Saturday, January 24, 2009

Week Two

We are beginning our exploration of Beowulf. This week I'd like you to go to the below website and explore the site. You need to go to the original text and try to read it. Good Luck. After reading the original text, then take a look at the modern text. After spending 5 to 10 minutes reading it, make a comment.

http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/

Have fun,
Mr. Lunn

84 comments:

ty knab said...

I took a few minutes to try and make out anything from the old text but it all seemed like gibberish to me. I then look through the modern text and could understand that but the wording is a little bit weird to me. The old text seems to be more structured and in order than the modern text.

sam peterson said...

After reading the old text i couldnt decifer anything everything seems to be written in a foreign language. The modern text atleast i could understand some what of what it is trying to say. the sentence structure should be tweeked in order for people to actually understand.

Brian Barr said...

After trying to read the old text, I am completely confused. It is as though it is a foreign language. I tried to say it out loud to see if it would make any more sense but that didn't work. I then tried reading the new text and could at least decipher the meaning because it actually looked like english. However, the words in the sentences seemed to be scrambled.

Taryn Wellborn said...

Well i can tell you that the old test looks like someone just scrambled up a bunch of letters and put random symbols on top of some letters. The modern text was understandable but some of the words were in a different order than i am used to. Also, the names in the modern text are difficult to pronounce.

Kevin Hetrick said...

I couldn't understand any of the old text. It definitely looked like it was written in another language and when i compared it to the modern text i still saw no similarities. In the modern text, the words kind of seem jumbled and the names are very different than what I am used to.

craig said...

This is Craig Leugers and I ahve to say that I didn't even understood what any of that language was in the original text. Then even when reading the modern text it was still tricky to understand exactly was going, it had to many wierd sayings like "how the almight made the earth" to understand what twas going on in the story. The book must have had some other type of writing or style, anyway it was still hard to make anything out.

Lauren H said...

Over all I didn’t really understand much of the old English because I didn’t even know how to pronounce some of the letters let alone the words. But after reading the old text for a while I started to pick up on certain words that were not spelled correctly but if you sounded them out they sounded like modern words. The modern text was much easier to understand than the old text but the sentence structure was off. At times that made it hard because in the introduction on the Beowulf page it said that a lot of the reading was based on how you put infuses and pauses on things.

Kayla Sanson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kayla Sanson said...

That old text was impossible to read. I didnt even know how to say the words. It was really confusing and hard to try and understand. It actually hurt my eyes a little.
The modern text was easier to read. I could actually understand it alittle better but it was kinda weird also.

nathalie said...

The old text was really hard to understand. When I compared it to the new text it didn't mean anything close to what I thought it ment. The modern text is much more understandable.

garrett said...

The old text just looks like somebody threw a bunch of random letters together. I can actually read the modern text but it seems like the wording is a little off.

Zac Harford said...

The old text was definately unreadable, but the modern text was pretty easy to understand. I figured that after viewing the modern text I could go back to the old version and try to decode it based on the modern writing, but most of the text was still impossible to comprehend aside from a few words and phrases.

Matt Best said...

I personally thought the old translation looked really cool, and it was interesting to look at how certain words in the old text resembled words in our english language. I think it's cool that something written over 1000 years ago still is being read and studied today.

-Period 4LA

Ginny Shafer said...

I couldn't really understand the text in old English except for words like "him" and other words that are similar t the ones we use now...and that really frustrated me. So I eventually ended up looking at the modern text and I could understand it alot better even though the sentences were structered a little differently.

Period 7 :)

keara sanson said...

The old text was like reading scribble, it was much to hard to understand. The modern text was alot easier to understand, even though the sentences were put a little differently.

Emma Norton said...

I dont understand how anyone could understand anything from the old text. I had no idea what I was reading, or even a small clue. Then when I read some of the modern text, which I dont understand how they made any of that out from the gibberish old text, I started to understand a lot more of what they were saying. The sentence structures were very different, and the wording was weird, but I think if I tried to, I could understand the story. Also, I thought some sentences would never end.

Emily said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emily said...

