Author: OwenPitts

In this English 2 course, I have been learning about western literature for the past one hundred and eighty days! In this course, the western literature I have been learning about are specific literary books, like Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, literature from a specific civilization, like Greek literature and Roman literature and Hebrew literature, literature from a specific religion, like Christian literature, and literature from a specific time period, like medieval literature.

Boccaccio’s Decameron: The Decameron, according to Wikipedia, is “subtitled Prince Galehaut and sometimes nicknamed l’Umana commedia, is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city.” This book was written in 1353. Is was a piece of Renaissance literature, and it was very popular at the time. This tale tells of ten people who fled their home because of the Black Death and searched for a new home. They found an old abandoned castle to live in and in order to keep themselves entertained, they told each other stories. These stories are the basis of the book.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: According to Wikipedia, “The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer’s magnum opus.” One of these stories, the Pardoner’s Tale, I wrote an essay on earlier in the English 2 course if you want to check it out.

Greek literature: According to Wikipedia, “Greek literature dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving written works until works from approximately the fifth century AD.” Among the Greek literature we see the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. These poems were written by Homer. Two other works are Theogony and Works and Days, both of these written by Hesiod.

Roman literature: According to the World History Encyclopedia, “The Roman Empire and its predecessor the Roman Republic produced an abundance of celebrated literature; poetry, comedies, dramas, histories, and philosophical tracts; the Romans avoided tragedies. Much of it survives to this day.” Some Roman works are The Rise of Rome by Livy, On the Nature of the Universe by Lucretius, and Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.

Hebrew literature: According to Wikipedia, “Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews… Works of rabbinic literature were more often written in Hebrew, including: Torah commentaries by Abraham ibn Ezra, Rashi and others; codifications of Jewish law, such as Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, the Arba’ah Turim, and the Shulchan Aruch; and works of Musar literature (didactic ethical literature) such as Bahya ibn Paquda’s Chovot ha-Levavot (The Duties of the Heart).”

Christian literature: According to Wikipedia, “Christian literature is the literary aspect of Christian media, and it constitutes a huge body of extremely varied writing.” Some amazing examples of Christian literature are Christian books. Here are some great examples: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Confessions of St. Augustine by St. Augustine and John K. Ryan, and Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Some of these books were written not long ago, but Christian literature is Christian literature, no matter how old it is.

Medieval literature: According to Wikipedia, “Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages. The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.” Some Medieval literature is The Divine Comedy by Dante, Travels by Marco Polo, and The Mabinogion by Anonymous.

The Greeks were polytheistic, which means that they thought that their lives were controlled by their Greek gods. The Olympian gods, household gods, gods of the city, all of them. However, the Greek gods did not always agree. There were usually conflicts between the Gods, and ultimately, man was just another ‘chess piece on a chessboard’. The Roman worldview was based on Greece’s worldview, however, the Roman gods tended to be politically-based. But again, men were just another ‘chess piece on a chessboard’. The Hebrews worldview was based upon the Biblical Old Testament. They believed in one sovereign God as the Creator of everything. The Christian literature was mostly concurrent with Roman literature in the course. The authors of Christian literature supported the sovereignty of God in contrast to the Roman gods. Medieval literature also recognized God’s complete sovereignty. It gave special importance to hierarchical obedience.

Are Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales closer in outlook to Greek and Roman literature than they are to Hebrew, Christian, and medieval literature?

Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are both written after the Black Death (According to Wikipedia, “The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.”) and showed just how radically Europe changed. Europe was completely change because of the Black Death. In the stories, when the Black Death hit, many people were part of the Catholic Church and began to lose faith in the Church and even gave up on life itself. Many people tried their best to keep their distance from the plague, but nothing helped.

Both of these works showed not a single trace nor sign of a sovereign God, but instead they actually attacked the corrupt hierarchies of the Church and also the state. These books reflected the loss of hope in people. Basically, the Church lost its influence in people and eternal succession was barely mentioned in these two stories.

So, I would say that this is closer to Greek and Roman literature, although you can say otherwise.

The author of the Pardoner’s Tale was Geoffrey Chaucer. According to Wikipedia, “Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the “father of English literature”, or, alternatively, the “father of English poetry”. He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets’ Corner, in Westminster Abbey.” He was born in 1340 London, United Kingdom, and died on October 25, 1400, London, United Kingdom. His greatest known work is a book called The Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales contains twenty-four stories, one of which is the Pardoner’s Tale. The Pardoner’s Tale will be the story my essay is based off of today. These stories are all of the genre of poetry and were originally written in Middle English. These stories took from 1387 to 1400 to write, thirteen years.

