Creating a Master List of Significant Quotes

Joshua Malang – Prof. Flack’s English 6 – British Literature

 

 Creating a Master List of Significant Quotes

Major Work from the Middle Ages:

Beowulf

Quote:

“Do not give way to pride.  For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly...” (1761-2).

“Your piercing eye will dim and darken; and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away.” (1976-8).

Significance or Conveyance:

Life and Tragic Death

You bloom with life and strength, like the seasons, consequently we begin to wither away and death comes whether we like it or not. No matter how amazing you maybe come he is simply a man, this elegy, starting with a funeral and with a praise of his death.

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Major Work from the Middle Ages:

Lanval

Quote:

“I’ve served the king a long time; / I don’t want to betray my faith to him. Never, for you or for you love, will I do anything to harm my lord” (271-4).

Significance or Conveyance:

Honor

Early in the readings of Marie De France: Lanval, the writer tells the readers that even though Lanval is not respected by the King, however Lanval humbly shows his chivalry to the King and his honor towards his knighthood.

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Marjor Work from the Middle Ages:

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Quote:

But no wonder if a fool finds his way into folly and be wiped of his wits by womanly guile- it’s the way of the world. Adam fell because of a woman, and Solomon because of several, and as for Samson, was bamboozled by Bathsheba and bore the grief. All wrecked and ruined by their wrongs, if only we could love our ladies without believing their lies. (2414-21)

Significance or Conveyance:

The Norton Anthology states, mentioned in the introduction of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, “Sir Gawain epitomizes …blooming of Arthurian chivalry, and the reputation of the court rests upon his shoulders” (183). The poet also portrays women to be the downfall of many heroic men.

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Major Work from the Middle Ages:

Chaucer’s “General Prologue/Tale”

Quote:

“Although he was born a commoner and continued to associate with commoner in his official lie, he did not live as a commoner/ and although his training and service at court, his wife’s connections, and probably his poetry brought him into contact with the nobility, he must always have been conscious of the fact that he did not really belong to that society of which birth alone a could make a true member. Situated at the intersection of these social worlds, Chaucer had the gift of being able to view with both sympathy and humor the behaviors, beliefs, and pretensions of the diverse people who compromised the levels of society.” (240-241).

Significance or Conveyance:

Satire: In my opinion, with Chaucer’s personal history, and the fact that he mostly told his stories aloud, he was able to convey how people, yet divided into separate classes, do not have to be judged by their given classes and that because one is born into a particular class, this doesn’t mean we have to stereotype, because even the high class can be seen ignorant or fooled by one below his or her own class.

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Major Work from the Middle Ages:

The Book of Margery Kemp

Quote:

“Some great clerks said our Lay cried never so, nor no saint in heaven, but they knew full little what she felt, nor would they not believe that she might have abstained from crying if she wished.” Pg430

Significance or Conveyance:

Obligation

Although God sends vengeance to the world with such acts like earthquakes, he uses Margery to spread the word,  hence even though people do not understand her, since she is not being bad, yet extremely sad, the people seemed to be at awe that she cries with deep feelings her compassion to spread God’s word.

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Major Work from the Middle Ages:

Everyman

Quote:

“All that liveth appaireth (degenerates) fast.” (44)

Significance or Conveyance:

Quoted by God in direct detail that coincides with other related works of the Middle Ages, that basically, in my opinion is plain to see, that with life comes death. You cannot escape death; death is inevitable. Even writing this statement freaks me out and makes me realize too that life is short and do not take it for granted.

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