Beowulf

Written in Old English

Old English: Lord’s Prayer

Listen to the Sounds of Old English

Brief History of Text

One copy of the text remainsScientists have dated the copy that exists

to around 1000 ADProbably hand copied by two monks

Text’s survival

Preserved in a monasteryEarly 16th Century--the reign of Henry

VIII put it in danger Survives probably by being taken into

private collectionEmerges in 1563, moved to Cotton and

then to British Museum

What we know--next to nothing!

Scholars have inferred:Consistent style suggests single authorUse of conventional poetic devices suggest

educated authorRepeated phrases and formula words

suggest oral compositionReferences to God and Bible suggest

Christian author

Things that are still unclear

Place of origin Studying Anglo Saxon dialect has been

inconclusive

Date of poemAnywhere from 700-1000 AD

Details about the authorScop?

Structure of the poem

Use of caesura

Break (caesura) divides each line into two half-lines

Each half line contains 2 stressed words or syllable with remaining syllables left unstressed

Alliteration

Used within lines to link important words

Consists of a consistent consonant beginning to words within a line or beginning the words with a vowel

All vowels were treated the same

Set metrical combinations to fit needs

Example: On the sea can be said a couple of ways

On hranrade (on the whale-road)

On seglrade (on the sail-road)

Kennings

Metaphorical phrase used in place of a noun

Sun = candle of the sky

Anglo Saxon world

Roman roads and oxcarts

Villages = wooden houses

Communal farmland

Stone churches

Soldiers in armor

Mead halls--communal banquet halls

Anglo Saxon world (cont)

Harsh environmentWar!Few comforts

ReligionGods: neither all good nor all powerful

Heroes

Could attain some immortality through fame--be remembered for honor and heroic deeds

Boasting was hero’s dare to destinyFighting was the proper business of manOnly respectable way to die was in battle

Oral tradition

Hunters, fisherman, farmers--relaxed by eating, drinking, listening to songs

Scops or bards created songs or poems celebrating heroes