The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of the most objectionable vices which has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning (immoral) fallen man's tendency to sin. It consists of "Lust", "Gluttony", "Greed", "Sloth", "Wrath", "Envy", and "Pride".
The Catholic Church divided sin into two principal categories: "Venial sins", which are relatively minor, and could be forgiven through any Sacramentals or Sacraments of the church, and the more severe "Capital" or Mortal sins. Mortal sins destroyed the life of grace, and created the threat of eternal damnation unless either absolved through the sacrament of Confession, or forgiven through perfect contrition on the part of the penitent.
Beginning in the early 14th century, the popularity of the seven deadly sins as a theme among European artists of the time eventually helped to ingrain them in many areas of Christian culture and Christian consciousness in general throughout the world. One means of such ingraining was the creation of the mnemonic "SALIGIA" based on the first letters in Latin of the seven deadly sins: superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira, acedia
These 'evil thoughts' can be broken down into three groups[:
• lustful appetite (Gluttony, Fornication, and Avarice)
• irascibility (Anger)
• intellect (Vainglory, Sorrow, Pride, and Discouragement
Origins
The Seven Deadly Sins never occur as a formal list in the Bible. Some people say they can all be found in Matthew's Gospel (chapters 5 through 7), but they are not in a simple list there. Others submit Proverbs 6:16-19, but this is a different list, covering pride, lies, murder, evil plans, swiftness in sin, lies again, causing conflict. Clearly not the same.
These sins were identified as a group around the same time as the Bible was being translated into a single language. Rather than these sins being identified in a single place in the Bible, they are found all through it, from Genesis to Revelation. The letters of the New Testament mention all of these, and many others as well. The Catechism has many Scriptural references in the section that lists the "Seven Deadly Sins." It is well to remember that the Scriptures come from the Jewish and Christian Churches, not the other way around. In both cases, faith preceded the writing.
Pride (Opposing virtue: Humility)
Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive. If someone else's pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride.
Avarice/Greed (Opposing Virtue: Generosity)
This is about more than money. Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its "fair share" or a bit more.
Envy (Opposing Virtue: Love)
"Love is patient, love is kind…" Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.
Wrath/Anger (Opposing Virtue: Kindness)
Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.
Lust (Opposing Virtue: Self Control)
Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.
Gluttony (Opposing Virtue: Faith and Temperance)
Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.
Sloth (Opposing Virtue: Zeal)
Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God's commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.
17 Kasım 2009 Salı
3 Kasım 2009 Salı
Danish Influence
The Danish king Canute, or Cnut, took over the whole country after a further series of Viking invasions
The shape of England , as we know it, began to emerge when Canute took control of Britain.
As of the tenth century, England was divided into "shires", units of unequal size later to be called counties; each of these had a court which met twice a year and was presided over by the king's representative, the shire-rieve, now "sheriff".
The shires in turn were divided into hundreds (or in the Danes' lands, wapentakes), again unequal in size and each with its own court; this was the court most used by the rural population, who lived in villages.
Was Canute really a great king?
Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributed to his good treatment of the Church, which controlled the historic records.
He nevertheless brought England more than two decades of peace and prosperity. The medieval church loved order, supporting good and efficient sovereignty whenever the circumstances allowed it; so, we see him described even today as a religious man, despite the fact that he lived openly in what was effectively a bigamous relationship, and despite his apparent responsibility for several political murders.
The Scandinavian Settlements
From the middle of the ninth century, large numbers of Norse invaders settled in Britain, particularly in northern and eastern areas, and in the eleventh century the whole of England had a Danish king, Canute.
The distinct North Germanic speech of the Norsemen had a great influence on English, which is most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this source.
Such borrowed words include some very basic examples; such as, "take" and even grammatical words; such as, "they".
The common Germanic base of the two languages meant that there were still many similarities between Old English and the language of the invaders.
Some words, for example "give" perhaps show a kind of hybridization with some spellings going back to Old English and others being Norse in origin.
The similarities between the two languages are so great that in many cases it is impossible to be sure of the exact ancestry of a particular word or spelling; however, much of the influence of Norse, including the vast majority of the loanwords, does not appear in written English until after the next great historical and cultural upheaval, the Norman Conquest.
The Vikings left their system of legal procedures in England
Danish, like Saxon kings, thought of themselves as unifiers and as lawgivers, and Canute's "dooms" or laws are considered to be the most advanced in Europe at that time.
Canute is said to have had great respect for the old English laws, to which he brought a keen sense of justice and a regard for individual rights; however, it is said that Canute's laws merely repeated those enacted by his predecessors, including Ethelred II, and when they took any action with religious or ecclesiastical subjects, they frequently echoed the homiletic style of Archbishop Wulfstan.
Canute is said to have shown himself a defender of the rights of the Church and he did penance for the wrongdoings of his Viking forefathers, built churches, and made many generous gifts to others.
One of the laws, among many, was an agreement reached between the English and the Danes at Oxford in 1018 which decided: "that above all other things they would ever honour one God and steadfastly hold one Christian faith."
His laws included statutes against heathen practices and during the rest of the Anglo-Saxon period, most sees were occupied by men of learning and integrity and so it is believed that the English Church was neither decadent nor corrupt when the Normans came later.
Canute "strengthened his position in England" by marriage with Emma of Normandy, the widow of Æthelred, who was Canute's former opposition in England
None of Canute's children produced any heirs and it was one of Emma's sons by Æthelred, Edward (later known as "the Confessor"), who returned from Normandy to ascend to the English throne in 1042.
The Vikings continued to use the Anglo-Saxon system of measures
The man on the left side is speaking with the woman, "One measure-full of peas, please."
On the right, the salesman is saying, "Two arm stretches + 5 spans = 2.5 armstretches." The woman responds, "All right, give me five more spans so I can have three armstretches."
The shape of England , as we know it, began to emerge when Canute took control of Britain.
As of the tenth century, England was divided into "shires", units of unequal size later to be called counties; each of these had a court which met twice a year and was presided over by the king's representative, the shire-rieve, now "sheriff".
The shires in turn were divided into hundreds (or in the Danes' lands, wapentakes), again unequal in size and each with its own court; this was the court most used by the rural population, who lived in villages.
Was Canute really a great king?
Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributed to his good treatment of the Church, which controlled the historic records.
He nevertheless brought England more than two decades of peace and prosperity. The medieval church loved order, supporting good and efficient sovereignty whenever the circumstances allowed it; so, we see him described even today as a religious man, despite the fact that he lived openly in what was effectively a bigamous relationship, and despite his apparent responsibility for several political murders.
The Scandinavian Settlements
From the middle of the ninth century, large numbers of Norse invaders settled in Britain, particularly in northern and eastern areas, and in the eleventh century the whole of England had a Danish king, Canute.
The distinct North Germanic speech of the Norsemen had a great influence on English, which is most obviously seen in the words that English has borrowed from this source.
Such borrowed words include some very basic examples; such as, "take" and even grammatical words; such as, "they".
The common Germanic base of the two languages meant that there were still many similarities between Old English and the language of the invaders.
Some words, for example "give" perhaps show a kind of hybridization with some spellings going back to Old English and others being Norse in origin.
The similarities between the two languages are so great that in many cases it is impossible to be sure of the exact ancestry of a particular word or spelling; however, much of the influence of Norse, including the vast majority of the loanwords, does not appear in written English until after the next great historical and cultural upheaval, the Norman Conquest.
The Vikings left their system of legal procedures in England
Danish, like Saxon kings, thought of themselves as unifiers and as lawgivers, and Canute's "dooms" or laws are considered to be the most advanced in Europe at that time.
Canute is said to have had great respect for the old English laws, to which he brought a keen sense of justice and a regard for individual rights; however, it is said that Canute's laws merely repeated those enacted by his predecessors, including Ethelred II, and when they took any action with religious or ecclesiastical subjects, they frequently echoed the homiletic style of Archbishop Wulfstan.
Canute is said to have shown himself a defender of the rights of the Church and he did penance for the wrongdoings of his Viking forefathers, built churches, and made many generous gifts to others.
One of the laws, among many, was an agreement reached between the English and the Danes at Oxford in 1018 which decided: "that above all other things they would ever honour one God and steadfastly hold one Christian faith."
His laws included statutes against heathen practices and during the rest of the Anglo-Saxon period, most sees were occupied by men of learning and integrity and so it is believed that the English Church was neither decadent nor corrupt when the Normans came later.
Canute "strengthened his position in England" by marriage with Emma of Normandy, the widow of Æthelred, who was Canute's former opposition in England
None of Canute's children produced any heirs and it was one of Emma's sons by Æthelred, Edward (later known as "the Confessor"), who returned from Normandy to ascend to the English throne in 1042.
The Vikings continued to use the Anglo-Saxon system of measures
The man on the left side is speaking with the woman, "One measure-full of peas, please."
On the right, the salesman is saying, "Two arm stretches + 5 spans = 2.5 armstretches." The woman responds, "All right, give me five more spans so I can have three armstretches."
Britain in the Middle Ages
England during the Middle Ages (from the 5th century withdrawal of Roman forces from the province of Britannia and the Germanic invasions, until the late Anglo-Saxon period) was fragmented into a number of independent kingdoms. By the High Middle Ages, after the end of the Viking Age and the Norman Conquest, the Kingdom of England came to rule much of the area previously ruled by the Romans; the territory of Roman Britain that did not fall under English rule was held by the Kingdoms of Wales and the Kingdom of Scotland.
The medieval period in England can be dated from the arrival in Kent of Anglo-Saxon troops led by the legendary Hengest and Horsa. Subsequently those Brythonic Celtic kingdoms whose territories lay within the area of modern England were conquered by Jutes, Angles and Saxons Germanic tribes, from the contemporary Angeln and Jutland areas of Northern Germany and mainland Denmark. Political takeover of other areas of England proceeded piecemeal and was not completed until the 10th century.
Similarly, the end of the medieval period is usually dated by the rise of what is often referred to as the "English Renaissance" in the reign of Henry VIII, and the Reformation in Scotland, or else to the establishment of a centralised, bureaucratic monarchy by Henry VII. From a political point of view, the Norman Conquest of England divides medieval Britain in two distinct phases of cultural and political history. From a linguistic point of view the Norman Conquest had only a limited effect, Old English evolving into Middle English, although the Anglo Norman language would remain the language of those that ruled for two centuries at least, before mingling with Middle English.
