Rebecca Straple-Sovers | Western Michigan University (original) (raw)

Book Chapters by Rebecca Straple-Sovers

Teaching Beowulf: Practical Approaches

Early Medieval English Women: A Florilegium

The Cursed Carolers in Context, Jan 14, 2021

Refereed Journal Articles by Rebecca Straple-Sovers

The Hilltop Review, 2017

The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry "Unburiable bodies sit outside the dug-outs all d... more The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry "Unburiable bodies sit outside the dug-outs all day, all night, the most execrable sights on earth: In poetry, we call them the most glorious."-Wilfred Owen,

Conference Presentations by Rebecca Straple-Sovers

2022 MLA Annual Convention, 2022

55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2020

Cancelled as a result of COVID-19

54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2019

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2018

35th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Medieval Association, 2018

22nd International Medieval Congress, 2017

52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2017

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2016

A number of Anglo-Saxon law codes begin with headnotes explaining the function of the laws that f... more A number of Anglo-Saxon law codes begin with headnotes explaining the function of the laws that follow, many of which frame the codes in the context of developing better ways to keep the “public peace.” In contrast, Anglo-Saxon penitentials, which are often seen as the best religious equivalent to secular law codes, do not open with invocations of the public good or even the good of the religious community. Instead, the introductory material of penitentials usually very briefly explains the purpose of the following text, which is to guide confession and penitence. The emphasis is on the individual sinner and the effect of confession. Such brief introductory statements illustrate one of the essential differences between secular law codes and penitentials: the way in which they frame trangressions and reparations in terms of the production and maintenance of communities or individual relationships with God, and the motivation behind the regulation of such communities or relationships.
For the scope of this paper, I focus on relationships or interactions between men and women in the secular law codes of Anglo-Saxon kings from Æthelberht to Cnut, which are collected and translated in F. L. Attenborough’s Laws of the Earliest English Kings and A. J. Robertson’s The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I, and in five penitentials used in Anglo-Saxon England, collected and translated on Allen Frantzen’s online database, “Anglo-Saxon Penitentials: A Cultural Database.” While the treatment of relationships and interactions between men and women in Anglo-Saxon secular laws displays a desire to maintain and regulate the bonds of communities, such as kin groups, neighborhoods, or even kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxon penitentials are far more concerned with how these relationships affect the status of individual souls and the relationship between an individual and God. In an effort to analyze how concerns and anxieties in texts traditionally regarded as “non-literary” are reflected in Old English literature, I also argue that the conceptions of communities and individuals found in secular law codes and penitentials are reflected in literary texts that closely align with the nature and context of these texts: epic poetry and Old English Saints’ Lives.

21st International Medieval Congress, 2015

In this paper I argue that female characters in Old Norse-Icelandic literature gain power by rema... more In this paper I argue that female characters in Old Norse-Icelandic literature gain power by remaining sober through the opportunities to either advise or outsmart men who had become drunk. I engage directly with what Jenny Jochens describes as a 'sober queen topos', a model wherein queens and women remain sober and aid and advise their kings and husbands after stupid, rude, or dangerous actions caused by their husbands' intoxication or where they outwit or even harm men by taking advantage of their drunkenness. This paper examines this 'sober queen topos', the few women in the corpus who do imbibe alcohol, the ways in which sober female behavior manifests in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, and its connection to female power.

2nd Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2014

26th Annual Indiana University Medieval Studies Symposium, 2014

The Virgin Mary was the subject of significant Anglo-Saxon Christian devotion, particularly for h... more The Virgin Mary was the subject of significant Anglo-Saxon Christian devotion, particularly for her role as the mother of Christ and the channel through which he took on humanity. As a woman performing such an extraordinary role, Mary also had an extraordinary nature: virginal and pure, but fertile and completely human. The paradox evident in Mary’s nature reflects the conflict faced by Anglo-Saxon religious writers, who wished to stress Mary’s human nature and the human physicality of Christ’s birth in order to establish Christ as both human and divine, but also wished to make clear Mary’s purity, for instance, through her exemption from traditional Jewish ritual purity requirements after childbirth. This challenge was complicated by many Anglo-Saxon religious writers’ unwillingness to discuss Mary’s pregnant body and her childbirth—which, being completely human, would include blood, physical labor, and the impurity associated with such from which Mary was exempt—in a graphic, visceral manner.