The Pardoner’s Tale, according to Wikipedia, “is one of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the order of the Tales, it comes after The Physician’s Tale and before The Shipman’s Tale; it is prompted by the Host’s desire to hear something positive after the physician’s depressing tale.” This story is one of the twenty-four stories in the Canterbury Tales, a book written by Geoffrey Chaucer.

The story of the Pardoner’s Tale tells of three drunken revelers who try to seek out Death and destroy it after one of their friends died. During their quest to find Death they come across an old man. The old man tells the three men that Death can be found under a particular oak tree in a particular grove. The three men seek out this tree. Once they find the oak tree, they do not find Death under it, but rather gold florins (coins). Two of the friends plot to kill the other as to have more money fore themselves. After they do kill their friend, the other two become drunk on wine that the already dead friend had poisoned earlier, and as such, the remaining two died. Geoffrey Chaucer ends this story with florid rhetoric against the wickedness of blasphemy, gluttony, and gamboling.

This story clearly shows the Bible verse 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” ‘The love of money is the root of all evil’ statement is clearly shown in the end of this story, by the friends killing each other over money. Obviously, the ‘love of money’ got to them and showed itself by the friends killing each other; I mean their friends for crying out loud! They would not kill each other unless something got to them, in this case, the love of money.

The old man in this story could possibly be Death knowing that as soon as they found the gold they would kill each other over it. Or, the old man could be an ally to Death, doing Death’s bidding by sending them to the tree to die. Either way, the old man was evil, and either an ally to Death, or Death himself.

The Decameron, according to Wikipedia, is “subtitled Prince Galehaut and sometimes nicknamed l’Umana commedia, is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city.” This book was written in 1353. Is was a piece of Renaissance literature, and it was very popular at the time.

The plague in the title is the devastating Black Death, which ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351. One-third of Europe’s population died from the plague. According to Wikipedia, “It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.”

Boccaccio’s book the Decameron goes like this: Boccaccio tells a story of seven noble ladies in a church. They are having a conversation. The oldest of them, a woman named Pampinea, declares that they should leave the city and find a place of solitude where they can live apart from the world. The other six agree. They find three men willing to go with them. Together, the ten of them, plus their servants, leave the city and try to find a suitable place to live. Two miles out of town, they find an abandoned castle, in fairly good condition. It is there that they decided to live. In order to entertain themselves, they each tell stories. It is these stories that are in the title.

Which do you think was more gripping to read from the Decameron? The account of the Black Death’s cause for so many deaths and destruction throughout Europe, or the stories that the ten people tell each other in order to keep themselves entertained. personally, I like the stories better. They really are entertaining, they have morals to them, and I like to read stories. One such story is quoted by a person named Pamfilo, one of the original ten. This is the story:

Pamfilo’s story tells of a merchant who hires a wicked person to bring back money that is rightfully the merchants, so the criminal sets out on his mission. While on his mission and was staying with two money lenders when he became deathly ill. One day, while he was sick, the criminal heard his hosts talking about what to do with him. They could not kick him out lest they be criticized, they could not bring in a priest to hear his confession because he probably would not confess, but they could not not bring in a priest because if word gets around that they let an evil person into their house they might still be criticized. So the criminal told them to bring him the most holy man they could find, and they did. The criminal told the holy man that he was also very holy. When the criminal died, the people made him a saint.

The main idea of this story is that sometimes good people have error in judgement and they make someone their advocate who is actually just evil. I just really like these stories.

Giovanni was an important Renaissance humanist, poet, Italian writer, and correspondent of Petrarch. According to Wikipedia, “Some scholars (including Vittore Branca) define him as the greatest European prose writer of his time, a versatile writer who amalgamated different literary trends and genres, making them converge in original works, thanks to a creative activity exercised under the banner of experimentalism.” He was born on June 16, 1313 in the city of Certaldo, Italy, and died on December 21, 1375 in the same city in which he was born. Among his works was a collection of short stories called The Decameron. The Decameron will be the story in the title “Why did Boccaccio have the first story teller invoke God?”

The Decameron, according to Wikipedia, is “subtitled Prince Galehaut and sometimes nicknamed l’Umana commedia, is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio. The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city.” This book was written in 1353. Is was a piece of Renaissance literature, and it was very popular at the time.