At the height of pre-Norman medieval English power, a single English king ruled from the border with Scotland to the border with Wales]. After the Norman Conquest, English power intruded into Wales with increasing vigour. Southern England, due to its proximity to Normandy, Flanders and Brittany, had closer relations with them than the other regions.
The medieval period in England can be dated from the arrival in Kent of Anglo-Saxon troops led by the legendary Hengest and Horsa. Subsequently those Brythonic Celtic kingdoms whose territories lay within the area of modern England were conquered by Jutes, Angles and Saxons Germanic tribes, from the contemporary Angeln and Jutland areas of Northern Germany and mainland Denmark. Political takeover of other areas of England proceeded piecemeal and was not completed until the 10th century.
Similarly, the end of the medieval period is usually dated by the rise of what is often referred to as the "English Renaissance" in the reign of Henry VIII, and the Reformation in Scotland, or else to the establishment of a centralised, bureaucratic monarchy by Henry VII. From a political point of view, the Norman Conquest of England divides medieval Britain in two distinct phases of cultural and political history. From a linguistic point of view the Norman Conquest had only a limited effect, Old English evolving into Middle English, although the Anglo Norman language would remain the language of those that ruled for two centuries at least, before mingling with Middle English.
At the height of pre-Norman medieval English power, a single English king ruled from the border with Scotland to the border with Wales]. After the Norman Conquest, English power intruded into Wales with increasing vigour. Southern England, due to its proximity to Normandy, Flanders and Brittany, had closer relations with them than the other regions.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
King Arthur was a king who ruled England. He brought peace to the land because no enemy could defeat him and many backed away from his deadly sword. Arthur owned a special sword that was given to him and that could kill anyone. The scabbard, or the sword’s case, could instantly heal any disease. This sword was called Excalibur. When King Arthur was ruling England, he grew restless and the legend goes that he soon conquered France. He then formed Camelot and the Round Table. Camelot was Arthur’s royal castle and the place where the Round Table was located.King Arthur and the knights were semi-fictional characters that protected England for over a century. The debate over whether they really existed is still a hot topic with historians. Most agree that he did rule England around 500 A.D. Since he lived before the middle ages, he was not the medieval knight that many think he was. Most believe that he did rule England for a short while but not in the style of greatness that the stories make him out to be. Some historians believe that he did live in Camelot with his Round Table. No matter what the real facts are, it is true that King Arthur probably did exist.Many people wonder if the Round Table was a round table, a group of men, or just a figure of speech. It was actually a real table created to seat over 150 knights in King Arthur’s castle, Camelot. It was made of very valuable wood and by its size would have been worth A LOT of money. It was created by Merlin as a wedding present when Arthur married Guinevere. There are rumors that said that Merlin enchanted the table to make it invincible when Arthur was alive. This is of course only a rumor. The round table was a majestic and powerful table.
Who's Who in the Round Table
Arthur
Arthur was a legendary warrior. He was the leader of the Britons against the Angelo-Saxons in 500 A.D. He was announced king when he pulled a mysterious sword from a rock. He became a knight and given a magical sword by the lady of the lake. He later founded the knights of the round table and had many adventures. He was mortally wounded when a rebellion was led by his nephew Mordred.
Merlin
Merlin is a wizard best known as a protector of Arthur to set up the round table of Knights. Many do not know, that in Celtic Myth he is known as Myrddin. He is a man who could see into the future. The terror of war made him mad and he fled into the forest where he lived like a wild man. Merlin used his powers to protect Arthur. But he had a weakness for women and the Lady of the Lake imprisoned him forever in the branches of a Hawthorn tree. Historians argue whether he exists but they are pretty sure the storyteller Myrddin exists. He served three kings: Aurelius, Uther, and the most famous, Arthur.
Galahad
Galahad is one of the three knights who found the Holy Grail. He is also the one who can sit in the Siege Perilous, the seat at The Round Table reserved for the Grail Knight. He was the one to bring Christianity to Britain. He was known as the perfect knight.
Lancelot
Lancelot was considered the best knight in the land. He was of royal blood by birth because his parents were the King and Queen of Benwick. The Lady of The Lake raised him. He did many great deeds including: Defeating the "invincible knight" (I believe that is the fifth Invincible knight I met), Sir Turquine who turned evil and imprisoned 64 of King Arthur’s knights. He also defeated the giants who were destroying the town of Whitmere.
Guinevere
Guinevere was Arthur’s wife. She was the daughter of the King of Cameliarde. Once Arthur was firmly established on the throne, he picked Guinevere to be his wife. This marriage was against Merlin’s warning that she would betray him. For his wedding present, Merlin presented Arthur with the Round Table, the legendary table that held all the Knights in Arthur’s Court. She and Lancelot fell in love and that was one of the factors that lead to Arthur’s end. She then spent the rest of her life in a nunnery at Amesbury.
Morgana
Morgana was a mixed character who was sometimes evil and sometimes good. She learned her magic from Merlin. Some accounts say she could shape shift into a snake and fly. She was had a key role in bringing about Arthur’s end. She had a talent for creating poisons and sleeping potions. She is rumored to be a fairy because Fay means fairy. She is the main enemy of Arthur in most modern fictional Arthur stories. The interesting part was that although she was Arthur’s enemy in life when he died Morgan took him to Avalon in her magical boat to be healed and await a call to his country’s need.
Round Table Myths
How Arthur Met His Death
Arthur met his demise because of many factors. The first was Merlin. Lady of the Lake enchanted Merlin, and so he could no longer council Arthur. Thus Arthur lost a chief aide.
Morgana had magical abilities and stole the scabbard of The Excalibur, which had the power to heal all illnesses. Another reason Arthur died was that he had emotional troubles when his wife Guinevere started loving Lancelot. That caused emotional struggles for Arthur.
Another problem Arthur had was Morgause. She used dragon’s breath (taught to her by Merlin) to trap Arthur and have their son Mordred. The next factor was Mordred. He was the one who told Arthur about Arthur's wife and Lancelot. Finally, they met on the battlefield and while Arthur killed Mordred, Mordred got the chance to give Arthur a mortal wound.
How Merlin Met His Death
Merlin met his end when the Lady of the Lake tricked him. She was the one who gave Arthur the Excalibur. Merlin was enchanted by the Lady of the Lake and when she asked Merlin to teach her magic he readily agreed. As he taught her, the bond between them grew. Love blinded Merlin and he did not see the spell the lady of the Lake was casting on him. Then the Lady finally sang him a song and Merlin fell under the spell and she cast him to the land of the fairy keeping. There he stands ready to help Arthur if he is in need or if someone pure of heart rescues him.
The Birth of Arthur
Arthur was conceived under very unusual conditions. His father Uther, persuaded Merlin to use dragon’s breath on him to turn him into Igraine’s husband. He desired Igraine so much that he struck a deal with Merlin that if there was a child born, he would get handed to Merlin, the wizard.That night Igraine’s real husband Gorlois, rode off to defend the land from invaders and Uther rode in. Also that night Uther and Igraine had a baby and the young Arthur was born. He was handed to the druid and Merlin gave the young boy to Sir Ector who would raise the boy along with Ector’s own son Sir Kay.His childhood went uneventfully. Around age fifteen Ector took Kay and Arthur to a jousting tournament. When Arthur was asked to find Kay's sword, Arthur realized he didn’t pack a sword. He found the sword in the rock and he was able pull it out. Arthur was pronounced King of Britain.
How Merlin Built Stonhenge
Merlin was asked by Aurelius, one of King Constantine’s sons, to build a monument in honor of the people who fought to defend the country. He told Aurelius that there were some stones in Ireland that would be perfect. A giant who wanted to build a magic circle of gigantic stones brought them there. Merlin said these stones would heal anyone who bathed in water touched by them. Then Merlin cast a spell to make the rocks as light as pebbles and then they carried them with ease onto the boats. The stones were to have been placed on the Salisbury Plain in the South of England. You can still see them today.
The Early Rule of King Arthur
This myth is about Arthur's rule as king. Arthur was guided by Merlin and the sword. Excalibur brought a new rule to Britain. Arthur won twelve great battles and brought twelve years of peace to Britain. Soon Arthur got bored and conquered Europe and Ireland. While Arthur was away, builders built a castle to house The Round Table and fit the king’s stature. This place would be called Camelot.
The Giant Green Knight
On New Year's Eve, Arthur had a grand party. Then a mysterious knight rode into the room. He challenged anyone to try to chop his head off if he would get to try to chop off theirs a year later, if he was still alive. Sir Gawain tried and succeeded, but instead of the knight falling down, he walked over, picked up his head, and rode away!A year passed and soon it was winter and Gawain knew he must ride off to find the Green Knight and his Green Chapel. On Christmas he found a castle whose Lord said he knew where the Chapel was. In the Castle, he was greeted by a nice man and an old lady. They said they would give him room until New Year's when they must find the giant. He and the Lord agreed to a bet that whatever they got on that day they would give to each other.So the first day the Lord found animals to hunt and Gawain received one kiss by a young pretty lady in the Castle. The next day the lord got good animals and Gawain received two kisses. On the final day of the bet, Gawain received three kisses and a green silky magical sash. The lord received some foxes from the hunt. Gawain only gave the kisses and hid the sash. Then the Lord agreed to guide the Knight to the Chapel. He found the Green Knight and prepared for the Knight to try to chop Gawain's head off. The green Knight interrupted himself two times and the third time, drew a trickle of blood. The green Knight explained that he actually was the Lord at the Castle, disguised by the old lady Morgana. He did not chop the first two times, since the first two days Gawain had been truthful. He did chop the third time because Gawain had lied the third time.
The Search for the Holy Grail
This is a shortened story of about King Arthur and the Round Table’s search for the Holy Grail. The real story takes up many pages. Following is King Arthur's version of this story.If you ever saw Indiana Jones you know in one of the movies he searches for the Holy Grail. If you did not know it, this cup is actually the cup Jesus drank with during his Last Supper. This is also the cup that Joseph Arimathea used to catch Jesus’ blood when he was hanged on the cross. This cup is also believed to have magical healing powers.Later, after the Romans were imprisoning Joseph for being a Christian, he marched the Grail to the Holy Land where he built a Castle called Corbenic. Then all his descendants would guard the Holy Grail. But when a descendant named Pelles got a wound that would not heal, the search began for the Holy Grail.Then one day a vision of the Holy Grail appeared at a feast. One hundred fifty knights looked for the Grail. From the actions of these knights, three were shown as truly worthy of the Grail. These knights, Bors, Galahad, and Perceval, eventually found Corbenic. There they found an angel who brought the Grail to them and the bloody spear that stabbed Jesus on the cross. Then using the Grail, he healed Pelles and sailed in a boat guided by the supernatural to the distant land of Sarras. After Galahad died, the two other men saw the Grail rise to Heaven. No one has seen the Grail since.