This paper discusses that conflict, and argues that the result is a “sanitized” language, which hovers between literal and figurative, used in Marian texts to discuss Mary’s body and Christ’s birth. By using scientific or medical terms for the womb, pregnancy, and labor which are also used in medical texts such as the Old English Herbarium, Bald’s Leechbook, and the Lacnunga, the authors of Anglo-Saxon religious texts can confirm Mary’s human pregnancy and labor without explicitly discussing the flesh and blood of childbirth. By using medical and scientific terms in religious texts, the writers of Anglo-Saxon Marian texts clearly ground Mary’s pregnancy and labor in the human world and establish that Christ’s birth was not, indeed, a “celestial childbirth” accomplished “beyond the human way,” but one which was accomplished very much in the human way.

Medieval Association of the Midwest 29th Annual Conference, 2013

"The Virgin Mary has long been recognized as an important subject of Anglo-Saxon Christian venera... more "The Virgin Mary has long been recognized as an important subject of Anglo-Saxon Christian veneration, particularly in her role as the mother of Christ and as perpetual virgin. However, her importance has often been expressed as a model for female virgin martyrs, saints, and religious women. This paper considers Mary’s fertility as well as her chastity, and explores the way in which Anglo-Saxon religious texts, such as The Blickling Homilies, the Advent Lyrics of The Exeter Book, and others, invest Mary’s womb with a particular sense of place—as a dwelling for Christ, a treasure chamber, a bridal bower, a cloister, or a setting for the Incarnation. In these texts, Mary’s womb becomes a chamber where Christ puts on humanity and mortal flesh, where Mary weaves the physical coverings for Christ’s holy and immortal nature, and where women can meet Christ in an enclosed, sanctified space."

1st Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2013

Norwich- York-King’s College London Graduate Student Conference, 2011

Teaching Beowulf: Practical Approaches

Early Medieval English Women: A Florilegium

The Cursed Carolers in Context, Jan 14, 2021

The Hilltop Review, 2017

The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry "Unburiable bodies sit outside the dug-outs all d... more The Dead and Their Bodies in World War I Poetry "Unburiable bodies sit outside the dug-outs all day, all night, the most execrable sights on earth: In poetry, we call them the most glorious."-Wilfred Owen,

2022 MLA Annual Convention, 2022

55th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2020

Cancelled as a result of COVID-19

54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2019

53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2018

35th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Medieval Association, 2018

22nd International Medieval Congress, 2017

52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2017

51st International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2016

A number of Anglo-Saxon law codes begin with headnotes explaining the function of the laws that f... more A number of Anglo-Saxon law codes begin with headnotes explaining the function of the laws that follow, many of which frame the codes in the context of developing better ways to keep the “public peace.” In contrast, Anglo-Saxon penitentials, which are often seen as the best religious equivalent to secular law codes, do not open with invocations of the public good or even the good of the religious community. Instead, the introductory material of penitentials usually very briefly explains the purpose of the following text, which is to guide confession and penitence. The emphasis is on the individual sinner and the effect of confession. Such brief introductory statements illustrate one of the essential differences between secular law codes and penitentials: the way in which they frame trangressions and reparations in terms of the production and maintenance of communities or individual relationships with God, and the motivation behind the regulation of such communities or relationships.
For the scope of this paper, I focus on relationships or interactions between men and women in the secular law codes of Anglo-Saxon kings from Æthelberht to Cnut, which are collected and translated in F. L. Attenborough’s Laws of the Earliest English Kings and A. J. Robertson’s The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I, and in five penitentials used in Anglo-Saxon England, collected and translated on Allen Frantzen’s online database, “Anglo-Saxon Penitentials: A Cultural Database.” While the treatment of relationships and interactions between men and women in Anglo-Saxon secular laws displays a desire to maintain and regulate the bonds of communities, such as kin groups, neighborhoods, or even kingdoms, the Anglo-Saxon penitentials are far more concerned with how these relationships affect the status of individual souls and the relationship between an individual and God. In an effort to analyze how concerns and anxieties in texts traditionally regarded as “non-literary” are reflected in Old English literature, I also argue that the conceptions of communities and individuals found in secular law codes and penitentials are reflected in literary texts that closely align with the nature and context of these texts: epic poetry and Old English Saints’ Lives.

