Really, Really Wyrd...
I RECIEVED MY first test back from Major British Writers instructor, Dr. Tom Howerton. He's a gangly, happy man who looks quite a bit like I imagine Middle English poets to look, sitting without much real strength in the body by the light of a candle, feverishly pounding away at the papyrus with ink and passion. And though I wouldn't be able to say for certain, I could imagine that he is an expert in Old and Middle English, considering how well he speaks both -- although he denies such accusations with a smile.We began the course by reading The Dream of the Rood, followed by one of my personal favorites, the epic Beowulf -- which is, quite possibly, the first real superhero story ever placed onto paper -- and then further along into works from after the French invasion of England in 1066, notably Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which I enjoyed translated into modern english so much that it became a reference point in the first line of one of my books, The Ladder in the Backyard.
The aforementioned test, however, was only on the period before 1066, widely accepted as "Old English," and Beowulf, which I was proud to say I had a fine knowledge of beforehand -- Mr. Howerton, as he prefers not to be called by his scholarly title, noticed this knowledge and continually called on me in class to answer those questions which others did not know, the more concrete of which I was glad to do so. We had gone over the material for several weeks in advance, and when test day came I was as confident as a fellow could be. Didn't even bring my text to class that day, I might add, even thought it was an open book/notes exam. Before the class began, the other students jammed their noses into the crease of the book one last time while I sat in the far back corner of the room with my legs crossed and my arms folded across my chest, watching them work like ants. Ego poured out of me like blood, and I waited for the paper to hit my desk.
The test was timed; fourty minutes to answer twenty-five questions. Mr. Howerton explained that this was tim enough to use books and notes only to verify that which one already knew, and not to search for and find out things that once were unknown. I was proudly done in less than ten minutes, and silently folded my paper onto its face and set my pen overtop it, leaning back and watching with a smug smile everyone else searching their texts for answers.
That was five days ago, on a Thursday. Today is Tuesday and, as I started this post off with, I received my grade back. I scored a discouraging 76th percentile, one of the lowest grades in the class, I believe; although, Mr. Howerton said that the scores "ranged from the sixties to the nineties," but that "everybody showed an adequate knowledge of the material."
I am trying to get straight A's, which means that my average percentile in all of my classes must be at least 90th; and though this leaves me feeling almost like a faliure, the other part of me -- the part that is not near as harsh -- can lean back and say, "Well, it is a C, which is defined as average. The grade, in the end, is not all that important." Of course, I'd like to think that's the procrastinator in me speaking out and not the real person; the person who wants to excell one-hundred percent.
To make up for it, I have decided to complete two extra-credit assignments for the class, so as to add some valuable points to this sad grade. The first will be memorizing and reciting the first thirteen lines of the General Prologue from The Canterbury Tales...in Middle English. The second is two write a two page evaluation of a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the King of England, and describe the relationship between church and state presented therein.
I should be proud, though. This is the first grade I've recieved as of yet that does not meet, or excell, my goals for 90th percentile, considering that my last two Precalculus Algebra exams scored in the 106th percentile, which is above perfect.
Sadly, though, that's another class altogether, and if I want an A in Major British Writers, I have some serious catching up to do.
Post a Comment