L9fwy3NUQKwYNxhPlUU9pxwfg8zlh4TPZ/NjudjcKimm4.srt

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Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Hello everyone.

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Welcome back to English Literature 101 for English

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students at the Islamic University of Gaza. This

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is again an introductory course into the history

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of English literature. The course again aims at

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understanding the development of English

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literature and literary texts in their historical

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context. I said last time that we are going to

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take this course mainly as a literature course,

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but again to study the historical background of

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the literary movements, literary texts, and

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literary figures. We need also to study not only

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how history and historical events influence

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literature, but also how literature sometimes

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influences history and people in general. Last

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time we spoke about Old English. Old English, the

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time when England was being made. England was in

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the process of making itself the England we know

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now. Originally, there were people from all around

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Europe. We spoke about the natives, the Vikings.

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We spoke about the French. We spoke about the

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Germans. All these tribes, in a way or another,

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thought it would be probably safer in the island

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rather than in the continent, in Europe itself.

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But later on, there were again more fighting and

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more wars inside the island itself. Now early old

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English is mainly oral tradition. The poetry

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remained oral for a long time. People depended on

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their memory. Many of the poems were originally

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meant to be sung somewhere so people memorized

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them. And in order to make a text memorable, easy

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to remember, and easy to memorize, there were

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certain features that we spoke about last time. We

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said they tried to be narrative in a way where the

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poem mainly tells a story. Because stories,

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everybody loves stories. We like stories. If you

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need to memorize something, to immortalize

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something, to make it forever, to make it

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everywhere, every time, you put it in the form of

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a story. And then the themes. The themes were

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taken from real life, related to the people of

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that time. The themes touch the lives, the

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aspects of everybody's life there and their

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circumstances and everything. That's why the

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themes were, remember, battles, wars, fighting,

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struggle. And there were also personal themes,

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like themes of happiness, themes of sadness, and

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et cetera. We spoke also about religious themes.

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And some of you noticed that the majority of texts

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from Old English are religious texts. And that

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could be telling in the sense that we ask a

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question. Were people purely religious at that

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time? Is it because people were? Or is there

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another explanation? Sometimes the poets or the

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author was religious, and sometimes the church

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chose a religious form rather than a religious

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form. OK. Okay, can you say that again and speak

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up?

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Exactly. So who could read and write at that time?

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The monks, the people of the church. The people of

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the church were probably the only people who could

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read and write, which means only those people

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wrote the poems down, and perhaps there was an act

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of selection, which means there could have been

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some kind of censorship, where the monk would

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choose the poem he likes, usually a poem with a

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religious theme rather than probably a secular theme

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or something else. And then finally, we said Old

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English in so many ways was a musical language,

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especially when they wrote poetry. There was the

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caesura, the alliteration, the music, the rhythm

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of poetry, everything was meant to make the poem

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easy to remember and easy to memorize. Now, as we

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move from Old English to Middle English, we speak

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about a society that is developing, a society that

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is in the making. We speak about the English

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identity that is being made. Originally, people

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again came from different parts of Europe, but now

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they are in a part, in an area called England. And

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many people started to seek this English identity.

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The Englishness of English started to be developed

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at that time. People wanted to feel some kind of

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harmony. They wanted to feel that they belonged to

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this place. They wanted to see common interests

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and common issues among themselves. And when we

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speak about Middle English literature, we speak

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about the most famous literary figure of that

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time. The man who is considered the father of

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English literature, or English poetry in

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particular. His name is Chaucer. His name is

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Chaucer. Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer, by so many

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people, is considered the father of English

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literature. When we speak about early middle

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English, this is the man who was working on some

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kind of literature to reflect the English identity

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that is being made, the society that is developing

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probably from all aspects. I will Remember last

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time when we spoke about Old English, we spoke

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about the features of the period, the authors, the

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literature. And then we discussed the literature.

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Now I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to

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give you samples from extracts from poems by

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Chaucer. And from these samples, from the poetry

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we have, we need to try to guess and to deduce the

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features of not only literature and poetry and

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language, but also of life. The most important

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literary work of that time, again by Chaucer, is

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The Canterbury Tales. Canterbury Tales is a long

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poem of 24 stories by Chaucer. Now, before I say

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much here, let's go directly to the text. And

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again, the aim is to see whether the text reflects

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the time, the age, or not, and in what sense. Look

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at this, number one. Remember what we call two

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lines of verse that rhyme? What we call them? A

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couplet. A couplet. Thank you. Can you read

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someone? Please.