21st International Medieval Congress, 2015

In this paper I argue that female characters in Old Norse-Icelandic literature gain power by rema... more In this paper I argue that female characters in Old Norse-Icelandic literature gain power by remaining sober through the opportunities to either advise or outsmart men who had become drunk. I engage directly with what Jenny Jochens describes as a 'sober queen topos', a model wherein queens and women remain sober and aid and advise their kings and husbands after stupid, rude, or dangerous actions caused by their husbands' intoxication or where they outwit or even harm men by taking advantage of their drunkenness. This paper examines this 'sober queen topos', the few women in the corpus who do imbibe alcohol, the ways in which sober female behavior manifests in Old Norse-Icelandic literature, and its connection to female power.

2nd Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014

49th International Congress on Medieval Studies, 2014

26th Annual Indiana University Medieval Studies Symposium, 2014

The Virgin Mary was the subject of significant Anglo-Saxon Christian devotion, particularly for h... more The Virgin Mary was the subject of significant Anglo-Saxon Christian devotion, particularly for her role as the mother of Christ and the channel through which he took on humanity. As a woman performing such an extraordinary role, Mary also had an extraordinary nature: virginal and pure, but fertile and completely human. The paradox evident in Mary’s nature reflects the conflict faced by Anglo-Saxon religious writers, who wished to stress Mary’s human nature and the human physicality of Christ’s birth in order to establish Christ as both human and divine, but also wished to make clear Mary’s purity, for instance, through her exemption from traditional Jewish ritual purity requirements after childbirth. This challenge was complicated by many Anglo-Saxon religious writers’ unwillingness to discuss Mary’s pregnant body and her childbirth—which, being completely human, would include blood, physical labor, and the impurity associated with such from which Mary was exempt—in a graphic, visceral manner.

This paper discusses that conflict, and argues that the result is a “sanitized” language, which hovers between literal and figurative, used in Marian texts to discuss Mary’s body and Christ’s birth. By using scientific or medical terms for the womb, pregnancy, and labor which are also used in medical texts such as the Old English Herbarium, Bald’s Leechbook, and the Lacnunga, the authors of Anglo-Saxon religious texts can confirm Mary’s human pregnancy and labor without explicitly discussing the flesh and blood of childbirth. By using medical and scientific terms in religious texts, the writers of Anglo-Saxon Marian texts clearly ground Mary’s pregnancy and labor in the human world and establish that Christ’s birth was not, indeed, a “celestial childbirth” accomplished “beyond the human way,” but one which was accomplished very much in the human way.

Medieval Association of the Midwest 29th Annual Conference, 2013

"The Virgin Mary has long been recognized as an important subject of Anglo-Saxon Christian venera... more "The Virgin Mary has long been recognized as an important subject of Anglo-Saxon Christian veneration, particularly in her role as the mother of Christ and as perpetual virgin. However, her importance has often been expressed as a model for female virgin martyrs, saints, and religious women. This paper considers Mary’s fertility as well as her chastity, and explores the way in which Anglo-Saxon religious texts, such as The Blickling Homilies, the Advent Lyrics of The Exeter Book, and others, invest Mary’s womb with a particular sense of place—as a dwelling for Christ, a treasure chamber, a bridal bower, a cloister, or a setting for the Incarnation. In these texts, Mary’s womb becomes a chamber where Christ puts on humanity and mortal flesh, where Mary weaves the physical coverings for Christ’s holy and immortal nature, and where women can meet Christ in an enclosed, sanctified space."

1st Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2013

Norwich- York-King’s College London Graduate Student Conference, 2011

While many scholars of World War I poetry have identified aspects of soldier poets’ work that emb... more While many scholars of World War I poetry have identified aspects of soldier poets’ work that embody the change from enthusiastic support of the war to disillusioned criticism of it, in this paper I argue for an additional, and highly meaningful marker of this significant change: the use of the dead and their bodies in this poetry. The commonly held critical view of World War I poetry is that there is a clear divide between poetry of the early and late years of the war, usually located after the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where poetry moves from odes to courageous sacrifice and protection of the homeland to bitter or grief-stricken verses on the horror and pointless suffering of the war. This change is particularly noticeable in the poetry of “soldier poets." Through analysis of poems by a variety of World War I poets, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, and others, I track this shift and examine how it is mapped onto the bodies of soldiers in their poetry. I argue that poetry of the early years of the war depicts bodies as stable, insulated objects on which poets can project messages of admiration for the sacrifice and nobility of soldiers, support for the war, or concepts of nationalism and empire; in contrast, in the later poetry of the war, bodies are unstable, exposed, and corrupted, no longer able to support old messages of courage and noble sacrifice but reflecting the futility, senselessness, and destruction of the war.