Emily Holifield

When i first glanced at the old text, i instantly thought it was in a different language and could not follow it whatsoever. With the modern text i could at least read it and understand the words i was reading but the wording was not what i am used to.

Katie Asbury said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Katie Asbury said...

When I read the old text nothing made sense to me, it seemed like a bunch of random letters put together. After switching over to the modern text things got to be a little easier but it was still difficult to understand.

Saige Miller said...

While I was reading the old text I could not understand a single word. The writting seemed to be in a different language. Then when I looked at the modern text was understandable. The only thing I noticed about the modern text was that the writting was in a different order than I am used to and it is words that I do not read or hear often.

erin creelman said...

As I was reading the old text, I thought that it was very difficult to read and understand. It just looked like a bunch of letters that were scrambled up. I thought that the modern text was easier to understand than the old text. However, it was still a little bit different than what I am used to seeing.

lexey said...

As I was reading the old text, I didn't even recognize any of the words excpet for a few that were in English. It is very differently spaced out then the modern text and looks like it's in a different language. The modern text at least looks a lot like what we are used to now, except for the arrangement of the words.

Brittany Vigar said...

i looked it over and the old text i cant read because i cant read latin or greek whatever that is. so i looked at the modern text and i understood most of it i think.

Chelsea said...

When I tried to read the old text, it was very hard and confusing. I tried to make out some of the words but it all seemed like it was in a different language. The new text was something that I could at least read, but it still had a lot of words that were hard to understand and that I were not familar with.

-Chelsea Byrnes

jake lackner said...

Is this a joke there is no way I understand anything. I would not know any similarites cause I dont know what the old text is talking about. It looks like latin mixed with other langagues. But it seems like the new text would flow much better than the old text.

jake lackner said...

This is a joke there is no way to understand this old english. It seems like its a bunch of different languages thrown into a paragrah. But it does seem as if the New text flows alot better. Compared to the old text which seems alot more choppy.

Unknown said...

After reading the old text i couldnt make out any of the words used and I became very frustrated with this foreign language. I then switched over to the modern text and saw that it was readable and much easier to understand.

KaRecka said...

I looked at both text but anything really popped out at me. I really dint understand what either of the text was talking about to be honsty with you. All I the morden text was some what like that old text. All they did was just move some of the word around. Just to make it into modern time.

KaRecka said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KaRecka said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kaitlyn said...

the old tex looks kind of funny. it doesnt look like actual words. the modern tex was a lot easier to understand

Tim C said...

I read the old text and could not understand it all. It looks like a foreign language. I understood the modern text much better but there were still some words that seemed out of order.

Tiffany said...

The old text was diffcult to understand and the modern text was a little eaiser to read. I don't know how the people transfered the old text to modern text.

Kristen Ebbert said...

The old text was impossible to understand. It looked like it was written in another language. The modern text was easier to understand, but the word order was still a little confusing.

Unknown said...

I attempted to read the old text, but of course I couldn't understand a word of it. Then I looked at the modern one and that one was at least possible to read.
I didn't really know how the old text was written it looked like two different columns. Then the modern text was structed kind of funny also, it didn’t really flow well and I’d have to keep looking at the sentence before to even keep up with the story.

Travis Carney said...

I would definitely say that that the old text is unreadable. After looking at the modern text, it makes a lot more sense. I find it interesting to go back and see what old English looks like, as I thought it looked differently.

Travis Carney said...

I would definitely say that that the old text is unreadable. After looking at the modern text, it makes a lot more sense. I find it interesting to go back and see what old English looks like, as I thought it looked differently.

kristy y said...

I could not understand the old text. The modern text is much more understandable, but the sentence structure is confusing.

JON AHRENS said...

Wow that was a great use of time. haha. Well the old text was impossible for me to read. It wasnt even a know language i dont think. The modern text still isnt that modern. It is very hard to understand with the context it is written.

Unknown said...

Once I looked at the older text I got the same impression as everyone else. I have never seen writing like that before and I couldn't decifer it at all. I did see the word "him" but thats about it. As for the modern text, the wording was still confusing because it seemed like it was missing something. If there were possibly a few more words to the sentence I might get it a little easier.