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Philosopher.

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In his coffer. Thank you. Someone else? Please.

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But although he was a philosopher, nevertheless,

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he had only a little gold in his pocket. Thank you

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very much, please. But although he was a

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philosopher, nevertheless, he had only a little

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gold in his pocket. Okay, one final reading,

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please. But although he was a philosopher, he had

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only a little gold in his pocket. Nevertheless,

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but although he was a philosopher, Nevertheless,

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he had only a little gold in his coffer. Again,

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this is the modern English writing. But if you

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look at your book, you will be able to read the

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Middle English text. You will at least be able to

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recognize some of the words. And the words that

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you can't read can easily be guessed from the

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context there. So if everyone goes to the book,

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Okay.

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Page 1313.

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Go to page 13, everyone. This is Chaucer, page 12

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and page 13. Look at the original English text.

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Okay, look at the text here, page 13. Can you try

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to read the Middle English? This is also, this is

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not like typical Middle English, but this is

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close. Remember Old English? We couldn't read Old

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English. Because in so many ways, it's a totally

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different language. But Middle English is the

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start of what we call the English language that we

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have now. It's not exactly what the language we

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have now, but this is the beginning. Can you read

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the English text one?

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In his coffer.

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So how many words are familiar to you? Probably

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most of them. Even the words that look weird,

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because again there were no standards for

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spelling. And even grammar wasn't still fixed

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then, at that time. But the spelling, look at the

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spelling. This is the word had. And they would be

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throwing the E letter here and there. OK? Now, the

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modern English makes it clearer for us. But

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although he was a philosopher, nevertheless, he

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had only a little gold in his coffer. What do you

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notice about this? What does the text communicate

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with you? Look at the couplet. Do you notice

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anything? This is poetry. This is Middle English.

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What is the theme? What is the form? Is there

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anything you can notice here that makes you, hmm?

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Interesting what the poet is doing here. Yes? So

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it's

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talking about a philosopher. And the poet is

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telling us, the text is telling us that he had a

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little gold in his coffer, in his drawer, probably

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safe, where people hide money. Valuables. Very

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good. So what does it mean? Do you notice anything

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here? Yes? That he wasn't seeking and searching

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for money. He was searching for knowledge and

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being a philosopher. Very good. What is a

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philosopher? It's generally a person of knowledge,

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a person who seeks knowledge. In a way, this guy

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is a philosopher. How much gold does he have? How

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much money does he have? A little. A little gold.

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OK. What else? Please. I think the person cares

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more about giving people information more than

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getting money. Is this in the text, or are you

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guessing? I'm guessing. OK, you're guessing that a

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philosopher is supposed to be dedicated to people,

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to knowledge, to his society, the community, or

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her, of course, if we're talking about a female

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philosopher. What else do you notice? What else

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can you tell from the text?

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What difference can

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you notice? What is the major difference between

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this and Old English? In Old English, it includes

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a caesura. Okay, there's no caesura here, right?

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This is Europe started to disappear physically,

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but it also still existed. We'll talk about this

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later on. It is now no longer marked by the space.

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It could be marked by a comma or semicolon or full

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stop in the middle of the line or something.

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Please.

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Okay, so now we have a new theme. People remember

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question is, is Chaucer here making fun? Is he

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being ironic, you know, being ironic? In a way,

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he's saying that this is a philosopher. He only

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has a little gold in his coffer. If he has a

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coffer where he puts gold, probably the author

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here is trying to make fun of the philosopher. The

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philosopher is not doing his job of being a

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philosopher to take care of knowledge, educate

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people, seek knowledge. He's more interested in

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collecting money than anything. So the society

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that was, again, fighting among itself now has

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different themes, different topics. But now people

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started to be, remember, Beowulf. Beowulf, what

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did he do? He's fighting the enemy. He fought the

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enemy. He sacrificed himself, not only for his

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people, but for other peoples. But now we have the

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scientist, the knight, the nun. The philosopher is

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seeking his own personal interest. This is the

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theme of selfishness. The society started to have

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its own vices. When we are threatened, when we are

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during war, people come closer to each other. We

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are united, but when people

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settle down, feel safe, what happens? Exactly, we

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become selfish and selfish. What do you notice

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also about the form?

