Beowulf

An anonymous epic from the late 900s, written in West

Saxon;A “classic.”Epic poem

Structure

• Unrhymed, four-beat, alliterative style.• Characteristic of Old English poetry.• Among the earliest “wholly vernacular

works in the English canon” (Yeager 1).• *Original parchment now rests in the

British Library, London.

Beowulf’s Origins

• Most likely began as an oral poem, passed from one generation of singers to the next.

• Written sometime around A.D. 1000.

• Performed when warriors gathered in meadhalls.

• Intimate details of Anglo-Saxon social life.

• Beowulf seems to be an entirely fictional character.

• Only one historically verifiable moment in the poem (year 521).

Terms

• Mead: ale and honey• Scop: a poet• Wyrd: fate; destiny• Weirgild: a man price for a soldier; money

paid after an enemy’s death;• Kenning: different words to describe an

everyday object; hyphenated metaphor.• Alliteration: repetition of consonant sound;• Caesura: a pause in the middle of a line of

poetry.

To Be a Good Warrior

• REMAIN LOYAL TO YOUR KING.

• ALWAYS BE BRAVE.

• BE SURE TO PAY YO UR WERGILD.

• DIE IN BATTLE!!!• THE KING:

– PERILS OF POWER– KINGLY VIRTUES

– WHAT IS AN ANGLO-SAXON HERO?