Palace Walk chapter 2, pp. 8-13

Don't forget to check in a half hour after your first comment. Say something else in response to something someone has written, or just write "checking in."

1. Amina (the wife) wonder on pp. 9-10 how wine, something she has been taught is evil, can make her husband act in a way that brings her "comfort and peace." She tries to suppress the thought, unable to admit it to herself. What do you think of her wondering about wine, and her suppressing her thought about wine?

OR

2. Can you spot any other instances of Amina not being completely truthful with others or herself?

OR

3. Is there more evidence in this chapter of an unbalanced relationship between the husband and wife?

4. Amina's husband: does he have any positive qualities? Any negative qualities?

Palace Walk chapter one, pp. 1-7

1. Is there any way in which the mother pictured in the reading is a typical mom? Is there any way in which she is not a typical mom?

OR

2. Can you find a phrase or sentence that points to a way the mom has of looking at the world that is different from the way you look at the world?

OR

3. Notice something about the reading that no ones else has noticed yet.

The Wedding at Cana Pt. II

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg

Good job yesterday evening. Tonight, please focus on

a) the wine--where does it appear, and what are the people doing with it?

b) people's facial expressions, and where they are looking.

Observe, infer, interpret. If someone comes up with an interpretation that everyon agrees with, keep going; find new observations to support it, or find ways to refine the interpretation based on new observations. Good luck!

What's going on in this picture

This picture, called The Wedding at Cana by Paul Veronese, can be found in a version better for studying at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paolo_Veronese_008.jpg. Type this address into your your url address box. Or google Paul Veronese wedding at Cana, go to the Wikipedia article, and go to the bottom where there is a link to "high resolution on Commons."

In the Wedding at Cana, Jesus performs his first miracle, changing water into wine. What part or aspect of this story is the painter most interested in? I would like us to try to arrive at an answer to this question. If everyone adds a few important-seeming observations, and inferences where appropriate, I'm hoping we will get somewhere. We'll continue the discussion, in a way that builds on this first discussion, tomorrow evening. Good luck and thanks for taking this on.

Remember: observations, inferences, all building toward answering the question: what part of this story is the painter most interested in?

Please read the following poem written some time before 1400 in England. The maiden in Mary, the mother of Jesus:

I sing of a maiden
That is makelees*: *matchless, spotless, mate-less
King of alle kinges
To her sone she chees*. *chose

He came also stille* *also stille: in as still (undisturbing, quiet) a manner
Ther his moder was
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the gras.

He cam also stille
To his modres bowr
As dew in Aprille
That falleth on the flowr.

He can also stille
Ther his moder lay
As dewe in Aprille
That falleth on the spray.

Moder and maiden
Was nevere noon but she:
Wel may swich a lady
Godes moder be.

1. Someone please attempt a paraphrase, i.e., put it into your own words, of at least part of the poem. Be as detailed as you can be. Some of the words are unfamiliar but you can probably puzzle them out. Try! If you have corrections to suggest concerning someone's paraphrase, please make them.

Once you've agreed on a paraphrase of the poem, please answer one of the following:

2. What in geeneral does the poet seem to be praising about the maiden (Mary)?

OR

3. Can you detect anything artful or beautiful about this poem?

OR

4. What comparison or contrasts can you draw between the maiden of the poem and the Wife of Bath?

The Three Ravens

After reading "The Three Ravens" in the attachment to the email I sent you, please respond to at least one of these prompts:

--by the way, did you knotice the notes telling you that "lake" means pit, "leman" means lover, and "fowles" means hawks, or ravens?--


1. Try to write a plot summary. If you disagree with an aspect of someone's plot summary, do so politely. Once a plot summary has been agreed on, don't respond to this particular prompt anymore.

2. A little way in to the poem the point of view changes from an anonymous third-person story-teller to the point of view of the ravens, who use the first-person "we." How does the story being told from the point of view of the ravens affect the meaning?

3. This poem is also a song, as you might be able to tell; hence the refrain (repeating part). What do you suppose the effect of the refrain is? What's the ffect of the rhymes?

4. Some parts of the story are left mysterious. Identify any mysteries. What is the effect of the poem's not explaining these mysteries?

5. Can you explain how the same culture that produced the Wife of Bath's Tale produced this poem/song?

Wife of Bath's Tale 252-end of tale

1. Please start by trying to establish what happens in hese lines, plot-wise. Someone try to say, and then others constructively and kindly suggest changes as necessary. Once that's done, please respond to one of the following prompts (unless you've already blogged).

2. Put into your own words the old woman's argument why someone's not well-born is not a good reason not to marry someone.

3. Put into your own words the old woman's argument why someone's being poor is not a good reason not to marry someone.

4. Put into your own words the old woman's argument why someone's being ugly is not a good reason not to marry someone.

5. Do you agree with the old woman's arguments?

6. How do you think the Wife's tale reflects who she is?

The Wife of Bath's Tale, lines 164-252

1. Do you personally think that what a woman wants is to have the power in a marriage?

OR

2. What does it say about the Wife of Bath that in her story, what women want is the power in their marriage, and that all the other women in the story agree with her?

OR

3. The knight's complaint against his wife is that she is "loathesome" (ugly), old, and low-born, i.e., not an aristocrat, or member of the upper class (lines 244 and 245). Without looking ahead in the reading, are there any reasonable answers the Wife could make--given that these things are true? Like what?

wife of bath's tale 68-164

1. Note that in lines 96-126, the Wife tells the story of Midas, a Greek myth. Midas, commanded to be a judge of a musical contest between the gods Apollo and Pan, chooses Pan, and Apollo punishes him by causing him to have donkey ears. He then hides his ears in a turban. In this version of the story, his wifeis the only one who knows, and she unintentionally betrays the secret by whispering the secret into the mud near some reeds by a river. When the wind blows, the reeds say "the king has asses' ears," thus giving away the secret.

Why do you suppose the queen tells this story? It's a digression from her main story. What seems to be on her mind?

OR

2. Give your opinion of one or more of the answers the knight gets to the question of "what do women want."

OR

3. Do any of the answers to the question, "what do women want," reflect the character of the Wife, as afar as you can tell? How so?

Wife of Bath's Tale lines 1-68

Having read the assignment at http://www.canterburytales.org/ and navigated your way to the modern version of chapter 31, The Wife of Bath's Tale, please respond to one of the following prompts:

1. In lines 1-21, the Wife talks about how supposedly there used to be lots of fairies, but no one sees them anymore, maybe because there are so many religious types (monks, friars) moving around everywhere blessing everything. What impression of the Wife's character do you get from this introduction?

2. Can you see a connection between lines 1-21, and the story itself, which really begins at line 26?

3. Who can summarize the plot of lines 26-68? Once someone has summarized the plot, feel free to offer respectful suggestions for making it more accurate.

4. Queen Guinevere and her attendant ladies ask Arthur not to put the knight to death. What might be their motivation?