissmann.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://www.tolkienshop.com/contents/media/l_beowulf_dragon_eissmann.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist <a href="http://www.tolkienshop.com/contents/en-uk/d39.html" target="_blank">Unknown</a></td></tr>
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<i> Thanks to the Mythgard Institute and Verlyn Flieger's <a href="http://www.mythgard.org/academics/spring-2013-courses/tolkiens-world-of-middle-earth/" target="_blank">Tolkien's World of Middle-earth </a>course for initiating these thoughts- in the form of an exam no less!</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-5788765466556390132013-02-01T22:25:00.000-08:002013-02-01T22:44:15.246-08:00C.S. Lewis Read Along: Edmund and Narnia's Transition From Winter into Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://pagesunbound.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/lewis-button.jpg?w=222&h=150" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://pagesunbound.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/lewis-button.jpg?w=222&h=150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: left;"> Book review blog, </span><a href="http://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Pages Unbound</a><span style="text-align: left;"> is hosting a month long </span><a href="http://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/announcement-c-s-lewis-read-along/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">C.S. Lewis Read Along</a><span style="text-align: left;">! I am somewhat new to their blog, but everything I've read so far has been insightful, thoughtful, and engaging and I recommend you check them out and participate in their read-along</span><i style="text-align: left;">. </i><span style="text-align: left;">To kick things off, I'd like to look at </span><i style="text-align: left;">The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,</i><span style="text-align: left;"> particularly (and since some of us are in the middle of this anyway) Narnia's transformation from winter into spring:</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/221/b/f/lucy_and_the_wardrobe_by_snowwhite3684-d5afyoq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/221/b/f/lucy_and_the_wardrobe_by_snowwhite3684-d5afyoq.jpg" width="234" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Artist <a href="http://snowwhite3684.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">SnowWhite3684</a></span></td></tr>
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<b>Our first introduction to </b>Narnia's winter is wondrous, soft, and delicate. You'll remember Lucy does not just open the wardrobe door in one world and immediately enter another. She walks slowly through the wardrobe, going "further up and further in," if you will, and gradually enters Narnia. Throughout that time the winter of Narnia- the cold air, the bare trees, the powdery snow- are a quiet indicator of magic and otherworldliness. Once Lucy arrives in Narnia we're told "something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she as standing in the middle of a wood at night time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air" (6-7). Rather than walk into an alarmingly and bitterly cold scene, Lucy enters a beautiful one. Winter, when it naturally occurs, can be delightful, elegant and purifying. And, though Lucy's journey through the wardrobe and Narnia itself is supernatural, the reader and Lucy alike assume the Winter is natural to the land. Thus Lucy walks into Narnia, "a little frightened but...inquisitive and excited as well" (7).<br />
Our second impression of Narnia is through Edmund, whose experience with winter is more harsh right from the start. Even inside the wardrobe, Edmund's journey to Narnia is stressful and claustrophobic where Lucy's was enchanting and curious:<br />
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<i>"He began feeling about for Lucy in the dark. He expected to find her in a few seconds and was very surprised when he did not. He decided to open the door again and let in some light. But he could not find the door either. He didn't like this at all and began groping wildly in the dark..."</i> (25).</blockquote>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wildimagephoto.com/journal/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AK-FAI-Winter-sun-112172-17.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.wildimagephoto.com/journal/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/AK-FAI-Winter-sun-112172-17.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wildimagephoto.com/journal/2012/12/18/winter-light-show/" target="_blank">David Shaw</a></td></tr>
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Soon enough, he finds himself in the middle of Narnia's wood. Here, Lewis does something very interesting. As we move out from Edmund and into the wider world of Narnia, the sky and trees become beautiful and serene:<br />
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<i>"There was crisp, dry snow under his feet and more snow lying on the branches of the trees. Overhead there was a pale blue sky, the sort of sky one sees on a fine winter day in the morning. Straight ahead of him he saw between the tree trunks, the sun just rising, very red and clear. Everything was perfectly still."
