Beowulf

1
Beowulf

• Day 2

2

• Objectives

• Standards

• 2.0 Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational
  Materials) Students read and understand
  grade-level-appropriate material. They analyze
  the organizational patterns, arguments, and
  positions advanced. 2.4 Make warranted and
  reasonable assertions about the author's
  arguments by using elements of the text to defend
  and clarify interpretations. 2.5 Analyze an
  author's implicit and explicit philosophical
  assumptions and beliefs about a subject.
• Writing 3.6 Analyze the way in which authors
  through the centuries have used archetypes drawn
  from myth and tradition in literature, film,
  political speeches, and religious writings (e.g.,
  how the archetypes of banishment from an ideal
  world may be used to interpret Shakespeare's
  tragedy Macbeth). 3.7 Analyze recognized works of
  world literature from a variety of authorsa.
  Contrast the major literary forms, techniques,
  and characteristics of the major literary periods
  (e.g., Homeric Greece, medieval, romantic,
  neoclassic, modern).b. Relate literary works and
  authors to the major themes and issues of their
  eras.c. Evaluate the philosophical, political,
  religious, ethical, and social influences of the
  historical period that shaped the characters,
  plots, and settings.

• Students will be able to
• compare and contrast
• identify and utilize
• read and respond
• analyze
• describe and predict

3
Review of yesterday

• Who
• is the story about?
• Beowulf, an epic hero, and his epic quests
• The three tribes (Geats, Danes, and Swedes)
• wrote the story?
• Name unknown
• Believed to be an English monk
• Ancestors were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
• Where
• does the story take place?
• was the story written down?

4
When?

• When was it written? It was probably written
  sometime around 700 A.D.
• When did the events in it take place? Again, it
  is a fictional work. However, it is an
  imaginative work about people who occupied the
  Baltic region sometime in the fifth century A.D.
• Some events in the poem did take place
• The raid against the Franks by Hygelac, Beowulfs
  lord, took place in the sixth century A.D.
• It is important to remember the vast role time
  (Past, Present, and Future) plays within the poem
  itself. Beowulf and the other characters who
  populate the poem seem to be obsessed themselves
  with the human relationship to time (or when)
• Most important thing to remember is that it is a
  poem that reminisces about a previous, dead
  world.

5
Where?

• Where was it written? It was written down, most
  likely, in the kingdom of Mercia (East Central
  Enlgand today).
• Where do the events in the poem take place? The
  action in the poem takes place in Geatland and
  Denmark (the island of Zealand and in Southern
  Sweden) . . . Or more generally, in the Baltic
  region of Scandinavia
• Also consider more specific settings
• The sea, the meadhall, the swamp, the cliff, the
  battlefield, etc.
• In the modern world, it is Denmark and Sweden and
  the islands in the Baltic between the two
  countries.

6
The Scary, Horror Movie Where

• Heaney puts it nicely in his introduction when he
  says that Beowulf takes place in a once upon a
  time world and that it taps into three
  archetypal sites of fear
• The barricaded night house (Grendel)
• The infested underwater current (Grendels
  mother)
• Reptile-haunted rocks of a wilderness (dragon)
• I like to think of them this way, in terms which
  may mean more to your and my generation
• Our beds on a stormy night when we are alone in
  the house (where we should feel safe)
• A murky lake, or the beach where Jaws takes place
  (Ever been waterskiing and wondered what was
  nibbling on your toes?). Or, how about a dark
  forest by yourself?
• The dark recesses of the earth a cave, or even
  better, your own, dark basement

7
Why?

• Why do we read it?
• Its a very creative, imaginative, poetic
  masterpiece (see the Heaney intro this is why he
  wants us to read itnot because we have to!!!)
• It gives us insight into the origins of the
  British people, the culture who, through
  seafaring conquest, founded the world we
  currently live in
• It gives us insight into the origins of our
  language
• It gives us insight into all people everywhere
  and throughout time (time, birth, death,
  fame/success/glory, honor, friendship, conflict,
  home, country, adventure, spiritualityall of
  these things transcend English literature and
  matter to all people)
• Its challenging and we all love a good
  challenge!
• Its scary and gets us to think about our own
  worst fears
• Its a VERY important piece of literature
  historically (this is the because we have to
  reason!).

