““EPIC!”EPIC!”Epic, what does it

mean to you?

Hero w/ battles and journeysCeremony, giving of giftsBoasting dialogueParallelismsSymbolic descriptions

epithets, kenningsLong sentences with repeated patterns

Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon

450-1100450-1100

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• Britain a conquered land– No one, strong king or leader– Constant battles, unrest, and upheaval– No focal point for loyalty

450450

• Anglo-Saxon Invasion

• Where we begin

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• Christian Missionaries land at Kent. It begins to spread.

• Irish mission (St. Patrick)

• (Xty influences stability and leadership of the land…still, civil unrest remains)

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• Viking Invasion and raids

871871

• Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex.

• Finally, a leader!• …400 yrs. later…

10661066

• Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror defeating Harold at Hastings and becomes king of England.

• Major turning point in life and times.– Departure from Warrior Society

LiteratureLiterature

• Oral tradition

• Epic poems, Lyric poems

• Elegy (death poem)

• Hagiography (lives of saints)

• Riddle like Kennings (all kennings are a metaphor, but not all metaphors are kennings)

CultureCulture

• Nomadic (Transitoriness)

• Warrior society

• Pagan vs. Christian (fate vs. God)

• Values (courage, endurance)

• Social groupings

• Might made right

• Unsettled , literally and figuratively

BEOWULFBEOWULF

• Danes (Denmark)– Heorot– Hrothgar

• Geats (Sweden)– Beowulf– Scyld

• Monsters– Grendel– Grendel’s Mom/Dam– Fire Worm (dragon) From: http://www.beowulfmovie.com/

Versions & Similar StoriesVersions & Similar Stories• “13th Warrior” with Antonio Banderas –

awesome one (Based on a Michael Chriton book, Eaters of the Dead)

• “Beowulf” w/ Angela Jolie (2007)

• 1999 “Beowulf” with Christian Lambert - sci-fi re-telling

• “Beowulf and Grendel” with Gerard Butler –best one

Warrior SocietyWarrior Society