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There's no caesura here. What else? Is there any

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source of music? Where's the rhyme? Oh, yeah. The

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rhyme is the last sound in a line of verse, the

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last sound or couple of sounds. That's the rhyme.

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Creates music. But although he was a philosopher,

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there was a little money, there's a little gold in

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his coffer. So philosopher and coffer, they rhyme.

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You know what rhyme is? The last sound or the last

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couple of sounds in a line of verse. So again, new

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themes, new forms. We have rhyme, and we have no

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caesura here, but a new theme is starting to show

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up. Let's see another example and come back to the

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second one here. OK. Again, if you look at the

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book, page 12, there's this tale, The Nun's Tale.

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The Nun's Tale. We move from talking about the

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philosopher to talking about, you know, the nun is

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like the monk, the female monk. The nun is a woman

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who dedicates herself to the church, to God. She

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vows not to marry, not to have kids, just

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everything is dedicated to God, love of God.

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That's the nun. There's the monk, and then there

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is the nun. OK? Look at the English, the Middle

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English text. Can someone try to read, please? Can

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you read it? Look at the words. Can you find

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familiar words? Are there familiar words? They

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have the English letters that we have now. So they

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look strange, weird. So can you read this? Don't

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look below. Look at the original text. Can you

276
00:18:44,510 --> 00:18:46,850
read? Please. No, here.

277
00:18:57,120 --> 00:19:02,040
And she was all consistent and tender heart.

278
00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:05,460
Tender heart. Very good. Good reading. Whether you

279
00:19:05,460 --> 00:19:09,080
understand every single word or not, but still you

280
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,420
can read this. The words look different because of

281
00:19:13,420 --> 00:19:17,400
the lack of spelling rules. Someone else, read the

282
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,560
original text. Please, raise your voice. Who in

283
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,860
her way of smiling was very ineffective and

284
00:19:23,860 --> 00:19:29,950
modest, and all was Sentiment and tender. This is

285
00:19:29,950 --> 00:19:33,550
not the original text. The original text, if you

286
00:19:33,550 --> 00:19:36,250
read the original text again, it's going to get

287
00:19:36,250 --> 00:19:40,690
easier and easier. So this is smiling. Strange how

288
00:19:40,690 --> 00:19:42,590
they're spelling it, but you're going to recognize

289
00:19:42,590 --> 00:19:44,230
it. Go again for the original text.

290
00:19:48,870 --> 00:19:54,350
Very good. Let's now go back to the modern,

291
00:19:54,490 --> 00:19:59,740
modernized text. Who here is a reference to? The

292
00:19:59,740 --> 00:20:04,020
nun. In The Nun's Tale. Who in her way of smiling

293
00:20:04,020 --> 00:20:08,940
was very unaffected and modest. And all was

294
00:20:08,940 --> 00:20:10,520
sentiment and tender heart.

295
00:20:14,660 --> 00:20:17,680
Again, let's comment on the text. Take one minute.

296
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:23,160
Look at the text. What do you notice? What is new?

297
00:20:25,700 --> 00:20:28,480
The poet saying, what is he communicating with us?

298
00:20:29,180 --> 00:20:33,860
What is the theme? What do you notice about the

299
00:20:33,860 --> 00:20:38,960
language, about the form, the music? Who are the

300
00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:46,980
characters? Okay. And the nun is? She's the main

301
00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:55,760
character. The nun is a woman or a man? A woman, a

302
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:58,900
woman who is supposed to dedicate her life to the

303
00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:02,500
church, to God. Now, remember the old English

304
00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:07,120
texts? We discussed, thank you, all men. We

305
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:12,080
discussed probably 10 texts. And almost all of

306
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:16,480
them were about heroes, about someone who hears

307
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,220
the voice of God, someone who loses his job,

308
00:21:20,740 --> 00:21:24,690
someone who fights dragons and monsters. But now,

309
00:21:24,810 --> 00:21:29,790
for the first time, we have a woman in a text. And

310
00:21:29,790 --> 00:21:31,850
the woman is not only a character. It's not only

311
00:21:31,850 --> 00:21:34,230
mentioned in passing. She's the main character.

