Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Image Credit: http://www.utm.edu/staff/ngraves/shakespeare/OERiddles.htm
The Riddles
 Were recorded in the Exeter Book – the
largest known “anthology” of Old English
poetry and verse.
Literary Terms (page 17)
 The following terms are found in much of the
Anglo Saxon poetry that we will study.
 As we study the riddles and poems of this time
(including Beowulf) always be on the look out
for these devices at work.
 The use of these devices made it easier for
poets to “sing” the songs to their audiences.
They aided memorization.
Kennings
 Two-word poetic renamings of people,
places, or things.
 Poetic synonyms
 EXAMPLE: Whale road = sea
 EXAMPLE: Trumpet blarer = Mrs. Wood
 EXAMPLE: Knowledge vessels = you
students
Alliteration
 Repetition of the same initial consonant
sounds in poetry.
 EXAMPLE: Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers.
 EXAMPLE: Every day she danced and
dared to be her best.
Caesura
 A natural pause in a the middle of a line of
poetry.
 Give time for poet to take a breath.
 LOOK FOR: Punctuation in the middle of a line
 EXAMPLE:
Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild
Marshes, and made his home in a hell
Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,
Conceived by a pair of those monsters born
of Cain, murderous creatures banished…
Assonance
 The repetition of vowel sounds in
unrhymed, stressed syllables.
 EXAMPLE: Batter the ramparts
Riddles
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What is a riddle?
What do riddles sound like?
Do you know any riddles?
What is the point of the riddle? If you are
going to write one, what are you trying to
do? What makes a good riddle?
Directions
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Find your group.
Read through all the riddles in the packet
Fill in your chart for each riddle.
Focus on solving the riddles and observing the
poetic devices being used.
 When you are finished with the chart, we will
go over the answers.
 15 minutes – We will come back together as a
class.
Write your own riddle.
 Minimum of 12 lines
 Do not put your name on it.
 Type/write big font and neatly – so can be read
easily.
 Answer on back in pencil.
 Put in alliteration, caesura, and one example of
kennings. One example of each minimum.
 These WILL be shared/read tomorrow.
 You WILL be asked to show where you
included the literary elements.