Final Project

Gentlemen of the Road

A Closer look at 5 words from this passage


Words:

1. Caravansary: (guess: French) Def: {Fr.}In the near Middle East an Inn built around a large area for accomadating.
2. Ostler: (guess:Europe) Def: Someone who takes care of horses at a stable.
3. Calumny: (guess: Anglo-Saxon) Def: 1447 from M.Fr. slander/false accusation
4. Impaled: (guess: French) Def: 1590 , transfix
5. Mahout: (guess: Middle European) Def: In India or East Indies, an elephant Driver or Keeper.

Research: Caedmon's Hymn

Background Info:

• Caedmon was the earliest know english poet.
• One of twelve anglo-saxon poets identified in medievel sources
• This poem is a nine-line alliterative vernacular praise poem in honour of God
• He supposedly learned to sing in his initial dream
• The author was an Anglo-Saxon herdsman attached to the double monastery of Streonæshalch (Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657–680), he was originally ignorant of "the art of song", but learned this in one of his dreams

The Story of Caedmon

1] In ðeosse abbudissan mynstre wæs sum brōðor syndriġlīċe mid godcundre ġife ġemǣred ond ġeweorðad, for þon hē ġewunade ġerisenliċe lēoð wyrċan þā ðe tō ǣfestnisse ond tō ārfæstnisse belumpen, swā ðætte swā hwæt swā hē of godcundum stafum þurh bōceras ġeleornode, þæt hē æfter medmiċlum fæce in scopġereorde mid þā mǣstan swētnisse ond inbryrdnisse ġeglænġde ond in Engliscġereorde wel ġeworht forþbrōhte. [2] Ond for his lēoþsongum moniġra monna mōd oft tō worulde forhogdnisse ond tō ġeþēodnisse þæs heofonlican līfes onbærnde wǣron. [3] Ond ēac swelċe moniġe ōðre æfter him in Ongelþēode ongunnon ǣfeste lēoð wyrċan; ac nǣniġ hwæðre him þæt ġelīċe dōn meahte, for þon hē nales from monnum ne þurh mon ġelǣred wæs, þæt hē þone lēoðcræft leornade, ac hē wæs godcundlīċe ġefultumed ond þurh Godes ġife þone songcræft onfēng. [4] Ond hē for ðon nǣfre nōht lēasunge ne īdles lēoþes wyrċan meahte, ac efne þā ān þā ðe tō ǣfestnesse belumpon, ond his þā ǣfestan tungan ġedeofanade singan.

Caedmon's Hymn

Old English:

Nu scylun hergan hefaenricaes uard

metudæs maecti end his modgidanc

uerc uuldurfadur sue he uundra gihuaes

eci dryctin or astelidæ

he aerist scop aelda barnum

heben til hrofe haleg scepen.

tha middungeard moncynnæs

uard eci dryctin æfter tiadæ

firum foldu frea allmectigprimo

cantauit Cædmon istud carmen.

English Translation:

Now let me praise the keeper of Heaven's kingdom,

The might of the Creator, and his thought,

The work of the Father of glory, how each of wonders

The Eternal Lord established in the beginning.

He first created for the sons of men

Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator,

Then Middle-earth the keeper of mankind,

The Eternal Lord, afterwards made,

The earth for men, the Almighty Lord.