Who's Who in the Round Table
Arthur
Arthur was a legendary warrior. He was the leader of the Britons against the Angelo-Saxons in 500 A.D. He was announced king when he pulled a mysterious sword from a rock. He became a knight and given a magical sword by the lady of the lake. He later founded the knights of the round table and had many adventures. He was mortally wounded when a rebellion was led by his nephew Mordred.
Merlin
Merlin is a wizard best known as a protector of Arthur to set up the round table of Knights. Many do not know, that in Celtic Myth he is known as Myrddin. He is a man who could see into the future. The terror of war made him mad and he fled into the forest where he lived like a wild man. Merlin used his powers to protect Arthur. But he had a weakness for women and the Lady of the Lake imprisoned him forever in the branches of a Hawthorn tree. Historians argue whether he exists but they are pretty sure the storyteller Myrddin exists. He served three kings: Aurelius, Uther, and the most famous, Arthur.
Galahad
Galahad is one of the three knights who found the Holy Grail. He is also the one who can sit in the Siege Perilous, the seat at The Round Table reserved for the Grail Knight. He was the one to bring Christianity to Britain. He was known as the perfect knight.
Lancelot
Lancelot was considered the best knight in the land. He was of royal blood by birth because his parents were the King and Queen of Benwick. The Lady of The Lake raised him. He did many great deeds including: Defeating the "invincible knight" (I believe that is the fifth Invincible knight I met), Sir Turquine who turned evil and imprisoned 64 of King Arthur’s knights. He also defeated the giants who were destroying the town of Whitmere.
Guinevere
Guinevere was Arthur’s wife. She was the daughter of the King of Cameliarde. Once Arthur was firmly established on the throne, he picked Guinevere to be his wife. This marriage was against Merlin’s warning that she would betray him. For his wedding present, Merlin presented Arthur with the Round Table, the legendary table that held all the Knights in Arthur’s Court. She and Lancelot fell in love and that was one of the factors that lead to Arthur’s end. She then spent the rest of her life in a nunnery at Amesbury.
Morgana
Morgana was a mixed character who was sometimes evil and sometimes good. She learned her magic from Merlin. Some accounts say she could shape shift into a snake and fly. She was had a key role in bringing about Arthur’s end. She had a talent for creating poisons and sleeping potions. She is rumored to be a fairy because Fay means fairy. She is the main enemy of Arthur in most modern fictional Arthur stories. The interesting part was that although she was Arthur’s enemy in life when he died Morgan took him to Avalon in her magical boat to be healed and await a call to his country’s need.
Round Table Myths
How Arthur Met His Death
Arthur met his demise because of many factors. The first was Merlin. Lady of the Lake enchanted Merlin, and so he could no longer council Arthur. Thus Arthur lost a chief aide.
Morgana had magical abilities and stole the scabbard of The Excalibur, which had the power to heal all illnesses. Another reason Arthur died was that he had emotional troubles when his wife Guinevere started loving Lancelot. That caused emotional struggles for Arthur.
Another problem Arthur had was Morgause. She used dragon’s breath (taught to her by Merlin) to trap Arthur and have their son Mordred. The next factor was Mordred. He was the one who told Arthur about Arthur's wife and Lancelot. Finally, they met on the battlefield and while Arthur killed Mordred, Mordred got the chance to give Arthur a mortal wound.
How Merlin Met His Death
Merlin met his end when the Lady of the Lake tricked him. She was the one who gave Arthur the Excalibur. Merlin was enchanted by the Lady of the Lake and when she asked Merlin to teach her magic he readily agreed. As he taught her, the bond between them grew. Love blinded Merlin and he did not see the spell the lady of the Lake was casting on him. Then the Lady finally sang him a song and Merlin fell under the spell and she cast him to the land of the fairy keeping. There he stands ready to help Arthur if he is in need or if someone pure of heart rescues him.
The Birth of Arthur
Arthur was conceived under very unusual conditions. His father Uther, persuaded Merlin to use dragon’s breath on him to turn him into Igraine’s husband. He desired Igraine so much that he struck a deal with Merlin that if there was a child born, he would get handed to Merlin, the wizard.That night Igraine’s real husband Gorlois, rode off to defend the land from invaders and Uther rode in. Also that night Uther and Igraine had a baby and the young Arthur was born. He was handed to the druid and Merlin gave the young boy to Sir Ector who would raise the boy along with Ector’s own son Sir Kay.His childhood went uneventfully. Around age fifteen Ector took Kay and Arthur to a jousting tournament. When Arthur was asked to find Kay's sword, Arthur realized he didn’t pack a sword. He found the sword in the rock and he was able pull it out. Arthur was pronounced King of Britain.
How Merlin Built Stonhenge
Merlin was asked by Aurelius, one of King Constantine’s sons, to build a monument in honor of the people who fought to defend the country. He told Aurelius that there were some stones in Ireland that would be perfect. A giant who wanted to build a magic circle of gigantic stones brought them there. Merlin said these stones would heal anyone who bathed in water touched by them. Then Merlin cast a spell to make the rocks as light as pebbles and then they carried them with ease onto the boats. The stones were to have been placed on the Salisbury Plain in the South of England. You can still see them today.
The Early Rule of King Arthur
This myth is about Arthur's rule as king. Arthur was guided by Merlin and the sword. Excalibur brought a new rule to Britain. Arthur won twelve great battles and brought twelve years of peace to Britain. Soon Arthur got bored and conquered Europe and Ireland. While Arthur was away, builders built a castle to house The Round Table and fit the king’s stature. This place would be called Camelot.
The Giant Green Knight
On New Year's Eve, Arthur had a grand party. Then a mysterious knight rode into the room. He challenged anyone to try to chop his head off if he would get to try to chop off theirs a year later, if he was still alive. Sir Gawain tried and succeeded, but instead of the knight falling down, he walked over, picked up his head, and rode away!A year passed and soon it was winter and Gawain knew he must ride off to find the Green Knight and his Green Chapel. On Christmas he found a castle whose Lord said he knew where the Chapel was. In the Castle, he was greeted by a nice man and an old lady. They said they would give him room until New Year's when they must find the giant. He and the Lord agreed to a bet that whatever they got on that day they would give to each other.So the first day the Lord found animals to hunt and Gawain received one kiss by a young pretty lady in the Castle. The next day the lord got good animals and Gawain received two kisses. On the final day of the bet, Gawain received three kisses and a green silky magical sash. The lord received some foxes from the hunt. Gawain only gave the kisses and hid the sash. Then the Lord agreed to guide the Knight to the Chapel. He found the Green Knight and prepared for the Knight to try to chop Gawain's head off. The green Knight interrupted himself two times and the third time, drew a trickle of blood. The green Knight explained that he actually was the Lord at the Castle, disguised by the old lady Morgana. He did not chop the first two times, since the first two days Gawain had been truthful. He did chop the third time because Gawain had lied the third time.
The Search for the Holy Grail
This is a shortened story of about King Arthur and the Round Table’s search for the Holy Grail. The real story takes up many pages. Following is King Arthur's version of this story.If you ever saw Indiana Jones you know in one of the movies he searches for the Holy Grail. If you did not know it, this cup is actually the cup Jesus drank with during his Last Supper. This is also the cup that Joseph Arimathea used to catch Jesus’ blood when he was hanged on the cross. This cup is also believed to have magical healing powers.Later, after the Romans were imprisoning Joseph for being a Christian, he marched the Grail to the Holy Land where he built a Castle called Corbenic. Then all his descendants would guard the Holy Grail. But when a descendant named Pelles got a wound that would not heal, the search began for the Holy Grail.Then one day a vision of the Holy Grail appeared at a feast. One hundred fifty knights looked for the Grail. From the actions of these knights, three were shown as truly worthy of the Grail. These knights, Bors, Galahad, and Perceval, eventually found Corbenic. There they found an angel who brought the Grail to them and the bloody spear that stabbed Jesus on the cross. Then using the Grail, he healed Pelles and sailed in a boat guided by the supernatural to the distant land of Sarras. After Galahad died, the two other men saw the Grail rise to Heaven. No one has seen the Grail since.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight establishes the setting firmly in Arthurian Britain by means of a lengthy description of the legendary history of Britain. Britain is a land of great wonders and strife, but King Arthur has established a court of utmost nobility and chivalry, peopled with the bravest knights and fairest ladies. This story begins at a lavish New Year's celebration in Camelot, King Arthur's court.
A rich description of the celebration follows, where the poet carefully conveys luxurious details of decoration and attire. There is the incomparably beautiful Queen Guinevere, Arthur himself, and seated in honor around them, various noble knights and relatives of Arthur, including Sir Gawain . We learn that Arthur does not like to begin his feasts until he has heard a great tale or witnessed a great marvel. Indeed, in the midst of the feasting, a wondrous stranger bursts into the hall. The giant-like stranger is most remarkable because he is entirely green, but he nevertheless carries an air of handsome civility, wearing sumptuous green and gold clothes and armor. His horse is equally decked in ornate green, and the knight himself holds a branch of holly in one hand and a formidable battle-axe in the other. He demands, somewhat arrogantly, to speak to the ruler of the company, while the court stares on in stunned silence. When Arthur finally speaks, the stranger explains that he has come to this famously valiant court to play a Christmas game. Whoever agrees to play this game will be allowed to strike the Green Knight on the spot, in the middle of the court; in exchange, the Green Knight will strike a return blow upon the volunteer a year and a day hence. None of the court volunteers as the game seems to imply certain death for whomever plays; the stranger ridicules them all for Camelot's supposed bravery.
Eventually Arthur agrees to play the game, but as he is about to wield the great battle-axe, Gawain speaks. In polite and self-effacing language, Gawain begs to take up the boon instead, so the life of the king can be spared in place of a knight as weak and lowly as he. The court agrees to let Gawain play, and after restating the terms of the agreement to each other, the stranger gives the battle-axe to Gawain, who cleaves off the stranger's head in one blow. But miraculously enough, the stranger does not die, and the body of the Green Knight picks up the severed head, which even speaks to Gawain. The stranger charges Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel next New Year's morning, so that he may receive his exchange blow.
