Anglo-Saxon Period (Middle Ages)

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Anglo-Saxon Period(Middle Ages)

• A.D. 449-1066

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Europe

• Current world map
• United Kingdom

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Major Event in Anglo-Saxon History

• 800-600 B.C. Brythons and Gaels attack British
  Isles
• 55 B.C.-407 A.D. Romans occupy Britain
• Anglo-Saxons are the new intruders
• Goodbye animism
• Coming of Christianity Celtic Christian Church
• The Viking Era
• 1066 A.D. The End of Anglo-Saxons
• Norman Conquest and Then Some

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Anglo-Saxon Culture

• Simple Architecture small towns with meeting
  hall Loyalty to clan
• Language Old English, Runic Alphabet
• Religion Pre-Christian, Norse Mythology
• Ruled by fateacceptance of deathbravery

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Anglo-Saxon Literature

• Poetry Heroic and Elegiac
• Prose History of the English Church and
• People
• Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
• Ceedmons Hymn oldest surviving written text

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Medieval Literature

• You will have to wait!!!!!!! We will cover this
  when we discuss Canterbury Tales

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ARE YOU EXCITED?

• Its Beowulf Time!

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Beowulf

• Oral epic
• Originating between 500 and 1100 A.D.
• Written down in 11th century
• Importance
• Creates foundation for British Hero
• Anglo-Saxon culture and beliefs
• History
• Oldest surviving epic poem

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Beowulf Literary Terms

• Epic long narrative poem, celebrates deed of
  heroic figure, hero battles outside forces, tone
  is serious
• Kenning metaphorical phrase that replaces a
  concrete noun
• Caesura natural pause in poetry

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Major Characters

• Beowulf -  The protagonist of the epic, Beowulf
  is a Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel,
  Grendels mother, and a fire-breathing dragon.
  Beowulfs boasts and encounters reveal him to be
  the strongest, ablest warrior around. In his
  youth, he personifies all of the best values of
  the heroic culture. In his old age, he proves a
  wise and effective ruler.

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Grendel

• Grendel is one of the three monsters that
  Beowulf battles. His nature is ambiguous. Though
  he has many animal attributes and a grotesque,
  monstrous appearance, he seems to be guided by
  vaguely human emotions and impulses, and he shows
  more of an interior life than one might expect.
  Exiled to the swamplands outside the boundaries
  of human society, Grendel is an outcast who seems
  to long to be reinstated. The poet hints that
  behind Grendels aggression against the Danes
  lies loneliness and jealousy. By lineage, Grendel
  is a member of Cains clan, whom the creator had
  outlawed / and condemned as outcasts. (106107).
  He is thus descended from a figure who epitomizes
  resentment and malice. While the poet somewhat
  sympathetically suggests that Grendels deep
  bitterness about being excluded from the revelry
  in the mead-hall owes, in part, to his accursed
  status, he also points out that Grendel is
  malignant by nature and that he has never
  shown remorse (137).

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Hrothgar

• Hrothgar, the aged ruler of the Danes who accepts
  Beowulfs help in the first part of the story,
  aids Beowulfs development into maturity.
  Hrothgar is a relatively static character, a
  force of stability in the social realm. Although
  he is as solidly rooted in the heroic code as
  Beowulf is, his old age and his experience with
  both good and ill fortune have caused him to
  develop a more reflective attitude toward heroism
  than Beowulf possesses. He is aware of both the
  privileges and the dangers of power, and he warns
  his young protégé not to give in to pride and
  always to remember that blessings may turn to
  grief. Hrothgars meditations on heroism and
  leadership, which take into account a heros
  entire life span rather than just his valiant
  youth, reveal the contrast between youth and old
  age that forms the turning point in Beowulfs own
  development.

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Unferth

•   A Danish warrior who is jealous of Beowulf,
  Unferth is unable or unwilling to fight Grendel,
  thus proving himself inferior to Beowulf

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Wiglaf

•   A young kinsman and retainer of Beowulf who
  helps him in the fight against the dragon while
  all of the other warriors run away. Wiglaf
  adheres to the heroic code better than Beowulfs
  other retainers, thereby proving himself a
  suitable successor to Beowulf.

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WOOHOOO

• LET US BEGIN OUR JOURNEY

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Runic Alphabet