312
00:21:34,310 --> 00:21:38,270
There's a tale in her name. Look at the title. The

313
00:21:38,270 --> 00:21:44,530
Nun's Tale. So we deduce that, we come to the

314
00:21:44,530 --> 00:21:48,590
conclusion that, in Middle English, women started

315
00:21:48,590 --> 00:21:54,460
to appear, to take space and to take room. They

316
00:21:54,460 --> 00:22:01,120
became main characters in the text. What else is

317
00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:03,560
there in the couplet? Please.

318
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:10,160
OK.

319
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,520
So she smiles. She influences people. And you're

320
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:19,620
talking about crossing the lines of being a nun.

321
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:24,980
Where can you see that? It says unaffected. Then

322
00:22:24,980 --> 00:22:29,000
in the other line, it all was simple. OK. In the

323
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,960
first line, who in her way of smiling was

324
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,800
unaffected and modest. Modest, like she's

325
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:39,700
dedicated. Because this is what generally, listen,

326
00:22:40,140 --> 00:22:43,320
at that time, and even now in so many cultures,

327
00:22:43,740 --> 00:22:47,020
women, the most important thing about women is

328
00:22:47,020 --> 00:22:50,120
modesty. It's their modesty. And modesty is

329
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:54,620
usually defined by man. OK? Which is something

330
00:22:54,620 --> 00:22:57,120
probably we'll talk about later on. But usually

331
00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,460
women live under the rules of men for ages and

332
00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:04,940
ages. In so many ways, this is not good. And

333
00:23:04,940 --> 00:23:07,600
that's why women start to struggle to take their

334
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:12,950
rights, their equal rights. So the nun is doing a

335
00:23:12,950 --> 00:23:17,290
role to dedicate herself to God and religion. And

336
00:23:17,290 --> 00:23:20,130
the first line, yes, she's unaffected and modest.

337
00:23:20,790 --> 00:23:23,130
She's playing. She's doing her job. But in the

338
00:23:23,130 --> 00:23:25,370
second line, there is a word that we need to

339
00:23:25,370 --> 00:23:25,990
notice here.

340
00:23:29,410 --> 00:23:34,310
She was all sentiment. What's sentiment?

341
00:23:35,990 --> 00:23:41,380
Sentiment's emotions of love. emotions of feelings

342
00:23:41,380 --> 00:23:45,780
of love and tender heart. In other ways, again

343
00:23:45,780 --> 00:23:49,600
similar to the story of the philosopher, this is a

344
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,400
woman, a nun who is supposed to be dedicated her

345
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:58,280
life to God, but instead she cares more about her

346
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:04,000
love and emotions than anything else. Again, This

347
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,600
is Chaucer trying to criticize the society using

348
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,580
what we call, again, irony. He says something, but

349
00:24:12,580 --> 00:24:14,740
he means something else. He says, this philosopher

350
00:24:14,740 --> 00:24:17,840
has a little gold. And then we go, oh my god.

351
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,560
Still, this is a lot of money. And see this nun?

352
00:24:22,860 --> 00:24:27,080
She's all about sentiment and tender heart. Oh. So

353
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:34,480
the nun is also in the strictest sense of the

354
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:39,660
word, is not a conventional nun. But what is new

355
00:24:39,660 --> 00:24:44,320
here is the fact that women started to appear to

356
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,000
take her to be part of this. Although generally,

357
00:24:47,060 --> 00:24:48,900
generally at the beginning they were just objects

358
00:24:48,900 --> 00:24:52,700
of admiration. They were just objects for men to

359
00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:57,200
admire. My question is here. Can you see this nun?

360
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,800
Can you see her as someone rejecting the norms of

361
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:07,220
the society, someone defying, resisting the roles

362
00:25:07,220 --> 00:25:10,940
imposed upon her? My question again, here we have

363
00:25:10,940 --> 00:25:14,000
a nun who's supposed to be a nun, but she's

364
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,980
breaking the rules of being a nun. Is breaking the

365
00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:22,680
rules here? Part of the woman doing something,

366
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:28,440
what is she doing? Possibly. Yeah. Yeah.