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We glimpse the parts of Narnia that the winter cannot touch- the light of the sun, a beautiful morning. This is a moment even more beautiful than the one Lucy first encounters. But notice the sudden turn as we narrow back on Edmund:
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<i>"Everything was perfectly still, as if he were the only living creature in that country. There was not even a robin or a squirrel among the trees, and the wood stretched as far as he could see in every direction. He shivered." </i>(26). </blockquote>
The stillness of winter is no longer serene, but eerie and uncanny. Even the bright, red sunrise cannot kee<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">p Edmund from shivering. Narnia is "a strange, cold, quiet place"(26) for him, and rightly so. As Mr. Tumnus tells us, the White Witch keeps it "always winter and never Christmas" (16). </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keep in mind, however, that the 'never Christmas' remark means much more than merely not receiving presents. In a relevant </span><a href="http://thehogshead.org/always-winter-never-christmas-8865/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">post on The Hog's Head</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> John Patrick Pazdziora says, "The White Witch keeps Narnia forever in the darkest night of all the year. It is a time of hardship and peril... but without the consolation and grace of the solstice and Christmas." Christmas and Father Christmas have a presence in Narnia that is much more real and natural than we would expect (when we meet Father Christmas, for instance he is described as being the real Father Christmas, of which our own world can only emulate). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">The stillness and strangeness that Edmund feels in Narnia is the effect of an </span><i style="color: #111111; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">unnatural </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;">winter. Narnia is both literally and figuratively frozen and Edmund, who is certainly the 'coldest' Pevensie, is both less able to notice Narnia's goodness and more sharply aware of its evil.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://wallpaper.goodfon.com/wallpaper/previews-middle/378539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://wallpaper.goodfon.com/wallpaper/previews-middle/378539.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.goodfon.com/wallpaper/378539.html" target="_blank">Artist Unknown</a></td></tr>
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<b>When Aslan returns to Narnia the Witch's magic begins to weaken</b>. Winter in Narnia slowly comes to an end. But the wonderful thing about the transformation from winter into spring in Narnia is that it happens simultaneously with Edmund's own transformation from a selfish and proud person into a humble one. As Edmund travels with the Witch the snow becomes unbearable, "oh how miserable he was!" (110). Even when it eventually stops falling the snow underneath the sled is "everlasting" and doesn't let up until Edmund witnesses the Witch's evil firsthand:<br />
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<i>"She had waved her wand and where the merry party had been there were only statues of creatures (one with its stone fork fixed forever half way to its stone mouth) seated round a stone table on which there were stone plates and a stone plum pudding...And Edmund for the first time in this story felt sorry for someone besides himself" (113). </i></blockquote>
and then, immediately, the snow lets up, Narnia warms, and life returns:<br />
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<i>"And soon Edmund noticed that the snow which splashed against them as they rushed through it was much wetter than it had been all last night. At the same time he noticed that he was feeling much less cold...A strange, sweet, rustling, chattering noise-and yet not strange, for he knew he'd heard it before...it was the noise of running water...chattering, murmuring, bubbling, splashing..." (114)</i></blockquote>
Edmund warms up from the inside out. Once he feels empathy for others, he is no longer alone. And the land that had seemed so endless and eerie to him before is now beautiful and in harmony with the natural forest:<br />
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<i>"Soon wherever you look you saw dark green of firs or black prickly branches of bare oaks and beeches and elms. Then the mist turned from white to gold...Shafts of delicious sunlight struck down onto the forest floor and overhead you could see a blue sky between the tree-tops. Soon there were more wonderful things happening..." (116). </i></blockquote>
Edmund is not just witnessing the coming of spring, he is truly enjoying it. He, like Narnia itself becomes rejuvenated and enlightened.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/175/e/2/Narnia__Winter_to_Spring_by_Voroindo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2010/175/e/2/Narnia__Winter_to_Spring_by_Voroindo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist <a href="http://voroindo.deviantart.com/art/Narnia-Winter-to-Spring-168819940" target="_blank">Voroindo</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Lewis, C.S. <i>The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i>. <span style="line-height: 200%;">New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company. 1950. Print</span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-45893960050955561982013-01-29T22:04:00.000-08:002013-01-29T22:05:56.648-08:00A Fairy Tale Prompt from Spinning Straw Into Gold<br />
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<a href="http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/GreenInkling/strawintogoldbanner3-1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/GreenInkling/strawintogoldbanner3-1-2.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://spinstrawintogold.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;" target="_blank">Spinning Straw Into Gold</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (a truly wonderful blog) is hosting it's second Fourth Fairy Tale Prompt. It goes on until the fourth Friday in next month, which is the 22nd of February. Head on over there and participate in the <a href="http://spinstrawintogold.blogspot.com/2013/01/fourth-friday-fairy-tale-prompt-volume-2_25.html" target="_blank">prompt</a>! Be sure to spend some time looking around her blog - you won't be disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the prompt (the image) and my response (the poem). The image is lovely; even while there is so much going on in the foreground, the background has a sublte-but powerful- presence. So that's what this poem centers on. Remember- the idea of prompts like this is to encourage and challenge creative thinking, so please don't be afraid to let me know what you think!