BEOWULF 975-1025 AD Þæt wæs god cyning! DRA. BABYNETS NELYA
WHAT DO YOU KNOW? HAVE YOU EVER HEARD ABOUT BEOWULF? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE? DO YOU THINK EPIC NARRATIVE IS STILL RELEVANT IN THE 21ST CENTURY?
WHAT ABOUT THIS MOVIE?
WHO WERE THE ANGLO- SAXONS? The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes that conquered Celtic Britons in 5th century. They emphasized bravery, honor and glory in battle. It was a patriarchal society based on the concepts of kinship, comitatus and fraternity.
KINSHIP Is the close relationship between an individual and the other members of the tribe. Members of the tribe were related by blood or by marriage. But even if they were not, anyone who was in the tribe was considered to be kin (family). The most important claim of kinship that one could make was king. Ancestor worship (fathers, grandfathers, etc.).
COMITATUS It is a Germanic power arrangement in which a king was obliged to rule in consultation with his knights. Knights or thanes swore absolute fidelity to their king, who, in exchange, gave to the knights land, money, jewelry, war gear, feasts in his hall, and other benefits.
FRATERNITY It is the close social bonds among the men of the tribes. The Anglo-Saxons lived together, worked together and died together. Everything was done to benefit their society.
GLORY AND FATE An Anglo-Saxon warrior s motivation was to live and die with glory. This concept determined everything they sad and did off and on the battlefield. Violence was the part of everyday life. The bonds of fraternity demanded that the death of a tribe member be avenged. Wergild was money paid to the family of the victim of a murder by the offender. The Anglo- Saxons believed in destiny determined by pagan gods.
AN ANGLO-SAXON MEAD-HALL
LANGUAGE OF BEOWULF
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH English is divided into three periods: Old English (ca. 449-1100) Middle English (ca. 1100-1500) Modern English (ca. 1500-). While many people think of Shakespeare's English as old, Shakespeare wrote and spoke Modern English, albeit, an early form of it. Chaucer's poetry, including his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales, are a good examples of Middle English poetry. Beowulf is an Old English poem. Old English is sometimes known as Anglo- Saxon.
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH: ANGLO-SAXONS
THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH WHO? WORDS? Romans Anglo-Saxons Early Chrisitan missionaries Vikings
THE OLD ENGLISH ALPHABET RUNES: Old English makes use of unfamiliar letters, most of which derive from the runic alphabet, an alphabet used by the Germanic tribes. These letters are þ (thorn) and ð (eth) (often used interchangeably to represent the "th" sound of "that" and "thin"), æ (ash) (the vowel sound in cat), and ƿ (wynn), which represents w". ROMAN ALPHABET: 20 letters were directly adopted from the Latin alphabet B, C, D, E, F, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, etc.
POETICS ALLITERATION: Alliteration is the repetition of stressed sounds, particularly consonants from the beginning of words or syllables. Poetically, alliteration can have a similar function as rhyme. An example of alliteration is the tonguetwister "She sells seashells by the sea shore. CAESURA: Old English poetry is also commonly marked by the caesura or pause. In addition to setting pace for the line, the caesura also grouped each line into two couplets.
POETICS VARIATION: The Old English poet was particularly fond of describing the same person or object with varied phrases. The Beowulf poet refers in three and a half lines to a Danish king as "lord of the Danes" (referring to the people in general), "king of the Scyldings" (the name of the specific Danish tribe), "giver of rings" (one of the king's functions is to distribute treasure), and "famous chief". KENNINGS: Kennings are a special form of compounding that are metaphoric in meaning. For example, the kenning hronrad (hron + rad), literally "whale's road," refers to the sea; and rodores candel, literally "sky's candle," refers to the sun.
KENNINGS: BREAKER OF TREES RING GIVER BONE HOUSE BLOOD WORM HEAVEN'S JEWEL WAVE SWINE WOUND SEA WHALE S WAY SWAN OF BLOOD FEED THE EAGLE GIRL OF THE HOUSE BANE OF WOOD SLEEP OF THE SWORD BATTLE SWEAT SPEAR DIN LIGHT OF BATTLE RAVEN HARVEST BEOWULF
BEOWULF: SHRINKING THE EPIC Monster Grendel's tastes are plainish. Breakfast? Just a couple Danish. King of Danes is frantic, very. Wait! Here comes the Malmo" ferry Bring Beowulf, his neighbor, Mighty swinger with a saber! Hrothgar's warriors hail the Swede, Knocking back a lot of mead; Then, when night engulfs the Hall And the Monster makes his call, Beowulf, with body-slam Wrenches off his arm, Shazam! Monster's mother finds him slain, Grabs and eats another Dane!
Down her lair our hero jumps, Gives old Grendel's dam her lumps. Later on, as king of Geats He performed prodigious feats Till he met a foe too tough (Non-Beodegradable stuff) And that scaly-armored dragon Scooped him up and fixed his wagon. Sorrow-stricken, half the nation Flocked to Beowulf's cremation; Round his pyre, with drums a-muffle Did a Nordic soft-shoe shuffle. By Maurice Sagoff
Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition by Howell D. Chickering, Jr.
Iċ seċġe ēoƿ þancas!