1. An introduction Ms. FB English IV Cc adapted
Beowulf
An introduction
Ms. FB
English IV
Cc adapted

2. Beowulf: Revisiting the Epic
Beowulf is:
The first great work of
English national literature
An epic poem – What do you remember about epics (think The Odyssey)?
What other Epics have you read?
What are some examples of modern-day epic stories? (Heroes, Star Wars, the Matrix, Indiana Jones films, Lord of the Rings)

3. The Epic: Revisited An Epic is: long narrative poem
the exploits of a larger than life hero
Can include:
supernatural events
long periods of time
distant journeys
life and death struggles between the forces of good and evil.
Epic: A long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a larger than life hero - Epics typically involve supernatural events, long periods of time, distant journeys, and life and death struggles between the forces of good and evil.

4. The Epic hero - man high social status
embodies the positive traits considered important by a particular culture
An Epic Hero is typically a man of high social status, one who is important to the history of his people. Who could be considered a hero today?
What does the word “hero” mean to us today?
Who are some modern day heroes? [list on board]
Individually, why are these people considered heroic?
What qualities do they share?
Define the word courage.
What do we consider to be courageous? [List some acts of courage]
How does the word get used nowadays?
What is the opposite of courage?
Discuss the Bill Maher: “ "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly.”
Can not physically fighting be courageous?
Would MLK and Gandhi be considered courageous by Anglo-Saxons?
What of loyalty - is that important to us today? A person’s reputation? Whether one is generous?
Are heroics and courage considered important today? They’ve been important to us for as long as we’ve banded together and formed societies - these things transcend cultures, religion (people can believe in one God, many gods, no god, and still, these elements are resonant)

5. Characters: The Good Guys
Beowulf: A member of the Geatish tribe and eventual king of the Geats
Hrothgar: king of the Danes – at the start of the poem, Beowulf, who hears from across the sea, that Hrothgar is having trouble, decides to help him out of a jam

6. Characters: The Bad Guys
Grendel: man-eating monster who lives at the bottom of a foul mere, or mountain lake.
Grendel’s mother: water-witch who’s even meaner than her son
Dragon: giant fire-breathing serpent whom Beowulf fights in Part Two of the epic.

7. Grendel’s Mother http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBCVXpHsjX8
What assumptions might you make about the nature of Grendel’s Mother?
What does this trailer make you think is the relationship between Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf?
Keep your assumptions in mind for when we get to her part in the poem!

8. The Setting Beowulf takes place in Scandinavia. Scandinavia Britain
Scandanavia is Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Tie this back to our earlier map.
Scholars think Herot (a grand mead-hall where much of the poem is set) might have been built on the coast of Zealand, in Denmark.
How does a story about Danes and Scandinavians become the first national classic of Britain?

9. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion
Jutes
Angles
Saxons
Celts/Romans
QUESTIONS
Which three tribes are known as the Anglo-Saxons? [Angles, Saxons, and Jutes]
Where did they come from? [northern Germany, Denmark, and northern Holland]
How did they get to Britain? [They rowed across the North Sea in wooden boats.]
BACKGROUND
King Alfred the Great came from Wessex. By the middle of the tenth century, the Wessex kings had become the kings of all England.
In Sutton Hoo, East Anglia, a burial mound of an Anglo-Saxon king was discovered in 1939.
A.D. 449 The Anglo-Saxons push the Celts into the far west of the country
Angle-land is born.

10. Beowulf: Background Beowulf is an oral epic passed from scop to scop.
Scops told the familiar story for audiences in the communal halls at night.
Written down between 700 and 750.
Reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village in West Stow, England, with communal hall on the left.
Write about a contemporary hero, real or fictional, and the challenges he or she faces.
Describe your hero, and then briefly analyze him or her using these questions:
What sort of evil or oppression does your hero confront?
Why does he or she confront evil? What’s the motivation?
For whom does your hero confront evil?
What virtues does your hero represent?

11. The Poetry of Beowulf: Alliteration
The Anglo-Saxon oral poet also used the poetic device of alliteration.
Grendel gongan,         godes yrre bær; mynte se manscaða         manna cynnes
Because there are relatively few traditional rhymes in the English language, the first poetry was alliterative.

12. Alliteration: Continued
Find examples of alliteration:
Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.

13. More Poetry: the Kenning
Kenning: a metaphorical phrase or compound word used to name a person, place, thing, or event indirectly.
A kenning is a way of enhancing the qualities of the thing it describes
Can you think of contemporary examples of kenning? Gas-guzzler, Beer-goggles, man-eater, surfing the web, lead-foot, card-shark.

14. Poetry: Kennings Examples of kennings from Beowulf:
Gold-shining hall= Herot, the meadhall
Guardian of crime = Grendel
Strong-hearted wakeful sleeper = Beowulf
Whale-road = the ocean
Cave-guard and sky-borne foe = dragon