1. Anglo-Saxon World View and Key Themes

2. What is World View?
How a person/group of people feels about and interacts with the world, nature, and God
Anglo-Saxon worldview- grim, negative- they lived harsh lives full of war and hard work
Saw nature as the enemy; no concept of happy afterlife or loving God

3. WYRD Anglo-Saxon concept of FATE.
They believed their lives were ruled by FATE (or wyrd).

4. LOF
Because the Anglo-Saxons did not believe in an afterlife, they sought immortality through a concept called LOF (or FAME)

5. COMITATUS
Again, because life was so harsh, they made life meaningful through relationships with one another and the king.
Comitatus means COMPANIONSHIP- loyalty and love to your kinsmen, friends, and king

6. What made life worth living?
LOF (FAME)- for the afterlife
COMITATUS (COMPANIONSHIP)- for now
MEAD HALL- the king lived in a great hall called the mead hall where warriors would gather and tell stories and drink mead

7. SCOPS
Pronounced SHOPES
Storytellers and poets
Entertainers

8. Conversion
St. Augustine and St. Patrick are two famous missionaries who brought Christianity to Great Britain.
Christianity offered a happy afterlife, a loving God, and ideas like forgiveness and hope that their religion had not.
Celtic Cross= Pagan Celtic Sundial+Christian Cross

9. Make a chart listing the differences in Pagan and Christian Values

10. Pagan vs. Christian Monsters and supernatural beings Lof (Fame)
Warrior- Physical Strength
Courage
Pride (Heroic Boasts)
Revenge (Weregild)
Riches/Gold
Loyalty
Signs, Superstition, Wyrd (fate)
Valhalla
Sacrifice
“The Almighty”
Love
Compassion
Humility- “the meek shall inherit the earth”
Forgiveness “love your enemies”
Riches are in heaven, not on earth
Sacrifice
Heaven

11. Characteristics of Writing
Kenning- a metaphorical two word compound
Example: “whale-road”= the ocean
“soul-house”= the body
Video example of kennings:
Epithet- replacing a character’s name with a descriptive phrase
Example: Grendel=“The Shadow of Death”
Caesura- a pause in the middle of a line indicated by a comma, semi-colon, or period
Alliteration- repetition of initial consonant sounds

12. Reasons for these Characteristics
Euphony= pleasing to the ear; it sounds good!!
Memory= rhythm and repetition help it make things easier to remember- the scops had to tell all of their stories from memory so caesura and alliteration helped

13. Epics: The Basics
Definition: a long narrative poem that recounts the deeds of a hero and/or the story of a nation
THEME: Good vs. Evil
SETTING: Vast- over many years and different landscapes
HEROIC BOAST- when the hero brags to achieve fame and gain “Lof”
TONE: formal and serious