Re: NATLANG: Middle English Stories
| From: | David Peterson <thatbluecat@...> |
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| Date: | Sunday, October 12, 2003, 9:27 |
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TIA wrote:
<<What are some common themes in Middle English period stories? We're
supposed to try to make the subject matter, as well as the language, as
authentic to period as we can. I don't know anything about what was
written during that time -- all I know is I probably can't write about my
conculture, ne? ;)>>
May I suggest two items: (1) Chaucer's Caunterbury Tales, and (2) Edmund
Spencer's The Faerie Queene.
The first will give you a good idea of what was popular at the time, what
themes, etc. Excellent source for that. The second will give you an idea of
what someone who did *not* speak Middle English did to make his English *look*
like Middle English. He tried to adopt all the old spelling conventions,
sentence structures, vocabulary, everything, and in many cases he overgenerated
(invented words/spellings that were never used in Middle English), and
undergenerated (i.e., couldn't break out of his own language patterns). And the
poems themselves are wonderful. For an English (literature) class up at
Berkeley, a paper I did was I wrote two "missing" stanzas from The Faerie Queene, and
reinserted, and then discussed their effect on the poem as a whole, as well as
their internal structure. To do this, I had to imitate Spencer imitating
Middle English. It was a good exercise.
Anyway, this sounds neat. I'd love to read what you come up with. :)
-David
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