Author Quest

Author Quest: Robert Frost

Robert Frost was an accomplished American poet who used the simplicity of words to perplex his readers. Born in San Francisco, in 1874, Frost was an accomplished poet, school-teacher, farmer, cobbler, and editor of a country news paper. His spent his later years living in England, where he wrote some of his finest pieces. Throughout his lifetime, Frost has won many different awards for his works, including the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Frost has made many contributions to the world of literature.
Frost published his poetry throughout his life time (1874-1963). Some of his best pieces were written in the second half of his life. The four poems that I will be taking a closer look at and referring to are: “The Road Not Taken”, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”, “Home Burial” and “Design”. Frost is rarely, directly an autobiographical poet, but his poetry reveals his personality, beliefs, and values.
What makes Frost’s poems so effective is his erratic use of rhyme and his attempt to avoid traditional verse forms. If you take a closer look at one of his poems, they flow evenly and rhyme occasionally, but they avoid the sing-song monotony of some modern poets. “Whose woods these are I think I know. /His house is in the village though;/ He will not see me stopping here/ To watch his woods fill up with snow.” (Gwynn 616). Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening is one of Frost’s most overly criticized pieces. People are too quick to make assumptions and an interpretation without having prior knowledge of Frost’s writing style.
Frost’s techniques are never experimental. He is not an innovator. His poetry is so effective due to his use of many poetic practices of the past. Frost’s career fully spans

across the modern time period. Frost cannot be classified as anything other than a modern poet, but his work contradicts this. According to James M. Cox, "it is difficult to place him in the main tradition of modern poetry." Cox continues by elaborating; “Frost stands at the crossroads of nineteenth-century American poetry and modernism, for in his verse may be found the culmination of many nineteenth-century tendencies and traditions as well as parallels to the works of his twentieth-century contemporaries.”
According to critics, Frost has developed and original, modern idiom and a sense of directness and economy that reflect the imagism of Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell. His poetry is entirely unlike other writers such as Eliot, Stevens, or Yeats. Frost developed his own ways of writing. Looking at, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, one can easily understand why this poem is so well known.
After completing further research, I found that this poem is full of uncertainties and ambiguity. Frost prided himself in his simplicity in writing. Sometimes when something is so simplistic, people tend to over analyze it and over interpret it. Through careful word choice and astounding imagery, Frost is able to create a multilevel poem. All of his pieces have countless surfaces to them.
This factor makes Frost’s pieces suitable for readers of all age levels. If a younger adolescent was analyzing this poem, they would interpret the poem on the most simplistic, straight-forward level. A college class, on the other hand, would probably grab onto the ambiguities and attempt to define them. I question whether this was Frost’s intent. I think he wanted the reader to take his pieces for their “face value” and apply their own interpretation.

Throughout my educational career, I have encountered this piece in numerous English courses. The four poems that I am focusing on today, all seem very straight-forward, sometimes lacking in depth, and easy to interpret. Every time my high school or college class viewed one of Frost’s poems; the teacher’s interpretation would vary. Each instructor chose to approach the poem from a different level and perspective.
The subject in “Stopping by the Woods” is never identified. I think Frost intentionally created a smooth, calm piece, and left room for the reader’s mind to question and wonder. Most people overanalyzing this piece would jump to assume that this is a cold poem about suicide. I believe that it is merely a young man, pausing in life to reflect on where he or she is presently at, and appreciate what god has given him. This poem has some parallels to “The Road Not Taken”.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / and sorry I could not travel both” is a line that should sound familiar to most English majors. In “The Road Not Taken”, Frost uses carefully imagery and scare rhyming to create a wondrous story or picture in the reader’s mind. After reading this piece, I could picture walking through a beautiful woods and choosing what path to follow.
This poem is written in 4 stanzas, each consisting of 5 lines. This poem has an appealing flow. Its rhyme scheme is: A-B-A-C-B. I think Frost’s choice in rhyme scheme helps to make this poem somewhat hesitant or uncertain, similar to how a person would be feeling if they were choosing a path to take in life, and feeling unsure.
If you take careful notice, the stanzas are intertwined, to give the reader the feeling that the entire piece is tied together. This poem also has countless possible
interpretations. The main idea in the poem makes the reader question what kind of path or road the author is speaking of. Although this piece is full of meaning, the author uses very common words. The vocabulary is plain, but not boring. This is evident on most of Frost’s pieces and helps to bring clarity to the piece.
The poem, “Design” shows a large amount of Frost’s emotion, in some of his most difficult times. Unlike other well-known pieces, the reader is required to interpret more. Frost’s use of metaphor in this piece helps to bring meaning. “On a white heal-all, holding up a moth/ Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth-/” According to Robert Johnson, "Frost not only acknowledges the presence of the appalling in physical reality, but wonders if there is any cosmic design at all.” The rhyme scheme in “Design” is A-B-B-A-A-B-B-A. The flow and readability is more difficult than the other pieces we have discussed.
The fourth poem that is crucial in defining Frost’s as an author is “Home Burial”. This is one of the few pieces by Frost that reflects a certain tragedy or occasion in his life. Frost doesn’t mention events in his life, unless they are noted in an ambiguous nature. This piece is speculated to reflect the death of Frost’s son Elliott, who passed away at age three. Unlike most of Frost’s work, this piece is written in a longer 116 line free verse.
To conclude, what makes some of Frost’s most common poems valuable are their dynamic views of our daily life. Frost is capable of taking an ordinary object or occurrences in life and viewing it from a new level or perspective. This theme is evident is his pieces such as “Design”. He questions if there is a higher being. In Frost’s work, he uses basic language and applies it on a level that adds depth and meaning.
Works Cited

