- Chaucer's tale, like others of his we have discussed, is literature (metered, rhymed verse) while both JofN and MK's texts are devotional texts with stricter interpretation that rely on plain speech from the time (Though, there is craft in their texts.).
- All three of the texts include religious philosophy, though The Nun's Priest's Tale is a "beast fable" (think of Aesop).
- Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe both rely on religious discourse involving the Passion of Christ, specifically his Crucifixion.
- Both JoN and MK's visions are iterative, which we define as the use repetition (of images, of method, of spiritual meaning, etc.).
- Both JoN and MK's texts are nice representatives of "Christ's Humanity." This is a nice phrase for the use of the image of Jesus Christ as a representation of God as a suffering human, in literature and other forms of art.... These depictions of JC allow readers to see his "suffering divinity." How does this humanizing of Christ affect readers? (For more on "Christ's Humanity," consult p. 355-56 of our anthology.)
- Narrator almost buries the tale under excessively moralistic commentary that parodies the habit of medieval preachers and poets to find multiple meanings and morals in everything. In what way can wee see the tale as a parody?
- Mock-tragedy, the length with which Chaucer goes to show importance of Chanticleer to his hens!
- One of the interwoven themes in the parody is the discussion of "predestination." Knowing that this is a story about animals, what does Chaucer's inclusion of the theme of predestination add?
"Parody does not exclude affection for the works that are being parodied. Part of the tale’s charm lies in Chaucer’s delight in the pretensions of the kinds of language he is employing" (Norton Teacher's Guide). The Nun's Priest is highly praised by the other pilgrims as a fine man. The reason for Chaucer's parody of the Nun's Priest may not be completely clear, but we cannot assume he is being derisive of religion. What we can understand is that such an "excessively moralistic" tale would have been humorously received by Chaucer's contemporary audience. In other words, Middle Age readers would have got a laugh out of both the tale and the Nun's Priest's character.
- Julian was an anchoress, which means she locked herself in a room attached to the Church and devoted her life to her religion.
- Her writings are the first known written in English by a woman.
- Genre: Mystical (visions), theological prose
- Important images:
- The visions
- the bleeding head as rain falling off roofs
- the lord as clothing
- creation as the size of a hazelnut
- God through JC, and JC as a mother!
- Important tropes:
- Familial kinship and language used to understand (Christian) God
- Use of paradox, defined as a statement or statements made that lead to seeming contradiction. Paradoxes seem to defy natural intuition, such as being God being creator and being created by human acknowledgement of him! Julian of Norwich also makes some connections between self-knowledge and spiritual knowledge.
Discussion Questions, (Also can help for Midterm)
1. Does it matter that Julian was a woman?
2. Describe the spatial imagination of the text.
3. Is there a connection between the text’s spatial imagination and the fact that Julian was enclosed?
4. How do Julian’s interpretations of her visions compare to the way literary critics unpack images?
5. How many kinds of paradox can you find in the text?
6. Is it fruitful to describe Julian’s discourse in terms of privacy and publicity?
7. Can you discern a gender politics to her work?
8. What is the meaning of pain in Julian’s writings?
9. How are the mental and the emotional experiences of this writing related?
10. Is this “autobiography”?
Key Excerpts for Discussion:
- Chapter 3 --> Julian connects her own suffering with that of Jesus Christ. "...For his pains were my pains..." (373).
- Ch. 4 --> p. 373, "the red blood runing down..."
- Ch. 4-->p. 374: "...a sinful creature living in this wretched flesh" (humanity and sin, female body)
- Ch. 4-->p. 374, seeing the Virgin Mary as human, "a simple maiden and a meek..."
- Ch. 5--> p. 374, "He is our clothing that for love wrappeth us and windeth us..."
- Ch. 5-->p. 375, material world v. spiritual: "When she is willfully noughted for love, to have him that is all, then she is able to receive ghostly rest."
- Ch. 7--> blood as "pellets" (375). Thickness of the blood
- Ch. 7-->p. 376, God's charity=to show self as "homely"/earthly..."Thus it is fareth by our Lord Jesu and by us...that he that is the highest and mightiest, noblest and worthiest, is lowest and meekest homeliest and courteousest."
- Ch. 27, "Sin is Fitting"--> p. 377, "...if sin had not been, we should all have been clean and like to our Lord as he made us."
- ***Which excerpts help us best understand "Jesus as Mother"?***
- Made pilgrimages to Jerusalem and to Julian of Norwich!
- Her images of Jesus Christ are in stark contrast (royal) with Julian's
- "Affective piety" of Kempe --> Religious devotion which is shown through deep meditation upon the physical and emotional sufferings of holy figures (such as Jesus Christ). Where do we see Kempe using "affective piety"?
- She was married, but negotiated with husband to attend to religious devotion (celibacy).
- Genre: Autobiography --> she was not literate and had dictated her visions and stories.
- Style: personal and intimate visuals, involving what goes on between her and her husband and her relationship with Christ.
1. Is Margery the mistress or the victim of her text?
2. How do the social forms of Margery’s society (particularly related to marriage) inform her spirituality?
3. Is this text a form of therapy? For whom?
4. What is the function of conversation in this text? Between Kempe and her husband? Between Kempe and Christ?
5. What is the importance of pilgrimage for Margery?
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