Britons settled on the largest of the British Isles (now England, Scotland, Wales) & is now known as Great Britain Gales settled primarily on the smaller island (now Ireland)
In A.D. 43, the Romans invaded lower Britain forced Britons north towards Scotland and Wales. Rome eventually backed off because of Germanic invasions, but southeast Britain was vulnerable. Vortigern, the ruler of southeast Britain hired bands of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes to protect his lands. However, they eventually turned on the people and enslaved them. By A.D. 650, the Anglo-Saxons had taken over most of lower Britain and came to think of themselves as one people the English. From this civilization grew the history, language, and literature of England.
Anglo-Saxon Ruler : courageous, strong, generous, and loyal. Oral Tradition: storytellers sang songs and told stories about the struggles of their valiant warrior kings. Christianity: in A.D. 596, the Pope sent missionaries to re-establish Christianity in England. Christian monks established libraries and schools teaching the importance of the written word mainly the Bible. Poetry:since warfare was a way of life, their organization, values, beliefs and poetry reflected that fact
1. Heroic verse celebrating courage, honor, and loyalty 2. An elegy that mourns a loss 3. Religious verse focusing on Christian teachings and stories 4. Has a similarity in meter from line to line making it easier to remember or sing in the retelling.
1. Seafaring warriors are prominent 2. Struggle of good vs. evil 3. Pagan god-like courage, loyalty and generosity mixed with Christian battle of good vs. evil
THE EPIC a long narrative poem that recounts the exploits of a larger-than-life hero. Serve as records of the early cultures that produced them THE EPIC HERO Greeks had the Illiad and the OdysseySpanish had El Cidthe French had The Song of Roland and the English had Beowulf
A man of high social status and great physical strength Often important in the history of his people He may boast of his strength and supreme self-confidence commits himself to the courageous action, making his inevitable death more heroic
Displays characteristics of pure evil Self-centered, power hungry, only interested in its own purpose and goals Usually is unaware or is the last to know that his own demise, at the hands of a hero, is inevitable
supernatural events, long time periods, distant journeys, life-and-death struggles between good and evil. Hero always represents good/whoever or whatever threatens the people represents evil. Fate of the people is determined by outcome of battle.
1. Theme central idea of a work of literature 2. Personification giving living characteristics to non-living things 3. Kenning imaginative phrase that takes the place of a single noun 4. Simile comparing 2 things using like or as 5. Foreshadowing using clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot 6. Metaphor comparing 2 things 7. Symbol a person, place, thing, or event that stands both for itself and for something beyond itself as well 8. Irony contrast between what is expected and what actually happens 9. Allusion a reference to something or someone else 10. Apostrophe talking to an inanimate object 11. Fatalism accepting all things and events as inevitable