Thursday, August 30, 2007

Reading

• Pearl, I–VII
• “Pearl and Middle English”

Notes

We will begin by discussing material from yesterday. In some ways, Pearl functions as a response to the curse(s) at the end of Genesis 3, although this connection is far from apparent.

Once we get to Pearl, I’ll have a few introductory things to say about the poem, its structure, etc. Then we’ll attempt to parse these questions:

• What role does nature play while the poet/narrator is awake?
• How do the poet/narrator’s surroundings change after he has fallen asleep?