This lady was off her rocker...


It's kinda sad that she reminded me of people from high school. You know, those people who are desperate for attention enough to think that making up out-there stories and passing them off as fact will get them friends. Gah! 

I think she kept telling these stories because some people actually started to believe her. In a way, she possibly started to believe her stories herself.  In the end, reality and her "visions" may have indeed become mixed in her mind. If I had met the woman, I probably would slap her and tell her to come to her senses or get her some mental help.

   I liked this glimpse into the story better than Le Roman de Tristran. Great imagery. My favorite bit:

Like honeysuckle which you see

Wrapped around a hazel tree;

When it takes hold there and has bound

The trunk with tendrils all around,

They will live, both vine and stem,

But should someone uncouple them,

Then the hazel quickly dies,

And the honeysuckle likewise.

   The part of this poem (lay) that intrigued me the most was the portrayal of Guinevere. She really has a thing for knights. I’ve never seen her portrayed so blatantly two-faced. Funny thing is, I feel like I’ve heard this story before, a long time ago. Oh well.

   I just woke up, so this entry won’t have anything else worth reading. I’ll just stop here.


Fairy Tales rock.

Chatty, aren’t we?

   Holy monkeys on toast! During the storm, Ysolt goes on and on in a redundant tragedy-ridden soliloquy. If it were me…I’d be trying to help the crew get the ship under control or at least shut up. I’m sure the sailors were annoyed by her self-pitying speech. They probably have people to live for too, you don’t see them crying to the heavens.

Ysolt and Ysolt

   Tristran married a chick named Ysolt? Someone has major issues.

Land Ho!

   No wind. Land in sight. Lover is dying. I’d be swimming. 
            
                                       

   The line that cracked me up was; “I shall do as a true lover: I will die for you in return!” Like Romeo and Juliet, these lovers have bad luck and are a little bit dim. One thing though…what actually killed Ysolt?

Overall, a sad story...but I couldn't get myself to feel bad for Ysolt. She came off kinda ditzy.

Short and not so sweet

   My only confusion with this poem was wondering if the husband had turned against the speaker or if she imagined that they were feeling the same anguish in being apart.  It was because of the vagueness of the following:

With glad countenance, how often we vowed that death alone—nothing else—would drive us apart. That vow has been overthrown. Our friendship is as if it had never been.

   After reading what the textbook had to say, I found that it can be interpreted either way depending on how the poem was translated. So I don’t feel so crazy now.

This put me in a gloomy, yet hopful, mood.

Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?

   “Then the wounds are deeper in his heart, sore for want of his dear one.”  This line is beautiful. It represents the feeling the speaker has in losing his lord and kinsmen. It sounds almost as if he’s lost a lover. This emotion towards friends and family is rarely expressed in this way in modern times. It’s very refreshing.

Carpe diem.
 Near the end of this lament is an important message. “Here (earth’s kingdom) wealth is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here man is fleeting, here woman is fleeting—all this earthly habitation shall be emptied.” Even though the speaker is in solitude, he now knows that life is a fragile, temporary thing.  

*edit* Holy crap...I thought this poem sounded familiar. It's very similar to:

"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"
 
-Aragorn [The Two Towers]

Yes...dweeb again. To be clear...it's from the BOOK. In the movie Theoden gets  a few lines that shadow this...but it was originaly Aragorn.

(Disclaimer: I am not Christian. If I get any references wrong, please forgive me as that is your way. I never mean to offend anyone. I have thoughts and I have no control as to where they lead.)

Thou shalt not kill…
 Christianity is very confusing. It’s bad for Holofernes to “violate the bright woman” Judith, but its ok for Judith to kill Holofernes. I would think both were bad. One sin for another doesn’t seem like God’s way. I may have missed it, but I don’t remember God actually coming to Judith and helping her with her victory (see note 1). According to my Catholic resource (my mom), that would mean Judith is lying when saying God helped her in her victory.

 The meek shall inherit the earth, and Judith is by no means meek.