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BEOWULF

This is how the United Kingdom looks now:

This is how England, Scotland, and Wales looked before we gave them their

modern names.

From the maps we can tell that:

The Angles came from the area we

call _____________________

The Saxons came from the area we

call _____________________

The Jutes came from the area we

call _____________________

The Picts lived in the area we call

_____________________

Part 1 – Early history of England

The island was originally inhabited by ________________ tribes from Central Asia prior to the

____________invasion c50-100 CE. Some of the Celts fled west over the mountains to the

places we now call ____________ and ____________. Others stayed and intermarried

with the invading Romans. The ____________ brought architecture, art, roads, and founded

cities including ____________ (then called Londinium). The ____________ Empire collapsed in

410. The Romans left behind roads, but not much of their Latin language. Most Latin words in

English today are ____________, ____________, or roots.

War and chaos resulted. The ____________who were left behind had gone soft from years

of Roman rule, so many different tribes competed for land. The Jutes invaded from Denmark.

The Angles and Saxons from ____________ invaded Britain in 449. The Angles invaded the

____________and the ____________, the Saxons invaded the ____________.

Today, we do not distinguish much between the Angle and the Saxons, we simply call the

shared culture, religion, language, and customs, “________________________.” There were

_____ major kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England. The Anglo-Saxons conquered all of what is now

England, but they could not conquer the ____________, who stayed in what is now called

____________.

Life in Anglo-Saxon England was ____________ because their lives were dominated by

____________. Men were loyal to their leaders, called ____________ and were bound to each

other until ____________. If the lord was killed, his warriors had to avenge his death or die

beside him. The average age for men was _____, and was only ____ for women. Anglo-Saxon

women had many rights; they could inherit and own ____________. Women were responsible

for weaving and dyeing of clothes, the slaughter of ____________, and the brewing of mead.

Mead is an alcoholic ____________ made from fermented honey and water.

Most communities had a hall, where people gathered to feast and tell stories. These

storytellers, called ____________, sang their stories while playing a ____________. The stories

were memorized and passed from generation to generation.

In 597, ____________ missionaries came and under Alfred the Great, Christianity helped to

unify the culture. The Anglo-Saxons still held some of their ____________ beliefs, so their

songs and poems included some elements of Christianity and some elements of their pagan

beliefs. The Anglo-Saxon lifestyle was not luxurious because of constant war. Anglo Saxons

believed in wyrd, which means one’s ____________ in life.” Prior to Christianity, the Anglo-

Saxons did not believe in an afterlife, but they did believe that immortality, or lof – fame that

survives beyond ____________, could be earned through ____________ action. The four most

important virtues in the Anglo-Saxon society were ____________, ____________,

____________, and ____________.

Christian monks were important because they were educated: they knew how to

____________ and ____________. It is thought that a monk was the first person to write down

the spoken poems of the Anglo-Saxons.

In 865, the ____________ invaded England and conquered 6 of the 7 Anglo-Saxon

kingdoms. The ____________ rule England from 865-1042. After a period of more chaos and

uncertainty, The ____________ invaded England in 1066, which was officially the end of Anglo-

Saxon England.

Extra Notes about the Anglo-Saxons:

Part 2 – Figure out the kennings

In class, we’ve talked about the prevalence of the kenning in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Kennings

function as compact, riddle-like metaphors. Structurally, they consist of a compound word. In

modern English, they manifest as two word, hyphenated metaphors. Most kennings either

function as a name or emblem that is metaphorically rich, such as “whale-road” for the sea or

“word-hoard” for mouth. Some kennings are metaphoric because they are synecdochic, a type of

metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, such as when someone says to you “nice

wheels” to describe your car as a whole. The kenning “gold-giver” for the king is a metaphor

because a part of him, his penchant for awarding gold, stands in for the whole.

Kenning Meaning

Light of battle

Fighting gear, battle gear

Twilight-spoiler

Battle-sweat

Hilt

Bent-necked wood

Whale-road

Sea-farer

Storm of swords

Sin-stained demon

Peace-weaver

Shelterer of warriors

Gas guzzler

Show-stopper

Red-handed

Land-line

Eye-candy

Boob-tube

Cancer-stick

Headhunter

Couch potato

Part 3 – Kennings Poem

Your job is to come up with kennings that function as compact, riddle-like metaphors for various aspects

of you: your characteristic qualities, your characteristic activities, how others see you, and what gifts you

bring to others.

Use the four-part T-chart on page two as a drafting board to write your kennings and to determine their

significance. For example, I came up with “List the thought-wrapper” using the following process under

“that which I do” on page two:

What you are What you do How others see

you

What gifts you

bring to others

Step 1: Think of at

least 3 real words

for each category

Step 2: Create

kennings that

represent the real

words

Anglo Saxon alphabet

Step 3: Use the key below to figure out how to write your name in Anglo Saxon runes.

Step 4: Write your runes name, along with your 6 best kennings on a separate sheet of paper.

Part 4 – Background Info on Beowulf

Method of telling

Source of story

Setting

Length

Date

Why is this story important?

Why are we reading it?

Part 5: The Epic Hero

Watch the TED video on heroes. How do the definitions of heroes from the video fit or challenge

our characteristics above?

Defeat

Returns

Is always

Encounters Makes one

Action

Presented

Carries

Begins

EPIC HERO

Part 6 - Literary definitions and examples

imagery:____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example: lines 1-2 in Beowulf describes Grendel living in the darkness allusion:____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

alliteration:_________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

metaphor:__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

personification:

___________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

.

kennings:___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

caesura:____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

foreshadowing:______________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

synecdoche_________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

example:_____________________________________________________________________

Part 7 - Major characters/places: tell who these characters are and make a connection

to at least one other character or place in the text

Beowulf: ___________________________________________________________________________

Connection to other characters/settings:

____________________________________________________________________

Hrothgar: __________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Herot (Heorot): ______________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Grendel: ___________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Wiglaf:

_____________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Wealhtheow: _______________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Geatland: __________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Denmark: __________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

the dragon: _________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Unferth:

____________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Breca:

______________________________________________________________________________


____________________________________________________________________

Part 8 – Quick jot summary

Summary of part 1:

Important characters: __________________________________________________

Summary: ______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Part 2:

Important characters: __________________________________________________

Summary: ______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Part 9 – Literary Analysis questions

Throughout the text, there are labeled “Literary Focus” questions. We will discuss most of these in

class, but you will need to choose 20 to answer and turn in. You may draft you answers in your notes,

in the margins, or in your journals – really in whatever way works for you. Your final twenty should

be compiled and neatly written or typed and attached to this study guide. Your answers should be

complete sentences and cite evidence from the text.

BE WARNED – DO NOT COPY ANSWERS FROM ANOTHER CLASSMATE. I CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR

WORDS ARE YOUR OWN. CHEATING IS AN AUTOMATIC ZERO ON THIS ENTIRE PACKET.

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