The Pearl

In very poor taste, sent to me by Kate, who will be examining me on the poem the Pearl (among many others, in about a week and a half:

http://sjl.funnyordie.com/v1/view_video.php?viewkey=3efbc24c7d2583be6925

To make this make sense, the poem the Pearl is a really sad poem about a father whose not quite two year old daughter, and in mourning, falls asleep. In the dream vision that follows, he encounters her in a beautiful garden - she's dressed in all white with a giant pearl necklace. her name is also Pearl. She's now a bride of Christ in heaven, a blessed virgin, and extremely knowledgeable. Her poor grieving father wants to either join her in heaven or have her return to him - she points out that the first is impossible because the time hasn't come for him to die and the latter is equally impossible, and since she's so happy in heaven it would be really mean to want her back on Earth - wishing the dead back to life is pictured as an ultimately selfish behavior. The debate goes back and forth in this vein until Christ comes out of a large tower surrounded by virgins - the father turns to ask his daughter about this only to discover that she has gone - he sees her at a distance in heaven with the other virgins praising Christ, and then wakes up.

Pearl in the poem is a bit hard to take - she's bossy and rather rude at times, feeling no sorrow for her father's really intense grief, yet also tries to explain to him things about heaven that he fails to understand because they lack the proper words to communicate about heaven with each other. The father on the other hand comes across as a bit dull, but as he's so bereived, it's understandable...

That said, getting the above little video from my advisor pretty much made my month. I haven't laughed that hard in a while...