Anglo-Saxon Culture (Yeah, they were pretty Awesome)

Telling of a Story… Without the aid of Television, Movie Theatres, and even books, how does one tell a story? – VERBAL STORY TELLING – Between 500 and 1100 A.D, less than 5% of the population in Briton (old school England) could READ Thus came about the Scops, people who wandered the country and recited oral traditions in the form of stories.

Where did they come from? One British king in the 400s invited several warlike GERMAN tribes to help defend Britain from the jerks from Ireland and Scotland – Name of the tribes? Mostly the Angles and Saxons. After defeating the invading people, the German tribes took a liking to England, and decided to settle it for themselves, driving out most of the Britons from their home land. Can you say… “Oops…”

What culture did they bring? The Angles and the Saxons were AWESOME. HUGE Warrior society who were expert seafarers who sailed the ocean, raiding whomever they wished. The Romans followed them into Britain, and by the 500s converted most of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. – What came out of this was a blend of the Pagan belief in warrior fate and Christian belief in heavenly salvation. Gave forth some truly strange literature. – But the good part was that the Christian Monks copied and retold many Germanic and Scandinavian tales of Heroes and Monsters… Like Beowulf

Anglo-Saxon Lyrics Anglo-Saxon Lyrics were composed for easy memorization and recitation with these elements: – Caesuras: Rhythm breaks in the middle of the line so the reciter could pause for breath. – Kennings: two-word poetic renaming of people, places and things. (such as “Whale’s Home”) – Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds. (“Batter these ramparts” or “I swear I will behave even though I crave to rave against Dave because he is a knave!” ) – Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds in accented syllables (“ Parson Peters picked a peck of pickled peppers”)