367
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:34,560
Okay.

368
00:25:38,180 --> 00:25:39,580
Okay.

369
00:25:49,510 --> 00:25:52,230
and sentiment. Again, generally, you're not

370
00:25:52,230 --> 00:25:55,590
supposed to fall in love with life, with things,

371
00:25:55,690 --> 00:25:59,830
with people, like men-women relationships. But

372
00:25:59,830 --> 00:26:03,230
this woman is breaking the rules. Does it say

373
00:26:03,230 --> 00:26:06,070
something? When the philosopher broke the rules,

374
00:26:06,150 --> 00:26:10,270
we said he's a hypocrite, a fake philosopher,

375
00:26:10,610 --> 00:26:16,280
because he is interested in collecting money. And

376
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,860
now, is this a fake nun, or is this woman doing

377
00:26:18,860 --> 00:26:22,200
something important?

378
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:28,380
Yeah, about being all about sentiment and love.

379
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:37,000
I'm not sure. I'm not sure whether there were, you

380
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,200
know, like, I'm not sure someone would force her,

381
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,940
like, physically to be a nun. But sometimes

382
00:26:42,940 --> 00:26:46,320
society leads you to a particular conclusion. But

383
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:48,440
it's not clear. But thank you very much for asking

384
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,060
this question. Maybe, so we deduce, if this woman,

385
00:26:52,180 --> 00:26:54,960
if this nun is not doing her job as a nun, maybe

386
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:59,160
in the beginning she was forced. Or she was put in

387
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,140
a position where she had no choice. But my

388
00:27:02,140 --> 00:27:05,950
question again, what does it tell? if this woman

389
00:27:05,950 --> 00:27:09,030
is not following the rules of being a nun, the

390
00:27:09,030 --> 00:27:13,450
rules of the church. Is she a hypocrite or is she?

391
00:27:13,550 --> 00:27:19,210
She's a woman following her heart. Personality,

392
00:27:19,490 --> 00:27:21,610
like to challenge that given.

393
00:27:24,510 --> 00:27:28,970
Thank you very much. In a way or another, this is

394
00:27:28,970 --> 00:27:32,530
someone, a person who's trying to have a voice for

395
00:27:32,530 --> 00:27:35,890
women. Probably the voice is not that loud and

396
00:27:35,890 --> 00:27:38,910
clear, but this is someone resisting the rules of

397
00:27:38,910 --> 00:27:42,330
the society, even resisting the rules of the

398
00:27:42,330 --> 00:27:46,270
church. And for her, being a man is not what the

399
00:27:46,270 --> 00:27:49,010
church decides. It's what her tender heart

400
00:27:49,010 --> 00:27:56,270
decides. Please. Choose to be a nun to not go

401
00:27:56,270 --> 00:28:01,490
under a man, to not be forced by a man. I think

402
00:28:01,490 --> 00:28:04,690
she would be a nun and hide her feelings and show

403
00:28:04,690 --> 00:28:07,830
that she's strict rather than being under a man.

404
00:28:08,830 --> 00:28:10,710
In general, that could be. That is possible. But

405
00:28:10,710 --> 00:28:13,290
it's not here in the text. In the text, we have a

406
00:28:13,290 --> 00:28:16,610
woman who defies the rules of being a nun, breaks

407
00:28:16,610 --> 00:28:19,170
the rules in a way to change the image of women,

408
00:28:19,270 --> 00:28:24,620
to give women a place. We'll talk about this later

409
00:28:24,620 --> 00:28:29,420
on as we move talking about English literature.

410
00:28:29,780 --> 00:28:33,680
Another example here, it's from The Knight's Tale.

411
00:28:35,300 --> 00:28:37,640
You know the knight? Beowulf, in a way, was a

412
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:41,880
knight,

445
00:30:54,870 --> 00:30:58,110
just added. There's no need to add it here in the

446
00:30:58,110 --> 00:31:03,870
translation. I'd like to go for this version. And 

447
00:31:03,870 --> 00:31:08,590
the four at the king's court, my brother. What

448
00:31:08,590 --> 00:31:10,810
happens at the king's court when a knight is

449
00:31:10,810 --> 00:31:13,590
telling a story? Traditionally, people are

450
00:31:13,590 --> 00:31:18,180
competing to show that they are strong. To be

451
00:31:18,180 --> 00:31:21,980
heroes, to defend. But what happens at the king's

452
00:31:21,980 --> 00:31:27,600
court? Each man for himself.

