1. Elements of Literature 6th Course Pages 41-42
Anglo-Saxon Bards
Elements of Literature 6th Course
Pages 41-42

2. Anglo-Saxon poetry is often called alliterative poetry.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in words close to one another.
Anglo-Saxon poetry is often called alliterative poetry.
“…that burst from barrow, blazing and wafting a deadly heat. It would be hard to survive unscathed near the hoard, to hold firm against the dragon in those flaming depths.”

3. Kennings A kenning is a special metaphor made of compound words.
They are still common in our language
* Gas guzzler
* Head hunter

4. The earliest kennings are compound words formed from two common nouns.
Sky-candle (sun)
Battle-dew (blood)
Whale-road (sea)

5. Later, kennings became more elaborate as compound adjectives joined compound nouns.
A ship would have become a foamy-throated ship
Then it would become a foamy-throated sea-stallion
And then finally it would become a foamy-throated sea-stallion of the whale-road.

6. Once a kenning was created, it was used by the bards over and over again.
In the original language, kennings are almost always written as simple compounds, with no hyphens or spaces between the words.
In translations, however, kennings are often written as hyphenated compounds, prepositional phrases (wolf of wounds), or as possessives (the sword’s tree).

7. Scholars believe that kennings filled three needs for the bards.
Limited Vocabulary - Anglo-Saxon poetry depended on alliteration because the language did not have a large vocabulary. Poets created alliterative words they needed by combining existing words.
Easier to Remember – Ready made phrases made it easier for the bards to remember.
Elaborate – Kennings made the poems sound more elaborate than the actually were.

8. Practice Turn to pages 21 – 24 in Elements of Literature
Look over lines and find the following
Two examples of kennings as hyphenated compounds
Two examples of kennings as prepositional phrases
Two examples of kennings as possessives.