| Time Beowulf was written | circa 9th century AD |
| Text is: | Old English or Anglo-Saxon (English); Folk Epic (oral tradition) |
| Poet is what religion? | Christian, but Germanic tribes are not |
| Anglo-Saxon Prosody consist of half lines organized by by accents and ______ | alliteration |
| Alliteration | the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words; Anglo-Saxons used it A LOT |
| Assonance | the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (ex: penitence, reticence) |
| Kenning | metaphor and compound word (ex. ring-giver or sky-candle) |
| Scop | a poet-singer who recalls and performs poems |
| Like Gilgamesh, Beowulf is also an example of | heroic literature |
| Conventions of Heroic Literature | male-dominated society; warrior-king is hero; feats of courage, strength, cunning, etc are celebrated; weapons and battles; quests and journeys; Nationalistic: celebrates a people’s origins, heroes |
| Warrior king is: | Ring-giver: rewards loyalty with spoils of battle, armor, weapons, land |
| Warriors expected to protect king and remain loyal in time of crisis | Thanes |
| Violence is part of life and has a price: | wergild |
| Wergild | “man price” which is paid to clan or tribe to avoid inevitable revenge |
| Beowulf is a | Geat |
| Where are the Geats from? | tribes of Southern Sweden; also Waegmunding, Swedish clan name |
| Who is Beowulf’s father? | Ecgtheow |
| Ecgtheow | banished man who took refuge with Danes for a time, returned to fight with Geats and marries Geats’ King’s daughter |
| Who is King of the Geats? | Hygelac |
| Who is King of the Danes? | Hrothgar |
| Enemies of Beowulf and Germanic tribes in the text: | Jutes (Frisians), Swedes (Scylfings), Hetho-bards |
| What monument did Hrothgar decide to construct? | Heorot, mead-hall |
| What monster disturbed the peace? | Grendel; he killed 30 men |
| Who was Grendel descended from? | Cain, who was exiled from the Creator for killing Abel |
| How long has Grendel wreaked havoc on the Danes? | 12 years |
| Why did Hrothgar pay wergild for Beowulf’s father, Ecgtheow? | Ecgtheow killed Heatholaf, a member of the Wulfing tribe. Hrothgar sent treasure to the Wulfings to mend the feud, and Beowulf’s father pledged his allegiance to Hrothgar. |
| How does Beowulf want to fight Grendel? | unarmed |
| Which Dane taunts Beowulf at dinner? What does he say? | Unferth; says he once lost a swimming match against Breca and that Beowulf will meet with defeat for a second time when he faces Grendel in the mead-hall |
| How does Beowulf reply? | he and Breca had struggled in icy waters for five days and five nights when suddenly Beowulf found himself pulled under by a monster; he slayed the monster and then washed ashore; he then says that Unferth and Breca could not have survived such an adventure, and Unferth is hopeless against Grendel |
| The argument between Unferth and Beowulf is an example of…? | flytting (verbal combat) |
| Battle with Grendel | Grendel enters, kills a thane, wrestles with Beowulf;Grendel protected from cutting weapons; Beowulf pulls Grendel’s arm from socket; Grendel runs back to his swamp |
| What is this an example of: “The latching power in his fingers weakened; it was the worst trip the terror-monger had taken to Heorot.” | litotes |
| Litotes | form of ironic understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary (e.g., you won’t be sorry, meaning you’ll be glad ) |
| Who does the scop sing about during Beowulf’s honoring celebration? | the story of Sigemund, a great hero who slew a terrible dragon |
| Who adopts Beowulf as a son? | Hrothgar |
| Bestowing of riches on Beowulf | weapons, armor, treasure, and eight of his finest horses. He then presents Beowulf’s men with rewards and compensates the Geats with gold for the Geatish warrior that Grendel killed. |
| Scop sings of fight at Finnsburg | where Danes were attacked by Jutes despite Finn’s marriage to a Dane. Their truce for winter, and then the ambush and slaughter of Jutes |
| Hrothgar and Beowulf trust each other, but Unferth is under a cloud because | he killed his brothers |
| Who does Grendel’s mother kill when she attacked Heorot? | Aeschere, a very good friend and mentor of Hrothgar |
| Was Beowulf in the mead-hall during Grendel’s mother’s attack? | no |
| What did Grendel’s mother take from Heorot? | Grendel’s arm |
| Who summons Beowulf to kill Grendel’s mother? Why? | Hrothgar because of the death of Aeschere |
| Tale of 2 creatures on the moors | Hrothgar says he has heard there are two creatures from another world prowling on the moors; one looks like a women and the other a warped shape of a man (Grendel and his mother); says they are fatherless creatures and are from demons and ghosts; NOTE: Hrothgar doesn’t know any of the Biblical genealogy about Grendel and his mother that the poet already told us |
| Grendel’s mother’s home | lake that burns at night and it has never been reached by man |
| Beowulf’s speech he made before going to kill Grendel’s mother is an example of: | warrior code |
| What did Unferth give Beowulf before he left to kill Grendel’s mom? | the great and seasoned sword named Hrunting, which has never failed in any battle |
| Hrunting | sword Unferth gives Beowulf; has never failed in any battle |
| Battle with Grendel’s mother | Grendel’s mother sensed Beowulf’s approach and clutched him in her grip; Hrunting was unable to pierce her skin and he couldn’t fight her successfully without a weapon; he saw a huge sword on the wall, grabbed it, and slayed her |
| Who does Beowulf decapitate after he kills Grendel’s mother? | Grendel |
| Why did the Danes return to Heorot in sorrow? | they saw blood coming from the depths and thought it was Beowulf’s; only the Geat’s stay |
| What did Beowulf notice about the waters after G’s mom was killed? | they were no longer infested |
| What does Beowulf present to Hrothgar? | Grendel’s head and the sword he used to kill Grendel’s mom, which has melted from her blood |
| What did Hrothgar tell Beowulf he has done for the Geats and Danes? | united them in ties of friendship and loyalty |
| Hygelac is killed in battle with the | Shylfings |
| What does Hygelac reward Beowulf with? | Hrethel’s sword, land, a hall, and throne |
| How many years does Beowulf rule the Geats? | 50 years |
| What is happening in Geatland now? | a thief stole a goblet from a dragon; the dragon can’t figure out who did it so he is breathing fire and destroying everything (revenge motif); eventually he burns Beowulf’s throne hall down |
| What does Beowulf do about this? | he makes the iron-smith make a shield for him that will stand up against flame; he is too proud to assemble an army, but gets 11 men and the thief to lead them to the dragon |
| Fight with the Dragon | Beowulf tries to hack his sword against dragon but is not as strong as he use to be; all Beowulf’s companions run away except for Wiglaf; Beowulf’s sword (Naegling) breaks; dragon bites Beowulf in the neck; in last attempt Beowulf pulls knife from belt and stabs dragon; it dies |
| Wiglaf | last of the Waegmundings; the one companion that did not run away and helped Beowulf fight |
| Beowulf’s last speech | thanks God for the treasure he has won for his people; tells Wiglaf that he has to look after the Geats now; orders Wiglaf to tell his troup to build his a barrow and call it “Beowulf’s Barrow”; Beowulf dies |
| Men that left Beowulf during battle | come back and are ashamed of themselves; Wiglaf calls them cowards |
| Wiglaf’s warning of future battles with | Franks, Frisians, Swedes now that Beowulf is dead |
| Beowulf’s funeral | Beowulf’s bier is built and laden with treasure from dragon’s barrow |
Beowulf
February 23, 2020