453
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:37,820
Each man for himself, there is no other. No other

454
00:31:37,820 --> 00:31:42,560
person I care about except myself. Selfishness.

455
00:31:44,750 --> 00:31:49,490
Again, we have a knight who is not a knight. Why?

456
00:31:49,630 --> 00:31:52,190
Because knights chose us, trying again to 

457
00:31:52,190 --> 00:31:54,410
communicate with us the idea that knights now

458
00:31:54,410 --> 00:31:58,010
don't belong in a modern society in a way. They 

459
00:31:58,010 --> 00:32:01,330
belong to the past, to stories, to the epics of

460
00:32:01,330 --> 00:32:04,710
the past. In modern society, people are settling 

461
00:32:04,710 --> 00:32:08,840
down more and more. There are no, like there were 

462
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:10,300
wars. When you speak about Middle English, you 

463
00:32:10,300 --> 00:32:13,540
speak about there's the 100-year war between

464
00:32:13,540 --> 00:32:17,100
England and France that lasted for over 110 years.

465
00:32:17,940 --> 00:32:22,060
There were people dying every day. But in so many 

466
00:32:22,060 --> 00:32:24,060
ways, people started to settle down and live

467
00:32:24,060 --> 00:32:29,440
relatively in peace. So a knight is no longer a

468
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,040
knight, like a nun is no longer a knight. And a

469
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:34,920
philosopher is no longer a philosopher. This is a

470
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,800
society. This is a poet that is exposing his 

471
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,140
society. He's talking about the vices, the

472
00:32:40,140 --> 00:32:43,900
problems, but presenting a realistic image about

473
00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:46,400
the society. Because yes, we want to defend 

474
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,380
others. Yes, we want to fight for others. Yes, we 

475
00:32:49,380 --> 00:32:51,940
love others. But we usually don't forget 

476
00:32:51,940 --> 00:32:55,820
ourselves. It's good to be selfless. But if you 

477
00:32:55,820 --> 00:32:58,120
are totally selfless, that's not realistic. 

478
00:32:59,150 --> 00:33:02,890
Because you need to gain something yourself. So 

479
00:33:02,890 --> 00:33:08,360
the heroic image of the old English. That the 

480
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:12,060
image that we see in Beowulf is turning into a

481
00:33:12,060 --> 00:33:16,200
realistic image in Chosar, where people are 

482
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:20,000
presented as people with weaknesses, with vices, 

483
00:33:20,820 --> 00:33:25,600
not as pure, complete people. Notice also here we

484
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:30,560
have the rhyme. Again, what is the rhyme? The last 

485
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,380
sound

486
00:33:34,380 --> 00:33:38,490
or couple of sounds in a line of verse. Do these 

487
00:33:38,490 --> 00:33:45,990
lines rhyme? Let's hear brother, other. Modest and

488
00:33:45,990 --> 00:33:50,210
hard probably imperfect rhyme. And a final example 

489
00:33:50,210 --> 00:33:58,230
here is again from Chaucer, the second part. What 

490
00:33:58,230 --> 00:34:04,840
is this world? What do men ask for? Now with his

491
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:09,120
love, now in his cold grave, alone without any 

492
00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:10,300
companionship.

493
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,340
If I give you this text without telling you this

494
00:34:16,340 --> 00:34:20,450
is from over a thousand years ago or less, You're

495
00:34:20,450 --> 00:34:23,810
not going to know. Because this question of, what

496
00:34:23,810 --> 00:34:26,010
is this life? What is this world? What do men,

497
00:34:26,090 --> 00:34:28,690
what do people ask for? What do you want in life?

