1. Fall 2016
Anglo Saxon Poetry

2. Monday, August 8th, 2016
Bellwork: When you enter please get your composition notebooks out and print/turn in your Journals to the designated basket.
Agenda
Add to interactive notebooks
Notes on Anglo-Saxon Culture and Poetry
Investigate Anglo-Saxon Language through riddles
HW: Read Ch. 5 from How to Read Literature Like a Professor and answer guided reading questions

3. Who Are the Anglo-Saxons?
What comes to mind when you think about British Isles?

4. Lesson Objectives and Goals:
Objective: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a poem contribute to its overall meaning and aesthetic impact
Goals:
Define and give examples of caesura, kennings, alliteration, and assonance
Analyze and solve Anglo-Saxon riddles
Reflect on how art and literature were important parts of Anglo-Saxon life
the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.

5. Invasions
Invaded and settled many times in its history and each has contributed to modern conceptions of “English”
Iberians
Celts
Romans
Angles and Saxons
Vikings
Normans

6. Characteristics of Anglo Saxon Culture
Bravery in Battle
Bards (or poets) were used to elevate heroes of the various tribes and were usually as important as the heroes themselves
Faith in God to intervene positively with fate
Influence of old Pagan religion

7. Characteristics of Anglo Saxon Culture
Warfare of utmost importance
Amassing fortune in battle
Reverence for womanhood—precursor to chivalry—is expected

8. Characteristics of Anglo-Saxon Culture
Openhanded hospitality was expected
Truth is highly cherished value
Great love for personal freedom

9. Anglo-Saxon Society Loyal Dependency
Wyrd—fate; the idea that you die when you
Sacrifice of self for one’s king or leader
Wergild- man’s price or brother’s fee
Boasting – states names, heritage, parents, and parents’ parents, occupations, 3 accomplishments, and 1 future accomplishment

10. History of English
The History of English
The Norman Conquest

11. Old English Riddles
Alliteration: repeated initial consonant sounds in stressed syllables
Caesura: Pauses for breath in the middle of lines
Kennings: two-word poetic renaming, like “whales’ home” for the sea
Assonance: repeated initial consonant sounds in stressed syllables
Kennings (to know or to recognize): Phrases that are elaborate and indirect way of naming person, things, or events
helmberend – helmet bearer = warrior; “battle-light” = flashing sword; swan road = sea
Alliteration: “Five miles meandering with mazy motion.”
Assonance: The early bird gets the worm. The squeaky wheel gets the grease
I never heard before of a ship so well furbished
with battle tackle…
…no wise man in hall or weathered veteran…
…asleep from their feasting…
…they wept to heaven…
Caesura: Each line has a pause (caesura) after 2nd beat which divides the line in half
“We hold these truths to be self-evident || that all men are created equal.”—Declaration of Independence, United States of America 1776
My country ’tis of thee || sweet land of liberty || of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died || land of the Pilgrim’s pride,
From every mountainside || let freedom ring!
—“My Country, ’Tis of Thee” by Samuel Francis Smith
Hey Jude || don’t make it bad
Take a sad song || and make it better
—“Hey Jude” by The Beatles

12. Anglo-Saxon Poetry Lines do not rhyme
Rhythm depends on the number of beats or accented syllables (each line has 4 beats)
Reflects juxtaposition of Church and pagan world
Tendency toward didacticism or instruction

13. Anglo-Saxon Ideals Love of glory was a ruling motive
Allegiance to the king or lord is cherished and demanded
Reverence for womanhood is expected
Great love for personal freedom
Open-handed hospitality is expected
Truth is a highly cherished virtue
Sentiments are usually suppressed
Ideals - a standard of perfection; a principle to be aimed at.