Gwynn, R.S. Literature a Pocket Anthology, 2nd ed. “Robert Frost” p. 609-616. Pearson Longman, New York. 2005.

Contemporary Authors Online. Thompson and Gale. 2006. “Robert Frost”. 11/04/2007

Word Hoard

Note: This is still a work in progress

English to Old English translation
Nouns (20)

1. Woods-Wudu

2.Book-boc

3.Road-rad

4. worm-wurm

5.Bells-belle

6.teacher-pedagogos

7. Snow-snaw

8.care-caru

8. Pen-penne

9.leaf-leaf

10.house-hus

11.Shin-scinu

12.Friend-Freond

13.word-word

14.Husband-husbonda

15.water-waeter

16.Mother-modor

17.Mat-matte

18.Father-Faeder

19.board-bord

20. family-hiwscipe

Verbs (10)
run -rinnan
leap-hleapan
walk -wealcan
write -writan
laugh -hlihhan
work -worhte
talk -specan
learn -leornian
read- raedan
yawn-ginian

Adjectives (5)

1.colorful-hiw

2.smart-swaert

3. pretty-praettig

4.dreary-dreorig

5.strong- strange
Prepositions (5)
under-under

of-aef

for-for

along-andlang

throughout-purhut
Adverbs (2)
finally-

recently-
Conjunctions (3)
After-aefter

Although-eallpeah

until-und
Kennings (5)

1. melon-Koft: A fashionable headcovering worn by young adolescents
2. Coin-moocher: a person who nabs coins out of the "penny jars" at grocery stores, to pay for their groceries, even though they have sweaty fists full of pennies already.
3. Kanoodle-man: an individual who shows public displays of affection, while waiting in line at the supermarket.
4. Stone-oval: a soft, healthy bread eaten primarily by the upper-class citizens living in Brazil.
5. wonderworker- The habit of exercizing prior or post normal hours. ie. waking up at 4am and working out.

Snippets from Robert Frost

For my Author Quest, I chose to focus on four poems by Robert Frost:

• “The Road Not Taken”
• “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
• “Home Burial”
• “Design”

Frost was rarely, directly an autobiographical poet, but his poetry reveals his personality, beliefs, and values.What makes Frost’s poems so effective is his erratic use of rhyme and his attempt to avoid traditional verse forms. If you take a closer look at one of his poems, they flow evenly and rhyme occasionally, but they avoid the sing-song monotony of some modern poets. “Whose woods these are I think I know. /His house is in the village though;/ He will not see me stopping here/ To watch his woods fill up with snow.” (Gwynn 616). Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is one of Frost’s most overly criticized pieces. People are too quick to make assumptions and an interpretation without having prior knowledge of Frost’s writing style.

The data base that I used to find various opinions was:

Contemporary Authors Online. Thompson and Gale

This site was very helpful because he covered all aspects of Robert Frost. It included a full biography as well as criticism. In addition, I used a literature text, which I will be citing in my paper.

