Beowulf is an Old English epic poem composed around 700 AD that has no known single author. It was part of an oral tradition and performed by traveling storytellers known as scops. The poem provides key details about Anglo-Saxon society in the 5th-6th centuries AD. It survived hundreds of years through a single manuscript and was nearly destroyed in a fire in the 1700s before gaining popularity in the 20th century after scholars like JRR Tolkien brought attention to it. The poem uses various Old English literary elements including kennings, alliteration, imagery, riddles, and boasts to tell the story.

1. LANGUAGE AND LITERARY TERMS

2. No one knows
who “wrote”
Beowulf
Like all early oral poetry, it
had as many authors as
singers who performed it.
It is from this poem that
we derive many of the details
for our reconstructions of
Anglo- Saxon social life.

3. How Did It Last All of These Years?
•Composed around 700 A.D. The story had
been in circulation as an oral narrative for
many years before it was written.
•The action of the poem takes place around
500 AD
•Poet is reviving the heroic language, style and
values and pagan values of ancient Germanic
oral poetry
•The poem deals with ancient Germanic
forebears, the Danes and the Geats
•Only a single manuscript of the poem
survived the Anglo-Saxon era. In the 1700’s it
was nearly destroyed in a fire
•It was not until 1936 when the Oxford scholar
J.R.R> Tolkien published a paper on the poem
that is became popular.

4.  Old English was developed from
Anglo-Saxon and other Germanic
languages, and like most
languages, evolved over the
centuries, incorporating words and
phrases from other languages and
cultures.
 When reading Beowulf, keep in
mind the mixture of the pagan and
Christian values and the way the
language reflects both the oral
tradition and the Old English in
which the poem was written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsUM1qk2y_o&feature=relmfu

5. How Did It Last All of These Years?
Scops (pronounced "shops")
were both composers and
storytellers who traveled from
court to court — the
entertainers of Anglo-Saxon
times.
Scops were expected
to know a broad repertoire
of tales and no doubt
be able to compose tales
in tribute to the patrons
who financed them.

6. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
An important aspect of Beowulf is the way in which it is told/written.
•The scop uses kennings,
alliteration, riddles, boasts, and
foreshadowing in telling his
story.
•He also takes great care in
describing Beowulf’s appearance
as he readies for battle, as well
as other parts of the story.
•These create a strong (and
difficult) voice.

7. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Kennings
form of compounding words that are metaphoric in meaning.
banhus (ban + hus)
"bone-house” =human body
hronrad (hron + rad)
"whale's road“ = the sea
Rodores candel
"sky's candle“= to the sun

8. Anglo-SaxonLiterary Elements
Alliteration
A figure of speech in which consonants, especially at the beginning of
words, or stressed syllables, are repeated… In [Old English] poetry,
alliteration was a continual and essential part of the metrical scheme . It
was integral to the memorization of the lines as well
Girt with God's anger, Grendel came gliding
over the moors beneath misty mounds.
The man-scather sought someone to snatch
from the high hall. He crept under cloud
until he caught sight of the king's court
whose gilded gables he knew at a glance.

9. Literary Elements
Imagery
The description of Beowulf’s breast-mail, helmet, and
“patterned sword, a smith’s masterpiece,” paints a picture
of the heavy armor Beowulf put aside in order to fight the
monster Grendel (671-673).
Because Beowulf gives up such weighty and
protective armor, the reader’s view of the hero’s
courage is elevated.
Grendel does not just come down out of the night. He is
“greedily loping (711) and “hunting for a prey in the high
hall” (713).
By showing Grendel’s actions, the narrator builds
suspense and reveals the danger at hand.

10. Literary Elements
Imagery
During the battle, the “timbers trembled and
sang” (766) and the “hall clattered and
hammered” (770).
Not only does this portray the sounds of
battle, but also reveals the intensity and
magnitude of the struggle.
The poor man who loses his life to Grendel faces
a terrible death. Grendel “bolted down his
blood/and gorged on him in lumps” (741-742).
Gruesome details of the bloody battle
provide vivid images and appeal to the
reader’s sense of horror.

11. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
The Anglo-Saxons loved riddles. They told
each other riddles as well as listening to
poems at their feasts. Some of the riddles
were written down, so we are able to read
them today.
Anglo- Saxons enjoyed the playful and
intellectual challenge of riddles, which
described familiar objects in ways that
forced the audience to guess their identity.
Kennings were actually a type of miniature
riddles, which were written in verse.

12. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
At times I resort, beyond man’s discerning.
Under surging billows to seek the bottom,
Some riddles used “runes,” The ocean depths. Then the sea is shaken,
implying a sense of mystery or Convulsed with foam, and the whale-flood rages
magic In giant uproar. The Ocean streams
Beat on the shore and batter the slopes
Test the reader’s or hearer’s With rock and sand, with seaweed and wave.
knowledge As I struggle and strain in the ocean depths
I shake the land and the vast sea-bottom.
Riddles offer a glimpse of From my watery covering I cannot forth
Anglo-Saxon life and beliefs Till he grant me freedom who guides my way
not found elsewhere On every journey. O wise of wit,
Tell who can draw me from ocean depths
When the seas grow still and the waves are calm
Which formerly covered and cloked me over.

13. Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
At times I resort, beyond man’s discerning.
Under surging billows to seek the bottom,
The ocean depths. Then the sea is shaken,
Convulsed with foam, and the whale-flood rages
In giant uproar. The Ocean streams
Beat on the shore and batter the slopes
With rock and sand, with seaweed and wave.
As I struggle and strain in the ocean depths
I shake the land and the vast sea-bottom.
From my watery covering I cannot forth
Till he grant me freedom who guides my way
On every journey. O wise of wit,
Tell who can draw me from ocean depths
When the seas grow still and the waves are calm A Storm at Sea
Which formerly covered and cloked me over.

14. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
In the town I saw a creature which feed the cattle.
It has many teeth; its beak is useful as it points
Down, gently plunders and turns for home;
It searches for plants along the slopes,
And always finds those not rooted firmly;
It leaves the living ones held by their roots,
Quietly standing where they spring from the soil,
Brightly gleaming, blowing and glowing.

15. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
In the town I saw a creature which feed the cattle.
It has many teeth; its beak is useful as it points
Down, gently plunders and turns for home;
It searches for plants along the slopes,
And always finds those not rooted firmly;
It leaves the living ones held by their roots,
Quietly standing where they spring from the soil,
Brightly gleaming, blowing and glowing.
A RAKE

16. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
Round with rings I must readily obey
from time to time my servant and master
and break my rest, make noisily known
that he gave me a band to put on my neck.
Often a man or a woman has come to greet me,
when weary with sleep, wintry-cold, I answer him:
(their hearts were angry): “A warm limb
sometimes bursts the bound ring.”
Nonetheless it is pleasant to him, my servant,
a half-witted man, and to me the same,
if one knows aught and can then with words
riddle my riddle successfully.

17. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Short pieces used by scops while audiences were getting settled or as filler between
sets during performances of longer epic works, such as Beowulf. Can you GUESS?
Round with rings I must readily obey
from time to time my servant and master
and break my rest, make noisily known
that he gave me a band to put on my neck.
Often a man or a woman has come to greet me,
when weary with sleep, wintry-cold, I answer him:
(their hearts were angry): “A warm limb
sometimes bursts the bound ring.”
Nonetheless it is pleasant to him, my servant,
a half-witted man, and to me the same,
if one knows aught and can then with words
riddle my riddle successfully.
A Bell

18. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
BOASTS
The boast of an Anglo-Saxon warrior was not
considered an instance of conceit but was
instead a method of inspiring heroic deeds.
It is not vanity, it is a recitation of past
achievements. It will list all of the great things
they have done. The achievements will
usually include great battles and monsters.
There will also be a vow, or a promise, based
on what he has already done. He makes a
commitment to doing the same to save
someone else

19. Anglo-Saxon Literary Elements
BOAST
1. Alliterative by nature. Alliteration is an important element in
Anglo-Saxon poetry. One or more accented syllables in the first half
of a line almost always alliterate with one or more accented syllables
in the second half. Thus alliteration binds together the two halves of
a line.
2. The use of kennings, phrases that are an elaborate and indirect
way of naming persons, objects, or events, is another important
characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is a distinctive element of
Anglo-Saxon poetry. For instance the sea is called "the pathless
deep," and the body is the soul’s "prison house."

20.  Beowulf, A Verse Translatioin. Trans. Seamus
Heaney. Ed. Daniel Donaghue. Norton Critical
Edition. 2002.
 Norton bibliography on Beowulf , p. 2902.
 “Beowulf Linguistics”:
edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dblea/beowulf/BeowulfLingu
istics.ppt