English 1022E Lecture Notes - Alliterative Verse

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 1022E
• Professor: David Bentley

Document Summary

First lecture on the green knight october 26, 2010. Quest: a perilous journey, both physical and emotional. Long poem neither epical in scope how yet wholly lyrical in quality . Only barbarians don"t erase the board after class - and ratbags! Three characteristics of a romance: simplified characters, recognizable heroes and villains, exotic settings (place, time, unusual class position) aristocratic world (modern times: gossip girl, episodic plots. Three stages of quests: perilous journey, encounter; major physical battle, exultation of hero (hero is rewarded for something) often ends in a marriage. Quests can be for freedom (thelma and louise), people, things, quest for the holy grail etc. Sir gawain and the green knight is much more complex than you would expect. It wasn"t the view that poor people needed to be helped; they always gave poor people a spiritual correctiveness". If you fall into this behaviour you will be tested .