Cindy Neuschwander’s realistic fiction, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table, tells the tales of how Sir Cumference, his wife the Lady Di of Ameter, and their son Radius solve the problems of the king’s table. The story unfolds in the lovely land of Camelot, where the mighty, but gracious King Author lived. Despite the peaceful atmosphere of the place, an uncertainty of problems slowly arises behind the fold of the curtain. One by one, an army of Camelot’s neighbors, the Circumscribers, march forth, looking as if they were preparing for war. Hearing this, the king brought the bravest of his knights to his honorary table to discuss the problem at hand. However, the knights have to shout over the long 5 by 20 feet table, making it hard to …show more content…
discuss the problem. Because of this, Sir Cumference, Lady Di, and Carpenter Geo of Metry seeks the answer to creating a perfect table for discussions to take place. They first decided to cut the rectangle table in half to make a square table. As result, this solved the problem of one side having to shout to the other, but another problem arises.
The sharp 90 degree angle of each side created corners that the discussion members can talk in secrecy. This is certainly not allowed since the point of a discussion is for everyone one to hear. So, King Author told Sir Cumference to create another table that will be successful. Sir Cumference soon told Lady Di about what had happened and, luckily, Lady Di got another idea for the table. The table’s second design ordered Geo of Metry, the carpenter, to cut the square into a diamond. This, as Geo thought, could create a obtuse angle on each side that should prevent any whispering. However, the King was displease, for he sat at where the point of the diamond table is, making him extremely uncomfortable. Struggling to find a successful table, Sir Cumference looked outside and rested his mind and, amazingly, the jousts’ flags gave him an idea of making a triangle table. Despite his best efforts, his idea of a triangle would not work because of its small size, but another idea sparked in Lady Di’s mind. The team decided to make an octagonal table, where the corners are not whispering-compatible like the square nor sharp like the …show more content…
diamond. This is a seemingly perfect plan, but it too have a problem. There are 12 people and the table only have 8 sides. Furthermore, the king, being the most important, gets one side to himself, which leaves 7 sides for 12 people.
This would not do because of the uncomfortable tight space. Tables after tables, none of the solutions worked and Sir Cumference began to feel desperate. The next day, Sir Cumference can’t seem to think the solution, co his son, Radius, told him to do something else for a bit to give his mind rest. So, the family decided to take a walk. There wasn’t much commotion until Radius spotted a fallen tree and thought that its circular trunk would be a perfect table. Hearing and approving to this, Geo of Metry cut off a slice of the trunk and designed it to be a table. The next day, no problems arises at the round table. No shouting was needed, no whispering was heard, no parts were pointy, and nothing is uncomfortable. Because of this, the round table was the perfect table for a discussion about the Circumscribers. The King felt so happy that he held a celebration to honor his new table. There were music that people were enjoying and food that knights love, but everything suddenly stopped as a messenger came in, delivering good news. The Circumscribers meant to harm, they were just gathering to measure the area of the kingdom, so there will be peace among the two
kingdoms. Soon after everyone cheered to the news, the king started to honor the knights that have created the round table. Lady Di name was given to the distance reached across the table, for she could stress from the bottom of the table to its top. Radius, although a small boy, is given a name in the table as well. Radius is the middle point of the circle to its outside, for he was half the height of the circle. Lastly, the circle’s outside edge got dedicated to Sir Cumference’s name and is now known as the circumference. With cheers and joy, the kingdom lived happily ever after.
...ing only smoke billowing up. On the left side of the courtesan is a man’s arm holding a lit cigar. On the table is a bowl of fruit and an ice bucket with wine.
A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester is not only informative of the conflicts that occurred in Europe, but it is humorous and includes perspectives and anecdotes that are not viewed as impartial. It is structured into three separate sections: The Medieval Mind, The Shattering and One Man Alone.
Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe. Ed. Sanford Meech and Hope and Emily Allen. London: Oxford UP, Early English Text Society 212, 1940; rpt. 1961.