498
00:34:29,050 --> 00:34:32,430
These are questions that are modern, questions of 

499
00:34:32,430 --> 00:34:36,370
today, of the 21st century. But again, this is

500
00:34:36,370 --> 00:34:39,830
something that Joshua asked a long, long time ago,

501
00:34:39,890 --> 00:34:42,410
that poets asked thousands of years ago and

502
00:34:42,410 --> 00:34:43,790
hundreds of years ago. And this is, again, the

503
00:34:43,790 --> 00:34:47,770
beauty of poetry. Poetry crosses time and crosses

504
00:34:47,770 --> 00:34:51,430
race and all obstacles to talk to us, to address

505
00:34:51,430 --> 00:34:55,150
us. Now, and again, this is one reason why Chaucer 

506
00:34:55,150 --> 00:34:58,230
is the father of English literature. He was a fine 

507
00:34:58,230 --> 00:35:02,890
poet, an excellent poet, who captured the heart,

508
00:35:03,110 --> 00:35:06,050
the mind of English, of England, the English

509
00:35:06,050 --> 00:35:09,950
people in a society that was being modernized, 

510
00:35:10,050 --> 00:35:16,080
being made. Notice again, In the original text, 

511
00:35:16,220 --> 00:35:19,480
there is also a rhyme, but we lose it in the

512
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,260
translation. What is this world? What do men ask 

513
00:35:22,260 --> 00:35:27,280
for? Meaning, no matter what you do. Remember the

514
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,620
question about what it means to be a human being?

515
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:33,620
What it means to be a human being in Beowulf, the

516
00:35:33,620 --> 00:35:37,020
same question is now still being asked. What does

517
00:35:37,020 --> 00:35:39,620
it mean to be a human being? Because no matter how

518
00:35:39,620 --> 00:35:42,260
powerful, how strong, no matter how much money,

519
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,360
how much gold you collect, what is this world?

520
00:35:45,820 --> 00:35:51,000
What do men ask for? What? Love, money, happiness? 

521
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:57,360
At the end of the day? Now with his love. Now in 

522
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:03,490
his old cold grave. A really terrifying image when 

523
00:36:03,490 --> 00:36:06,650
someone feels like not only in a grave, in a cold

524
00:36:06,650 --> 00:36:09,830
grave, see the now, now, the repetition of now. 

525
00:36:10,630 --> 00:36:13,830
This, by the way, this creates a caesura. The

526
00:36:13,830 --> 00:36:17,110
question, the pause, the caesura. Now with his 

527
00:36:17,110 --> 00:36:22,510
love, now with a sad tone here, alone without any 

528
00:36:22,510 --> 00:36:23,790
companionship.

529
00:36:26,990 --> 00:36:27,570
Say again.

530
00:36:33,420 --> 00:36:36,560
Thank you very much. And this is Chaucer. Chaucer

531
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,760
was not only about fighting battles and wars, he 

532
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:44,380
was bringing us a broad array of themes and 

533
00:36:44,380 --> 00:36:47,880
issues. Now, can we talk about the features, the 

534
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,360
characteristics of English literature, of English

535
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,120
poetry mainly in Middle English? Can you tell?

536
00:36:54,810 --> 00:36:57,170
What do you notice? What new things do we have 

537
00:36:57,170 --> 00:37:00,090
here? Listen, so now we have the text and we try

538
00:37:00,090 --> 00:37:03,390
to understand the society, how the text reflects 

539
00:37:03,390 --> 00:37:10,090
life. One, and raise your voice. Number one, new

540
00:37:10,090 --> 00:37:16,270
themes such as love, money, hypocrisy, 

541
00:37:18,430 --> 00:37:25,130
change. Please. Oh, yes, important themes related

542
00:37:25,130 --> 00:37:29,290
to women. They started as minor, minimal. They 

543
00:37:29,290 --> 00:37:32,830
started as objects of admiration. But later on, 

544
00:37:33,450 --> 00:37:37,210
every now and then, we find very strong women who 

545
00:37:37,210 --> 00:37:39,790
challenge and defy, like your friend here

546
00:37:39,790 --> 00:37:44,510
suggested, to try to change the image people have 

547
00:37:44,510 --> 00:37:47,490
about women. Please. The language is softer. The 

548
00:37:47,490 --> 00:37:51,910
language is closer to the language of today. Well, 

549
00:37:52,170 --> 00:37:54,550
it's sometimes not recognizable because of the

550
00:37:54,550 --> 00:37:58,350
different spelling. But upon several readings, we 

551
00:37:58,350 --> 00:38:01,830
can make sense. We can make sense of many of this.