Unknown said...

Jessica Re

Once I looked at the older text I got the same impression as everyone else. I have never seen writing like that before and I couldn't decifer it at all. I did see the word "him" but thats about it. As for the modern text, the wording was still confusing because it seemed like it was missing something. If there were possibly a few more words to the sentence I might get it a little easier.

Jenny Sweitzer said...

I recognized a couple of words from the original text, but that is about it. Obviously it is in a different language so it's impossible to decipher. Even reading the modern text was hard for me because of the way it was worded. You rarely hear anyone in todays society using that proper of english, so it's kind of hard to understand.

Anonymous said...

I think the old text is way too difficult to read and understand. I think its cool to see how the way things were written, but just not to have to sit down and read all the time.

Curt Blum said...

I couldn't understand the Old Text at all. It seemed like a bunch of words mixed up. The Modern Text was a lot easier to read but it still wasn't too clear to me what was going on. I got what the Modern Text was trying to say but it was still kind of confusing.

Emma Searcy said...

I started to read the old text and immediately misunderstood every line. Between the weird structure of the text and the "letters" it seemed like it was written in gibberish. Reading the modern text was easy to understand. Even though the sentence structure wasn't all that great, I could at least read it while I couldn't read one word of the old text.

kayla stevens said...

First i attempted to read the old text. nothing made sense to me at all. It didnt even seem like english what so ever. after that i began reading the new text, and could make out most of the words, but the sentences did not seem to fit together correctly. and yes mr. lunn, this old english is way more difficult than the version of beowolf that is in our textbook.

vordy21 said...

I tried to take a few minutes to read the old text, but it seemed like it was written in a different language. Then I looked at the modern text and that was much easier to read. i understood most of what it was trying to say, but there was some words that were hard to pronounce. Overall I got the sense of what they were telling me in the modern text, and not the old text!

cornelius sowers said...

The modern text seems more confusing than the original text. If i could read whatever language that original text was in maybe i would understand it better, but overall the modern text seems more structured but, the text doesn't flow as well.

gmancz said...

I wonder if you are going to enjoy reading all of these blogs because this old text was gibberish and some ancient chinese language. It probably is so difficult because no one speaks it anymore. The modern text wasn't difficult at all besides the word mix ups but that is probably due to old english and it was easily enough figured out.

4th bell

emily houston said...

The old format is impossible to read. the modern format id\s easier to read, but it's too flowery.

Garrett Keeling said...

The Old English version uses symbols not used in todays English language. The symbols look Russian or Eastern European. I can understand and read the modern version, but the word order is slightly strange.

Aaron R. said...

I looked at the old text for a while, but i couldn't read any of it. The old text i could read and understand, but i think that it could be made more understandable for the everyday person.

Corrie Dignan said...

After looking at the old text, it was hard to follow along. It looks like its in a different language that i can not understand. The modern text was much easier to read but it was still kind of confusing.

Drew S. said...

the old text in beowolf gave me a headache. It just looks like someone jus make up a languige and wrote down random words. The only words I could identify in the old text were Hell, water, cain and able, he, his and maby world. The modern text, when translated, has bad gramar and may not correct. Personally I favor the MODERN text because I can read it.

david c said...

welll after carefully reading over the following text. i have concluded the following. i really dont understand . peace. david.c

Zak Kocsis said...

I agree that the old text was extremely confusing. The modern text was much easier to understand. I would definately prefer to read the modern text because it actually resembles the language that I speak.

Fred Walker said...

After reading the old text I could not understand one thing I read. It just looked like a bunch of random letters thrown together. Some of the letters I've never even seen before and they had weird symbols on them. When i read the new text i could at least read and understand words but it was still a little unclear to me.

Unknown said...

It is nearly impossible for us to read the original text as Old English is a completely different language. The old text appears to have similar grammer to that of modern German, but resembles modern English in very few aspects.

Francie Kanis said...

I read the old text and i tried to make it make sense in my head, but it was like i was making up my own language. Reading the more modern text was easier to understand, it was still confusing, but way easier then the old text.

Pat Guanciale said...

