| Allegory | a story told on two levels |
| Alliteration | repetition of initial constant sound |
| Anonymous | the Beowulf author |
| Aristocratic | The Class of society that Beowulf is concerned with |
| Boastful | Adjective that describes Unferth |
| Cain | Person that Grendel and his mom were descended from |
| Cave | place where Grendel and his mother dwelled |
| Christian | influences that inserted God into this initially pagan text |
| Claw | only part of Grendel left at Herot after the fight with Beowulf |
| Cowards | What Wiglaf calls Beowulf’s soldiers |
| Cup | Taken by slave from dragon |
| Denmark | Hrothgar’s homeland |
| Edgetho | Beowulf’s father |
| Epic | Long, narrative poem |
| Esher | Hrothgar’s best friend; killed by Grendel’s mother |
| Fame | the only thing that lasts, according to the Anglo-Saxons |
| Feasts | Large parties that celebrate battle victories |
| Feudal | Times of the Anglo-Saxons |
| Fires | What almost destroyed the last manuscript of Beowulf |
| Geatland | Beowulf’s homeland |
| God | Beowulf’s inspiration |
| Hero | Lead character of an epic; the protagonist |
| Herot | Hrothgar’s mead hall |
| Higd | Higlac’s wife |
| Higlac | King of the Geats at the beginning of the epic |
| Hilt | Handle of a sword or dagger |
| Horsemen | They rode around Beowulf’s grave |
| Hrothgar | King of the Danes |
| Hrunting | Name of Unferth’s sword that he lent to Beowulf to kill Grendel’s mother |
| Kenning | Anglo-Saxon metaphor |
| Lake | Grendel and his mom live at the bottom of this |
| Protective chains worn by Beowulf | |
| Monks | They first put Beowulf in written form |
| Omens | Signs which predict the future |
| Oral | Beowulf was first sung in this tradition |
| Pagan | Beowulf’s heathen origins |
| Pride | What Hrothgar cautions Beowulf against |
| Pyre | Funeral fire |
| Raffel | Translator of Beowulf |
| Rhythm | the beat or cadence of the lines in poetry |
| Serpents | What Beowulf encountered and slew on the way to Grendel’s |
| Siegmund | Earlier hero who also killed a dragon |
| Slave | awakened the sleeping dragon |
| Swimming | Beowulf defeats Brecca in this competition |
| Treasure | This was guarded by the dragon |
| Tripartite | 3-part story, such as Beowulf |
| Brecca | He challenged Beowulf’s swimming prowess |
| Warrior | Type of person most prized in Anglo-Saxon society |
| Welthow | Hrothgar’s queen |
| Wulfgar | Swedish prince who introduced Beowulf to Hrothgar |
| Unferth | Hrothgar’s spokesman who taunts Beowulf about Brecca |
Beowulf
February 24, 2020