Monday, March 23, 2015

Kneeghts and Fayerays: Every Middle (English) Man for Themselves

This story was a complete and total whirlwind. I've never read Middle English before, so I decided that it would be best to read the entire thing out loud and get a feel for the words. It is so very, very difficult not to say knight as nite instead of KNEECHT and might as MEECHT, but it was a learning experience, and was actually really enjoyable and hilarious.   


Im heer to ruine alle youre lives. 

That being said, I did like the story overall. I thought there was a bit of a change in the Wife's sermon now that we read it in the original text, that there was more emphasis placed on poverty than what the modern English version had given us. Maybe it's just because it's a different form of English, but I felt there was a lot more emphasis placed on the socioeconomic status of the wife. 

I also felt it was easier to disconnect from the kneecht and his crime, maybe because it takes a little longer to process the words, but...  I didn't see too much emphasis on character? I mean, there are Distinct People here who Do Things, but aside from the fact that the kneecht is a completely shitty person, there's not a lot of who they are. I couldn't really feel much personality from any of them, which is always strange for me in a piece of literature. 

(and now I'm going to forever refer to "knights" as "kneechts" and no one can stop me)

1 comment:

  1. I understand your pain. I keep wanting to call the knights “kniggits” after my brother made a Monty Python reference. But I agree with what you said about their personalities. If it is just the fact that we are confused because we are reading it in Middle English, then hopefully after the next couple stories we will get used to the words and be able to pick out more information from it. Until then I think we are reduced to relying on online summaries and the class discussions for our information.

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