After the stranger leaves, the New Year's feast continues unaffected, but the poet ends the fitt by foreshadowing the dangerous adventures Gawain must face.
The second part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens with a lush, detailed description of Nature and the passing of the year. After the Christmas feast and the Green Knight's challenge, the winter passes into a springtime and summer. But eventually harvest season approaches, the leaves fall, and as winter begins, Gawain remembers his agreement with the Green Knight. So, at a Michaelmas feast, he sadly bids farewell to Arthur's court. All the lords and ladies are silently sorrowful that a knight as worthy as Gawain must go to his doom by receiving the exchange blow from the Green Knight.
The poet then gives a meticulous description of Gawain as he dons his ornate armor the next morning. Both he and his horse Gringolet are richly attired, but Gawain's most important piece of armor of all is his shield, which bears the emblem of the Pentangle, the five-pointed star. The Pentangle, the emblem of truth, is particularly suitable for Gawain because the five points of the star represent the five different ways in which Gawain, like purified gold, embodies faultless virtue. He is perfect in the five senses; his five fingers are unfailing; his faith is fixed firmly on the five wounds which Christ received on the cross; he draws his strength from the five joys Mary had through Jesus; and he embodies, better than any other living man, the five virtues: Franchise, Fellowship, Cleanness, Courtesy, and above all, Charity. On the inside of his shield is an image of the Virgin Mary, often the source of Gawain's courage.
Once armed with his shield, Gawain rides away from Camelot, the court mourning that such a young, faultless knight should sacrifice his life as a result of a silly Christmas game. Gawain rides for months, alone, with no friends but his horse and no one to talk to but God. On the way, he battles beasts and giants and struggles through a harsh, cold country which would have killed a weaker or more faithless man. On Christmas Eve, after toiling through a daunting wood, Gawain beseeches the Lord and Mary to guide him to some haven where he may attend mass and properly pray on Christmas morning. Almost immediately, Gawain stumbles upon a moated fortress, a beautiful castle with strong defences and intricate architectural flourishes. Awed and grateful, Gawain asks the porter of the castle for entrance and is greeted by a great, joyful, and eager company. He is welcomed by the lord of the castle, a massive, civilized, capable-looking man who sees to it that Gawain receives the best of care. After a great feast, his company learns that he is none other than Sir Gawain of Arthur's court, and they are delighted to have such an honored personage in their presence, the embodiment of good breeding and chivalry himself.
After dinner, the company attends the Christmastide mass, where Gawain meets the lady of the castle. She is incomparably beautiful, and she is accompanied by an ancient noble lady, whose utter ugliness enhances her own beauty. Gawain is pleased to meet her, and their companionship deepens over the next few days of feasting. After the third day, Gawain thanks the lord and declares himself his servant, but regrets that he must leave the next morning to continue his quest. The lord, however, reveals that the Green Chapel is but two miles away, so Gawain must stay for the remaining three days and relax in bed. Jubilant, Gawain again declares himself the servant of the lord, ready to do his bidding. The lord decides that the next day, Gawain will stay in bed until attending high mass and dinner with the lady of the castle; in the meantime, the lord himself will rise at dawn to go hunting. He suggests one more thing: whatever he wins in the forest tomorrow will be given to Gawain, and in exchange, whatever Gawain wins in the castle during the day he must give to the lord. Gawain agrees to this bargain, and the lord calls for more wine and revelry to celebrate their game.
Part Three covers the three days before Gawain must leave the lord's castle to meet the Green Knight on New Year's Day. On the first day, as planned, the lord arises early to go hunting. The poet describes in detail the hunting party as it moves through the winter forest, hounds and blaring horns in hot pursuit of deer. Then, almost drastically, the scene switches to the interior of the castle, to Gawain's bedroom where the slumbering knight is approached by the lovely lady of the castle.
A careful dialogue follows between Gawain and the lady, where he delicately and diplomatically evades and parries her sexual advances. As she is about to leave him, she asks for a kiss, and Gawain, as befits the chivalrous knight, grants her that. The rest of the day Gawain spends at mass and then in the company of the two ladies of the castle.
In the meantime, the lord's hunting party has slaughtered a great number of deer by sunset, and they then begin the meticulous process of cutting and dividing the bodies of the game. Once this is done, they return home and Gawain commends the lord for his fine hunting. As promised, the lord gives the game to Gawain and Gawain, in exchange, gives the lord a sweet kiss he received that day, but refuses to reveal who it was won from, claiming that it was not part of the agreement. The two men revel for the rest of the evening and agree to continue their contract, by exchanging their winnings of the next day.
The second day begins with the hunting party on the trail of an huge and vicious boar. Meanwhile, Gawain welcomes the lady as she enters his bedchamber, as dogged as ever in her pursuit of him. More flirtatious conversation ensues: she reprimands him for forgetting to kiss her and alludes to his reputation in Courtly Love and asks to be taught. In the end, Gawain evades the lady's amorous intentions, with only two kisses being exchanged. Outside, the hunt of the boar continues viciously, and the lord wins the battle by thrusting his sword into the boar's heart. Another complicated process divides the body of the boar, and the triumphant hunting party returns to the castle. Again, Gawain and the lord are joyously reunited; just as the lord gives the boar to Gawain, the younger knight bestows two kisses on him. The lady continues to dote adoringly on Gawain, and the lord convinces Gawain to stay a third day, with the same contract of exchanging winnings.
The final day of the game dawns with a description of its brilliant, wintry beauty, and the hunting dogs fall on the trail of a cunning fox. Inside the castle, the lady enters Gawain's bedchamber while wearing a lovely and very revealing gown. She wakes him from his sorrowful slumber, as he dreads the impending day of doom at the Green Chapel. Gawain again escapes her advances but the lady offers a token of remembrance: a valuable ring of gold, which he kindly refuses. The lady then offers him a green silk tunic which can protect the wearer from death. Aware of his impending meeting with the Green Knight, Gawain accepts the girdle, which the lady begs him to keep secret. After receiving a third kiss from her that morning, Gawain dresses, confesses his sins to a priest in preparation for his challenge the next day, and then spends the rest of the day in utter merriment. Meanwhile, after much dogged pursuit, the lord triumphantly captures the sly fox, and gives it to Gawain that night in the castle, in exchange for three kisses. Gawain does not reveal anything about the green girdle, and the lord assigns a servant to guide Gawain to the Green Chapel the next morning. Heavy-hearted, Gawain bids farewell to the people of the castle, all of whom are sad to see him go. That night, Gawain has trouble sleeping for fear of the next day's events.
The final, dreaded day opens ominously with a fierce winter storm that keeps Gawain up at night. Before dawn on New Year's Day, the knight is awake and getting dressed, garbing himself in rich, bejeweled clothes -- most importantly the green girdle which the lady had given him. With the servant accompanying him, Gawain leaves the castle and travels through a somber, snow-covered landscape. The servant begs Gawain to reconsider his mission and run from the Green Knight, who is a horrible, cruel monster: huge, merciless, someone who kills for pure joy. But Gawain refuses to run, as that would prove himself a cowardly knight. Resigned, the servant leaves Gawain, and the knight continues alone to the Green Chapel. Gawain marvels at the deserted ugliness of the place, fearing that he might encounter the Devil himself in such a place.
Suddenly, Gawain hears the sound of a blade being sharpened on a grindstone, and meets the terrifying Green Knight, who bears a monstrous axe. He welcomes Gawain, praising him for maintaining his part of the agreement and the horrified Gawain exposes his neck to receive the exchange blow. But at the last moment, he flinches from the axe, and the Green Knight stops to yell at the cowardly Gawain. The second attempt stops short as well, enraging Gawain. On the third stroke, the Green Knight splits the skin on Gawain's neck but that is all the injury done. The Green Knight explains to the wondrous Gawain what has just happened: the Green Knight is the lord of the castle, and the two feinted ax strokes represent the first two days of the game, when Gawain faithfully gave everything he won that day to the King. But that third day, Gawain did conceal the green sash from the King and as a result is punished by the slight scrape on his neck. The lord reveals that he arranged his wife's advances upon Gawain, but having seen the result, he is convinced that Gawain is the finest man alive, his only failure stemming understandably from his love of life. But Gawain is harsher on himself, cursing his cowardice and covetousness and rejecting the green sash which made him guilty.
The Green Knight urges Gawain to keep the sash as a token of their struggle and invites him back to the castle to celebrate the New Year. Gawain declines and considers the dangerous wiles of women . He agrees to keep the girdle to remind himself of the "fault and frailty of the foolish flesh." The Green Knight reveals himself to be Bertilak de Hautdesert, servant to the sorceress Morgan le Fay. It was Morgan who engineered the entire game, sending Bertilak down to Camelot so that Guinevere would be shocked to death by the staged beheading. In fact, Morgan was the ancient noble lady at Hautdesert castle and is the scheming half-sister to Arthur, the king's traditional nemesis. A disillusioned Gawain returns to Camelot, where is greeted with much cheering and joy from Arthur, Guinevere, and the others. He recounts his entire adventure, but is ashamed when he tells of his ultimate failing as a result of the green girdle. Nevertheless, Arthur and the courtiers, unaware of Gawain's shame, adopt the green girdle as a heraldic token in honor of Gawain. From there, the poet concludes in much the same way he opened the poem, praising Arthur, moving back through Brutus to the siege of Troy. The final two lines implore Jesus Christ for bliss.
A rich description of the celebration follows, where the poet carefully conveys luxurious details of decoration and attire. There is the incomparably beautiful Queen Guinevere, Arthur himself, and seated in honor around them, various noble knights and relatives of Arthur, including Sir Gawain . We learn that Arthur does not like to begin his feasts until he has heard a great tale or witnessed a great marvel. Indeed, in the midst of the feasting, a wondrous stranger bursts into the hall. The giant-like stranger is most remarkable because he is entirely green, but he nevertheless carries an air of handsome civility, wearing sumptuous green and gold clothes and armor. His horse is equally decked in ornate green, and the knight himself holds a branch of holly in one hand and a formidable battle-axe in the other. He demands, somewhat arrogantly, to speak to the ruler of the company, while the court stares on in stunned silence. When Arthur finally speaks, the stranger explains that he has come to this famously valiant court to play a Christmas game. Whoever agrees to play this game will be allowed to strike the Green Knight on the spot, in the middle of the court; in exchange, the Green Knight will strike a return blow upon the volunteer a year and a day hence. None of the court volunteers as the game seems to imply certain death for whomever plays; the stranger ridicules them all for Camelot's supposed bravery.
