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The Feminine, the Monstrous and the Supernatural in the English Middle Ages.
English literature module. © RafaÅ‚ BorysÅ‚awski
Revision points (lectures):
1. What might be the common cultural features shared by medieval representations of femininity,
monstrosity and the supernatural?
2. Present and discuss briefly varied contexts of medieval femininity.
3. What is meant by the palimpsestic nature of medieval texts and cultural narratives?
Examples?
4. Who was a scop and what were his cultural roles? An example?
5. What are the three stylistic features of Old English poetry?
6. In what way is monstrosity manifested in Beowulf and in its manuscript?
7. What is liminality in culture and what are its manifestations in Beowulfian monsters?
8. Who was Tacitus and what were his observations on the roles of women in Germanic
societies?
9. What were the chief roles of women in early Scandinavian societies?
10. Discuss perspectives on fate in early Scandinavian societies and their correlations with
femininity. Consider examples from the Poetic Edda.
11. Discuss several examples of the way in which medieval femininity was explored/imagined by
20th and 21st c. filmmakers. (refer to at least 2 films)
12. Discuss several examples of the way in which medieval monstrosity was explored/imagined
by 20th and 21st c. filmmakers. (refer to at least 2 films)
13. What is cultural teratology? Present the ways in which it may find its uses in cultural theory
and cultural psychology.
14. What was monstrous to medieval thinkers? Refer to the ideas of particular authors.
15. Discuss the idea of a monster as an effective sign in medieval culture (use examples of 2-3
books known in the early Middle Ages). How was that sign akin to an enigma?
16. What was the social status of Anglo-Saxon women (from the class of freemen and the noble
class)?
17. Discuss some examples of the roles of women in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Refer to 2-3 texts
familiar to you from the reading list.
18. Who was Abbess Hild of Whitby and what was her role in the symbolic birth of (Old) English
literature? Where and by whom was it related?
19. Discuss the idea of a monster as a riddle (and vice versa). In what way do riddles in culture
combine the seemingly opposing roles of play, wisdom and magic?
20. What are the etymological proofs of the multiplicity of roles performed by riddles in early
European societies. What is the Old English giedd?
21. What were the charms and their roles in early societies. Examples of Old English charms?
22. What was fin amor, when and where did it originate?
23. In what way was fin amor focused on moral and social improvement of (mostly) men?
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24. Discuss what we know of Marie de France and her cultural environment. What are her
heroines like?
25. Who was Andreas Capellanus? Discuss briefly the role of his text in the cultural construct of
medieval idealised love.
26. What were chivalric romances and how were (and are) they traditionally divided?
27. Discuss briefly the rise of Arthurian myth in medieval Europe (referring to most notable
medieval authors). What was its connection to the so-called matter of Rome?
28. Who was the Pearl-Poet and what were his chief literary achievements?
29. Discuss some instances of medieval misogyny what aspects of femininity were considered
as (potentially) dangerous by some medieval authors?
30. Discuss medieval misogynistic perspective on the apparent sinfulness of women (medievally
understood sins of women ).
31. Discuss the motif of the dread of the feminine power over men. Refer also to examples from
the class reading list.
32. What are fabliaux and in what way can they be referred to medieval misogynistic
perspectives?
33. What are sheela-na-gigs and what are their spatial and cultural contexts?
34. Discuss the idea of cultural subversion in fabliaux. In what way the sheela-na-gig figures can
be representative of such subversiveness.
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