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Name_________________________________ Date___________________ 1. Prepare to experience the _____________ __________ in the ___________ ___________. 2. What permeates Denmark’s’ Royal Hall? _________________________________________ 3. What is on the rampage? ______________________________________ 4. What is his name? __________________ 5. What does Denmark desperately need? __________________ 6. Who is that hero? ___________________ 7. In a dark age when ______________ was everywhere and _____________ were few, the myth of

Beowulf resonated as the ultimate clash between ___________ and ___________. 8. The legend of Beowulf is a _____________ story inspired by ____________. 9. It is believed to have originated in __________ in the 7th or 8th century A.D., making it the _______

_________ in the English language. 10. Where does the action of the Poem take place? _____________________ 11. ___________________ had recently taken root in England at the time of the writing of Beowulf. 12. In the myth, Beowulf’s’ first nemesis, the monster Grendel, had an intriguing _________ to the

Christian __________; the text say he is descendent for the line of _________… 13. Why does Grendel attack and destroy meat halls? ______________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ 14. In the ancient text, Grendel’s physical ______________ is left to the imagination. The only clue is

the phrase, a ____________ out of hell. 15. The monster holds Denmark under siege for _______ years. 16. After he ______________ the kings’ warriors he turns his rage on ____________ civilians. 17. Why does Grendel not attack king Hrothgar? __________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ 18. At the outset of the poem Beowulf is a _______-________________. He’s’ a leader of a war ban

group of men who travel together. 19. Beowulf is seeking ____________, what the old English call Lof. 20. Beowulf knows there is one way to achieve everlasting ____________________, to do what no man

before him has done. He must _________ ______________. 21. …Beowulf, is using a ________________ method to draw out Grendel. He ______________ the

circumstances of the first attack… 22. In the dead of night as the party dies down, the hero lies in ________. He will either ______or __

______________. 23. Why can’t no swords or medal weapons harm Grendel? ___________________________________

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24. What does Grendel do to one of Beowulf’s men? ________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

25. This is the myth, but what is the link to reality? 26. What was found 90 miles north of England in a place called Sutton Hoo, a placed ruled by powerful

Anglo-Saxon Kings? _____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

27. It is shocking _____________ of _____________ in a once prosperous kingdom in the same era when the myth is thought to have originated.

28. These seemed to be criminals who were executed and buried in this place…The _____________ to Beowulf could be that these kinds of violent public executions were a way that a king ____________ _____________ ____________ within his kingdom.

29. It is mayhem in the Danish court of King Hrothgar. Beowulf and the monstrous Grendel are locked in a __________ ___________.

30. Beowulf, the world’s strongest warrior pulls at the monsters’ _________ with all his might. 31. Grendel tears off into the night, hemorrhaging blood…Deep in the woods, the wounded monster

stumbles to the ground and ___________ his _________ __________. 32. News of Grendel’s death spreads fast across the land, and Beowulf is celebrated as a ____________. 33. But a grim reality soon sets in. There are scores of slain warriors to _________. The Beowulf text

____________ how the warriors were ________ to _______. The description _________ what is now known about burials in the ancient Norse World.

34. What does the ritual burying of deceased warriors, their ships and all their possessions symbolize the Norse world? _________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

35. Amazingly evidence of these ritual burials can be found ___________… At Sutton Hoo the burial grounds have yielded more ____________ of the world of ____________.

36. Sutton Hoo is the richest grave from England and the Dark Ages from Northern Europe. It is telling us about the ________ of Dark Age society. The actual ___________ that are dug out of Sutton Hoo looks like the things that are described in ___________.

37. In the _____________ countryside archeologists have made an unusual discovery; ____________of a real __________ ___________.

38. In the story of Beowulf, the scene of Grendel’s attack is called _________….It is both a throne room and a banquet hall where the king’s warriors gathered to _____________ __________.

39. Radio carbon testing _________ the site (of the banquet hall) to the sixth century A.D., The __________ _________ when the __________ was said to have __________ ____________.

40. What are the legendary Sagas? ___________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

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41. Many of the Norse ____________ are based on ___________ __________…If Hrothgar was a real king, could Beowulf have been a real hero?

