Courtney’s Blog

            In reflecting on my performance as a student, I have realized several things.  While I do complete the readings in a timely manner, I should take more notes when I do so.  My reading is usually passive and not active.  Since I use online versions of Troilus and Criseyde, my preferred method for active reading, which is to underline any text I find interesting, is not practical.  I should compensate for this by either taking notes while I read online in a notebook or on the pages of the textbook itself.  There needs to be some way for me to take the necessary notes.  Sometimes when I find something that strikes my interest in my reading, I visit multiple versions of the text to determine the meaning.  When I was working on my close reading essay, I used a modern translation to locate the section I found interesting, and then used a site with a modernized spelling in combination with the textbook to help me examine it in more detail.  Comparing the different versions, including the text and given footnotes, helps me when I am having difficulties.

            As we study Troilus and Criseyde, I find the approach taken in class interesting.  In most literature classes I have taken, we examined the works from a more serious angle.  In this class, we discuss the likelihood that Troilus and Criseyde should not be read as a great tragedy and romance, but rather as a satire.  Lectures indicate that the more satiric interpretation is not a standard reading.  Thinking about different interpretations for a text like Troilus and Criseyde reminds me how complex understanding literature can be, and how multiple ideas can exist within a text. 

            I have begun working on the second part of my research portfolio.  I initially was unsure of my focus for this until I found an article examining the nature of courtly love in Troilus and Criseyde.  Since our class discussions on that subject have interested me, I decided to focus my research on articles dealing with the relationship between love and the poem.  Some of the interpretations I have found favor class discussion while others offer different perspectives.  There is an active dialogue on the subject that I can read and form my own opinion on the subject.