Creative Project

The Creative Project that I intend on completing is a One Week Plan that teaches a specific aspect of the English Language. My area of certification is first through eighth grade. I will focus my lesson planing to about the sixth ot seventh grade. The topic that I would like to cover, in detail is poetry. I would take poetry and break it down to 5 smaller categories. Each day, through a 20-25minute lesson plan, we will focus on one of those aspects. The topics that I would tentatively like to cover are: poetry vocabulary, the structures of poems, different types of poem, and famous poets work. With in my week long lesson plan, I will allow room for group work that would enclude presenting one poem that was written with a partner. There are many things I would like to include, but the important thing is to keep it focused. Once I get started on the project, I will end up narrowng down the focus of my one week plan.

Contemporary/Elemental level Prayer:

A Child's Prayer

Lord, teach a little child to pray,
And then accept my prayer;
For thou canst hear the words I say,
For thou art everywhere.
A little sparrow cannot fall
Unnoticed, Lord, by thee:
And though I am so young and small,
Thou dost take care of me.
Teach me to do the thing that's right
And when I sin, forgive;
And make it still my chief delight
To serve thee while I live.


Although the above prayer may have been around for a while, I thought it was a very straight forward simple prayer for a child. Within this prayer, one can learn the meaning of christ.


* * *





The following is an additional prayer for a special member of my family, as they enter their finally days on earth. We ask the lord to end their suffering.


Carry Your Cross

Take up your cross, the Savior said,
If you would my disciple be;
Deny yourself, the world forsake,
And humbly follow after me.

Take up your cross, let not its weight
Fill your weak spirit with alarm;
His strength shall bear your heart
And nerve your arm.

Take up your cross then in his strength,
And ev'ry danger calmly brave,
To guide you to a better home,
And vict'ry over death and grave.

Take up your cross and follow Christ,
Nor think till death to lay it down;
For only he who bears the cross
May hope to wear the glorious crown.

To you, great Lord, the One in three,
All praise for evermore ascend;
O grant us here below to see
The heav'nly life that knows no end.

Old English Prayer: Our Father

Fæder úre, ðú ðe eart on heofonum,
Sí ðín nama gehálgod.
Tó becume ðín rice.
Gewurde ðín willa On eorþan swá swá on heofonum.
Urne dægwhamlícan hlaf syle ús tódæg.
And forgyf ús úre gyltas, Swá swá wé forgyfaþ úrum gyltendum.
And ne gelæd ðu ús on costnunge, Ac álýs ús of yfele.
Sóþlice.

Childhood Rhymes, Slogans, Prayers, or Spells

Childhood Prayers

The Guardian Angel Prayers

"Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom His love entrusts me here,
ever this day [night] be at my side to light and guard,
to rule and guide. Amen."

Grace Before Meals

"Bless us, O Lord,
and these Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive from Thy bounty,
through Christ our Lord. Amen."

The Our Father

"Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."

The above prayers were ones that were commonly said throughout my childhood. In addition to these prayers, my father would say the "Now I lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer, with my sisters and I, every night before bed.

Rhymes

1)Find a penny, pick it up. All day long you'll have good luck.

2)Criss cross apple sauce,
spider crawling up your back.
Cool breeze----tight squeeze.
Now you've got the shiveries.

3)Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.

4) 30 days has September, April, June, and November.

My mother has so many sayings that she still says to this day. Some of them are full of insight or helpful reminders. (#3) As a young child, I can remember my mother saying this rhyme. Everytime I hear it, I always picture looking up at the sky on a warm summer evening and seeing a beautiful pinkish orange sunset that seems to fill the entire horizon. Sometimes, when I leave the front SLC parkinglot, during the late spring or early summer, and it is around 8:30pm, if I look to my left, I see a beautiful pinkish, orange and red sunset and I think of my mother's saying.

Author Quest!

