Old English /Anglo-Saxon period Years:

Content  Strong belief in fate  Juxtaposition of church and pagan worlds  Admiration of heroic warriors who prevail in battle  Express religious faith and give moral instruction through literature

Style/genres  Oral tradition of literature  Poetry dominant genre  Unique verse form Caesura Alliteration Repetition 4 beat rhythm

Effect:  Christianity helps literacy to spread  Introduces Roman alphabet to Britain  Oral tradition helps unite diverse peoples and their myths

Historical context:  Live centered around ancestral tribes or clans that ruled themselves  At first the people were warriors from invading outlying areas; Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Danes  Later they were agricultural

Key Literature/Authors:  Beowulf  Bede

Beowulf (epic poetry)  Long Narrative  Larger than life hero  Embodies values of the Anglo/Saxon society Includes elements of myth, legend, folklore, & history Has a serious tone  Uses more formal, almost grand language

Beowulf (epic poetry)  Alliteration  Irony  Elegy: mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.  Epic  Personification  Foreboding or foreshadowing  Heroic code  Symbolism  Gleeman: an old English performer  Scop: an old English poet  Kenning: metaphorical compound noun ex. Body = bone-frame

Beowulf: alliteration  Alliteration was widely used in the Germanic epic and in Middle English poetry before end rhyme gradually took its place. Here’s an older translation of the beginning:

Beowulf: alliteration  Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won! Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes, from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, awing the earls. Since erst he lay friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him: for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve, till before him the folk, both far and near, who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate, gave him gifts: a good king he!

Beowulf: cultural characteristics Bravery in battle Bards or poets were used to elevate heroes of the tribes and were usually as important as the warrior themselves Faith in God to intervene positively with fate Influence of old pagan religion Warfare was the order of the day Amassing a fortune in battle Reverence for womanhood—precursor to chivalry—is expected Openhanded hospitality is the order of the day Truth is highly cherished virtue Great love for personal freedom

Beowulf: heroic code  The invading Anglo-Saxon tribes were dominated by codes and customs which included  a warrior class that was ruled by a tribal chieftain  a body of personal retainers, or warriors, bound to the chieftain by kinship  the custom of gift-giving  a personal code of honor which included the concept of blood vengeance. This code demanded that a warrior must either kill another person who injured or killed a kinsman or get compensation money for the injury or death  a warrior must defend his lord to the death