1. Beowulf

2. Epic
Definition: long, stylized narrative poem celebrating the deeds of a national hero.
2 types
folk epic - customs, rituals, & ideals of a tribal society
literary epic of a more civilized society
Purpose: didactic - to teach
* in particular to teach a new king how to rule

3. Beowulf
1st complete epic in any Germanic language(English - not Latin) to survive; author is unknown
Social setting: A-S England
Geo. setting: Scandinavia; earlier
Supernatural content: Germanic folklore
Hero: Beowulf - purely English hero

4. Didactic: ideal ruler has 4 heroic virtues
fortitude
prudence
loyalty
generosity
* all are necessary to fulfill the Code of Comitatus

5. 2 parts to Beowulf
Beowulf's encounters with Grendel & with Grendel's mother
Heaven/God has allowed Grendel to attack b/c of the Danes' pride & ignorance of the true God
yrs. later - Beowulf's people are attacked by a dragon

6. Themes
fortitude & prudence
external(monsters) vs. internal (pride, greed, & cowardice)evil
Christianity(personal God) vs. Paganism(Wyrd or Fate)
Beowulf as a Christ-figure

7. Characteristics of Old English Poetry
1. Oral - no written language; nomadic people who passed down their values and history through scops - sang their stories
2. sound was important
3. redundancy - aided memory and built tension
4. long speeches and descriptions - slowed the pace, built tension, aided memory, genealogies were important

8. 2 types of redundancy common to OE poetry
variation - repetition of an idea in different words using same grammatical form
periphrastic epithet - expressions of an idea in a more elegant way
kenning - metaphoric compound