Download Anglo-Saxon_Literature revised

449-1066


No rhyme
Alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds
 Gracie grabbed a basket of bright, beautiful buttercups.

Caesura – a rhythmical pause in the middle of
a line
 To err is human; to forgive, divine.



Four beats per line
Mixture of Christian and pagan elements
Kennings – specialized metaphors of
comp0und words


3182 lines as opposed to over 15,000
Epic – long narrative poem about the adventures
of a hero whose actions affect the fate of a
nation
 Iliad, The Odyssey

Anglo-Saxon heroic ideal:




Glorified by the people he saves
extremely Ethical
Monsters are defeated
Superior Strength
 Mnemonic device = GEMS





The central idea or insight of a work of literature
NOT the same thing as the moral
Often implied
“What did the hero do in the story?”
“How did the hero’s actions show his concern for society?”
 Both questions sound the same, but the first deals with the
PLOT of the story. The second deals with the theme of the
story.

What are some common themes in literature?
 Crime does not pay.
 Adversity (hardships) can be overcome.
 Life and death are intricately connected.
Beowulf – epic hero; a Geat
Brecca – Beowulf’s friend & competitor
Higlac – Beowulf’s uncle & feudal lord
Grendel – man-eating monster
Unferth – skilled warrior of Hrothgar; jealous of
Beowulf
 Hrunting – Unferth’s sword used by Beowulf
 Hrothgar – King of the Danes (Denmark)
 Geats – Beowulf’s tribe (Sweden)
 Grendel’s mom – she-wolf; water-witch
 Herot – Hrothgar’s golden mead hall
 Wiglaf – Beowulf’s loyal warrior; fights the dragon





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiBaSqO7n9U


Use of vivid or figurative language to form
mental images, figures, or likenesses
Imagery appeals to ALL senses—sight, smell,
taste, hearing, touch

Something that causes a person to act in a
certain way; incentive
 Why you do what you do

Examples of motive –
 Making good grades –
 Starting an exercise program –
 Lying to someone –


A word or an object that stands for another
word or object
Examples of symbolism
A specialized metaphor in which an object is
described in a tw0-word phrase and is used in place
of a noun or a name
 Originally used in Anglo-Saxon and Norse poetry
 Examples of kennings:
 Sky-candle
 Whale-road
 Rug rats
 Tramp stamp



Repetition of consonant sounds
Examples of alliteration:
 Betty Boop birthed a bouncing baby boy named




Bob.
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Dunkin Donuts
Chuck E. Cheese
Said I’m so sick of love songs, so sad and slow ;)
Even though Beowulf was written as a pagan myth,
more than likely a Christian monk copied it down,
adding Christian elements into the dialogue and
plot.
 Christian elements refer to anything that has to do
with God, such as Heaven, Lord, God’s will.
 Example of Christian element:

 Page 21, lines 20-23, “Conceived by a pair of those
monsters born of Cain, murderous creatures banished by
God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death.”


Pagan elements have to do with those things
that do not relate to God, such a fate,
monsters, witchcraft, gods/goddesses (Zeus,
Athena)
Example:
 Page 33, lines 483-485, “for that sin-stained
demon had bewitched all men’s weapons,
laid spells that blunted every mortal man’s
blade.”

Gilgamesh was an actual historic figure.
 King of Uruk around 2700 B.C.
 Uruk was a Mesopotamian city which was near
present-day southern Iraq.

Gilgamesh was a warrior and a builder and
was known for his wisdom.



In the epic, Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and
one-third man.
He was a cruel and oppressive leader.
His people pleaded to the gods, who heard
them and created a wild man named Enkidu
(en KEY do).





Enkidu was raised by wild animals.
A hunter discovers him and send a prostitute
to tame him and to teach him how to be a
man.
Enkidu hears of Gilgamesh’s ways, so he goes
to challenge Gilgamesh.
They wrestle, and Gilgamesh wins.
The two become good friends and set out on
adventures.


The adventure they decide on is to steal trees
from a cedar forest which is forbidden to
mortals.
The forest is protected by Humbaba, a
fiercely evil and deformed monster.