The Black Death was a plague that ravaged Europe from 1347 to 1351. One-third of Europe’s population died from the plague. According to Wikipedia, “It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.”

Boccaccio tells a story of seven noble ladies in a church. They are having a conversation. The oldest of them, a woman named Pampinea, declares that they should leave the city and find a place of solitude where they can live apart from the world. The other six agree. They find three men willing to go with them. Together, the ten of them, plus their servants, leave the city and try to find a suitable place to live. Two miles out of town, they find an abandoned castle, in fairly good condition. It is there that they decided to live. In order to entertain themselves, they each tell stories. The first story teller, Pamfilo, is the one whose story I will be talking about.

Pamfilo says that God’s grace visited them because God is a good God and they were faithful to him. However, sometimes good people have error in judgement and they make someone their advocate who is actually just evil. Pamfilo’s story tells of a merchant who hires a wicked person to bring back money that is rightfully the merchants, so the criminal sets out on his mission. While on his mission and was staying with two money lenders when he became deathly ill. One day, while he was sick, the criminal heard his hosts talking about what to do with him. They could not kick him out lest they be criticized, they could not bring in a priest to hear his confession because he probably would not confess, but they could not not bring in a priest because if word gets around that they let an evil person into their house they might still be criticized. So the criminal told them to bring him the most holy man they could find, and they did. The criminal told the holy man that he was also very holy. When the criminal died, the people made him a saint.

The true message of Boccaccio’s stories was a rebellion against Christianity and a thought structure completely against the moral order enforced by God and Christian institutions.

The author of Little Flowers was, well, we are not sure who the author is, but many believe the author to be Father Ugolino da Santa Maria. Very little is known about this man. According to Wikipedia, “Most scholars are now agreed that Ugolino was the author of the Fioretti, or Little Flowers of St. Francis, in their original form. Ugolino was probably one of several collectors of traditions in the Marches. The Fioretti appears to have been written sometime between 1322 and 1328″ It is a florilegium separated into fifty-three small chapters. It was based on the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It was composed (according to google, composed means “having one’s feelings and expression under control; calm”) by the end of the fourteenth century.

According to Wikipedia, “Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages. The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.” The Medieval Literature we will be talking about today is called The Song of Roland.

The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving major work of French Literature. According to Wikipedia, “The Song of Roland is an 11th-century chanson de geste based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778, during the reign of Charlemagne.” According to Cornell College, “Olivier: Roland’s best friend, comrade, and the brother of Aude. He is also referred to as Oliver.” This poem has been twisted from the real historical event of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 into a poem that was romanticized to fit what can be bluntly described as Christian propaganda. The real Battle of Roncevaux Pass was an invasion of Spain by the ruler Charlemagne to help one set of Muslims defeat another set of Muslims. In this battle he attacked a Basque Christian city. In this battle he retreated and his rearguard was ambushed and defeated by the Basques. Europeans liked listening to this poem, despite the fact that there were several changes and was not historically accurate.

Now, do these literary documents give guidance in their era as to how a typical Christian should live? Well, both of these documents demonstrate how people should act, and the two works contradict (according to google, contradict means to “deny the truth of (a statement) by asserting the opposite”) each other in the actions of their characters.

From what we see in The Song of Roland, one might to be inspired to act with courage and resilience, just as Roland did, however, he also showed a bit of pride and showed no mercy nor humility. So this might not be a good idea for Christians.

Little Flowers on the other hand, shows an exceeding amount of love, kindness, mercy, and obedience, but this document did not seem to be pointed at the common man, but rather at friars.

So, in conclusion, the answer to the overall question is yes and no. There are some characteristics that show how a Christian should live, but some of them like the pride and “showing no mercy” stuff is bad for you.

The main theme of Little Flowers is the fact that all friars had to undergo poverty to become holy, however, they would have to spend some time in purgatory to pay for their already forgiven sins. Someone in the story, Pacifico, had a vision of brother Umile rising up into heaven without going through purgatory. One day, while people were moving Umile’s bones, Pacifico washed them in wine and kissed them. The people moving the bones thought he was just being weird, until he told them of his vision. They immediately understood. However, if you went through purgatory before you went to heaven, what hope was there for a regular person to go to heaven without going through an indefinite time in purgatory? My guess is no, not at all.