martes, 25 de enero de 2011

Don Quixote and the King Arthur


        How does medieval literature could tie in with students? Medieval literature may be approached in linguistic terms, regarding form and function (morphology, lexis, structure, form) and also from a cross-curricular perspective (Sociology, History, English, French and Spanish Language). Spanish students are expected to know about the British culture and its influence in Europe since students are required to know about the culture and history of its own language. So, medieval literature is easily approached by means of the subjects of History and Language, since literary productions in the Middle Ages have parallel developments. In addition, one of the objectives of teaching the English language is to provide good models of almost any kind of literary productions for future studies, and here we can find a good example of how different cultures mix each other for a common purpose, learning, looking at the most representative of our Spanish literary works Don quijote de la Mancha and one of the most representative English Legends, if not the most.

CAPÍTULO XIII
 Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza
1863, by Gustave Doré

Donde se da fin al cuento de la pastora Marcela, con otros sucesos.

    -¿No han vuestras mercedes leído -respondió don Quijote- los anales e historias de Ingalaterra, donde se tratan las famosas fazañas del rey Arturo, que continuamente en nuestro romance castellano llamamos el rey Artús, de quien es tradición antigua y común en todo aquel reino de la Gran Bretaña que este rey no murió, sino que, por arte de encantamento, se convirtió en cuervo, y que, andando los tiempos, ha de volver a reinar y a cobrar su reino y cetro; a cuya causa no se probará que desde aquel tiempo a éste haya ningún inglés muerto cuervo alguno? Pues en tiempo de este buen rey fue instituida aquella famosa orden de caballería de los caballeros de la Tabla Redonda, y pasaron, sin faltar un punto, los amores que allí se cuentan de don Lanzarote del Lago con la reina Ginebra, siendo medianera dellos y sabidora aquella tan honrada dueña Quintañona, de donde nació aquel tan sabido romance, y tan decantado en nuestra España, de:
    Nunca fuera caballero de damas tan bien servido como fuera Lanzarote cuando de Bretaña vino; con aquel progreso tan dulce y tan suave de sus amorosos y fuertes fechos.
    Pues desde entonces, de mano en mano, fue aquella orden de caballería estendiéndose y dilatándose por muchas y diversas partes del mundo; y en ella fueron famosos y conocidos por sus fechos el valiente Amadís de Gaula, con todos sus hijos y nietos, hasta la quinta generación, y el valeroso Felixmarte de Hircania, y el nunca como se debe alabado Tirante el Blanco, y casi que en nuestros días vimos y comunicamos y oímos al invencible y valeroso caballero don Belianís de Grecia. Esto, pues, señores, es ser caballero andante, y la que he dicho es la orden de su caballería; en la cual, como otra vez he dicho, yo, aunque pecador, he hecho profesión, y lo mesmo que profesaron los caballeros referidos profeso yo. Y así, me voy por estas soledades y despoblados buscando las aventuras, con ánimo deliberado de ofrecer mi brazo y mi persona a la más peligrosa que la suerte me deparare, en ayuda de los flacos y menesterosos. [...]
 

 
CHAPTER XIII
Gustave Doré's illustration of Arthur and Merlin, 1868.

In which is ended the story of the shepherdess Marcela, with other incidents

"Have not your worships," replied Don Quixote, "read the annals and histories of England, in which are recorded the famous deeds of King Arthur, whom we in our popular Castilian invariably call King Artus, with
regard to whom it is an ancient tradition, and commonly received all over that kingdom of Great Britain, that this king did not die, but was changed by magic art into a raven, and that in process of time he is to return to reign and recover his kingdom and sceptre; for which reason it cannot be proved that from that time to this any Englishman ever killed a raven? Well, then, in the time of this good king that famous order of chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table was instituted, and the amour of Don Lancelot of the Lake with the Queen Guinevere occurred, precisely as is there related, the go-between and confidante therein being the highly honourable dame Quintanona, whence came that ballad so well known and widely spread in our Spain
:
     O never surely was there knight so served by hand of dame, as served was he Sir Lancelot hight when he from Britain came
with all the sweet and delectable course of his achievements in love and war.
Handed down from that time, then, this order of chivalry went on extending and spreading itself over many and various parts of the world; and in it, famous and renowned for their deeds, were the mighty Amadis of
Gaul with all his sons and descendants to the fifth generation, and the valiant Felixmarte of Hircania, and the never sufficiently praised Tirante el Blanco, and in our own days almost we have seen and heard and
talked with the invincible knight Don Belianis of Greece. This, then, sirs, is to be a knight-errant, and what I have spoken of is the order of his chivalry, of which, as I have already said, I, though a sinner, have made profession, and what the aforesaid knights professed that same do I profess, and so I go through these solitudes and wilds seeking adventures, resolved in soul to oppose my arm and person to the most
perilous that fortune may offer me in aid of the weak and needy."
[...]