</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>To Our Dear Moon; A Letter From The Leaves</b></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GMjivltqHGY/UQK6m-zHJtI/AAAAAAAAAvk/tDPznQjPptg/s400/Martine+Johanna+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GMjivltqHGY/UQK6m-zHJtI/AAAAAAAAAvk/tDPznQjPptg/s320/Martine+Johanna+2.jpg" width="315" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Through clouds and stars we ever reach </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We reach, we reach and long for speech,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Speech to learn, to love and teach</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Teach the Alder and the Beech.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Our hands are knotted, bent, but strong,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Strong we point and sing our song,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Songs of yearning all yearlong,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yearlong to sing and to prolong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We take from you all your might,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">might we take from you the night?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Night is twisted, but full of light</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Light our way and we'll recite:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Through clouds and stars we ever reach </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We reach, we reach and long for speech,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Speech to learn, to love and teach</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Teach the Alder and the Beech.</span><br />
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<i style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b> </b></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/GreenInkling/fairytaleprompt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n59/GreenInkling/fairytaleprompt.jpg" /></a><i style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b> For Leaves That Linger; A Moon's Reply</b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Some things don't always come in words,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: right;">But in the forests, trees, and birds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So sing your songs of merry mirth, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of lasting beauty, joy and birth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I'll light the way and reach for you,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My leaves of ore- my old and true. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1471028991399505320.post-50537958854930139442013-01-24T15:27:00.000-08:002013-05-02T22:29:31.722-07:00The Little Mermaid's Change of Heart: A Poem<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The Little Mermaid's Change of Heart </i></div>
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<a href="http://static.themoscowtimes.com/upload//photos/large/2005_08/2005_08_12//picture_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://static.themoscowtimes.com/upload//photos/large/2005_08/2005_08_12//picture_2.jpg" width="152" /></a></div>
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Deep in water and out of sight,<br />
Where fish and coral drift in flight,<br />
Come whispers of a foreign land,<br />
Where sunlight shines and warms the sand.<br />
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Forever upward lies the gaze,<br />
Of a girl with scaly arms and legs,<br />
Weeping tears that never fall,<br />
Hearing always the seaman's call.<br />
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"Three hundred years we have to live<br />
And never have a soul to give"<br />
She cries in darkness and in fear,<br />
Drifting, drifting, her home so near.<br />
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"We burrow in the water deep<br />
The surface never ours to keep,<br />
Where waters break and sunlight dies,<br />
Our heads of wonder ever rise."<br />
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Young and eager for a sight,<br />
Of walking men and dancing light,<br />
Up she flew, as mermaids do,<br />
To catch a glimpse of men and women too.<br />
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She breathes and sighs the deepest air,<br />
Never having seen a ship so fair.<br />
But thunder claps and hammers hard,<br />
And lightning shows the ship in shards.<br />
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The storm rips and shreds the boat,<br />
While men and woman begin to float.<br />
A boy is falling from the deck,<br />
Into the mermaid's arms and neck.<br />
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She holds him dear and pats his head,<br />
Her heart screams with words unsaid.<br />
A thousand arms she wished she had<br />
She'd catch them all and would be glad.<br />
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Men can swim and kick and pound,<br />
But their fate is with the ground,<br />
And topped with leaves or with sea,<br />
There the place of resting be.<br />
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But the girl can't know what happens then,<br />
Her life, though long, has been with fin.<br />
The sun shines and makes a way<br />
For a hundred souls to fly away<br />
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She holds a life, the others drowned,<br />
He is breathing, but uncrowned,<br />
She lets him go into the deep,<br />
His soul arises, never hers to keep.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TZ4zYEBSw1I/S7pqMSon4AI/AAAAAAAAMLM/bqstN2EPz3Y/s1600/the_little_mermaid_apparel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TZ4zYEBSw1I/S7pqMSon4AI/AAAAAAAAMLM/bqstN2EPz3Y/s320/the_little_mermaid_apparel.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I feel a bit silly posting poetry, as this is probably only the second poem I've ever completed. I'm under no delusions about it- it's a terribly simple rhyme. But I think the message isn't and I hope that comes through. I re-read <i>The Little Mermaid</i> last night and felt like writing about it this morning. So I did. It's such a powerful story and easily my favorite fairy tale.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">P.S. If you don't think it sucks, let me know! If you think it sucks, let me know that too (nicely of course)!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536373669811879997noreply@blogger.com6