Englisches Seminar - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

050 627 Houwen
Wisdom and Experience: The Old English Elegies, 5 CP
2 st. di 14-16 GB 6/137 Nord
The Old English elegies are “a relatively short reflective or dramatic poem embodying
a contrasting pattern of loss and consolation, ostensibly based upon a specific
personal experience or observation, and expressing an attitude towards that
experience" and their characteristic scenery includes “the sea with cliffs, hail, snow,
rain, and storms, plus the meadhall of heroic poetry with its lords, warriors, hawks,
horses, and precious cups” (Greenfield). Depending on one’s precise definition eight
or nine elegies may be distinguished: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Riming
Poem, Deor, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, Resignation, The Husband's
Message, and The Ruin. They form a genre of their own in that neither in form nor in
contents do they resemble classical or more modern elegies.
The course will revolve around these nine elegies. We will concentrate on the literary
aspects and all poems will therefore be made available in translation, but some
translation work is also envisaged (short passages from each poem). Primary and
secondary material will be made available via Blackboard.
Assessment/requirements: essay to be written in the last class under exam
conditions. The topic may be decided in consultation with the lecturer. Only nonannotated
primary texts may be used during the exam.
050 628 Houwen
The Grail Romances, 5 CP
2 st. do 12-14 GABF 04/614 Süd
Description: The mysterious vessel known as the Grail which starts its life as a platter
but eventually turns into a chalice or a cup first appears in Chrétien’s Conte du Graal
from around 1180. In Middle English its later history is recounted in Malory’s Morte
Darthur. For the early history of the Grail we have to turn to other texts and it is the
early history that is central to this course. In early accounts the Grail is equated with
the chalice of the Last Supper in which Joseph of Arimathea preserved the blood of
Christ. Joseph takes this vessel to Britain, presumably to play a part in the
evangelising process. The two that we will study are Joseph of Arimathie from the
end of the fourteenth century and extracts from Henry Lovelich’s The History of the
Holy Grail (c. 1430). We may also have a look at the later print(s) of the Joseph of
Arimathea legend.
Assessment: The course will be rounded off with an essay. BA/MA Übung: 6-8 pages