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Beowulf

The document provides background information on Beowulf, including the meaning of its title, how it is dated between 680-835 AD, its Old English poetic devices of alliteration, caesura, and kennings, and summaries of its main characters and events. Key figures discussed are Beowulf, Hrothgar, Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon.

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Andrei Angelo Pantig
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243 views30 pages

Beowulf

The document provides background information on Beowulf, including the meaning of its title, how it is dated between 680-835 AD, its Old English poetic devices of alliteration, caesura, and kennings, and summaries of its main characters and events. Key figures discussed are Beowulf, Hrothgar, Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon.

Uploaded by

Andrei Angelo Pantig
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BEOWU

LF
Title of Epic Poem

• Anglo-Saxon word Beo


means “bright” or
“noble”
• Anglo-Saxon word wulf
means “wolf”
• Beowulf means bright
or noble wolf
• Other sources say Beo
means “bear”
How we date Beowulf
Some Important Dates:
521 A.D. – death of Hygelac, who is
mentioned in the poem
680 A.D. – appearance of alliterative verse
835 A.D. – the Danish started raiding other
areas; after this, few poets would
consider them heroes

SO: This version was likely composed between


680 and 835, though it may be set earlier
Setting: Beowulf’s time and place

Europe today Time of Beowulf


Some terms you’ll want to know

scop
A bard or story-teller.
The scop was responsible
for praising deeds of past
heroes, for recording
history, and for providing
entertainment
Terms: Thane and Mead-
Hall
thane
A warrior

mead-hall
The large hall where the
lord and his warriors slept,
ate, held ceremonies, etc.
Term: Wyrd
wyrd
Fate. This idea crops up a
lot in the poem, while at
the same time there are
Christian references to
God’s will.
Main Characters
Beowulf
• Epic hero
• Geat (from southern
Sweden)
• Nephew of Higlac (King
at story’s start)
• Sails to Denmark to
help Hrothgar
Hrothgar
• Danish king
• Builds Herot (banquet
hall) for men
• Tormented by Grendel
for 12 years
• Loses many men to
Grendel
• Joyless before
Beowulf’s arrival
Grendel
• Referred to as demon
and fiend
• Haunts the moors
(swampy land)
• Descendant of Cain
• Feasts on 30 men the
night of 1st attack
Grendel’s Mother
• Referred to as she-wolf
• Lives under the lake by
Heorot Mead Hall
• Challenges Hrothgar
when she kills one of
his best men
Fire Dragon
• Lives in Beowulf’s
kingdom
• Wakes up when thief
steals cup
• Guards countless
treasures
Alliteration, Kenning, and
Caesura in Beowulf
Use of Sound Devices

The Anglo-Saxon oral tradition is evident in


Beowulf.
Like other oral art, it was handed down, with
changes and embellishments, from one story
teller to another.
To aide the retelling of the story, several
poetic devices are incorporated into this epic
poem
Alliteration

• Alliteration is the repetition of


initial consonant sounds in words
close to one another in lines of
poetry.
• Instead of rhyme unifying a poem, the
Anglo-Saxon poet used alliteration to
connect the narrative structure of
the epic
Alliteration

Examples:

•All Adam ate in August was apples and almonds.


•Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
•The Queen quietly and quickly made a quip about
quilts.
•Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer rose rapidly to the
roof.
•She sells sea-shells on the seashore.
•My uneducated uncle never understood how to use
umbrellas.
•The ventriloquist varied his voice very well.
Alliteration

• Examples:
From Beowulf:

“ . . . A powerful monster, living down


In the darkness, growled in pain,
impatient
As day after day the music rang
Loud in the hall . . .”
“So, Hrothgar’s men lived happy in
his hall”
Caesura

• Often the verse line is divided into two


halves separated by a rhythmical pause, or
caesura. In one half, two words would commonly
alliterate; in the other half, one word
alliterates with the two from the other half.

