Famous Last Words for Week 11: The Creative Mind

As the end of this semester draws closer and closer, I have discovered that this course has rekindled my ability to write creatively. As a science major, I often get very caught up with the facts and statistics of my topic that will go into my papers and lose a lot of the creativity. Having the ability to use this course not only as a way to let my imagination run wild, but also as a way to practice putting my imagination on paper (figuratively speaking). I have noticed that doing this each week through this course, my creative writing has spilled over to my other classes in a very rewarding way. I often receive compliments from my professors saying that my writing style is refreshing to read and a nice break from the generic bland scientific papers that normally read. Being able to add my personality to my papers makes them far more interesting for me to write and more enjoyable for those who have to read them. It's been interesting to come to the realization that the learning process is far more important than the letter received for my efforts. When that finally clicked for me, classes became more interesting and I retained more of what was being taught, thus still obtaining the grades that I previously crammed and procrastinated for. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be in a class that pushes me to be creative, but does not grade on her definition of imagination. It's a really amazing way of running the class, that if taken advantage of as a student can be very rewarding.

(Open Mind. Web Source: Openclipart)

Essay for Week 11: Imagination

In the unit that I read for this week, Celtic Fairy Tales, I found that many of the stories lacked a lot of background knowledge. This made that a bit more difficult to follow, which I was not a big fan of. The missing background knowledge did have one advantage, however. It made the storytelling assignment much easier. Without the information for why something was occurring in the story, it was easier for me as a reader and writing to imagine some elaborate story for why someone was placed in a certain position. An example of this is in the story Andrew Coffey. The story seemed to be some weird dream that the main character, Andrew, was having that included a man that everyone thought was dead, the demand that Andrew tell a story, and a wildly random adventure. What we are not given in the story is what Andrew's connection with the man was and why he so desperately wanted to hear a story from Andrew. We also are not told anything about the four men that catch the man everyone thought was dead and hang him up over a fire to be roasted. It was completely random and hard to follow, but since I am always looking for a story to retell for the storytelling post, having these open ended questions allowed me to imagine the crazy background stories for each of these characters.  Another example is in the story Brewery of Eggshells. We are given no information on why the woman in the story has her twin children taken away from her and replaced by goblin twins that do not physically change, but can intellectually grow. We also are not told why the goblin children have this strange physical restriction, but can still show a level of intellect well beyond their years.

Overall, I thought that this unit was much more interesting than the previous unit because it allowed more room for imagination for myself as a reader.

(The Creative Brain. Web Source: Video Documentary)

Storytelling for Week 11: Man's Best Friend

(Greyhound In An Extensive Landscape. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Prince Llewelyn's horn blew signaling that it was time for Gellert to join his master for a hunt. Gellert jumped to his feet from his cozy resting area on the porch and gave a long stretch. Just as he was about to race towards the origin of the horn, Gellert saw a large shadow  in his peripheral vision. With his attention diverted, Gellert trotted over to where he had seen the swift shadow.

Gellert arrived at the corner of the house just in time to see a course brown tail disappearing into his master's home.

Just then, the prince blew the horn again and shouted Gellert's name. Gellert knew that he would be in trouble for not responding to this call, but the creature that had just entered the house was of more importance.

Gellert bravely rushed into the house in pursuit. He searched and searched, but was having no luck until a loud crash came from the second story. Gellert bounded up the stairs frantically. His master's one year old son was in his nursery on the second story and that crash could have been nothing else but the sound of his cradle falling to the floor.

Gellert burst into the infant's room to see the young boy hiding under his over turned crib screaming in fear. Across from the boy was a large snarling wolf gazing hungrily at the child.

Gellert leap on top of the beast with bared fangs and sunk his teeth into the wolf's neck. The battle lasted several minutes with injuries being inflicted upon both four legged animals. Finally, the wolf lay dead and Gellert stood over it's body with a grin. He had saved his master's son. His best friend would be so proud of him.

Moments later, Gellert heard the fast beats of a horse's hooves. The hunt was over and his master was home! Gellert could not wait to show his master what he did! He raced down the stairs, out of the house, and when right up to his master's feet.

Prince Llewelyn leap back from Gellert in fear and the dog coward at his master's feet in utter confusion.

Author's Note: My story is based off of the tale Beth Gellert from the Celtic Fairy Tales Unit. In the original story, we read from the prince's point of view. When the prince arrives home from his unsuccessful hunt, he is mad at Gellert for not joining him. When Gellert comes bounding up to the prince in greeting, he is unaware that he is dripping with the wolf's blood. Since the prince had no idea why Gellert was covered in blood, he is fearful of his favorite greyhound. The prince then follows the trail of blood all the way back to his son's room. In the room, all the prince sees is an over turned crib, a large amount of blood, and a missing child. In a moment of utter panic, the prince places the blame of what he perceives as being his son's murder on Gellert and then kills the dog. Once Gellert is already dead, the prince hears his son cry out and then sees the dead wolf. He realizes that he just killed his best friend and the animal that had actually saved his son's life. My tale gives the story from Gellert's prospective all the way up until he greets his master.

Bibliography: "Beth Gellert," by Joseph Jacobs from Celtic Fairy Tales

Reading Diary for Week 11: Celtic Tales

Celtic Tales

Beth Gellert: This was an incredibly sad tale of the love a dog can have for his master. It is also a tale of man's weakness of jumping to conclusions and mistrust. The prince was so quick to ignore all that he had been through with Gellert and place blame out of fear and need for an answer.

Andrew Coffey: I could not really figure out the moral lesson behind this story if there was one. It was a bit twisted and awkward to follow. I think Andrew had drempt it all, but we were not given a back story as to why he would dream about this man that everyone thought was dead. Maybe I could write a preface to this story so that it given more reasoning behind what happened.

Brewery of Eggshells: Again I had a little trouble understanding why the goblins switched out their twins for the woman in the stories twins because of a lack of background knowledge. I could create a story about the goblins being angry at the wife and her husband for some misdeed and using that as a reason for exchanging the children.

Reading Diary for Week 11: Celtic Tales

Celtic Tales

Beth Gellert: This was an incredibly sad tale of the love a dog can have for his master. It is also a tale of man's weakness of jumping to conclusions and mistrust. The prince was so quick to ignore all that he had been through with Gellert and place blame out of fear and need for an answer.

Andrew Coffey: I could not really figure out the moral lesson behind this story if there was one. It was a bit twisted and awkward to follow. I think Andrew had drempt it all, but we were not given a back story as to why he would dream about this man that everyone thought was dead. Maybe I could write a preface to this story so that it given more reasoning behind what happened.

Brewery of Eggshells: Again I had a little trouble understanding why the goblins switched out their twins for the woman in the stories twins because of a lack of background knowledge. I could create a story about the goblins being angry at the wife and her husband for some misdeed and using that as a reason for exchanging the children.