552
00:38:01,950 --> 00:38:04,990
Yes? No caesura? No, there's no caesura, the

553
00:38:04,990 --> 00:38:08,930
physical gap. But still, it disappeared in a way 

554
00:38:08,930 --> 00:38:12,010
or another. But sometimes we have it in

555
00:38:12,010 --> 00:38:13,550
punctuation marks. Yes?

556
00:38:17,910 --> 00:38:21,350
Yes. Remember, at the beginning it was all about 

557
00:38:21,350 --> 00:38:24,310
heroism, all about praise, all about elegy,

558
00:38:24,550 --> 00:38:26,530
praising the dead, praising God, praising the

559
00:38:26,530 --> 00:38:31,190
heroes. But now we have irony, new techniques, 

560
00:38:32,590 --> 00:38:34,990
irony, using irony to say something and to mean it

561
00:38:34,990 --> 00:38:38,590
because people became more and more intelligent.

562
00:38:39,130 --> 00:38:39,310
Please.

563
00:38:45,220 --> 00:38:48,760
Okay, so the idealistic image we had of pure

564
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,020
heroes, of complete perfect people started to

565
00:38:51,020 --> 00:38:56,980
change into realistic pictures The last point to

566
00:38:56,980 --> 00:39:00,790
conclude Chaucer begins the Canterbury Tales, 

567
00:39:00,910 --> 00:39:04,170
which, again, consists of 24 stories. He

568
00:39:04,170 --> 00:39:07,550
originally intended them to be 120, but he only

569
00:39:07,550 --> 00:39:13,090
wrote 24 stories. And he started the whole poem

570
00:39:13,090 --> 00:39:19,650
with the description of spring. Spring, new life, 

571
00:39:19,870 --> 00:39:24,780
symbolizing regeneration, rebirth, in a way he was

572
00:39:24,780 --> 00:39:27,980
saying that this is England, this is the spring of

573
00:39:27,980 --> 00:39:30,460
England, this is the beginning for England. We

574
00:39:30,460 --> 00:39:33,920
plant the seeds and the spring begins in April. 

575
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:38,260
Now when we say April in English literature, April

576
00:39:38,260 --> 00:39:44,740
has been made famous mainly because of Chaucer, 

577
00:39:45,480 --> 00:39:49,000
and then later on in the 20th century by T.S.

578
00:39:49,100 --> 00:39:52,480
Eliot. T.S. Eliot begins his most famous poem, The 

579
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:57,280
Waste Land, by mentioning April. Do you know what

580
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,740
he says? T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land.

581
00:40:12,380 --> 00:40:16,260
One mark if you know the first verse of the first

582
00:40:16,260 --> 00:40:20,060
line in The Waste Land. T.S. Eliot is the greatest

583
00:40:20,060 --> 00:40:24,720
20th century poet. He's American and British. His 

584
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:31,440
most famous poem is The Waste Land. What is the 

585
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:33,320
first line? One mark.

586
00:40:36,540 --> 00:40:38,680
One mark if you know. He says, 

587
00:40:43,420 --> 00:40:48,060
April is the

588
00:40:48,060 --> 00:40:54,520
cruelest month. April is the cruelest month.

589
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,080
Remember, in so many ways, when he says April is

590
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:02,360
the cruelest month, he's reminding us of Chaucer. 

591
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:08,180
He's connecting his poem from Chaucer, the father, 

592
00:41:08,660 --> 00:41:11,360
the most important figure of early English poetry.

593
00:41:13,420 --> 00:41:18,080
Do you know why? Can you tell why? Why did T.S.

594
00:41:18,140 --> 00:41:22,020
Eliot begin his poem, The Wasteland, with, April

595
00:41:22,020 --> 00:41:24,960
is the cruelest month, contradicting Chaucer, who 

596
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,160
praised April as the month of spring and life and

597
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,580
generation? I'll let you think of this question. 

598
00:41:32,220 --> 00:41:36,400
I'll stop here. And we meet next time, inshallah. 

599
00:41:36,540 --> 00:41:40,580
And we'll be talking about other texts from Middle 

600
00:41:40,580 --> 00:41:41,780
English. Do you have any question?