The author I chose for my Author Quest was Robert Frost. I chose him because I especially enjoy poetry. At one point or another, I am sure all of us have read one or two of his most popular poems. I plan on taking several of his least known poems and focusing on them. Frost has an appreciation for nature and he uses the "outdoors" as a common setting in his pieces. I enjoy the imagery and multiple possible interpretations of his pieces. A preliminary paragraph of one of Frost's pieces is as follows:


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

Study: Adjectives, Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions

(A Summay of Peter S. Baker's Chapter 3, Introduction to Old English)
Adjectives:
An adjective changes or limits the meaning of a noun. If a person mentions a “house”, you may not know which one they are referring to. It they say, the “brown house”, it limits the possibilities, and narrows down, more specifically what is being described. Sometimes in modern English we use the endings “-er” or “-est” to compare.
In Old English, the adjectives ending depends on the gender, case, and number of the noun it is modifying.

Adverbs:
Typically defined as words that modify adjectives. For example: carefully, wonderfully, beautifully, exquisitely. The adjective comes after this word. For example: the “beautifully decorated green wreath” the adverb helps to describe the adjective.
Conjunctive adverbs provide transition between clauses. Nevertheless, however, as a matter of fact, therefore, then, and thus.

Prepositions:
A preposition introduces the prepositional phrase. It tells the reader more about the context of the noun. A prepositional phrase is a word group that functions together. This can be with a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. Some Old English prepositions are: purh (through), ymb (near, by, about), ongean (opposite or towards opposition)
Ex:Children learn in the classroom
The word “in” is the preposition because it describes the noun. It tells us that the prepositional phrase, “the classroom” has to do with a school, more specifically, where children learn.


Conjunctions:
Linking words that typically come at the beginning of the sentence.
Three types of conjunctions:
Coordinating: “and, or , but, also” true linking words
Subordinating: “when, where, although, as, unless, while, provided that, etc”. They signal the relationship between the subordinate and the principle clause.
Correlative: These words always come in pairs. “either….or…..both..and”

Review of Akeelah and the Bee

After viewing the movie, “Akeelah and the Bee”, there are many important concepts that the movie addresses. Most importantly, this movie deals with the culturally issue of doing something that is not viewed as an accomplishment. Akeelah is ridiculed and laughed at by her classmates for using proper grammar and being involved in something that is not considered “cool”. Mr. Welsh teaches Akeelah how to break down words to their root, understand the meaning, and be able to spell them. As we have discussed in class, many words have a Latin meaning. In this movie, Akeelah learns how learning the Latin language can help to understand the structure of the English Language and how words are spelt.
Another way this movie connects to our class is some of the methods Mr.Welsh teaches Akeelah. In one particular scene, he teaches her to use a Mnemonic device to spell words and jump rope. Mr. Welsh teaches Akeelah to memorize the winning words from all of the spelling bees since 1925. This reminded me of the spelling bee we had in class.
In addition to Akeelah’s love for spelling, she faces many obstacles both in her home life and at school. At home, Akeelah’s family life is not very supportive. She has a stressed out single mother who is trying to make ends meet. The school she attends is an inner city school that doesn’t have enough funding to put doors on their bathroom stall.
To conclude, this movie is filled with many hidden messages and lessons that young children can benefit from. This includes everything from achieving your goals and dreams, to overcoming obstacles.

