Blog Post #7

Johnson: Col
It's interesting to me that there are so many references to India and the East Indies, because I never thought of Scotland as one of the main contenders in the race for conquest and world domination. I also thought it was incredible that ministers would travel from island to island in order to preach to individual congregations. I suppose that one of the unique aspects for a person seeking to be ordained as a minister in an island parish would be having to consider his level of susceptibility to seasickness. Also, I agree with Johnson that having only one church on the island would be a deterrent or a test of faithfulness for people living farther away.

The excerpt from Ben Dorain was surprising to me for a variety of reasons. For one, the author spent the vast majority of this part of the poem describing the speed and gracefulness of deer and how wonderful it is to hunt them. In fact, it makes them sound like gods: "Even light would be tardy to the flash of her pulse." It also glorifies rifles as instruments of death. I wonder what a "pibroch" is, and why Mozart is mentioned in the first section.

Blog Post #6

Johnson: Raasay
If I had to pick one place to visit in Scotland, I think this would be it. There are otters, old pirate caves, ancient ruins, wild scenery, and the people sing a harvest song while they work! There are also Erse songs and dancing. It sounds lovely and intriguing. I know Johnson doesn't agree with me: No Sir! On the contrary, "Raasay has little that can detain a traveller, except the laird and his family." The only unpleasant part I can agree to without seeing it for myself is that parts of the island are so steep that cattle fall of of it and are swallowed in the sea.

Boswell:
He recounts one of Johnson's moments of didacticism on the subject of women and propriety. I found it somewhat sickening. His pompousness and attitude of superiority (when he's not even a woman!) are more than a little infuriating. I completely 100 % agree with his general argument that women shouldn't cheat on men, but he seems to be awfully one-sided. He says, "Where single women are licentious, you rarely find faithful married women." I think this is a serious generalization to make, and it is even worse that he states it as fact.

Blog Post #5

Much to my supreme annoyance, I realized that I read Johnson's section of the Journey for tomorrow over the weekend with the result that what I am reading from Johnson and Boswell does not match up. It was not my intention to add to the confusion, but it can't be helped now.

Johnson: Inverness
Johnson's report on the trip to Scotland is highly informative and factual. He writes as though he is preparing a travel book, focusing on people, scenery, and lodging. It was interesting that he mentioned the food in Inverness being as "coarse as the feasts of Eskimeaux." He seems to be very eager to show off his wealth of knowledge, and that detracts from the travel book feel somewhat. His views are also evident here: "They must be content to owe to the English elegance and culture."

Boswell:
Boswell's goal is to record almost every word that comes out of Johnson's mouth. The two of them are like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Johnson seems to be unable to resist the opportunity to argue with each of his hosts and guides as soon as he is introduced to them. I found it to be quite amusing as well as rude. I also enjoyed Boswell's descriptions of Johnson having to switch horses frequently because they were exhausted from carrying his weight.

Blog Post #4

Reflections on the Highlands: Johnson discusses the benefits of living in the mountains in terms of defense and security. I thought it was interesting to compare the people of the Scottish Highlands to the natives of Appalachia. In some ways, they seem to be quite similar (for example, it takes a long time for news to reach them or for change to occur in comparison to industrialized areas). I liked Johnson's observation that "Law is nothing without power." He provided a helpful explanation of the importance of record-keeping and lineage for the highlanders.

I enjoyed reading James Boswell's descriptions of Johnson and his attempts to bring the man Samuel Johnson to life for those who did not have the privilege of knowing him in life. I was surprised at how witty and entertaining Johnson was because I had mostly heard of him being a great rhetorician and orator. I loved the conversation about "tragick acting" and ghosts: "I asked him, 'Would not you start as Mr Garrick does if you saw a ghost?' He answered, 'I hope not. If I did, I should frighten the ghost.'" And that is how Samuel Johnson won me over.

Blog Post #3

When I first read "God send euerie Preist ane wyfe," I thought that ane meant any, so I assumed that the priest was desperate to the point of recklessness. Later I realized that he was asking for one (1) wife, which is somewhat less amusing. I don't really think it was meant to be a comical poem, but initally it struck me as such. He sensibly argues that even "Sanct Peter" had a wife and suggests that fewer children would be born out of wedlock if marriage were allowed. Poor Preist.

I really enjoyed Sir Robert Aytoun's "Sonnet: On the River Tweed." The language is beautiful and stately. I'm not positive that my interpretation is correct, but he seems to be mourning the death of a captain or king--"But now conjoynes, two Diadems in one." I thought that maybe the king's body was being sent in a boat down the River Tweed toward the sea (sort of like Boromir in Lord of the Rings), but I could be entirely wrong.

I also liked "Farewell for ever to last night" by Niall Mór MacMhuirich. It is a tale of two lovers who cannot be together, and the main themes are romance and tragedy. It is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet as a result of these characteristics.

Blog Post #2

I liked Henryson's "The Two Mice" because it was not too hard to understand even with the foreign word spellings. The fact that I was familiar with the story probably helped me out a little as well. Who was the first person to come up with that story? I always assumed it was Aesop--maybe he was a fraud. In any case, both stories are didactic and have a moral ending.

I wasn't able to put together enough words to make much sense of "Blind Harry." Who does the title refer to? It kind of sounded like Sir Wallace of Scotland killed off the English by burning the land and causing the soldiers to jump into the ocean and drown. The word "schippys" strikes me as very funny, although I'm sure "a hundreth schippys" is nothing to sneeze at. All the same, Sir Wallace managed to dispose of them without undue exertion.

The piece from The Book of the Dean of Lismore was rather depressing. Ossian is clearly feeling nostalgic (oh, yesteryear!) and would rather have died in battle than waste away without anything to fight for. He is the kind of person who lives for adventure.

My First Blog Post!

Well that was momentous.

Anyways, "The Attributes of a Gentleman" was an interesting piece and by far the easiest one to understand. I didn't know that skiing was so big in Scotland in 1158. What does St. Ronald of Orkney mean by "serve" in the 6th line?

The excerpt from The Gododdin praises Geraint, a powerful warlord. This text reminds me of Beowulf because of the epic style in which it is written (although Geraint was defeated and his enemy survived). I think the word "feasted" in line 7 needs some sort of explanation because it is not usually associated with hardship. Also, what's with the fleece? The only other reference I can think of is the search for the golden fleece.

I sincerely hope we discuss the John Barbour readings. I can figure out the general gist of what he's saying but the sentence structure is sometimes hard to decipher, especially when combined with the strange word spellings. For example, what do "gyff" and "mekill" mean?!? I'm not used to seeing that many y's in a single sentence.

These are the things that stood out to me the most.