The AngloSaxons 449 1066 449 AD Germanic mercenaries arrived from the Northern coasts of Europe to attack the Britons Angles Saxons Jutes By 500 AD many invaders had settled Archaeology has revealed much of the AngloSaxons through cemeteries ID: 719487
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Anglo-Saxons, Beowulf, and Old EnglishSlide2
The Anglo-Saxons: 449 - 1066
449 AD: Germanic mercenaries arrived from the Northern coasts of Europe to attack the Britons
Angles, Saxons, Jutes
By 500 AD, many invaders had settled.
Archaeology has revealed much of the Anglo-Saxons, through cemeteries
Most famous: Sutton
Hoo
in
Sulfolk
30-foot oak ship buried thereSlide3
Mingling of Celtic and Christian Beliefs
Mythology of Celts influenced British/Irish writers to this day
Sir Thomas Malory, wrote Le
Morte
d’Arthur
based on Celtic legends
Yeats used Celtic myths in poetry and plays
Julius Caesar invaded in 55 BC, bringing Christian beliefs
By 409, Rome had to focus on trouble at home, leaving Britain ripe for invasion
Country disjointed, various leaders till King Alfred the Great led the Anglo-Saxons against the Viking Danes, who attacked 8
th
/9
th
centuriesSlide4
Social Mores
Warfare order of day
Law/order responsibility of leader
Fame/success, survival, gained only through loyalty to leader (especially during war)
Women given rights to own property, throughout marriage. They were given gifts of money and land from their prospective husbands and they, not their family or husband, had control over this possession.Slide5
Religion Continued
Irish/Continental (European) missionaries had large role to play in re-emergence of Christianity
Still, Anglo-Saxon religion remained
Dark, fatalistic religion from Germany
Had much in common with Norse/Scandinavian mythology
2 Important gods:
Wodin (from Odin)Helped humans communicate with spirits Thunor (from Thor, god of thunder/lightening); sign hammer and swastika
Dragon: personified death and guardian of grave moundSlide6
Beowulf Summary
Written sometime between 700-750 in Old English
Short = 3200 lines (Homer’s epics = 15,000)
Only manuscript in British Museum in London from year 1000; rescued from the burning monastery that Henry VIII ordered demolished
Characters:
Beowulf:
Geat, son of Edgetho and nephew of Higlad, king of the
GeatsSlide7
Beowulf Summary Cont.
Grendel
: man-eating monster who lives at bottom or foul mere (mountain lake)
Herot
: golden guest hall built by King
Hrothgar
, the Danish ruler. Decorated with antlers of stags; name means “hart (stag) hall”Hrothgar: king of the Danes, builder of Herot. Had once befriended Beowulf’s father. Wiglaf:
Geat
warrior, one of Beowulf’s select band & only one to help in final fightSlide8
Beowulf Vital Elements
The Boast:
There were no newspapers, radios, TV’s in those days. Beowulf had to “sell himself” to get things done. Must list accomplishments. Even when
Unferth
challenges him, Beowulf doesn’t back down.
Epic Poetry:
lengthy narrative poem, concerning subject of heroic deeds and events significant to subject or nation. Beowulf considered Medieval Epic (500-1500)
Slide9
Beowulf Vital Elements
Alliteration:
repetition of first consonant sound in a phrase. “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”. Can also take form of assonance (repetition of vowel). “And stepping softly with her air of blooded ruin about the glade in a frail agony of grace she trailed her rags
throgh
dust and ashes” –
Cormac
McCarthy
Caesura:
an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse (not necessarily with punctuation)
Hyperbole:
exaggeration. Where statements are exaggeratedSlide10
Beowulf Vital Elements Cont.
Kenning:
a special metaphor made of compound words. Gas guzzler, head-hunter. Earliest: sky-candle (sun), battle-dew (blood), whale-road (sea). Later/more elaborate: foamy-throated sea stallion (ship). Often used as prepositional phrase (wolf of hounds) or possessives (the sword’s tree)Slide11
Beowulf Vital Elements Cont.
Served three purposes:
Norse/Anglo-Saxon language did not have a large vocabulary. Poets created alliterative words by combining existing words
B/C poetry was oral, ready-made phrases were very handy for bards, making poetry easier to remember
Increasing complex structure would satisfy Anglo-Saxon people’s taste for elaborationSlide12
Beowulf Vital Elements Cont.
Stock epithets:
a descriptive word/phrase that becomes a stock phrase. That is, it stands in for the person it’s describing.
Exs
: the Lord of Life, the Ruler
of Heaven Slide13
Background to Section We’re Reading
Epic opens with a tribute to the ancestry of King
Hrothgar
The first, Shield
Sheafson
, is fatherless (Beowulf too was left fatherless at young age)
Familial lineage is central in culture
Heroic code delineated in opening lines:
Greatness measured by number of clans conquered
Strength leads to treasure (captured pay money)
Sheafson
passes the wealth on to his warriors (hero measured by passing out sums of wealth (
Hrothgar
erects mead hall for his men)Slide14
Background to Section We’re Reading
Hrothgar
& Beowulf’s Father’s History:
Beowulf’s father killed leader of fellow tribe,
Wulfing
…
Hrothgar sent treasure to mend feud…Beowulf’s father pledged loyalty to
Hrothgar
Explains
weirgild
“death price”. Only way to keep vengeance from spiraling out
indefinately
Beowulf is not just offering services out of kindness: it’s his way of
repaying his father’s debt to
HrothgarSlide15
Questions/ Activities
Describe what happens to
Grendel
when he raids
Herot
and encounters Beowulf
What prevents Beowulf’s men from helping Beowulf in his battle with
Grendel
?
Why is it significant that
Grendel
hunts at night?
Why is it important to Beowulf and to his image as an epic hero that he face
Grendel
without a weapon? What symbolism do you see in the uselessness of human-made weapons against
Grendel
?Slide16
Questions/ Activities
Create list of kennings for yourself
Begin writing your
own boast
Look at lines 250-285, 407, 426 for examples of boasting
Look at lines 297-343 to locate:
AlliterationKenningsHyphenated compoundsPrepositional phrasesPossessives