Eventually Arthur agrees to play the game, but as he is about to wield the great battle-axe, Gawain speaks. In polite and self-effacing language, Gawain begs to take up the boon instead, so the life of the king can be spared in place of a knight as weak and lowly as he. The court agrees to let Gawain play, and after restating the terms of the agreement to each other, the stranger gives the battle-axe to Gawain, who cleaves off the stranger's head in one blow. But miraculously enough, the stranger does not die, and the body of the Green Knight picks up the severed head, which even speaks to Gawain. The stranger charges Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel next New Year's morning, so that he may receive his exchange blow.
After the stranger leaves, the New Year's feast continues unaffected, but the poet ends the fitt by foreshadowing the dangerous adventures Gawain must face.
The second part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens with a lush, detailed description of Nature and the passing of the year. After the Christmas feast and the Green Knight's challenge, the winter passes into a springtime and summer. But eventually harvest season approaches, the leaves fall, and as winter begins, Gawain remembers his agreement with the Green Knight. So, at a Michaelmas feast, he sadly bids farewell to Arthur's court. All the lords and ladies are silently sorrowful that a knight as worthy as Gawain must go to his doom by receiving the exchange blow from the Green Knight.
The poet then gives a meticulous description of Gawain as he dons his ornate armor the next morning. Both he and his horse Gringolet are richly attired, but Gawain's most important piece of armor of all is his shield, which bears the emblem of the Pentangle, the five-pointed star. The Pentangle, the emblem of truth, is particularly suitable for Gawain because the five points of the star represent the five different ways in which Gawain, like purified gold, embodies faultless virtue. He is perfect in the five senses; his five fingers are unfailing; his faith is fixed firmly on the five wounds which Christ received on the cross; he draws his strength from the five joys Mary had through Jesus; and he embodies, better than any other living man, the five virtues: Franchise, Fellowship, Cleanness, Courtesy, and above all, Charity. On the inside of his shield is an image of the Virgin Mary, often the source of Gawain's courage.
Once armed with his shield, Gawain rides away from Camelot, the court mourning that such a young, faultless knight should sacrifice his life as a result of a silly Christmas game. Gawain rides for months, alone, with no friends but his horse and no one to talk to but God. On the way, he battles beasts and giants and struggles through a harsh, cold country which would have killed a weaker or more faithless man. On Christmas Eve, after toiling through a daunting wood, Gawain beseeches the Lord and Mary to guide him to some haven where he may attend mass and properly pray on Christmas morning. Almost immediately, Gawain stumbles upon a moated fortress, a beautiful castle with strong defences and intricate architectural flourishes. Awed and grateful, Gawain asks the porter of the castle for entrance and is greeted by a great, joyful, and eager company. He is welcomed by the lord of the castle, a massive, civilized, capable-looking man who sees to it that Gawain receives the best of care. After a great feast, his company learns that he is none other than Sir Gawain of Arthur's court, and they are delighted to have such an honored personage in their presence, the embodiment of good breeding and chivalry himself.
After dinner, the company attends the Christmastide mass, where Gawain meets the lady of the castle. She is incomparably beautiful, and she is accompanied by an ancient noble lady, whose utter ugliness enhances her own beauty. Gawain is pleased to meet her, and their companionship deepens over the next few days of feasting. After the third day, Gawain thanks the lord and declares himself his servant, but regrets that he must leave the next morning to continue his quest. The lord, however, reveals that the Green Chapel is but two miles away, so Gawain must stay for the remaining three days and relax in bed. Jubilant, Gawain again declares himself the servant of the lord, ready to do his bidding. The lord decides that the next day, Gawain will stay in bed until attending high mass and dinner with the lady of the castle; in the meantime, the lord himself will rise at dawn to go hunting. He suggests one more thing: whatever he wins in the forest tomorrow will be given to Gawain, and in exchange, whatever Gawain wins in the castle during the day he must give to the lord. Gawain agrees to this bargain, and the lord calls for more wine and revelry to celebrate their game.
Part Three covers the three days before Gawain must leave the lord's castle to meet the Green Knight on New Year's Day. On the first day, as planned, the lord arises early to go hunting. The poet describes in detail the hunting party as it moves through the winter forest, hounds and blaring horns in hot pursuit of deer. Then, almost drastically, the scene switches to the interior of the castle, to Gawain's bedroom where the slumbering knight is approached by the lovely lady of the castle.
A careful dialogue follows between Gawain and the lady, where he delicately and diplomatically evades and parries her sexual advances. As she is about to leave him, she asks for a kiss, and Gawain, as befits the chivalrous knight, grants her that. The rest of the day Gawain spends at mass and then in the company of the two ladies of the castle.
In the meantime, the lord's hunting party has slaughtered a great number of deer by sunset, and they then begin the meticulous process of cutting and dividing the bodies of the game. Once this is done, they return home and Gawain commends the lord for his fine hunting. As promised, the lord gives the game to Gawain and Gawain, in exchange, gives the lord a sweet kiss he received that day, but refuses to reveal who it was won from, claiming that it was not part of the agreement. The two men revel for the rest of the evening and agree to continue their contract, by exchanging their winnings of the next day.
The second day begins with the hunting party on the trail of an huge and vicious boar. Meanwhile, Gawain welcomes the lady as she enters his bedchamber, as dogged as ever in her pursuit of him. More flirtatious conversation ensues: she reprimands him for forgetting to kiss her and alludes to his reputation in Courtly Love and asks to be taught. In the end, Gawain evades the lady's amorous intentions, with only two kisses being exchanged. Outside, the hunt of the boar continues viciously, and the lord wins the battle by thrusting his sword into the boar's heart. Another complicated process divides the body of the boar, and the triumphant hunting party returns to the castle. Again, Gawain and the lord are joyously reunited; just as the lord gives the boar to Gawain, the younger knight bestows two kisses on him. The lady continues to dote adoringly on Gawain, and the lord convinces Gawain to stay a third day, with the same contract of exchanging winnings.
The final day of the game dawns with a description of its brilliant, wintry beauty, and the hunting dogs fall on the trail of a cunning fox. Inside the castle, the lady enters Gawain's bedchamber while wearing a lovely and very revealing gown. She wakes him from his sorrowful slumber, as he dreads the impending day of doom at the Green Chapel. Gawain again escapes her advances but the lady offers a token of remembrance: a valuable ring of gold, which he kindly refuses. The lady then offers him a green silk tunic which can protect the wearer from death. Aware of his impending meeting with the Green Knight, Gawain accepts the girdle, which the lady begs him to keep secret. After receiving a third kiss from her that morning, Gawain dresses, confesses his sins to a priest in preparation for his challenge the next day, and then spends the rest of the day in utter merriment. Meanwhile, after much dogged pursuit, the lord triumphantly captures the sly fox, and gives it to Gawain that night in the castle, in exchange for three kisses. Gawain does not reveal anything about the green girdle, and the lord assigns a servant to guide Gawain to the Green Chapel the next morning. Heavy-hearted, Gawain bids farewell to the people of the castle, all of whom are sad to see him go. That night, Gawain has trouble sleeping for fear of the next day's events.
The final, dreaded day opens ominously with a fierce winter storm that keeps Gawain up at night. Before dawn on New Year's Day, the knight is awake and getting dressed, garbing himself in rich, bejeweled clothes -- most importantly the green girdle which the lady had given him. With the servant accompanying him, Gawain leaves the castle and travels through a somber, snow-covered landscape. The servant begs Gawain to reconsider his mission and run from the Green Knight, who is a horrible, cruel monster: huge, merciless, someone who kills for pure joy. But Gawain refuses to run, as that would prove himself a cowardly knight. Resigned, the servant leaves Gawain, and the knight continues alone to the Green Chapel. Gawain marvels at the deserted ugliness of the place, fearing that he might encounter the Devil himself in such a place.
Suddenly, Gawain hears the sound of a blade being sharpened on a grindstone, and meets the terrifying Green Knight, who bears a monstrous axe. He welcomes Gawain, praising him for maintaining his part of the agreement and the horrified Gawain exposes his neck to receive the exchange blow. But at the last moment, he flinches from the axe, and the Green Knight stops to yell at the cowardly Gawain. The second attempt stops short as well, enraging Gawain. On the third stroke, the Green Knight splits the skin on Gawain's neck but that is all the injury done. The Green Knight explains to the wondrous Gawain what has just happened: the Green Knight is the lord of the castle, and the two feinted ax strokes represent the first two days of the game, when Gawain faithfully gave everything he won that day to the King. But that third day, Gawain did conceal the green sash from the King and as a result is punished by the slight scrape on his neck. The lord reveals that he arranged his wife's advances upon Gawain, but having seen the result, he is convinced that Gawain is the finest man alive, his only failure stemming understandably from his love of life. But Gawain is harsher on himself, cursing his cowardice and covetousness and rejecting the green sash which made him guilty.
The Green Knight urges Gawain to keep the sash as a token of their struggle and invites him back to the castle to celebrate the New Year. Gawain declines and considers the dangerous wiles of women . He agrees to keep the girdle to remind himself of the "fault and frailty of the foolish flesh." The Green Knight reveals himself to be Bertilak de Hautdesert, servant to the sorceress Morgan le Fay. It was Morgan who engineered the entire game, sending Bertilak down to Camelot so that Guinevere would be shocked to death by the staged beheading. In fact, Morgan was the ancient noble lady at Hautdesert castle and is the scheming half-sister to Arthur, the king's traditional nemesis. A disillusioned Gawain returns to Camelot, where is greeted with much cheering and joy from Arthur, Guinevere, and the others. He recounts his entire adventure, but is ashamed when he tells of his ultimate failing as a result of the green girdle. Nevertheless, Arthur and the courtiers, unaware of Gawain's shame, adopt the green girdle as a heraldic token in honor of Gawain. From there, the poet concludes in much the same way he opened the poem, praising Arthur, moving back through Brutus to the siege of Troy. The final two lines implore Jesus Christ for bliss.