One Christmas at Camelot, the king, his queen Guinevere, and the court gather for fifteen days of celebration. The best and noblest of people and activities are there: brave and famous men who compete in military games, beautiful and gracious ladies who play kissing games with the men. There is the most wonderful entertainment-dancing, feasting, singing. On New Year's Day, there is a tremendous feast at which all gather together.
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chaucer the author and Chaucer the pilgrim are both quick to make distinctions between characters and point out shortcomings. Though Chaucer the pilgrim is meeting the group for the first time, his characterizations go beyond simple physical descriptions. Using just twenty-one lines in the General Prologue, the author presents the character of the Miller and offers descriptions that foreshadow the sardonic tone of his tale and the mischievous nature of his protagonist.
Keen opens his book with an introductory chapter examining three literary works pertaining to chivalry: the Ordene de Chevalerie, the Book of the Ordre of Chyvalry, and the Book of Chivalry. All three of these were written during a period of great religious reform, yet, according to Keen, they appear to not have been influenced by the ideas of the Church. The Ordene de Chevalerie is an anonymous poem that stresses the importance of the ritual required for initiation into knighthood. The popularity of the piece leads to the conclusion that the poem reflects “what men understood chivalry to mean” (8). This poem is then contrasted by the Book of the Ordre of Chyvalry, a narrative work written by Ramon Lull that describes in detail the origins and meaning of chivalry. A consideration of Geoffrey de Charny’s ...
Throughout history, the role of women in society has caused arguments which resulted in the discretization of women’s intelligence, imagination, reason, and judgment (Murray 740). Women were forced to feel inferior because of men’s “natural rights,” resulting in the mental superiority of men. With the confinements of society ever on a woman’s threshold, came the inability to express thoughts and emotions without suffering ridicule from their male counterparts. Some critics suggest that the “inalienable rights… [such as] life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” were not simply taken away from women without consent, but they were rights never achievable for women at all (Deceleration of Independence). One critic, Judith Sargent Murray, a feminist of her day, advocates the rights of women on the grounds of social, political, and economic equality to men in her essay “On the Equality of Sexes.”
5. Howe, Helen, and Robert T. Howe. From the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. N.p.: Longman, 1992. Print.
Malory, Thomas, and Keith Baines.Malory's Le morte d'Arthur: King Arthur and the legends of the Round Table. 1962. Reprint, New York: New American Library, 2010.
The architecture of the courtroom establishes clear power disparities within the courtroom setting. The physical dimensions of Courtroom 5.1 were organised in such a way that the hierarchal nature of the court is visually clear from the moment you step into the room. The stratification of power amongst the courtroom actors is displayed through the ‘structural elevation’ of the seating (Carlen, 1976, pp. 50). The magistrate is seated at the uppermost level at the bench facing the defendant, solicitors and public gallery. This particular positioning demonstrates pre-eminence which allows com...
Chaucer’s book The Canterbury Tales presents a frame story written at the end of the 14th century. It narrates the story of a group of pilgrims who participate in a story-telling contest that they made up to entertain each other while they travel to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Because of this, some of the tales become particularly attractive for they are written within a frame of parody which, as a style that mocks genre, is usually achieved by the deliberate exaggeration of some aspects of it for comic effect. Chaucer uses parody to highlight some aspects of the medieval society that presented in an exaggerated manner, not only do they amuse the readers, but also makes them reflect on them. He uses the individual parody of each tale to create a satirical book in which the behaviours of its characters paint an ironic and critical portrait of the English society at that time. Thus, the tales turn satirical, ironic, earthy, bawdy, and comical. When analysing the Knight’s and the Miller’s tale, one can realise how Chaucer mocks the courtly love convention, and other social codes of behaviour typical of the medieval times.
Césaire, Aimé. The Tragedy of King Christophe. Trans Ralph Manheim. New York: Grove Press, Inc, 1969. Print.
Roger Babusci et al. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 115-136. Print. “The Medieval Period: 1066-1485.”
Antigone to have the dialogue with the guard in, which will be built out of scarves and chairs. We will have some sort of barrier built out of furniture as well, for the two opposite arches.
"The Prince and the Pauper." Masterplots, Revised Second Edition (1996). Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. North Haledon Free Public Library, North Haledon, NJ. 3 Jan. 2009 .