Does Gilgamesh fit the HEROIC IDEAL?
WHY or WHY NOT?



A manuscript of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon
poems dating from 940 AD, copied in 975 AD
Preserved at Exeter Cathedral in England
The book has made it through fires and raids,
but not without damage
 Cover has been used as a chopping block
 Pages have beer stains
 Some pages have been partly burned


Elegy - a poem that mourns the death of
someone or laments the loss of something
Allegory – use of characters, settings, or
events to stand for abstract or moral
concepts



The poem is NOT a story.
It IS a look at life from the point of view of
someone who has known hardship and
suffering.
Have you ever experienced feeling torn
between wanting to be safe but wanting to
seek adventure at the same time?




Some feel the seafarer is speaking to a
younger man who is eager to go to sea.
Others feel the seafarer is exposing his inner
conflicts.
First part (up to line 64) – he speaks of the
cares and suffering of his earthly existence
Second part (line 64 to end) – he longs for the
joys of heaven; this is his only concern



Age
Illness
Enemy’s sword
Who is the main character?
 The seafarer
 What is the poem about?
 Suffering, hardship
 Where does the poem take place?
 On the open sea
 When does it take place?
 During Anglo-Saxon times; over a lifetime; winter
 Why does the speaker return to the sea?
 He feels himself being called back.


Kenning

Imagery

Elegiac mood (a sense of sadness over the
grimness of earthly life)

alliteration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlzqmtDvkgw
The poet Homer wrote the Illiad and The Odyssey.
Composed sometime between 900 and 700 B.C.
Little is known about Homer
The name Homer may mean “hostage.”
 He may have been a slave or descended from
slaves.
 Homer used epic similes (extended comparisons.)
These comparisons last for several lines, use like or
as, and compare extraordinary, heroic actions to
simple, everyday events with which Homer’s
audience would be familiar.






Told in oral tradition
Hubris – extreme pride

The Greeks
 Achilles – son of a mortal king, Peleus, and the sea
goddess, Thetic; king of Myrmidons; mightiest of the
Greek warriors
 Patroclus – Greek warrior; dearest friend of Achilles

The Trojans
 Hector – son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba;
commander of the Trojan forces
 Paris – son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba
 Priam – king of Troy; father of Hector and Paris

The gods
 Apollo – god of poetry, music, prophecy; often referred to
as the only son of Zeus and Leto, the daughter of the
Titans; sides with the Trojans
 Athena – goddess of wisdom; takes the Greeks’ side in the
conflict
 Zeus – father-god; remains more or less neutral
throughout the conflict




Along with The Odyssey, the Illiad tells the
story of the Trojan War.
The war began with a beauty pageant.
Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera decided to
compete for a golden apple which was
inscribed “To the Fairest.”
The gods chose Paris, the prince of Troy and
a mortal, to judge the pageant.


Paris was young and handsome but naïve.
The goddesses each attempted to bribe Paris.
He finally accepted Aphrodite’s bribe because
she offered him the most appealing gift—
marriage to Helen, the world’s most beautiful
woman.



There was a slight problem though. Helen
was already married to King Menelaus of
Greece.
Paris took her anyway, and they sailed for
Troy.
The Greek chieftains were outraged by the
abduction. They were bound by oaths of
loyalty, so they followed the leadership of
Menelaus’s brother Agamemnon and attacked
Troy.


The Greek war party laid siege to Troy. This
led to a conflict which lasted ten years before
the Greeks defeated Troy and recaptured
Helen.
It was due to the craftiness of Odysseus that
the Greeks were successful.
The Illiad revolves around two main characters:
 Achilles – the bravest and most handsome warrior
in the Greek army
 Hector – the honorable warrior-prince of Troy
 The tragedy of the Illiad is set into motion because
of human emotion: the anger of Achilles toward
Hector.
 Hector kills Patroclus, Achilles closest friend, and
takes his armor from the corpse.
 Achilles seeks revenge.


Epic simile:

Hubris:

gods’ involvement:

Similarities between Beowulf and Hector

Differences