Norman Invasion Of England
It was in the year 1051 that the influence of strangers reached its height. During the first nine years of Edward's reign we find no signs of any open warfare between the national and the Normanising parties. The course of events shows that Godwin's power was being practically undermined, but the great earl was still outwardly in the enjoyment of royal favour, and his vast possessions were still being added to by royal grants. But soon England began to feel how great is the evil when a king and those immediately around him are estranged from the mass of his people in feeling. To the French favourites who gradually crowded the court of Edward the name, the speech and the laws of England were things on which their ignorant pride looked with utter contempt. Count Eustace of Boulogne, now brother-in-law of the King of the English, presently came, like the rest of the world, to the English court. The king was spending the autumn at Gloucester. Thither came Count Eustace, and after his satisfactory interview with the king he turned his face homewards. When a few miles from Dover he felt himself, in a region specially devoted to Godwin, to be still more thoroughly in an enemy's country than in other parts of England, and he and all his company took the precaution of putting on their coats of mail. The proud Frenchmen expected to find free quarters at Dover, and they attempted to lodge themselves at their pleasure in the houses of the burghers. One Englishman resisted, and was struck dead on the spot. The count's party then rode through the town, cutting and slaying at pleasure. In a skirmish which quickly ensued twenty Englishmen and nineteen Frenchmen were slain. Count Eustace and the remnant of the party hastened back to Gloucester, and told the story after their own fashion. On the mere accusation of a stranger, the English King condemned his own subjects without a hearing. He sent for Godwin, as earl of the district in which lay the offending town, and commanded him to inflict chastisement on Dover. The English champion was then in the midst of a domestic rejoicing. He, like the king, had been strengthening himself by a foreign alliance, and had just connected his house with that of a foreign prince. Tostig, his third son, had married Judith, the daughter of Baldwin of Flanders. Godwin bidden, without the least legal proof of offence, to visit Dover with all the horrors of fire and sword, was not long in choosing his course. But there were influences about Edward which cut off all hope of a peaceful settlement of the matter. Eustace probably still lingered about the king, and there was another voice ever at the royal ear, ever ready to poison the royal mind against the people of England and their leader. It was the voice of a foreign monk, Archbishop Robert. Godwin and three other earls summoned their followers and demanded the surrender of Eustace, but the frightened king sent for the northern earls Siward, Leofric and Ralph, bidding them bring a force strong enough to keep Godwin in check. Thus the northern and southern sections were arrayed against each other. There were, however, on the king's side men who were not willing to see the country involved in civil war. Leofric, the good Earl of Mercia, stood forth as the champion of compromise and peace, and it was agreed that hostilities should be avoided and that the Witanagemot should assemble at Michaelmas in London. Of this truce King Edward and his foreign advisers took advantage to collect an army, at the head of which they appeared in London. Godwin and his son Harold were summoned to the gemot, but refused to appear without a security for a safe-conduct. The hostages and safe-conduct were refused. The refusal was announced by Bishop Stigand to the earl as he sat at his evening meal. The bishop wept; the earl sprang to his feet, overthrew the table, leaped on his horse and, with his sons, rode for his life all that night. In the morning the king held his Witanagemot, and Godwin and his sons were declared outlaws, but five days were allowed them to get out of the land. Godwin, Sweyn, Tostig and Gyrth, with Gytha and Judith, the newly-married wife of Tostig, set sail for Bruges in a ship laden with as much treasure as it would hold. Two of Godwin's sons, however, sought another refuge. Harold and his younger brother Leofwine determined on resistance, and resolved to seek shelter among the Danish settlers in Ireland, where they were cordially received by King Diarmid. For a moment the overthrow of the patriotic leaders in England was complete, and the dominion of foreigners over the feeble mind of the king was complete. Stirring events followed in quick succession. General regret was felt among all patriotic Englishmen at the absence of Godwin. The common voice of England soon began to call for the return of the banished earl, who was looked to by all men as the father of his country. England now knew that in his fall a fatal blow had been dealt to her own welfare and freedom. And Godwin, after sending many petitions to the king, vainly petitioning for a reconciliation, determined to return by force, satisfied that the great majority of Englishmen would be less likely to resist him than to join his banners. Harold sailed from Ireland to meet his father by way of the English Channel. Godwin sailed up the Thames, and London declared for him. Panic reigned among the favourites of King Edward. The foreigners took to flight, among the fugitives being Archbishop Robert and Bishop Ulf. The gemot decreed the restoration of the earl and the outlawry of many Normans. The king yielded, and accorded to Godwin the kiss of peace, and a revolution was accomplished of which England may well be proud. But a tragedy soon followed, in the death of the most renowned Englishman of that generation. During a meal at the Easter festival Godwin fell from his seat, and died after lying insensible for three days. Great was the grief of the nation. Harold, in the years that followed the death of Godwin, became so increasingly popular that he was virtually chief ruler of England, even before the death of Edward, which happened on January 5, 1066. His burial was followed by the coronation of Harold. But the moment of struggle was now come. The English throne had become vacant, and the Norman duke knew how to represent himself as its lawful heir and to brand the king of the nation's choice as a usurper. William found one Englishman willing to help him in all his schemes, in the person of Tostig, Harold's brother, who had been outlawed at the demand of the nation, owing to his unfitness to rule his province as earl of Northumberland. He had sunk from bad to worse, Harold had done all he could for his fallen brother, but to restore him was impossible. Tostig was at the Norman court, urging William to the invasion of England. At his own risk, he was allowed to make an incursion on the English coast. Entering the Humber, he burnt several towns and slew many men. But after these ravages Tostig repaired to ask help of Harold Haardraade, whom he induced to prepare a great expedition. Harold Haardraade and Tostig landed and marched towards York. A battle was fought between the Mercians and Norwegians at Fulford, in which the former were worsted, but Harold was marching northward. In the fearful battle of Stamford Bridge both Harold Haardraade and Tostig were slain, and the Viking host was shattered. The victorious English king was banqueting in celebration of the great victory, when a messenger appeared who had come from the distant coast of Sussex. One blow had been warded off, but another still more terrible had fallen. Three days after the fight at Stamford Bridge, William, duke of the Normans, once the peaceful guest of Edward, had again, but in quite another guise, made good his landing on the shores of England. It was in August 1066 that the Norman fleet had set sail on its great enterprise. For several weeks a south wind had been waited for at the mouth of the River Dive, prayers and sacred rites of every kind being employed to move Heaven to send the propitious breeze. On September 28 the landing was effected at Pevensey, the ancient Anderida. There were neither ships nor men to resist the landing. The first armed man who set foot on English ground was Duke William himself, whose foot slipped, so that he fell with both hands on the ground. A loud cry of grief was raised at the evil omen. But the ready wit of William failed him not. "By the splendour of God," he cried, "I have taken seizin of my kingdom; the earth of England is in my hands." The whole army landed in order, but only one day was spent at Pevensey. On the next day the army marched on eastward to Hastings, which was fixed on as the centre of the operations of the whole campaign. It was a hard lot for the English king to be compelled to hasten southward to dislodge the new enemy, after scarcely a moment's rest from the toils and glories of Stamford Bridge. But the heart of Harold failed him not, and the heart of England beat in unison with the heart of her king. As soon as the news came, King Harold held a council of the leaders of Stamford Bridge, or perhaps an armed gemot. He told them of the landing of the enemy; he set before them the horrors which would come upon the land if the invader succeeded in his enterprise. A loud shout of assent rose from the whole assembly. Every man pledged his faith rather to die in arms than to acknowledge any king but Harold. The king thanked his loyal followers, and at once ordered an immediate march to the south, and an immediate muster of the forces of his kingdom. London was the trysting-place. He himself pressed on at once with his immediate following. And throughout the land awoke a spirit in every English heart which has never died out to this day. The men from various shires flocked eagerly to the standard of their glorious king. Harold seems to have reached London on October 5, about ten days after the fight at Stamford Bridge, and a week after the Norman landing at Pevensey. Though his royal home was now at Westminster, he went, in order to seek divine help and succour, to pray at Waltham, the home of his earlier days, devoting one day to a pilgrimage to the Holy Cross which gave England her war-cry. Harold and William were now both eager for the battle. The king set out from London on October 12. His consummate generalship is nowhere more plainly shown than in this memorable campaign. William constrained Harold to fight, but Harold, in his turn, constrained William to fight on ground of Harold's own choosing. The latter halted at a point distant about seven miles from the headquarters of the invaders, and pitched his camp upon the ever-memorable heights of Senlac. It was his policy not to attack. He occupied and fortified a post of great natural strength, which he speedily made into what is distinctly spoken of as a castle. The hill of Senlac, now occupied by the town of Battle, commemorates in its later name the great event of which it was the scene. [OCTOBER 14, 1066] THE morning of the decisive day, Saturday, October 14, at last had come. The duke of the Normans heard mass, and drew forth his troops for their march against the English post. Then in full armour, and seated on his Spanish war-horse, William led his host forth in three divisions. The Normans from the hill of Telham first caught sight of the English encamped on the opposite height of Senlac. First in each of the three Norman divisions marched the archers, slingers and cross-bow men, then the more heavily armed infantry, lastly the horsemen. The reason of this arrangement is clear. The light-armed were to do what they could with their missiles to annoy the English; the heavy infantry were to strive to break down the palisades of the English camp, and so to make ready the way for the charge of the horse. Like the Normans, the English had risen early. The king, after exhorting his troops to stand firm, rode to the royal post; he there dismounted, took his place on foot, and prayed to God for help. The battle began at nine in the morning. The trumpet sounded and a flight of arrows from all three Norman divisions was the prelude to the onslaught of the heavy-armed foot. The French infantry had to toil up the hill, and to break down the palisade while a shower of stones and javelins disordered their approach, and while club, sword and axe greeted all who came within the reach of hand-strokes. Both sides fought with unyielding valour. The war-cries rose on either side. The Normans shouted 'God help us!' The English called on the 'Holy Cross.' The Norman infantry had soon done its best, but that best had been in vain. The choicest chivalry of Europe now pressed on to the attack. The knights of Normandy and of all lands from which men had flocked to William's standard now pressed on, striving to make what impression they could with the whole strength of themselves and their horses on the impenetrable fortress of timbershields and living warriors. But all was in vain. The English had thus far stood their ground well and wisely, and the tactics of Harold had so far completely answered. Not only had every attack failed, but the great mass of the French army altogether lost heart. The Britons and the other auxiliaries on the left were the first to give way. The whole of William's left wing was thrown into utter confusion. The strong heart of William, however, failed him not, and by his single prowess and presence of mind he recalled the fleeing troops. Order was soon restored, and the Norman host pressed on to a second and more terrible attack. The duke himself, his relics round his neck, sought out Harold. A few moments more, and the two might have come face to face, but Gyrth, the noble brother of the English king, hurled a spear at William. The missile narrowly missed the duke, but slew the Spanish steed. But William could fight on foot as well as on horseback. He rose to his feet, pressed straight to seek the man who had so nearly slain him, and the earl fell, crushed beneath the blow of William's mace. The second attack, however, failed, for the English lines were as unyielding as ever. Direct attack was unavailing. In the Norman character fox and lion were equally blended, as William now showed. He ventured on the daring stratagem of ordering a pretended flight, and the unwary English rushed down the slope, pursuing the fugitives with shouts of delight. The error was fatal to England. The tide was turned; the duke's object was now gained. The English were no longer entrenched and the battle fell into a series of single combats. As twilight was coming on an arrow, falling like a bolt from heaven, pierced Harold's right eye, and he sank in agony at the foot of the standard. Round that standard the fight still raged, till the highest nobility, the most valiant solidery of England were slaughtered to a man. Had Harold lived, had another like him been ready to take his place, we may well doubt whether, even after Senlac, England would have been conquered at all. As it was, from this moment her complete conquest was only a matter of time. From that day forward the Normans began to work the will of God upon the folk of England, till there were left in England no chiefs of the land of English blood, till all were brought down to bondage and sorrow, till it was a shame to be called an Englishman, and the men of England were no more a people.
