Nnnngggghhhh

[thefoolshope]

Why did I think taking two senior seminars in one semester as a junior was a good idea.

Why did I think taking a Chaucer seminar was a good idea.

Why am I reading so many poems in a language that I don't speak.

Why did I decide, once I found that Middle English is just too hard to muddle through on my own, that it would be an even better idea to

Comments

[irisbleufic]

You'd be surprised how easy Middle English gets once you've been exposed to it for a month or so. And how easy it is to consider it a valid graduate school subject once you've been exposed to it for months on end *headdesk*

That's what happened to me, anyway.

[thefoolshope]

Oh man I hope it gets easier. I have an intense love of Chaucer and similar, so I am super excited to be in this seminar (not just because my professor referenced the Old Spice commercial in class...), but sometimes I question my own sanity. My Middle English skills are slowly improving (emphasis on slowly) but I'm amazed at how much I enjoy writing up my own translations. I think I might actually spend the rest of my life on this stuff...

Thanks for the comment and encouragement :)

[figarogamgee399]

For some reason I find Chaucer to be really really slow. But Langland's Piers Ploughman (a different ME dialect...makes me think more of Old English) is a breeze. That may or may not be encouraging...

But you sound like you should become a grad student in English. That is what the people who enjoy torturing themselves by taking multiple senior seminars when they are only juniors do. :-)

I did once think it would be wise to write out a complete translation of the Battle of Maldon the day before the paper was due...in my first semester of Old English. I didn't have a paper, but I did have ten pages of translation...which I very foolishly GAVE to my teacher (to prove I had done a lot of work, even if I didn't have a paper).

So yeah....join the other insane people in grad school. You'll never regret it. Hehe.

[thefoolshope]

Oh I definitely will probably end up being a grad student in English! I really do love it, for some really weird reason. The translations are really difficult but completely worthwhile. Also, it turns out the other senior seminar, the one that isn't on Chaucer, isn't actually a senior seminar, it's a grad seminar, which nobody told me

(But it's on Tolkien, so it's still a good thing!)

I have also been working on translating Beowulf in my spare time, oh no, even though I've never had a class in Old English, oh no! I've never encountered Piers Ploughman before, but I'll definitely look it up! I adore Chaucer, most of the time, but we're reading House of Fame now. I've got sort of a love/hate relationship going on at this point.

[figarogamgee399]

I took a Tolkien class my senior year and it was basically THE BEST CLASS EVER! I mean, I love love LOVE all literature, so I love that homework is often a lot of reading...but when I saw on the syllabus assignments from The Lord of the Rings, and "On Fairie Stories" etc. I thought I would geek out!

You should definitely take a class in OE if you get a chance. It's a wonderful language, and I found that as a Tolkien fanatic of...12 years at that point, there was a lot that I could intuit, when it came to translation.

:-)

[thefoolshope]

Oh I am absolutely taking as many OE classes as my school offers (probably just one). I already know the professor, and he's fantastic (He's my Chaucer professor) and even though he's a really tough grader he'd be wonderful to have a class like that with. My Tolkien seminar is totally awesome so far, and I am so excited to just talk about it. Plus I'm starting to get a whole new appreciation for his skill with language, like you said! Learning is awesome.

Speaking of On Fairie Stories, if I manage to sneak my way into the London semester I am definitely taking as many mythology classes as possible! Hopefully also some Tolkien classes... Aw who am I kidding, if I get into the London semester I'm gonna just take all the classes and never sleep.