Study Sheet: First six weeks Literary Terms/Elements
 Hyperbole: She is the wisest person in the world.
 Personification: The world laughs at fools.
 Simile: Kind people are like gold—precious.
 Metaphor: Good advice is a precious gem.
Sound Devices
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Alliteration: mourning of mind; wretched robin
Assonance: climb rimed cliffs; no sorrow
Consonance: confess and redress; lonely and weary
Onomatopoeia: eagle’s screech; ouch
Prose: ordinary speech or writing
Vernacular: the language of the common people
Verse: poetry
Scop: traveling storyteller/poet; Oral tradition
Anglo-Saxon Literature
1. Poetry
 Heroic poetry: EX Beowulf (epic poem)
 Lyric poetry: Express the thoughts and feelings, of a
single speaker
EX Elegies: “The Wanderer” and
“ The Seafarer”
Elegy: a type of lyric poem in which the loss of
something or someone is mourned
2. Riddles
Famous Anglo-Saxon manuscripts/books
Bede: A History of the English Church and People;
A collection of historical events and stories
written in Latin that tell of the warring
kings of England and the spread of Christianity
The Book of Exeter: A collection of manuscripts
written in Old English include “The Wanderer,”
“The Seafarer,” and “The Wife’s Lament.”
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles: A collection of
manuscripts/journals knit together by monks during the
reign of King Alfred (AD 871-899) written in Old English
Anglo- Saxon Verse—Alliterative verse
 4 strong beats/accented sounds per verse
 Caesura—a break in the middle of the verse to allow
the poet/speaker to take a breath
 Alliteration
 Kenning: two word metaphor; EX ring giver for lord
Common Anglo-Saxon Themes
 Good vs. Evil / Heroic traditions
 Isolation/Exile
 Christianity/Joys of Heaven
 Hardships
Important Dates and People
 BC 800-600: Celts—Britons and Gaels
 BC 56-55: Julius Caesar—Roman invasion
 AD 70: First permanent Roman settlement in
London
 AD 300: Romans introduce Christianity to
people in Britain
 AD 400: Romans leave
 AD 449: Germanic tribes invade—Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes
 AD 871-899: King Alfred the Great—briefly unites
Anglo-Saxon tribes; encourages learning and
education
 AD 587: Saint Augustine converts King Ethelbert to
Christianity
 AD 886: Danelaw--England is formally divided
 Prominent Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms—Northumbria,
Mercia, Wessex, and Kent
 AD 1066: Battle of Hastings—Anglo-Saxon King
Harold II vs. William of Normandy; Harold loses,
ending Anglo-Saxon Rule; the Norman Conquest
begins
 AD 1066-1154: Norman Rule—suppression of
Anglo-Saxon nobility; Normans control
government; feudal system ; business conducted
in French or Latin
Feudal system is system that involves an exchange
of property for personal service:
King—parcels land to his supporters
Barons—pay fees and taxes and
supplied a specified number of
knights, professional soldiers to the
king
Knights—received smaller parcels of land
called manors
Serfs—peasants worked the manors
 AD 1154 Norman rule ends when Henry Plantagenet
, count of Anjou becomes king
 AD 1215: King John forced to sign Magna Carta—
charter limiting King’s power, marking the
beginning of constitutional powers