The Tradition Of Courtly Love
Courtly love tradition is a love conception which was created by the troubadours(the medieval equivalent of a traveling folksinger who played other people's songs as well as his own) at the end of the 11th century. The conception found its genesis in the ducal and princely courts in regions of present-day southern France, sufficiently peaceful and isolated country for such a movement to develop. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife. It involved a paradoxical tension between erotic desire and spiritual attainment, "a love at once illicit and morally elevating, passionate and self-disciplined, humiliating and exalting, human and transcendent." It can be seen as a combination of complex factors: philosophical, social, religious, romantic, and erotic.
The courtly lover is characteristically a knight. Young boys of noble birth were trained the manners they would need to know as knights. They were taught to honor the Christian church, to respect women, and to devote their lives to the service of a lady. Such service was supposed to increase their abilities as warriors. Often a knight would worship his lady at a distance, never speaking to her and perhaps never even seeing her. The hero of the poems, the knight-lover, sings the praises and seeks the favor of a lady according to a well-defined ritual. The lady is ordinarily his superior socially and is nearly always presented as a paragon of beauty and virtue. The knight offers his song and his service in the hope of winning his lady's regard, her "grace," and perhaps ultimately her love. Final success (or the promise of it) produces the perfect joy that the lover seeks. The troubadour concentrates on this joy as a goal. It generates the excitement of the chase.
The terms used for courtly love during the medieval period itself were "Amour Honestus" (Honest Love) and "Fin Amor" (Refined Love). The term "courtly love" was first popularized by Gaston Paris in 1883, and has since come under a wide variety of definitions.
The French court of the troubadour Duke William IX was an early center of the culture of courtly love. William's granddaughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was a great influence in spreading this culture. She supported the ideals of courtly love throughout her reign in Aquitaine and brought it to England when she married Henry II. Her daughter, Marie of Champagne, encouraged Chrétien de Troyes to write Lancelot. Later, the ideas of courtly love were formally expressed in a three part treatise by André le Chapelain. In the thirteenth century, the lengthy poem, Roman de la rose, painted the image of a lover suspended between happiness and despair.
Many of the conventions of courtly love can be traced to Ovid but it is doubtful that they are all traceable to this origin. Accounts of courtly love often overlook the Arabist hypothesis, which has been posed in some form almost from the beginnings of the term "courtly love" in the modern period. A proposed source for the differences is the Arabic poets and poetry of Muslim Spain and the broader European contact with the Islamic world.
Given that practices similar to courtly love were already prevalent in Al-Andalus and elsewhere in the Islamic world, it is very likely that Islamic practices influenced the Christian Europeans. William of Aquitane, for example, was involved in the First Crusade, and in the ongoing Reconquista in Spain, so that he would have come into contact with Muslim culture a great deal.
The notion of the "ennobling power" of love was developed in the early 11th century by the Persian psychologist and philosopher, Ibn Sina (known as "Avicenna" in Europe), in his treatise Risala fi'l-Ishq (Treatise on Love). The final element of courtly love, the concept of "love as desire never to be fulfilled", was at times implicit in Arabic poetry, but was first developed into a doctrine in European Literature, in which all four elements of courtly love were present.
The era of courtly love vanished quickly under the impact of economic and cultural devastation brought by the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229). Northern knights headed by Simon de Montfort swept down, the country was impoverished, freedom disappeared, and an inquisition and northern French dialect were imposed. The rule of Paris put an end to the south for centuries. But the songs did survive and travel, into the north by the trouveres, east into Germany, and south to Italy.
The courtly lover is characteristically a knight. Young boys of noble birth were trained the manners they would need to know as knights. They were taught to honor the Christian church, to respect women, and to devote their lives to the service of a lady. Such service was supposed to increase their abilities as warriors. Often a knight would worship his lady at a distance, never speaking to her and perhaps never even seeing her. The hero of the poems, the knight-lover, sings the praises and seeks the favor of a lady according to a well-defined ritual. The lady is ordinarily his superior socially and is nearly always presented as a paragon of beauty and virtue. The knight offers his song and his service in the hope of winning his lady's regard, her "grace," and perhaps ultimately her love. Final success (or the promise of it) produces the perfect joy that the lover seeks. The troubadour concentrates on this joy as a goal. It generates the excitement of the chase.
The terms used for courtly love during the medieval period itself were "Amour Honestus" (Honest Love) and "Fin Amor" (Refined Love). The term "courtly love" was first popularized by Gaston Paris in 1883, and has since come under a wide variety of definitions.
The French court of the troubadour Duke William IX was an early center of the culture of courtly love. William's granddaughter, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was a great influence in spreading this culture. She supported the ideals of courtly love throughout her reign in Aquitaine and brought it to England when she married Henry II. Her daughter, Marie of Champagne, encouraged Chrétien de Troyes to write Lancelot. Later, the ideas of courtly love were formally expressed in a three part treatise by André le Chapelain. In the thirteenth century, the lengthy poem, Roman de la rose, painted the image of a lover suspended between happiness and despair.
Many of the conventions of courtly love can be traced to Ovid but it is doubtful that they are all traceable to this origin. Accounts of courtly love often overlook the Arabist hypothesis, which has been posed in some form almost from the beginnings of the term "courtly love" in the modern period. A proposed source for the differences is the Arabic poets and poetry of Muslim Spain and the broader European contact with the Islamic world.
Given that practices similar to courtly love were already prevalent in Al-Andalus and elsewhere in the Islamic world, it is very likely that Islamic practices influenced the Christian Europeans. William of Aquitane, for example, was involved in the First Crusade, and in the ongoing Reconquista in Spain, so that he would have come into contact with Muslim culture a great deal.
The notion of the "ennobling power" of love was developed in the early 11th century by the Persian psychologist and philosopher, Ibn Sina (known as "Avicenna" in Europe), in his treatise Risala fi'l-Ishq (Treatise on Love). The final element of courtly love, the concept of "love as desire never to be fulfilled", was at times implicit in Arabic poetry, but was first developed into a doctrine in European Literature, in which all four elements of courtly love were present.
The era of courtly love vanished quickly under the impact of economic and cultural devastation brought by the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229). Northern knights headed by Simon de Montfort swept down, the country was impoverished, freedom disappeared, and an inquisition and northern French dialect were imposed. The rule of Paris put an end to the south for centuries. But the songs did survive and travel, into the north by the trouveres, east into Germany, and south to Italy.
EDEBİYAT NEDİR
EDEBİYAT NEDİR?
Okuyanlara estetik (sanatsal) bir doyum sağlamak amacıyla yazılmış, ya da böyle bir amacı olmasa bile biçimsel ve içeriksel özellikleriyle bu düzeye ulaşabilen bütün yazılı eserlere edebiyat denir. Düşünce ve duyguları güzel ve etkili bir biçimde anlatma sanatı olarak da tanımlanabilir. Herhangi bir metnin edebiyat eseri sayılabilmesi için sanatsal değerler taşıması gerekir.
Edebiyat düşünce ve duyguları güzel ve etkili bir biçimde anlatma sanatı olarak tanımlanabilirse de her anlatı her metin edebiyat tanımı içerisine sokulmaz. Amacı okuyucuya estetik bir lezzet sunmak değil de onu bir konuda aydınlatacak teknik bilgileri içeren yapıtlar (bilimsel makale veya kitaplar, gazete haberleri gibi) edebiyat tanımı dışında değerlendirilirler. Bununla birlikte bazı otoriteler bilimsel yapıt ve haberlerin edebi değer taşıyabilecek nitelikte olabileceği gibi sanatsal kaygı taşımayan şiirlere de rastlanabileceğini belirterek bu tanıma karşı çıkmışlardır.
Konuşma ve düzyazı dilinde dil; doğruyu araştırma, ortaya koyma, başkalarına iletme aracıdır. Konuşma ve yazı dilinde sözcükler görevini yaptıktan sonra işe yaramaz hale gelir. Önemli olan meydana getireceği sonuçlardır. Sonuç yani amaç, onu okuyan ya da dinleyendeki değişimdir. Düşüncemizi dile getiren sözcükleri nasıl biçimlendirdiğimizi unuturuz. Onlar aracılığı ile düşüncemizi ilettiğimiz kişi de onların nasıl biçimlendirildiğine dikkat etmez. Dil, bizi doğrudan doğruya öteki insanlarla ya da eşya ve düşüncelerle karşı karşıya getirir. Konuşma ve yazı dilinde sözcükler saydamdır, uçarıdır, aradan kaybolur gider.