42. Who is the second of Beowulf’s monstrous enemies? ___________________________________ 43. What is her response to Grendel being killed by Beowulf? ________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ 44. Where is Beowulf at the time of the attack? __________________________________________ 45. What happens to King Hrothgar? __________________________________________________ 46. With Hrothgar and his men by his side Beowulf will ________ __________ Grendel’s mother. 47. Where did Grendel and his mother live? _____________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ 48. What biblical character is Grendel’s mother said to be a descendant of? ____________ 49. Grendel mother is a very ________________ creature within her own right because now that her

son has been killed, she has the ___________ of a bereaved mother. 50. Beowulf’s comrades cannot bring themselves to go any further, the hero must brace for battle ____. 51. What happens between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother when he finally enters her lair? ___________

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52. Symbolically what is the death of Grendel’s mother said to have represent? ___________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

53. In the late 6th century Pope Gregory sent Augustin to Anglo Saxon churches to _________ kings, so that their people would ________ convert to ______________.

54. Although Anglo Saxons were ultimately converted to Christianity, their ________-Christian __________ lived on in the stories they passed down, including the ________________________.

55. When the __________ conquered, they __-______ the myth of Beowulf as s metaphor of _______ versus ______.

56. The story continues…Beowulf’s return _________the king’s court. He had been given up for ______. Hrothgar hails him as the ultimate hero and stages a great celebration…Beowulf has achieved the _________ and _______ he came to Denmark to find. Now he is eager to ________ to his own __________ to the _________, Geatland. There more ___________ ____________.

57. The Beowulf story refers to the Geats and the Swedes who were two different ___________ from the southern tip of ____________.

58. On his _________ to Geatland Beowulf discovers that the ___________ are embroiled in the middle of a Swedish _________. A civil war between the members of the Swedish royal family has spilled over into Beowulf’s homeland.

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59. The hero must confront death once again, but this time, not against ___________, but against his fellow ________.

60. According to the myth of Beowulf, why is he granted the throne of Geatland? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

61. According to old _____________ _________, which are thought to be based on _____ ________, a violent battle did occur on a frozen lake around the year 530 A.D.

62. Once again, the ___________ __________ seems to _______ the _______, a real battle in a real location. Could there also be ___________ of a ________ hero? The search for clues leads back to the myth.

63. After the ice battle, Beowulf rules Geatland in ________ for many decades…As a young man Beowulf has quenched his thirst for glory, as an aging king, he has _________________________. But 50 years after his heroic conquest in Denmark, The old warrior must face one _______ __________ with a terrifying monster, the ____________ of Earnaness…Dragons represent human _______.

64. Why is the Dragon of Earnaness seeking revenge against the people of Geatland? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

65. Once more the ______ __________ is called on to ________ a nation’s honor… he is the ________ _________________that is willing to go out and ____________________________________.

66. This will either be the hero’s _________ __________ or his ____________ ________. 67. According to the myth, who helps Beowulf confront the dragon after all of his warriors ran away and

hid in the woods because they were too terrified of the dragon? ___________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

68. The Dragon is mythology’s ultimate monster. Within Christian traditions, dragons often represent the __________ ___________, a gigantic manifestation of Satan…If you go back before Christian tradition dragons seem to represent and ultimate embodiment of power and ferocity and mystery…

69. Dragons play a central role in myths throughout the world…and despite the thousands of years and miles that separate them ____________ between the stories are _______ __________ than the differences.

70. Many wonder if there were ___________ dragons. Given how _____________ the stories about them are in the worlds’ myths, it must be based on _____________ _________.

71. …Could _______________ bones have inspired Mythology’s ultimate monster? 72. The Myth concludes, Beowulf _________ the dragon with his sword. The dragon strikes back,

____________ ____________, but there is still one more chance for victory. The ________ is the beast’s Achilles heel.

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73. The monster is ___________, but Beowulf has paid the ___________ ___________ for this final moment of Glory.

74. What does Beowulf ask Wiglaf to bring to him as he lay dying? _____________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

75. Why? _______________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

76. Why does Beowulf give Wiglaf his famous chain mail, sword and helmet? ______________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

77. What does the final stanzas of the epic describe? ______________________________________ 78. What does Beowulf’s death at the end of the poem represent? _____________________________

____________________________________________________________________________ 79. Is it possible that Beowulf was a real person? _________________________________________

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80. Beowulf lived a _________ life and a ____________ death.