Poetics
In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
and begin to pay tribute. (20)
Bonus what does it mean?
What is a kenning? Ocean.
The Anglo-Saxon concept of fate or destiny.
What is wyrd?
Beowulf fights Grendel in this way
What are his bare hands?
Bonus: Why? What's so special about Grendel?
Epic stories often include supernatural forces. How are supernatural forces involved in Beowulf?
Magic Items like...
Beyond human strength
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.
Bonus: Name at least 2 literary devices
Opening of the epic / establishes heroic tone and values. Epithet; kenning; metonymy; alliteration
In off the moors, down through the mist bands
God-cursed Grendei came greedily loping.
The bane of the race of men roamed forth,
hunting for a prey in the high hall.
What is alliteration?
Payment made to settle a death or injury.
Bonus: Give an example from the text.
What is wergild?
Who exchanges swords with Beowulf before the battle with Grendel's mother?
Unferth
Bonus: What's the name of the sword?
An omniscient narrator is one that ...
This type of narrator knows the thoughts and actions of all characters.
For the killing of Abel
The Eternal Lord had exacted a price:
Cain got no good from committing that murder
Because the Almighty made him anathema
And out of the curse of his exile there sprang
Ogres and elves and evil phantoms
And the giants too who strove with God
Time and again until He gave them their final reward
Who is Grendel / related to Cain / wergild / homily / we learn about his character
The latching power in his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip
the terror-monger had taken to Heorot.
What is litotes?
The setting for the battle with the dragon; a burial mound for Anglo Saxons
Bonus: Answer 3. Who is Shield Sheafson? Why is he important? How was he buried?
Barrow
Shield - Mythical king of Denmark/ founder - adds significance to Hrothgar's name and fame; cultural context; ship burial, not barrow mound.
The dragon attacks because....
Someone. steals a cup from his lair
Bonus: How long does Beowulf rule before this moment?
A hero demonstrates ethics and values of their society. What are 2 specific examples of the ethic and values of Beowulf?
Answers vary
Honor / Wergild - there to fight grendel to repair father debt.
Kinship - Wiglaf
Glory
Fame
Leadership
Giving nature (ring giver)
A few miles from here The haunted mere
a frost-stiffened wood waits and keeps watch
above a mere; the overhanging bank
is a maze of tree-roots mirrored in its surface.
At night there, something uncanny happens:
the water burns. And the mere bottom
has never been sounded by the sons of men.
On its bank, the heather-stepper halts:
the hart in flight from pursuing hounds
will turn to face them with firm-set horns
and die in the wood rather than dive
beneath its surface. That is no good place
A descriptive title to add significance to a name: And so, my request, O king of Bright-Danes, dear prince of the Shieldings, friend of the people and their ring of defence, my one request
is that you won't refuse me, who have come this far,
the privilege of purifying Heorot,
with my own men to help me, and nobody else.
What is an epithet?
What are the Greek terms for Descent and Return?
Bonus: how might this be exemplified in Beowulf?
Katabasis and Anabasis
* Grendel's Mother
*Dragon's Lair
Beowulf travels across the sea from this land to help the Danes.
Geatland
Bonus: Name King and Queen of Geatland
Give a concrete example of how Beowulf demonstrates "vast settings"
Geatland to Denmark
Lots of Time Passes
Journey to Grendel's Mother's Lair
Battle With Dragon
Tales of War with Swedes and other times in history
Hot and savage, he kept circling and circling
the outside of the mound. No man appeared
in that desert waste, but he worked himself up
by imagining battle; then back in he'd go
2300 in search of the cup, only to discover
signs that someone had stumbled upon
the golden treasures. So the guardian of the mound,
the hoard-watcher, waited for the gloaming
with fierce impatience;
The dragon learns his treasure is missing; kenning ; metonymy
But the earl-troop's leader was not inclined Beowulf's thanes to allow his caller to depart alive: defend him he did not consider that life of much account to anyone anywhere.
Bonus: What other literary device is at work here?
What is metonymy?
A word for betwixt and between; Myth often inhabits this type of space
Liminal space
Bonus: How does liminality show up in Beowulf?
What is one of Beowulf’s final wishes?
Bonus: Name 3
-Wiglef to inherit the kingdom
-Build a barrow mound
-see the dragon gold before he dies
Boasting and bargging is an element of epic heros. Give an example of a boast by Beowulf. When? Why?
Before Grendel Battle
After Unferth calls him out
before battle with dragon
A Geat woman too sang out in grief; A Geat woman's
with hair bound up, she unburdened herself
of her worst fears, a wild litany
of nightmare and lament: her nation invaded,
enemies on the rampage, bodies in piles,
slavery and abasement. Heaven swallowed the smoke
Beowulf's death and funeral; alliteration / imagery