Oysa edebiyatta bunların tam tersi oluşmaktadır. Edebiyatta dil bir araç değil, biraz amaçtır; dil, sözcükler, cümleler ve biçimler nesnel (objektif) hale gelirler. Konuşma ve düzyazı da olduğu gibi insanla öteki insanların, eşyanın ve düşüncelerin arasına girip saydamlaşmaz; uçarı hale gelmez. Tam tersine, karşımıza çıkar. Resim gibi, heykel, müzik, yapı gibi değer kazanır.
Bu anlamda edebiyatın özelliklerini şu şekilde sıralayabiliriz:
Ø Edebi eser, okuyanı etkilemelidir.
Ø Anlatımı güzel, düşüncesi sağlam ve özlü olmalıdır.
Ø Eser estetik ölçüler içinde, belli bir sanat anlayışına uygun yazılmalıdır.
EDEBİYATIN AMACI
Sanatı göz önüne serip,
Sanatçıyı gizlemek sanatın amacıdır.
(Oscar WILDE)
Edebiyatın amacı, insanı insana anlatan, insana seslenen, insanı daha da insanlaştırmayı amaç edinen edebiyat eserleriyle, belli bir toplumun özel diliyle yaratıldığı için önce o toplumun duygu ve düşüncelerini iletmektir. Gerçekten bir edebiyat eseri için asıl sakınca, yerel ve bölgesel kalmaktır. Ama edebiyat eserleri bir dilden ötekine değerini yitirmeden çevrilebilir, çoğaltılabilir, ulusallığı oranında evrensel bir nitelik kazanabilir.
Bütün sanat ürünleri, toplumsal yaşamda duygu ve düşünce, beğeni ve inanç, ülkü ve coşku birliği yaratmayı, toplumu ortak ölçülerde kaynaştırmayı amaç edinmiştir.
Fischer’in deyişiyle “toplumsal ilişkilere ışık tutmak, yoğunlaşan toplumlardaki insanları aydınlatmak, insanların toplumsal gerçekleri tanıyıp değiştirmelerine yardım etmek…” edebiyata düşen en büyük bir görevdir.
Edebiyatın tanımı ve amacında da gördüğümüz gibi; bazı yazıların edebiyat olamayacağı, çünkü edebi bir metinin insanı ve onun çevreyle olan ilişkisini estetik bir dille anlatması gerektiği, amaç olarak evrensel bir şekilde toplumsal ilişkilere ışık tutmayı seçmesi gerektiği söylense de bu konuda kesin bir karara varılmamıştır. Edebiyatın öznel olduğu ve bu nedenle bir kesin bir tanımı olamayacağı söylenmiştir. Aşağıda göreceğiniz örneklerde ne tür metinlerin edebiyat olduğu, ne tür metinlerin edebiyat olmadığı tartışılmıştır.
Okuyanlara estetik (sanatsal) bir doyum sağlamak amacıyla yazılmış, ya da böyle bir amacı olmasa bile biçimsel ve içeriksel özellikleriyle bu düzeye ulaşabilen bütün yazılı eserlere edebiyat denir. Düşünce ve duyguları güzel ve etkili bir biçimde anlatma sanatı olarak da tanımlanabilir. Herhangi bir metnin edebiyat eseri sayılabilmesi için sanatsal değerler taşıması gerekir.
Edebiyat düşünce ve duyguları güzel ve etkili bir biçimde anlatma sanatı olarak tanımlanabilirse de her anlatı her metin edebiyat tanımı içerisine sokulmaz. Amacı okuyucuya estetik bir lezzet sunmak değil de onu bir konuda aydınlatacak teknik bilgileri içeren yapıtlar (bilimsel makale veya kitaplar, gazete haberleri gibi) edebiyat tanımı dışında değerlendirilirler. Bununla birlikte bazı otoriteler bilimsel yapıt ve haberlerin edebi değer taşıyabilecek nitelikte olabileceği gibi sanatsal kaygı taşımayan şiirlere de rastlanabileceğini belirterek bu tanıma karşı çıkmışlardır.
Konuşma ve düzyazı dilinde dil; doğruyu araştırma, ortaya koyma, başkalarına iletme aracıdır. Konuşma ve yazı dilinde sözcükler görevini yaptıktan sonra işe yaramaz hale gelir. Önemli olan meydana getireceği sonuçlardır. Sonuç yani amaç, onu okuyan ya da dinleyendeki değişimdir. Düşüncemizi dile getiren sözcükleri nasıl biçimlendirdiğimizi unuturuz. Onlar aracılığı ile düşüncemizi ilettiğimiz kişi de onların nasıl biçimlendirildiğine dikkat etmez. Dil, bizi doğrudan doğruya öteki insanlarla ya da eşya ve düşüncelerle karşı karşıya getirir. Konuşma ve yazı dilinde sözcükler saydamdır, uçarıdır, aradan kaybolur gider.
Oysa edebiyatta bunların tam tersi oluşmaktadır. Edebiyatta dil bir araç değil, biraz amaçtır; dil, sözcükler, cümleler ve biçimler nesnel (objektif) hale gelirler. Konuşma ve düzyazı da olduğu gibi insanla öteki insanların, eşyanın ve düşüncelerin arasına girip saydamlaşmaz; uçarı hale gelmez. Tam tersine, karşımıza çıkar. Resim gibi, heykel, müzik, yapı gibi değer kazanır.
Bu anlamda edebiyatın özelliklerini şu şekilde sıralayabiliriz:
Ø Edebi eser, okuyanı etkilemelidir.
Ø Anlatımı güzel, düşüncesi sağlam ve özlü olmalıdır.
Ø Eser estetik ölçüler içinde, belli bir sanat anlayışına uygun yazılmalıdır.
EDEBİYATIN AMACI
Sanatı göz önüne serip,
Sanatçıyı gizlemek sanatın amacıdır.
(Oscar WILDE)
Edebiyatın amacı, insanı insana anlatan, insana seslenen, insanı daha da insanlaştırmayı amaç edinen edebiyat eserleriyle, belli bir toplumun özel diliyle yaratıldığı için önce o toplumun duygu ve düşüncelerini iletmektir. Gerçekten bir edebiyat eseri için asıl sakınca, yerel ve bölgesel kalmaktır. Ama edebiyat eserleri bir dilden ötekine değerini yitirmeden çevrilebilir, çoğaltılabilir, ulusallığı oranında evrensel bir nitelik kazanabilir.
Bütün sanat ürünleri, toplumsal yaşamda duygu ve düşünce, beğeni ve inanç, ülkü ve coşku birliği yaratmayı, toplumu ortak ölçülerde kaynaştırmayı amaç edinmiştir.
Fischer’in deyişiyle “toplumsal ilişkilere ışık tutmak, yoğunlaşan toplumlardaki insanları aydınlatmak, insanların toplumsal gerçekleri tanıyıp değiştirmelerine yardım etmek…” edebiyata düşen en büyük bir görevdir.
Edebiyatın tanımı ve amacında da gördüğümüz gibi; bazı yazıların edebiyat olamayacağı, çünkü edebi bir metinin insanı ve onun çevreyle olan ilişkisini estetik bir dille anlatması gerektiği, amaç olarak evrensel bir şekilde toplumsal ilişkilere ışık tutmayı seçmesi gerektiği söylense de bu konuda kesin bir karara varılmamıştır. Edebiyatın öznel olduğu ve bu nedenle bir kesin bir tanımı olamayacağı söylenmiştir. Aşağıda göreceğiniz örneklerde ne tür metinlerin edebiyat olduğu, ne tür metinlerin edebiyat olmadığı tartışılmıştır.
1. Orhan Veli Kanık’ın ‘Cımbızlı Şiir’i:
‘Ne atom bombası
Ne Londra Konferansı
Bir elinde cımbız,
Bir elinde ayna;
Umurunda mı dünya’
Bir elinde ayna;
Umurunda mı dünya’
Bir kamyon yazısı örneği:
'Kamyon çeker 10-20 ton
Gönlüm çeker Paris Hilton'
İki örnekte de yalın bir dil kullanılmış, duygu ve düşünceler iletilmeye çalışılmış, estetik ölçüler içinde yazılmıştır. Birinci örnek belli bir sanat anlayışı içinde, toplumsal sorunlara değinmiştir. İkinci örnekte belli bir sanat görülmemekte, sadece kişisel düşünceler gelişigüzel bir şekilde yansıtılmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu nedenle, kamyon arkası yazılarda sanat aramamız ve onların edebi eser olduğunu iddia etmemiz yanlış olur.
2. Nazım Hikmet Ran’ın ‘Herkes Gibi’ adlı şiirinden:
‘Maziye karışıp sevda yeminim,
Bir anda unuttum seni, eminim
Kalbimde kalbine yok bile kinim
Kalbimde kalbine yok bile kinim
Bence artık sen de herkes gibisin’
'Dünya bir tiyatro dediler
Bana rolümü verdiler
Önce sev sonra terk et dediler.'
Örneklerden de anlaşılacağı gibi Nazım Hikmet’in şiirinde sanatsal bir yapı görünürken aynı durum duvar yazısında söz konusu değildir. Bu yüzden, duvar yazılarına edebi eser diyemeyiz.
3. Peyami Safa’nın ‘Bir tereddüdün Romanı’ adlı eserinden:
’Mualla kendisine çok tavsiye edilen bu kitabı okumakta hâlâ tereddüt ediyordu. Yapraklarını çevirdi. 'Beni yalnız bırakmayınız!' diye başlayan bir sahifenin yukarısından ortalarına doğru gözleri, satırların basamaklarını ikişer üçer altı yaprak aşağıya kadar inmişti. Bir kaç yerde hep aynı cümle: 'Beni yalnız bırakmayınız’...
Bir ilaç prospektüsü:
‘Diğer plazma proteinlerine bağlanan ilaçlarla birlikte kullanıldığında mefenamik asit dozunun ayarlanması gerekebilir. Mefenamik asitle birlikte antikoagülan kullanılacaksa, kullanılacak antikoagülanın dozunun azaltılması gerekebilir.’
Daha önce de söylediğimiz gibi, amacı okuyucuya estetik bir lezzet sunmak değil de onu bir konuda aydınlatacak teknik bilgileri içeren yapıtlar (bilimsel makale veya kitaplar, gazete haberleri gibi) edebiyat tanımı dışında değerlendirilirler. İlaç prospektüsleri de okuyucuyu bilgilendirmek amacıyla yazılmış, içinde tıbbi terimler içeren metinler oldukları için edebi eser olarak değerlendirilmezler.
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