My Blog for Myth and Folklore

For this assignment, I started with the article about the Canterbury Tales, since that is what I am working on for my project. First article:  The_Canterbury_Tales This one is very intensive and covers not only a premise of the story but also a historical context, the themes, and the style of the writing. I imagine I am going to use this article a lot when I begin working on my project. From this article, there are links to all the other sections and a bunch of pictures of the different pilgrims. Second article:  General_Prologue This is the prologue and the beginning of the story. It not only gives a premise to the storytelling competition, it gives a background of the pilgrims and their destination. I am going to use a similar premise in my project and will refer to this article when I am working on my introduction. One thing I am debating is whether I will have a "Geoffrey Chaucer" character in my story. In the original, the author inserted himself into the tale, I d...

I am one of those people who would rather receive negative feedback than give it. I hate having to tell people that they messed up or were wrong. I do not like confrontation. If someone comes to me asking for help or advice, I readily give it but I have a hard time approaching someone to address a problem. Why do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise hbr This article discussed the fact that many managers do not give positive feedback and view it as optional. The author, however, believes that this is a mistake. In the article it is stated that managers underestimate the value of positive feedback and think that only negative feedback is necessary, however, employees who were polled think that managers should give both.  I am inclined to agree. I have worked at places before where my manager only ever spoke to me when I had made a mistake that needed to be addressed. I began to dread seeing him because we rarely had positive encounters. I feel like when you only hear abo...

Out of all of my options, I think I like the Canterbury Tales the best. For the three stories, I would like to rewrite the tale in a more modern setting, I like the idea of them being on an airplane, train, bus, or boat. I am not sure where they would be traveling to yet but maybe a tour or something like that. I would be introducing three new characters on this trip and telling their stories. Though I will have new characters with new backgrounds, occupations, and stories to tell, I think it would be fun to take the main theme of three of Chaucer's Tales and write my tales with the same themes. I haven't settled on specifics yet, however, wealth, love, competition, and deceitfulness seem to be prevalent in the tales. However, writing three new characters with backstories and tales might end up being too long. In which case, I could make one new character, giving them a long introduction and then having them tell two stories as was Chaucer's original intention. Some r...

Hector's Fate Achilles was approaching, fast as the wind, and Hector stood to face him. He leaned casually on his spear, by the gate of his beloved city, unfazed by the valiant warrior, the best of the Greeks. As the gap between them closed, Hector took up his spear in a fluid motion and readied it. They stood and faced one another, the greatest of the Greeks against the greatest of the Trojans. Despite the sweat, glistening at Achille's golden brow, the mighty warrior appeared fresh as if he had just started the fight. There was no sign of fatigue in his limbs or his eyes, keen and ready. It was as if Hector was looking on a god and not a mortal, yet his resolve never wavered, his courage never left him. He stood firm, the defender of Troy. Achilles hefted his massive spear, a gift from the gods, which only he could wield. He threw first and his spear flew straight. It would have struck true but Hector saw it coming and ducked. The spear hit the ground behind him and lo...

The Iliad  by Homer, translated by Alfred Church  One thing I noticed was how many Greeks the Trojans knew by name and vice-versa. During the fight for the body of Patroclus, the Trojans knew it was Menelaus and Ajax the Greater who fought for him. It wasn't as clear in this version but this part makes me a great fan of Menelaus because he was not a great fighter and yet he was the one who roused the Greeks to defend the body. He was not the strongest but in this instance, he was the bravest and most loyal of them. Apollo also plays a big part in this section as well. He seems to be the most involved of all the gods. He keeps Patroclus from taking Troy and helps to kill him, later he plays a part in killing Achilles, and at this time he saves the Trojans by pretending to be one of them and distracting Achilles long enough for them to escape. Though Hera and Athena are on the side of the Greeks they do not directly interfere this much. They lend strength to their favorites ...

The Iliad- Homer retold by A.J Church mythfolklore After reading these excerpts from the Iliad it struck me how frustrated Achilles must have been. The first time I read the book, I thought he was being overly dramatic when he fought with Agamemnon and then sat idle and refused to help when his countrymen where being killed, however, after reading it again I noticed that he already sacked twenty-three cities while Agamemnon did nothing. It is more understandable why he got fed up and swore not to help anymore. Besides that, he also already knew that if he stayed and fought he would die young. He was literally giving his life for Agamemnon's cause and got dishonored for it. That brings me to something else I noticed in the reading, the importance of honor. When Patroclus kills Sarpēdon, the Lycian's lasts words were to his comrade, Glaucus, imploring him to save his body from being desecrated and dishonored. At that time, honor and glory were more important than life, whi...