1. And Old English The devolpment of Old English Beowulf’s summary Beowulf’s historical and cultural context Epic Eye on…

2. In the V century the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons invaded Britain and these different languages made Old English. Vowels were pronounced in differently way and word’s stress was placed on the beginning sillable; a lot of words came from german and scandinavian language ( like “mann”,”cild” and “wif” ). In the end nouns, adjectives and verbs was inflected like modern German, therefore Old English was very different from Modern English.

3. Beowulf is the earliest story of English literature and the name of our hero. He went to the Danes court to kill Grendel, a monster that terrorized them. Beowulf fighted the monster and killed him. Grendel's mother wanted to revenge on the kingdom of Hrothgar, and Beowulf killed her too. Hrothgar rewarded Beowulf and his men, and they return to their country. Fifty years later. Beowulf had become king of Geatland, and reigned wisely over his people, protecting them in times of war. A thief had upset a dragon that was guarding a treasure and the dragon began to kill Beowulf’s people. Once again Beowulf killed the monster, but this time the victory costed him his life.

4. The story of Beowulf was taken to England by story tellers and take place in Denmark and Sweden were lived the Vikings who began to invade raids on the British cost. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex, was the only king who succesfully resisted them and he also created English culture. This poem was the first important example of poetry in a European language that is not Greek or Latin. It was composed in England between 700 AC and 750 AC, and was first told orally before finally being written down; we don’t know the names of the people who partecipated in composing Beowulf.

5. The word ‘’ Epic ’’ means a long poem about extraordinaty events. There are two kinds of Epic : Primary epic that were written down centuries after they were composed,like Beowulf. Secondy epic,from later historical periods,which were written down at the same time as they were composed,and we know who and when wrote them. Anyway they have some common elements: The hero: The main character on whose actions depends the futures of many people. The setting : Where and when the poem takes place. The action: There are courageus and even superhuman actions done by the hero. The supernatural: Gods or monsters take part or are mentioned. The style:The ‘’poetic’’ style,full of repetitions and elaborate introductions of the characters