Sources:

- http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/cervantes/don-quixote/15/
- http://www.spanisharts.com/books/quijote/capitulo13.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 

miércoles, 19 de enero de 2011

Le Morte D'Arthur by Amelia Josephine Burr (1916)

Dealing with Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, I would like to show you a poem based on the topic I am tackling. On the other hand, I have made a translation of the poem into Spanish for those of you who are interested and for me to practice. I've tried to do my best in order to make a correct translation, sorry if something do not seem appropriate or if you find nonsensical parts.

LE MORTE D'ARTHUR
by
AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR



Some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead . . . rather will I say: Here in this world he changed his life.MALORY.


HE passed in mystery from mortal sight
Upon the waters that enshrined his sword.
There was no man whose eyes had seen the blight
Of death upon the face of Britain's lord,
And all of Arthur that was left his land
Was a great memory like an armoured ghost,
That steeled the sinews of the English hand
And thundered in the waves of England's coast.
 
Time made of Arthur and of Avalon
A poet's dream to please an idle hour,
While England through triumphant years went on
Proud in great riches, confident in power,
Girding the world with her imperial sway—
Too busy and too prosperous to see
The eastward threatening of a certain Day
That should make different all the days to be.


Before its dawn there came a man, whose eyes
Were strange alike to pity and to fear—
Not cruel, but unsparing, in the wise
Of those who see eternity too near.
Upon this quiet doer of his deed
Flamed the red morning of a world in dust.
"Trust him!" cried England in her final need,
And royally he rose to meet her trust.

Out of the stubborn stuff of youth untaught
He shaped an army to his high desire.
Unhastening, unfaltering, he wrought
Amid the rising tide of blood and fire
A living shield for England's labouring heart—
The breaking heart is too great to fail!
And then—as if time's curtains drew apart
To welcome back a kingly ghost in mail—


He passed in mystery from mortal sight.
The waters took him, as it was of old.
The tale of how death came to England's knight
Never by any moral may be told.
All we have left of Kitchener lives on,
Steel sinewed in the army that he made.
There may be joy to-day in Avalon
For the home-coming of a hero's shade.



(Algunos hombres dicen en muchas partes de Inglaterra que el Rey Arturo no está muerto… yo diría más: aquí en este mundo él cambió su vida.) —MALORY



ÉL pasó envuelto en misterio a la vista de los mortales
Sobre las aguas que su espada consagró.
No hubo hombre cuyos ojos hubieran visto la sombra
De la muerte sobre la cara del señor de Gran Bretaña,
Y todo lo que quedó de Arturo en su tierra
Fue un gran recuerdo como un fantasma con armadura,
Que armó de valor los tendones de la mano inglesa
Y bramó en las olas de la costa de Inglaterra.

El tiempo hizo de Arturo y de Avalon1
El sueño de un poeta para complacer una hora ociosa,
Mientras que Inglaterra a través de años clamorosos prosiguió
Orgullosa entre grandes riquezas, segura de su poder,
Rodeando el mundo con su dominio imperial—
Demasiado ocupada y próspera para ver
La amenaza proveniente del este que cierto día
Debería hacer de los días venideros algo diferente.

Antes de su albor vino un hombre, cuyos ojos
Eran extraños similares a la compasión y el miedo—
No era cruel, sino implacable, en la manera
De aquellos que veían demasiado cerca la eternidad.
Sobre este tranquilo hacedor de sus hazañas
Refulgió la mañana roja de un mundo convertido en polvo.
“¡Confiar en él!” gritó Inglaterra en su última necesidad,
Y soberanamente se erigió para enfrentarse con su responsabilidad

De todos aquellos jóvenes testarudos sin instruir
Creó un ejército de acuerdo a su gran deseo.
Sin apresurarse, inquebrantable, trajo
De entre la creciente marea de sangre y fuego
Un escudo vivo para el corazón luchador de Inglaterra—
¡El corazón roto es demasiado grande para malograrse!
Y entonces—como si los halos del tiempo se apartasen
Para dar de nuevo la bienvenida de un majestuoso fantasma con cota de malla—

Pasó envuelto en misterio a la vista de los mortales.
Las aguas se lo llevaron, como si fuera por vejez.
El relato de cómo la muerte le vino al caballero de Inglaterra
Nunca podría ser contada por ningún mortal.
Todo lo que nos ha quedado de Kitchener2 perdura
Fortaleza en el ejército que creó.
Hasta hoy puede que haya alegría en Avalon
Por el regreso a casa de la sombra de un héroe.


1Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum. 1850--1916, British field marshal. As head of the Egyptian army (1892--98), he expelled the Mahdi from the Sudan (1898), occupying Khartoum; he also commanded British forces (1900--02) in the Boer War and (1902--09) in India. He conducted the mobilization of the British army for World War I as war minister (1914--16); he was drowned on his way to Russia.

2Avalon (probably from the Welsh word afal, meaning apple; see Etymology below) is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend, famous for its beautiful apples. It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Excalibur (Caliburnus) was forged and later where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Avalon was associated from an early date with immortal beings such as Morgan le Fay.


Sources:

  • http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/AUTHMENU.htm
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page


Translated by: Javier Martín Mayor



miércoles, 8 de diciembre de 2010

Merlin's Charm of Making

I’d like to make a remark about the Charm Merlin utters at the beginning of scene 2. According to Michael Everson, the enigmatic Charm of Making, which Morgana learns from Merlin, is evidently an invention, there being no known classical source. Transcribed phonetically as spoken in the film, the charm is pronounced:

[aˈnaːl naθˈrax, uːrθ vaːs beˈθud, doxˈjeːl ˈdjenveː]

The most likely interpretation of the spoken words, supposedly composed in Old Irish, though the pronunciation in the film has little relation to how the text would actually be pronounced in Irish, is:

Anál nathrach,
orth’ bháis’s bethad,
do chél dénmha

In modern English, this would be translated as:

Serpent's breath,
charm of death and life,
thy omen of making.

In Spanish, it could be translated as follows:
 
Aliento de serpiente
conjuro de la muerte y de la vida
tu presagio de creación.

sábado, 27 de noviembre de 2010

Scenes

In this part, I want to show with the first 20 minutes of the film Excalibur (divided into two scenes), the origins of the legend mentioned below. I think is quite reliable to what it has been said and told about the origins of King Arthur. I hope you enjoy…
Part 1

Part 2



Source: Youtube

The film


Movie details
    
Ø Title                    Excalibur
Ø   Directed by          John Boorman
Ø   Produced by        John Boorman
Ø   Written by           Thomas Malory
                                  Rospo Pallenberg
                                  John Boorman
Ø   Starring               Nicol Williamson
                                  Nigel Terry
                                  Helen Mirren
Ø   Music by             Trevor Jones
    Carl Orff
    Richard Wagner
Ø      Cinematography   Alex Thomson
Ø      Editing by             John Merritt
Ø      Distributed by      Warner Bros. Pict
                                                   
Ø      Release date        April 10, 1081
Ø      Running time       Original cut
                                       140 min.
                                      Edited cut
                                      119 min.
Ø      Country                United States
                                      United Kingdom
Ø      Language             English
Ø      Gross revenue     $34,967,437


Cast

Ø      Keith Buckley as Uryens
Ø      Nigel Terry as King Arthur
Ø      Helen Mirren as Morgana Le Fay
Ø      Nicol Williamson as Merlin
Ø      Nicholas Clay as Lancelot
Ø      Cherie Lunghi as Guinevere
Ø      Liam Neeson as Gawain
Ø      Patrick Stewart as King Leondegrance
Ø      Clive Swift as Sir Ector
Ø      Gabriel Byrne as Uther Pendagron
Ø      Robert Addie as Mordred
Ø      Paul Geoffrey as Perceval

Synopsis

King Uther Pendragon upsets a fragile peace when he lusts after Igrayne, the wife of his former rival. With Merlin's help, he enters Igrayne's castle disguised as her absent husband and fathers a child, who will be Arthur, with her. Arthur is then raised by Merlin, and Uther is killed, thrusting before he dies the sword Excalibur into a stone from which it can be withdrawn only by the rightful ruler of the land. Arthur meanwhile grows up unaware of his lineage and destiny. By accident, he draws Excalibur from the stone and is proclaimed reluctant king. Eventually he establishes peace in the realm that is ensured by the fellowship of the Round Table. He marries Guinevere, but their happiness is shattered when Lancelot arrives. First cool to each other, Lancelot and Guinevere are soon involved in an adulterous affair that threatens the realm. Merlin himself is threatened by the wily Morgana, Arthur's half-sister, who has for years been secretly plotting revenge for the murder of her father by Merlin and Uther. When an enraged Arthur breaks Excalibur, the kingdom is plunged into chaos as the knights set forth in search of the elusive Grail, many falling into traps set by Morgana. Only Perceval is successful in his quest for the Grail, which he brings back to Camelot to heal Arthur. The renewed king rides forth to reclaim his land and to defeat Morgana and their son Mordred. In the final battle, Arthur kills Mordred but is himself mortally wounded. As Arthur sets sail in a boat captained by three mysterious women, Perceval returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, its magic denied to future generations for all times. Loosely based on Sir Thomas Malory's fifteenth century Le Morte D'Arthur, Boorman's film is a dark brooding meditation on the Arthurian legend in which Arthur becomes the Grail King.

