| Hrunting | Beowulf’s sword |
| Hrothgar | Danish king, builder of Herot |
| Herot | Hrothgar’s mead hall; golden |
| Scop | musicians in the mead hall;entertainers |
| Beowulf (character) | Great Geat warrior; protagonist, hero; King of the Geats; posses great strength and bravery |
| Beowulf (Story) | epic poem, first story written |
| Grendel | He terrorizes Heorot for 12 years; His skin is impenetrable by weapons |
| Grendel’s battle | Beowulf fights him without any weapons; uses incredible strength to rip off his arm |
| Grendel’s mother | Resides in a lair at the bottom of a lake; avenges son’s death |
| Grendel’s mother’s battle | takes place underwater; Beowulf’s weapons fail but he kills her with a sword that he finds there. At the beginning we fear that Beowulf will die because she puts up a fierce fight. |
| Dragon | An ancient, powerful serpent, the dragon guards a horde of treasure in a hidden mound |
| Battle with the dragon | 3rd/last battle, 50 years after fight with Grendel’s mother, tries to cut dragon but it is too strong and beowulf is too old, breaths fire which hurts Bewolf, passes mail shirt and sword to Wiglaf who kills the dragon, Wiglaf brings the gold to Beowulf |
| Wiglaf | the bravest one, stays behind to help Beowulf, becomes his successor |
| Beowulf’s last wish | to build a monument by the sea so he can be remembered forever because Anglo-Saxon beliefs did not have an afterlife |
| In The Wife’s Lament, why was the wife so upset? | The husband’s family got them to split up. The wife was left to leave her home, her friends, and her family. These women did not have any rights. |
| Where is the Seafarer’s home? | Heaven; he is not at home on land or sea |
| What is the Seafarer drawn to do? | go back to the sea |
| Epic Poem | A long narrative poem telling of a hero’s deeds |
| Unferth | A Danish warrior who is jealous of Beowulf, Unferth is unable or unwilling to fight Grendel, thus proving himself inferior to Beowulf. |
| Edgatho | Beowulf’s father |
| Elegy | a sorrowful poem or speech |
| Epics use… | elevated language |
| How were Anglo-Saxon stories passed? | oral tradition |
| What did the monks do with Anglo-Saxon stories? | copy them down |
| Caesura | A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line; can be shown with a period, comma, or space |
| Anglo-Saxons beliefs… | often are seen in the writing |
| Alliteration | Repetition of consonant sounds |
| Assonance | Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity |
| What does the Seafarer need and not need? | needs sea and not earthly pleasures of gold |
| Kenning | A device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities, as in “ring-giver” for king and “whale-road” for ocean |
| The Anglo-Saxon home | defined by the people not the location |
| Why was the wanderer wandering? | all of hid friends and his lord died |
| What is the wanderer’s opinion on life? | looks on it despairingly and reflects on “the fates of men” which is death |
| Druids | celtic priests |
| Who pushed the Celts out and to where | The anglo-saxons pushed the celts out if their land and to the far west of the country |
| What is the Romans contribute to society in Britain | The romans built walls, villas, baths, and roads. Contributed to and improved communication |
| For which Norse god is the day of the week Wednesday named? Thursday? | wednesday- odin, thursday- thor |
| Who led Anglo Saxon kinship groups? | Warriors |
| When did William of Normandy cross the English Channel? | Sept. 26, 1066 |
| Who wrote down the stories that had previously been told orally? | the monks |
| How did English become a language? | english descended from old english with the help of Kind Alfred |
| What is a mead hall? | place to sing and celebrate; their home after traveling all the time |
| How did warriors gain immortality? | from the songs by the scops |
| Allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, topical, or mythical. There are many more possibilities, and a work may simultaneously use multiple layers of allusion |
| In “The Wife’s Lament” where is the wife living in exile? | in a cave, under a tree, and in the woods |
| What was the role of women in the Anglo Saxon community? | Women were not respected and treated as property; we can see they don’t have rights in “The Wife’s Lament” |
| To which bird does the speaker identify with in “The Seafarer”? | tern |
| Which poem could be considered to have a prayer at the end? | “The Seafarer” |
| What is the meaning of the word “wyrd”? | fate;personal destiny |
| Which poem is a metaphor for the journey of Christianity? | “The Seafarer” |
| According to the speaker in “The Wanderer” a man cannot be wise until he has what? | reflected on “the fates of men”; misery , doom, and death |
| What does the seafarer say is mightier than any man’s mind? | God |
| When was Beowulf written down? | 700-750 A.D. |
| Where does Beowulf take place? (the name of the country) | Scandinavia |
| In which language was Beowulf composed? | old English |
| Where was Grendel’s lair? | mere |
| Where does the dragon live? | in a tower |
| Who was the King of the Danes? | Hrothgar |
| Who was killed by Wiglaf and Beowulf? | The dragon |
| Who was the first monster? | Grendel |
| Who avenged Grendel’s death? | Grendel’s Mother |
| Which warrior stayed loyal to Beowulf until the end? | Wiglaf |
| What is the name of Beowulf’s sword? | Hrunting |
| From whom was Grendel descended? | Cain |
| What is the name of the golden mead hall? | Herot |
| Who was Beowulf’s uncle? | Hygelac |
Beowulf, The Wanderer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Seafarer
February 25, 2020