We are excited to bring you the Fall 2023 issue of EP, a collection of some of the strongest essays composed during the Fall 2023 semester for Texts & Contexts classes here at Fordham. In this issue, we have a collection of essays that offer exemplary close readings — close readings of rhetorical appeals, of seemingly benign obsolete words, and of biographical influences. In “Armes Prydein: The Call for Welsh Unity and Victory,” Ellie Nguyen explores how a prayer for Brythonic unity in the medieval Middle Welsh poem Armes Prydein includes ancient pagan figures and prophecies in its Christian plea in order to appeal to an audience of Brythonic heritage in the fight against Saxon conquest. Kerri Finnegan’s essay “Anti-Irish Sentiments in Macbeth” examines the use of insults hurled at the parties supporting MacDonwald at the beginning of Shakespeare’s play and Macbeth himself at the end; through close analysis of the historical use of particular words, the essay finds seventeenth-century English anti-Irish sentiments imposed on an eleventh-century Scottish history. Finally, JD Fitzpatrick reads J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in the context of the author’s own experience serving in World War I and witnessing the impending World War II. This essay, “The Hobbit: Bilbo and the Consequences of War,” positions Bilbo’s experience in the novel against Tolkien’s letters to detail an implicit philosophy of ambivalence towards war and the human condition. Each of these critical essays demonstrates exceptional careful analysis of texts, unpacking their deeper meanings and motivations by considering the worlds around them.
Essays
Armes Prydein: The Call for Welsh Unity and Victory by Ellie Nguyen
Anti-Irish Sentiments in Macbeth by Kerri Finnegan
The Hobbit: Bilbo and the Consequences of War by JD Fitzpatrick
Editorial Staff
CO-EDITORS
Nicholas Clark
Jason Ray
EDITORIAL BOARD
Melissa Bean
Amanda Bradley
Lina Jiang
Mark Host
Miles Smith
Gianna Welty
FACULTY ADVISOR
Vlasta Vranjes
Questions or comments? Please contact us at epjournal@fordham.edu