Creative Challenge: Story in English Translated to OE

A Far Away Land

It is the spring of 480 B.C. In a far away town, there lived a village of noble fighters called, the Spartans. They lived about their life. Many of them built nice homes out of stone and thrived mostly off the land. The Spartans wore beautiful, expensive armor while fighting. The young Spartan boys were taught fighting rituals at a very young age. Although they had very limited budgets, they would hand craft their shields and bows and arrows for fighting purposes. Their tools were simply a work of art. The detail was impressive. The noblest of the village, was the King. They called him King Octavious. What ever King Octavious decided, was the official law. Now, this king was not a very kind king. He desired only to please himself. What ever he wanted, he did. The community living in the area decided to do something about this situation. The entire village got together and arranged to fight the king. They felt that if they killed the selfish king, they could find a new one who wanted to help the community.
On the day of the battle, the entire village men gathered together with their best swords and fighting gear. On horseback, they arranged the men in the appropriate fashion, and bragged about their victory just minutes away. Just as the gong sounded, to start the fight, the King showed up. King Octavious had no fighting gear on, he came in his daily robe. After several minutes of speaking with the head people, several of the villagers dropped their weapons. The asked the village for forgiveness. The town discussed the situation and lived happily ever after.

NOTE: This translation was completed to the best of my ability. Due to my limited computer skills, I ommitted all accent/proununciation marks. Also, the story is mostly translated using the present tense. I was unable to correctly do past and future tense. Source used for this story was
http://wandership.ca/projects/eow/result.php?nt=arrive&submit=+Search+&l=en&ignorecase=on&match=word&output=macron

Hope you enjoyed my story.

Old English Translation:

Hit swelce of 480 B.C. binnan sum feor onweg burg, bider eardian swelce tun brucan beorht gefeohatan cellian, se Spartans. Hie eardian abutan hiera wunian. Fela of hie asettan faegernes ham forb of stan ac eardian moste off se eard. Se Spartan awerian. Se geong Spartan cnapa welce gefrignan folcgewinn scinnegelac aet a ful geong ealdor. Peah hie bewitan ful mote pening, me lefre wore wyrcan se bord, abagan ac flan fore folcgewinn. Se tol rod anfeald a gedeorf of craeft. Seo ymbsierwan eart wlite. Se beort of seo castel rod se cyng. Se clippian hine cyng Octavious. Hwa cyng Octavious Pu rod pa gesetnes. Bonne pes cyng swelce naht a ful gecynd cyng. He geornfulness ancenned to lician self. Hwelc simle he wilt, he fremman. Se geferscipe eardian in seo burg gerordan to brucan rod.abutan pas ping. Se full castel gadrian endemes and chose to secan se cyng.
Be se dogar se be beadu se full castel furas gadrifan be se betst bill ac campian guosearo. Be eoh se dihtan se firas be geagnian hiw ac bragged abutan se gewinnan. Eall ac se ansund, se cyng becumman

The Last Kingdom

After reading Bernard Cornwell's, "The Last Kingdom"- There were many names and places that were mentioned in this story that caught my attention. One in particular was the name of the ship. Heahengel. The men on this ship were very powerful and the meaning reflects this. According to Cornwell, Heahengel means, "Archangel" . Through further research, I found some suggestions that it could have a meaning of "Super-human personage". Either way, it's a powerful name.

Old English Riddle

RIDDLE


(Old English)


Wiht is wrætlic þam þe hyre wisan ne conn:

singeð þurh sidan. Is se sweora woh,

orþoncum geworht; hafaþ eaxle tua

scearp on gescyldrum. His gesceapo [ . . .]

* * *

(Contemporary)


She shapes for her listeners a haunting sound

Who sings through her sides. Her neck is round

And delicately shaped; on her shoulders draped,

Beautiful jewels. Her fate is strange

* * *




Answer to the riddle:

Lyre Shepherd's Pipe, Shuttle (in conjunction with the following riddle)

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116

SONNET 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Tempests- (n.)

"violent storm," c.1250, from O.Fr. tempeste (11c.), from V.L. *tempesta, from L. tempestas (gen. tempestatis) "storm, weather, season," also "commotion, disturbance," related to tempus "time, season." Sense evolution is from "period of time" to "period of weather," to "bad weather" to "storm." Words for "weather" were originally words for "time" in languages from Russia to Brittany. Fig. sense of "violent commotion" is recorded from c.1315. Tempestuous is attested from 1447.

Writ- (v.)

O.E. writ "something written, piece of writing," from the past participle stem of writan (see write). Used of legal documents or instruments since at least 1121.