Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Reading Diary Week 13: Dante's Inferno

Dante and Virgil
His stories are so vivid and full of imagery. He lived under Augustus. The old man asks him why he doesn’t just go to heaven. I wonder what creature he talks about that guards to path escape the path to hell. What is Feltro? “ His birthplace will lie between Feltro and Feltro”.
The Gate of Hell and Charon
The words above the gate are so cryptic. Hell has angels in it? Fallen angels? Why would the deeper parts of Hell not accept the fallen angels? It says to keep evil from overtaking them, but isn’t that something Satan would want?
Limbo
When referring to the first circle, is it referring to the first circle of Hell or the first circle of Limbo? Limbo is full of unbaptized people. Only those mentioned from the bible were saved from Limbo.
Poets and Philosophers, Heroes and Heroines

Faces that are neither happy nor sad.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Reading Diary Week 11: King Arthur


I wonder why Merlin said that all the men should meet. I love the story of pulling the sword from the stone. That’s why I chose to read this unit.  I wonder who enchanted the sword. I never heard to backstory of Arthur and his father Sir Ector and his brother. It doesn’t say how old he is in this story.  I didn’t know that the sword was taken by his brother and he claimed he drew it from the stone. I also didn’t know that Merlin knew Arthur as an infant.

A land full of gryphons and serpents. I wonder what the mysterious creature is. Merlin can shape shift? I can’t believe that knight took Arthur’s horse. Arthur has a sister? And she will birth the children who will make his kingdom fall? Marlin is buried alive?!

The lady of the lake is from the King Arthur stories? I would have asked what she wanted as a gift before agreeing to it. Did all of Arthur’s weapons have special powers and enchantments?

I think it is interesting that his real father made the round table that was made so famous by his stories. It was neat that Leodegrance (the future queen’s father) gave it to Arthur because his father made it. I didn’t know it could fit 150 people. That is huge! I wonder what blessings were put on the knights. Why would Arthur allow his sister’s son to be a knight in his court when he knows the prophecy?

Excalibur and the scabbard will be taken by a woman Arthur trusts? I hate Vivien, or whatever her name is. I thought he meant he would be buried alive, not crushed by a stone.

Is Morgan Le Fay the woman who betrays and kills Arthur? She takes Arthur’s scabbard? Morgan had 40 horses with her? Were there men on them? Does she have a small army? She turned her and her men into marble. Holy cow, the messenger was killed by the mantle? I’m glad the lady of the lake was honest and saved Arthur.

This section was really short and didn’t really give me much to write notes on.

I think it is fun that the holy chapel of St. Augustine can only be found by adventure. I wonder if Arthur ever got his scabbard back. I wonder if the dream of Chaus is a warning or vision. The items from his dream were found with him? I am confused. Chaus’s death makes me sad.


I thought this section would include a more detailed account of how King Arthur obtained the Holy Grail. I wish it would have talked about it in more detail. I am touched by the sincerity and loyalty of the knights. 

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Storytelling Week 11: Jack and Jill



This boy’s name is Jack
He’s a plain looking lad
He is not very good,
Nor yet very bad.
He had a large goose
That laid eggs of pure gold
And he thought in his head, “this is very obtuse”
For his benefit, he left this story untold.
He had a friend that he liked a lot,
She was very beautiful and her name was Jill,
So he gathered the courage and gave it a shot,
They are still together much to his thrill.
They went to bed early one summer’s night,
They had to get sleep to do all their chores.
But before they went to bed, their prayers they recite
Very early the next morning, they would have to rise.
Jack and Jill were pretty great adults,
But they laid in bed until the clock struck ten.
Then Jack sat up from bed in a way so abrupt
And said, “oh lovely Jill, the day’s almost spent”.
They ran so quick Jill hit a wall and fell,
Little did she know she knocked over humpty dumpty,
Since she didn’t know, an apology she could not tell,
This made him kind of mad and very very grumpy.
Jack and Jill went up the Hill to fetch a pail of water,
On their way, they ran into Little Mary Bo Peep
Bo Peep was using the herder Jack bought her
One of her critters stood out, for he was the only black sheep.
Bo peep was talking to the little sheep,
While Jack and Jill didn’t say a peep.
Mary said “Bah bah black sheep, have you any wool?”
“Yes Mary, Yes Mary. Three bags full.
One for my master and one for my dame,
But none for the little boy who cries in the lane”.
Later Jack and Jill returned to fetch another pail,
They found Mary sleeping all on her own,
No sign of her sheep, not even a tail.
Suddenly, she awoke with a whine and a moan.

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep,

And can't tell where to find them;
Jack said “Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.”

Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still a-fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,
Determin'd for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all their tails behind 'em.
Jack and Jill went shortly to bed
Late on a beautiful Sunday
They both must pray then rest their head
For tomorrow is a rather busy Monday.

Months passed before they heard the story,
By this time, the weather was cold and snow began to flurry
The story has an end that is rather sad
It’s about a fall that an unlucky egg had.
IN marble walls as white as milk,
Lined with a skin as soft as silk;
Within a fountain crystal clear,
A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold.
Yet things break in and steal the gold.
(This previous rhyme describes an egg)
HUMPTY DUMPTY sate on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
Three score men and three score more
Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.