After trying to read the old text for a few minutes and tried to find some similarities to the modern text but there is none. Even the modern text is slightly jumbled and has bad grammer but is much easier to read.

caleb correll said...

After I tried reading the old text I figured out that I couldn't understand anything. The modern text was much easier to understand and I could actually read the words. But some of the words were still kind of hard to understand the way they were awkwardly put together in the sentence.

alliedavis said...

After reading the original text, it left me in confusion. The words were written in an old style that was impossible for kids in my generation to understand. If they can understand then I give them kudos because it looks completely foreign to me. The modern text still is a bit confusing, but after spending time looking at it, it is much more comprehensible.

Unknown said...

After a couple of minutes of trying to read the old text i decieded that the only words i understood were the names becasue they havent changed over the years. The new text i understood.

molly ries said...

I took me a while to read the old english because it was hard to read and confusing. None of it really made sense. The modern english is more readable.

Matt Pucillo said...

Well, the old text just was stupid. I couldn't understand a thing and I am pretty sure an it was wrote by an infant. The modern text I could read, but the structure was a little out of order.

Davis M said...

After tring to read the old text I found it very confusing. I had troubleunderstanding what is was saying. The new text was easier to read but did still was a little dificult.

Annie said...

When i was reading the old text i didnt understand anything that was going on and after going back and trying again it kept getting worse. The modern text was not really that much easier to understand but i could at least read it.

Vince said...

I took a few mintues reading both pages the first page i could not understand anything that was said. but on the second page i started to get a understanding of what it was telling me. it was interesting. vince

Carolyn Daley said...

After i read the old text i was very confused. I could only make out some of the words, which didnt help in understanding what was being written. The modern text was a little clearer but not by a huge amount it was still confusing and the words seemed out of place.

Unknown said...

When I first looked at the old text I had no idea what any of it said. It looked like a different language and it was impossible to read. Then when I looked at the modern text it was a lot easier to understand and I could compare it to the old text.

Koty Trentman said...

After reading the old text i couldn't understand anything. I didnt recognize any words but after reading the modern text the story seemed more understandable the way it is written seems weird.

brittany havens said...

I read the old text and it was hard to make out most of the words but after reading the modern text I could understand it more but still a little confusing.

Katie Ellis said...

The old text was impossible for me to understand. I didnt know what almost all of the words meant. After reading the modern text it was much easier to comphehend.

Thugenberg said...

I am completely unable to read the old text, but reading the new text makes much more sense. This makes Beowulf seem much more like a poem. I suppose that is why it is called an epic POEM. It is still much more confusing than our current translation in our textbooks.

alan van pelt said...

The old text does not make any sense to me. I have read it a few times and it really just looks like a totally different language to me. The modern text is somewhat understandable but the words are still jumbled and it is not familiar to me at all.

Kevin Becker said...

The old text made no since to me when i read some of it. The modern text was easier to understand but yet still very confusing.

Nick Turner said...

I could not understand the old English what so ever. It was cool to see what it actually meant. The modern translation is much easier to read but still confuses me.

Harrison Kraemer said...

once i looked over the old text i had no idea what it said. it must have been a different language. then i read the newer text and it was still a little difficult to read but i could undertsnad it for the most part.

Nathaniel Finney said...

I was not able to make out any words in the old text except for character names. I was able to read the modern text however, it is a little confusing. It is amazing how much languages change over time.

Max Barden said...

I read the old text and I couldn't even read any of the words. Then, I read the new text and it was much vlearer but still hard to read. I think some of the original meaning could have been lost in the translation.

Andrea Hemingway said...

When I went to read the old text, I couldn't read any of it. Its seems like it was in a different language to me. When I went back to read the modern text, I felt like I could read a little bit and understand somewhat of what they were saying. The language however was not right. There were certain things that I didn't even begin to understand.

drag45 said...

well it was a lil hard to read. Now i think that the old text was now like bad some thing idk but i think that it have a lil with the way we talk now.

Anonymous said...

After reading the old text, it was kind of confusing to read and understand. When i read the normal, modern text, i could understand it better. It seemed more structured, whereas the old text did not feel as structured.