1. Background & Literary Devices
Beowulf
Background &
Literary Devices

2. Beowulf is… The first great work of English national literature
The epic story of the hero, Beowulf, who fights the demonic monster, Grendel.
Beowulf is an epic hero.
Reminder: Epic heroes are central figures in long narratives that reflect the values and heroic ideals of a particular society.
Reminder: An epic is a quest story on a grand scale.

3. The Bard
Definition: a : a tribal poet-singer skilled in composing and reciting verses on heroes and their deeds b : a composer, singer, or declaimer of epic or heroic verse 2: poet
Beowulf is an oral epic passed from bard to bard.

4. Written down between 700 and 750.
Harpist-bards told the familiar story for audiences in the communal halls at night.
Reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village in West Stow, England, with communal hall on the left.
Written down between 700 and 750.

5. Places Beowulf takes place in Scandinavia
Britain
Scholars think Herot might have been built on the coast of Zealand, in Denmark

6. Who wrote it down?
Theory:
The poet who wrote Beowulf down may have been a Northumbrian monk.
Evidence:
scenery described resembles Northumbria (northeastern England)
Christian elements in epic

7. Who wrote it down?
Only a single manuscript of the poem survived the Anglo-Saxon era. In the 1700’s it was nearly destroyed in a fire.
It was not until 1936 when the Oxford scholar J.R.R. Tolkien published a paper on the poem that is became popular.

8. Heroic Values Relationship between king and his warriors
The king rewards his warriors with gifts
If a kinsman is slain, obligation to kill the slayer or obtain payment (wergeld) in compensation

9. Conflict: Christian vs. Pagan Values
This tension is at the heart of the poem
Pagan history and myth are made to point to a Christian moral
Beowulf is poised between two value systems

10. Themes The Importance of Establishing Identity
The Difference Between a Good Warrior and a Good King
Good vs. Evil
Strength & Skill
Fate
Wealth
Religion
Violence
Tradition and Customs

11. Literary Devices: Caesura (siz-you-rah)
Beowulf was composed in Old English, which uses a caesura, or rhythmic pause, to create unity.
Locate the caesura in these lines:
ða com of more         under misthleoþum Grendel gongan,         godes yrre bær; mynte se manscaða         manna cynnes sumne besyrwan         in sele þam hean.
Line divided into two parts by a caesura.

12. Literary Devices: Caesura
Here are the same lines in modern English from Burton Raffel’s translation:
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.
Punctuation reproduces pause effect of the caesura.

13. Literary Devices: Alliteration
The Anglo-Saxon oral poet also used the poetic device of alliteration.
Grendel gongan,         godes yrre bær; mynte se manscaða         manna cynnes

14. Literary Devices: Alliteration
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds in words close together.
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste.
The emphasis on the w sound in this line from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30 creates a melancholy tone.

15. Literary Devices: Alliteration
Find examples of alliteration in Burton Raffel’s translation of lines 1-5:
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.

16. Literary Devices: Alliteration
Find examples of alliteration in Burton Raffel’s translation of lines 1-5:
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.

17. Literary Devices: Kenning
a metaphorical phrase or compound word used to name a person, place, thing, or event indirectly.

18. Kennings: Their Effect
A kenning enhances the literal meaning of the words. A kenning gives the listener an idea of how the words connect to an idea or concept that is richer and more emotionally complex.

19. Examples of kennings from Beowulf:
gold-shining hall= Herot
guardian of crime = Grendel
strong-hearted wakeful sleeper = Beowulf
cave-guard and sky-borne foe = dragon

20. Practice  Create modern-day kennings for things you see around you. ?
giver of words
word-wand ? ?
Kitten: purr-full delight, mew-madness
Singer: siren of song, melody-muse
Racing car: road-shark, roar-racer
Airplane: soar-silver streak, sky’s arrow ? ?