An Overview of the Term

It's "0" degrees outside right now, but I'll try to make it somehow. Here's an overview of my classes:

CHALCEDON TERM

Traditio III (CUL 313)

This course is, as the syllabus states, introduces us to some of the seminal works in the literature, philosophy, political theory, and art of the early medieval period. So we’ll consider Neoplatonic philosophy and theology through Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius. We’ll study St. Augustine, Boethius and St. Anselm. Later in the term we’ll study medieval hagiography and illuminated manuscripts and then consider medieval literature. So we’ll be reading:

Anselm
Augustine
Beowulf
Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy
Christopher de Hamil on A History of Illuminated Manuscripts (it looks really cool)
Plotinus
Pseudo-Dionysius
Soldiers of Christ
Song of Roland

On a side note, I’ll be giving a presentation this term on Illuminated Manuscripts. So we’ll see how that goes.

Intermediate Greek: Gospel of Mark (GRE 312)

We’ll be translating the Gospel of Mark in this class, as well as doing some study of the Gospel in depth, actually working with the text and examining some of Mark’s style and his particular message. We’ll also continue memorization of vocabulary and paradigms…

Shakespearean Comedy

This is looking to be an awesome class with Dr. Leithart. We have to prepare a performance of part of one of the plays we’ll be studying for our final, as well as “one paper of less than 25 pages on some topic in Shakespearean Comedy.” Sheesh… I’ll be lucky if I get 10-15 pages. :-) I’m thinking of doing a paper on the language (as in the style of comedy… particularly puns) of either Taming of the Shrew or Much Ado About Nothing.

We’ll be reading:

Comedy of Errors
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Love’s Labor’s Lost
Troilus and Cressida
Merchant of Venice
All’s Well
Cymbeline
Twelfth Night
Winter’s Tale
Measure for Measure

Thesis

There’s not a syllabus or guidelines for this really. I’ll be meeting with my advisor on a fairly regular basis, and will continue to narrow down exactly what my thesis statement is. I’ll continue doing more research and kind of outlining how my thesis will take shape over the next few weeks, I imagine. But that’s what this blog is particularly for, so I’ll keep you updated on that front.

Declamation

This is just an hour segment every week where we as a class are required to do various short presentations (2-3 minutes each) every week or so to continue to work on speaking in front of people and give us the opportunity to do something on a little less formal stage. Usually these are a lot of fun.

NSA Choir

This spring we’re going to be working on some American musical pieces, and I’m not really sure what that means. However, we’ve also been told that we’ll be working on something by Copland, which sounds exciting. More on that as I discover more. I’m one of 6 basses. Hahah.


So there you have it. I think that’s a fairly good summary of what I’ve got on my plate this term, and I’ll probably have more to say on each class as interesting lectures or discussions or readings come along.