Beowulf Vocabulary

Solace

Comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or trouble; alleviation of distress or discomfort

Mead

An alcoholic liquor made by fermenting honey and water.

Mail

Flexible armor of interlinked rings. Any flexible armor or covering, as one having a protective exterior of scales or small plates.

Affliction

A state of pain, distress, or grief; misery

OUCH!

Banner

A flag formerly used as the standard of a sovereign, lord, or knight

Fetters

A chain or shackle placed on the feet.

Loathsome

Disgusting; revolting; repulsive

Venerable

Commanding respect because of great age or impressive dignity.

Scop

An Old English bard or poet; a storytelling minstrel often accompanied by a harp.

Druid

• A member of a pre-Christian religious order among the ancient Celts or Gaul, Britain, and Ireland.

Elegiac

Expressing sorrow or lamentation.

HeroicHaving or involving recourse to boldness,

daring or extreme measures.

Epic

Noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or

events is narrated in elevated style

Kenning

A metaphorical phrase used in Anglo-Saxon Poetry to replace a concrete noun.

“the whale’s home” = the sea

Caesure/Caesurea

A break, usually near the middle of a verse, and marked in scansion by a double vertical line, as in know then thyself || presume not

God to scan.

Wyrd

A concept in Old English and Old Norse culture roughly

corresponding to fate or karma. Fate personified

Pagan

A person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim; an irreligious or hedonistic person