8
Important Themes in the Poem

• Past, Present, and Future (and Fate)
• Life and Death
• Fame (often achieved through war)
• Setting
• Geography (Denmark, Geatland, Sweden, . . . And
  England??)
• The Meadhall (Heorot)
• Good vs. Evil Religion
• Man vs. Man
• Man vs. Beast (Man vs. Himself? If allegorical)
• Good Christian Traits vs. Evil
• Good Pagan (Anglo-Saxon traits) vs. Evil
• Bad Pagan Traits
• Christianity vs. Paganism (Paganism not evil)

• Anglo-Saxon Code
• Friendship
• Loyalty
• Fame, Honor
• Bravery
• Generosity
• Man-Pride
• Thanes duty to his Lord Lord duty to his
  Thanes
• Christianity emerging as the dominant faith and
  worldview in the Scandinavian world
• Stories and Songs themselves

9
Review of Important Details

• Epic poem
• Written in Old-English about the early Christian,
  but still pagan, Scandinavians who eventually
  conquered most of England
• Epic hero represents the values of his culture

10
Literary terms to know

• Epic
• Epic hero
• Allegory
• Anglo-Saxon lyrics and its elements
• regular rhythms, with four strong beats
• Caesuras
• Kennings
• Assonance
• Alliteration

11
Prologue

• Modern English

• Old English

• So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
• and the kings who ruled them had courage and
  greatness.
• We have heard of those princes heroic campaigns.
  
• There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many
  tribes,
• a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.
• This terror of the hall-troops had come far.
• A founding to start with,
• he would flourish later on
• as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.
• In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
• beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
• and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king.
  

12
Compare and Contrast

• Briefly compare and contrast Old English and
  Modern English. What similarities do you see and
  what are the major differences? Seeing how the
  English language has changed over a thousand
  years, what changes are you aware of with Modern
  English today that have changed in the past 100
  years? 50 years? 25 years? In other words, what
  evidence do we have that English is still
  changing and adapting to society and culture?

13
Quickwrite

• Tell me what your criteria for a good
  action/adventure story is and predict what kind
  of hero and character Beowulf will be. Include
  the specifics of what you think action/adventure
  is and the qualities and character traits you
  expect Beowulf to exhibit as the epic hero of the
  story.

14
Study Questions

• Respond to each question using a complete (but
  brief!) sentence. Each student will turn in all
  their answers when they have finished ALL of the
  questions. Turn in to turnitin.com only when
  every question is complete.

We will read this epic in four parts, there will
be four slides that identify the parts to read
for homework that night and the corresponding
questions to answer. You should answer the
questions as we read, even though they wont be
turned in until we are finished reading.
15
Part 1 The Wrath of Grendel and The Coming of
Beowulf

• 1. Describe the demon who threatens the meadhall.
• 2. To whom is Grendel related? (Hint Think
  Biblical)
• 3. What does the story of Grendels origins
  suggest about the beliefs of Anglo-Saxon culture?
• 4. What does Grendel resent about Hrothgar and
  his men?
• 5. Why do the Danes flee Herot in the night?
• 6. How does the length of suffering increase the
  epic feeling of this tale?
• 7. According to the poet, who made the earth?
• 8. While Grendel attacks Heorot, he does NOT
  approach what? Why?
• 9. To whom/what do many of the Danes powerful
  counsellors turn for help?
• 10. Who is Higlacs follower? From which
  region/country does he come?
• 11. What does he hear about?
• 12. Why does Beowulf sail to Denmark?
• 13. What does Beowulfs way of identifying
  himself suggest about the values of a warrior
  culture?
• 14. Who is Beowulfs father? What is the worlds
  opinion of him?
• 15. How do word choice and other stylistic
  features of the watchmans speech add a serious,
  epic tone to his question?