Anglo Saxon and Literary Terms English IV Team

Anglo Saxon Life The following 6 slides contain terms describing Anglo Saxon life and beliefs.

Comitatus Definition: Brothers in Arms; body of companions. The men journey, fight, travel, etc. together. There is a definite sense of brotherhood through the story. Same as “Semper Fi” and “All for one; one for all”

Flyting Definition: Boasting or bragging “They have seen my strength for themselves, have watched me rise from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove five great giants into chains . . .” (When Beowulf first arrives, he recounts all his heroic exploits to prove he is qualified to fight the monster.)

Mead Hall Definition: Tavern or bar where warriors celebrate. “Mead” is a liquor, beer, or ale. It also served as a place of community; a safe-haven for the warriors between battles. They could celebrate their sense of brotherhood or comitatus as they gathered in the mead hall.

Scop (pronounced shop) Definition: A bard poet; storyteller Also serves as a narrator to move the story along and reiterate the morals or values of the time. Often performed in the Mead Hall (gathering place) Preserved the culture in song before writing was common.

Wergild “ . . . Seeking no peace, offering no truce, accepting no settlement, no price in gold or land, and paying the living for one crime only with another. No one waited for reparation . . . .” Definition: “man sold”; the price of a man The higher one’s rank in society, the greater his worth or wergild. It adds insult to injury that Grendel never even offers payment for the men he eats!

Wyrd Definition: Fate "I won't shift a foot/ when I meet the cave-guard: What occurs on the wall/ between the two of us will turn out as fate,/ overseer of men, decides"(86). Even if one cannot escape his wyrd, he does have control over how he faces it.

Literary Terms The following slides contain literary terms typical of Anglo Saxon writing

Alliteration Definition: Repetition of initial consonant sounds Adds creativity and rhythm to a poem and makes it more entertaining to listen to “The Hall of the Heart.” “Dragging the dead men home to his den”

Caesura Definition: A pause in the middle of a line of poetry Hwæt! Wé Gárdena      in géardagum þéodcyninga      þrym gefrúnon· hú ðá æþelingas      ellen fremedon. The Spaces in each line indicate the caesuras. The device aids the rhythm of the poem.

Digression Definition: A passage or story that deviates from the plot/theme. Beowulf contains a long passage explaining the history of the character Wiglaf’s sword. This passage is irrelevant to the main plot line of Beowulf, so it is a DIGRESSION.

Kenning Definition: Phrase used to replace a concrete noun. It is a more poetic and picturesque image than the original word it replaces. The sea was known as the “whale road” and the king was the “ring giver.” Warriors were “helmet bearers.”

Litotes Definition: Rather than state something directly, to say “the negative of the opposite” of what you mean to say. “The sword was not useless.” (Why not just say that the sword was useful????)

Meiosis Definition: A deliberate understatement (opposite of hyperbole). The narrator of Beowulf describes Grendel’s mother’s lair as “not a pleasant place.” Notice this is litotes, but to say the lair was “unpleasant” is an understatement! It was a TERRIBLE place!

Ubi Sunt Definition: Long lament for days gone by; loss of glory, youth, beauty. “Where has the horse gone? Where the young warrior? Where is the giver of treasure? What has become of the feasting seats? Where are the joys of the hall? ”