Do you frequently have music playing in the background when you read? Are you the type of person that connects important moments in your life to specific songs? In her portfolio project, Sarah Knott offers a personalized playlist for English 2201! In her “Soundtrack to a Semester,” Sarah has selected music to accompany moments in four texts that span the premodern British canon: the anonymous Beowulf, Andreas Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love, Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World, and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina. The four literary periods covered in English 2201 are given interludes to bridge the gaps between texts and imbue the playlist with a cohesive narrative.
Below, we have reproduced the playlist along with some of Sarah’s annotations to give the listener a sense of the care and creativity that went into her choices!
Soundtrack to a Semester
Sarah Knott
Section One: Beowulf, the “Horror” section
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“Adam’s Apple” by Aerosmith (Toys in the Attic, 1975)
“Adam’s Apple” is a spin on the creation story and Adam and Eve, which is what the bard is singing about at the beginning of this section. Additionally, the first line of the song is “Back when Cain was able,” which ties into the fact that Grendel is said to have been descended from Cain. The line “Lordy, it was love at first bite” romanticizes the original sin, and the style of the song brings out the anger that Grendel feels at hearing the creation story and the aggression that ensues.
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“Enter Sandman” by Metallica (Metallica, 1991)
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“Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler (Footloose, 1984)
This song also questions the presence of the gods, asking “Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?” Many of Hrothgar’s men have fallen victim to Grendel, their prayers have thus far gone unanswered, and they desperately need a hero. Beowulf falls into the category of a “streetwise Hercules” who is “fresh from the fight…”.
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“Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance (The Black Parade, 2006)
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“Renegade” by Styx (Pieces of Eight, 1978)
Section Two: The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus
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Rule #13: When made public, love rarely endures.
“Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects (Move Along, 2005)
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Rule #14: The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.
“You Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes (The Supremes A’ Go-Go, 1966)
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Rule #30: A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.
“I Say a Little Prayer” by Dionne Warwick (The Windows of the World, 1967)
There is nothing that better demonstrates how “constantly and without intermission” one is “possessed by the thought of [their] beloved” than saying that “The moment I wake up, before I put on my makeup, I say a little prayer for you.” This song talks about how the singer prays for her beloved through everything she does during the day, showing just how possessed she is.
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Rule #31: Nothing forbids one woman from being loved by two men or one man by two women.
“Two Princes” by Spin Doctors (Pocket Full of Kryptonite, 1993)
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Capellanus’s conclusion that women are awful and Walter should stay away from them.
“Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe (Poison, 1990)
“Poison” is kind of a mean song, which puts it in a good position to match Capellanus’s conclusion about women in The Art of Courtly Love. Bell, Biv, and DeVoe take turns telling us to “Never trust a big butt and a smile,” that they “know she’s a loser,” and that, when “you think you’re dreaming, you’ll fall in love and you’ll be screaming ‘demon.’” Basically, they agree with Capellanus’s advice to Walter: no matter who it is, “That girl is poison.”
Section Three: The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
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“Hurricane” by MisterWives (Our Own House, 2015)
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“Gimme Shelter” by The Rolling Stones (Let It Bleed, 1969)
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“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by The Beatles (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)
This is one of the most psychedelic songs I know, and sounds exactly how I would feel stumbling into a world like The Blazing World. Of course, the maiden is in a boat, and the song opens with, “Picture yourself in a boat on a river,” but it ties into a few different parts of the story. The creatures in this new world aren’t colors that would be “normal” in our world, just like the “tangerine trees and marmalade skies” in the song. Cavendish talks about the sun quite a lot at this point in the story, and the song tells us to “Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes.” Finally, the “rocking horse people” remind me of the animal-people the maiden encounters in the new world.
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“She’s a Rainbow” by The Rolling Stones (Their Satanic Majesties Request, 1967)
I solely chose this song for when the young lady is made Empress and Cavendish describes her clothes. “She comes in colors everywhere, […] she’s like a rainbow,” describes her gem-encrusted wardrobe perfectly. It’s also a song that deeply admires its subject, and the inhabitants of the blazing-world are said to treat the Empress like a goddess.
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“Imagine” by John Lennon (Imagine, 1971)
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“My Way” by Frank Sinatra (My Way, 1969)
Section Four: Fantomina by Eliza Fowler Haywood
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“Lady Marmalade” by Labelle (Nightbirds, 1974)
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“Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations (Gettin’ Ready, 1966)
Fantomina’s next disguise also brings her to travel to Bath just to be near Beauplaisir again. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” is a suitable title for someone who would engage in this kind of behavior, even though she still doesn’t tell him who she really is or ever tell him that she knows him from before. The singer implores his beloved to “please don’t leave, don’t you go,” which is exactly how Fantomina must feel being left again and again by Beauplaisir.
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“Freeway of Love” by Aretha Franklin (Who’s Zoomin’ Who?, 1985)
While disguised as a widow, Fantomina takes a carriage with Beauplaisir from Bath. Thissong is the musings of a woman in love as she describes her beloved and the journey they will take together on the freeway of love. Franklin’s suggestion that the freeway goes to “Let’s Be Good to Each Other Street” aligns with Fantomina’s desire to be in Beauplaisir’s life permanently, despite the fact that he becomes easily bored with each of her disguises.
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“…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears (…Baby One More Time, 1998)
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