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Hero vs. Monsters
• Meet the Hero – Beowulf
• He will encounter 3 monsters– Grendel– Grendel’s Mother– Dragon
Beowulf
• Composed in Old English
• First significant piece of English literature
• Long narrative poem @ 3200 lines
• An Epic
• Beowulf is an Epic hero
Anglo-Saxon Literature
• Told by a story teller called a scop
• Performed with a string instrument musical background
• Anglo-Saxon Historical Past
• Opening lines in Old English
• The Battle
Epic Definition
• An extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written in a high style.
Characteristics of an Epic
• The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life, often the source and subject of legend or a national hero
• The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as his virtues
Characteristics cont.
• The action, often in battle, reveals the more-than-human strength of the heroes as they engage in acts of heroism and courage
• The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even universe
Characteristics cont.
• The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people
• The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions
Characteristics cont.
• All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some way to the central theme.
Typical in epics a set of conventions
• Poem begins with a statement of the theme
• Invocation to the muse or other deity
• Story begins in the middle of things
• Catalogs participants on each side, ships, sacrifices, weapons
Conventions
• Histories and descriptions of significant items (who made a sword or shield, how it was decorated, who owned it from generation to generation)
• Use of patronymics (calling son by father’s name)
Conventions
• Long, formal speeches by important characters
• Journey to the underworld
• Use of the number three (attempts are made three times, etc)
• Previous episodes in the story are later recounted.
Examples
• Homer, Iliad
• Homer, Odyssey
• Virgil, Aeneid
• Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered
• Milton, Paradise Lost
Beowulf
• Oral story
• Passed down from generation to generation before being written down
• Written down by an unknown poet
• From Northumbria possibly a monk
Only known Manuscript
• Found 18th century• Dates to @ 1000AD• Part of Codex - containing 4 other volumes
– The Passion of St. Christopher– The Wonders of the East– Alexander’s Letter to Aristotle– Judith (a fragment)
Only known Manuscript• Burned and stained
• Survived Henry VIII’s destruction of the monasteries
200 years earlier