• Caesura (pronounced see-ZOO-ra) refers to a


break or pause in the middle of a line of verse.
It can be marked as || in the middle of the line,
although generally it is not marked at all – it’s
simply part of the way the reader or singer
pronounces the line
Caesura
Examples:

Alexander Pope’s first major poem, “An Essay on Criticism,” contains


one of the most famous caesurae in all of English literature:

to err is human; || to forgive, divine.

Nearly every performance of this line includes a caesura after the


comma. Some actors might choose to read the line straight through
with no pause, but it might sound a bit odd – try it out loud and
see what the line sounds like without a caesura.

To be or not to be, || that is the question (William Shakespeare,


“Hamlet”)
Caesura

Examples:
From Beowulf

“Then, when darkness had dropped,


Grendel
Went up to Herot, wondering what the
warriors (caesura after Herot)
Would do in that hall when their
drinking was done.”
Kennings

•The kenning is a specialized metaphor made


of compound words.
•A kenning is a figure of speech in which
two words are combined in order to form a
poetic expression that refers to a person or
a thing.
•They are still used today (gas guzzler and
headhunter).
•The earliest and simplest kennings are
compound words formed from two common nouns:
Kennings

• Examples:
“sky-candle” for sun
“whale-road” for sea.
Later, kennings became much more elaborate.

Examples:

A ship became a “foamy-throated ship,” then a


“foamythroated sea-stallion,” and finally a
“foamy-throated sea-stallion of the whale-
road.”
Kennings

Once a kenning was formed, it was used over


and over by the oral poets.

Examples:

The epic poem Beowulf is chock full of


kennings. It's penned by an unknown author,
although we do know it has its origins in
Anglo-Saxon literature. One of the most
prominent scenes details Beowulf's fight
against the monster Grendel.
Kennings
Here are some kennings pulled from that fight scene, as well as the
rest of the epic poem:

•Battle-adornèd = armed and armored (for battle)

"Go to the bench now, battle-adorned.“

•Battle-gear = armor

"'Mid the battle-gear he saw a blade triumphant, old-sword of Eotens,


with edge of proof, warriors' heirloom, weapon unmatched.“

•Battle sweat = blood

"That war-sword then all burned, bright blade, when the blood gushes
o'er it, battle-sweat hot; but the hilt I brought back from my foes."
Kennings

• Giver-of-rings = king
"Ne'er heard I of host in haughtier throng more
graciously gathered round giver-of-rings!“

• Light-of-battle = sword
"But the warrior found the light-of-battle was loath
to bite, to hard the heart.“

•Shepherd-of-evils = Grendel
"Soon then saw that shepherd-of-evils that never he
met in this middle-world, in the ways of earth,
another wight with heavier hand-gripe."
Kennings

•Heaven's candle = the sun


"Then blazed forth light. 'Twas bright within
as when from the sky there shines unclouded
heaven's candle.“

•Whale-path = sea or ocean


"For he waxed under welkin, in wealth he
throve, till before him the folk, both far and
near, who house by the whale-path, heard his
mandate, gave him gifts: a good king he!"
Kennings

• “So mankind’s enemy continued his


crimes”
(Grendel)

• “So the living sorrow of Healfdane’s son


simmered”
(Hrothgar)

• Follower and the strongest of the Geats”


(Beowulf)
Kennings

Modern Examples of Kennings

•Ankle biter - a very young child

•Bean counter- a bookkeeper or accountant

•Bookworm -someone who reads a lot

•Brown noser - a person who does anything to gain approval

•Fender bender - a car accident

•First Lady - the wife of the president


Kennings

Modern Examples of Kennings


•Four-eyes- someone who wears glasses

•Head twister - an owl

•Hot potato - something no one wants

•Mind reader - a person who knows what you are thinking

•Motor mouth - a person who talks a lot and/or quickly

•Pencil pusher - a person with a clerical job


Kennings

Modern Examples of Kennings


•Pigskin - a football

•Postman chaser - a dog

•Rugrat - a toddler or crawling baby

•Showstopper - a performance receiving long applause

•Tree hugger - an environmentalist

•Tree swinger - a monkey

•Tummy slider - a penguin

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