1. Who is your favorite hero? (real or make believe)
Journal: 4-5 sentences
Who is your favorite hero?
(real or make believe)

2. Beowulf Background Information
EPIC: long, narrative poem that celebrates the deeds of a legendary or heroic figure
COMMON FEATURES: hero battles forces that threaten the order of his world; story is told in a serious manner – in special elevated language

3. Characteristics of the Epic Hero
The epic hero typically saves people by engaging the enemy in single-handed combat.
The hero is not only better than others, but he/she is often the best in the world.
The hero is courageous and physically or mentally strong.
The hero is seeking fame and is larger than life.
The hero usually displays proof of his victory.
The hero exists for the sake of the community or society.

4. View video clip about heroes.

5. Take a minute to think…
List as many modern day heroes that you can think of, real people and fictional characters.

6. Take a minute to think…
List as many modern day villians that you can think of, real people and fictional characters.

7. Literary Terms to Know Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
Kenning: two word, poetic renamings of people, places, and things (ex: whale’s home instead of sea)
Caesura: rhythmic breaks in the middle of lines, where the reciter could pause for breath
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds

8. Epic Boast
A proclamation of things a character has done or will do in the epic

9. Thane
A warrior or retainer who follows and fights for his lord.

10. Comitatus
An agreement made between a lord and his thanes, in which the thanes swear to defend a lord to their death, while he provides them with protection and a share of his wealth and weapons

11. Mead
A fermented beverage made of water and honey, malt, and yeast

12. Oral Tradition
A process by which songs, ballads, folklore, and other material are transmitted by word of mouth. The tradition of oral transmission predates the written record systems of literate society.

13. Alliteration
Alliteration occurs when the initial sounds of a word, beginning either with a consonant or a vowel, are repeated in close succession. The function of alliteration, like rhyme, might be to accentuate the beauty of language in a given context, or to unite words or concepts through a kind of repetition.

14. Lament
A lament is a song or poem expressing grief or regret. Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments.  It is sometimes also called a dirge.

15. Scop
An Anglo-Saxon poet - The scop fulfilled  many roles in an Anglo Saxon tribe.  Among those functions were:
court singer
tribal historian
genealogist
teacher
composer
critic
warrior
traveler and reporter

16. Elements in Beowulf
Christian and Pagan

17. Pagan
Paganism is a catch-all term which has come to bundle together (by extension from its original classical meaning of a non-Christian religion) a very broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices that are usually, but not necessarily, characterized by polytheism (belief in more than one god)

18. Paganism video clip…

19. BATTLES Get progressively harder Involve epic struggle
Requires the reader to accept certain “impossible” things – breathing under water, etc.

20. Mock Epics Satire or a parody of a serious epic or epic hero
Some Modern examples include: Inspector Gadget, Get Smart, American Dad, Pink Panther, Naked Gun, The Tick, Johnny Bravo, Spaceballs

21. Our Text Only includes selected episodes from the original epic poem
Translated by Burton Raffel from Old English to Modern English
Beowulf is the oldest existing text in English- it was recorded sometime around 750 A.D.

22. Text. . . Continued
Original text was partially destroyed by fire when the library where it was housed burned
In 2000, The Beowulf Project was instituted. The manuscript was fed into a computer and the missing characters were replaced.

23. KENNINGS
Kenning is one of the literary devices popular in the Anglo-Saxon Old English poetry tradition.
Kenning - a literary device in which a noun is renamed in a creative way using a compound word or union of two separate words to combine ideas.

24. KENNINGS
If you call school a “scholar’s home” then you have created a kenning.
If you tell your friends that your parents are the “car loaners” then you have created a kenning.

25. Assignment : Consider carefully how you could creatively rename each of the following through the use of the kenning technique.
1. a teacher 2. a bus driver 3. firemen 4. television 5. meatloaf
6. police 7. pop tarts 8. music 9. love 10. computer

26. Create 5 additional kennings of your own
Create 5 additional kennings of your own. (#11-15) Turn in today’s work when you are finished or finish for homework as needed.