Bibliography:
  • http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/acpbibs/harty.htm#excalib
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excalibur_(film)

    jueves, 18 de noviembre de 2010

    The origins

         The Arthurian legend belongs to Celtic tradition. It remained a matter of local interest until 12th century and no mentions are found in texts on the historical character of Arthur.
         The first explicit mention of Arthur is made in Nennius´s Historia Brittonum (800), where Arthur is described as dux bellorum. The character of Arthur achieved European circulation with the publication of Geoffrey of Monnmouth´s Historia Regum Britanniae (1135, s.XII).


    Arthur dux bellorum

         Who was Arthur Pendragon? Roman soldier, or king of Camelot, the utopia to which all others are compared? Does he still sleep, as the legends say, upon the isle of Avalon, to one day reawaken and save Britain once more? Or did he die, and was buried in Glastonbury Tor? Assuming he did exist, where was Camelot? The evidence, both archeological and literary, is contradictory. Also, most Arthurian legends seem to be based on far older ones. This only complicates the puzzle.

         Arthur, it seems, was based upon an actual historical figure. Named Artorius Dux Bellorum ('Duke' or 'Lord' of Battles), he led the Britons to defeat the Saxons who had invaded their land. (Day, 1995) The Saxons were originally hired by a previous king, Vortigern (overlord), to defeat the Picts. He told the Saxons that, in return, they would be allowed to settle in Britain. When things got out of hand, Ambrosius Aurelianus defeated them. Artorius was his second-in command. Later, Artorius led an army to defeat the Saxons at Mount Badon. Peace reigned for fifty years. (O'Neal, 1992) Legend says, and the archeological record seems to support, that King Arthur lived from the late fifth to early sixth centuries, from c. AD 465 - 542. (Day, 1995)

         Legend claims that Arthur was born at Tintagel Castle, which lies on the Cornwall coast. (brittania.com, 1998) Geoffrey of Monmouth first mentions the connection in his "History of the Kings of Britain," when Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, first became king upon the death of his brother Aurelius Ambrosius.
         During an Easter feast, King Uther noticed the Duke of Cornwall's wife, Ygerna, and became infatuated with her. The Duke, Gorlois, left as soon as he realized. Taking the opportunity to claim that the Duke had insulted him by leaving early, Uther declared war on him. While Gorlois was on the front lines, away from home, Uther had Merlin cast an illusion that made the king look like Gorlois. Then Merlin transported them to the Duke's castle. Ygerna, not realizing the deception, welcomed Uther as if he truly were Gorlois. Soon after, Gorlois died on the front lines. Nine months later, Arthur was born. Merlin took and hid the unchristened babe to keep him safe. He gave the babe to Sir Ector, one of Uther's most trustworthy knights, and told him to christen the baby Arthur. (Day, 1995).

    Bibliography
    • Day, David. The Search for King Arthur. New York: Facts on File, 1995.
    • O'Neal, Michael. Great Mysteries Opposing Viewpoints: King Arthur. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1992.
    • Ashe, Geoffrey. "Cadbury Castle: King Arthur's Camelot?" King Arthur on Britannia (1998) Online. Internet. 14 April 1999. www.britannia.com/history/arthur.html.

    miércoles, 17 de noviembre de 2010

    The Round Table

    Some research has taken place nowadays in order to find any evidence and proof of the existence of this table intimately linked to this legend. These research involve experts on different subjects and fields.


    Introduction

    This is the most popular theme which later English poetry derived from medieval legend and that can be also included in the oral traditional literature:
    -         King Arthur, Guinevere, the Knights- Lancelot, Gawain, Perceval
    King Arthur is said to be a British King about whom there are many doubts and many contradictory aspects. Genealogies and elements from his life and environment are different or do not coincide.
    According to the tradition he was Uther’s and Igraine’s son. Arthur got married to Guinevere always finding near to him some invincible knights such as the ones mentioned before. Traditions also talk about a magician called Merlin and all of them agree introducing Mordred as Arthur’s main enemy. King Arthur also appears near Excalibur which is the name of a very significant sword. King Arthur’s knights achieve many deeds on his benefit and one of them it was the search of the Holy Grail.
    Next to the Round Table Knights it appears this Holy Grail which is an spiritual adventure and also a search of power.