Due: Monday, October 1
BEOWULF TIME MACHINE ESSAY
Our class has taken a field trip in a time machine, and we have landed in the AngloSaxon times of Beowulf and his men. When we arrive in Herot, Grendel is up to his
usual antics and is about to devour our entire class. You are the only person who
knows how to operate the time machine; however, you have just enough time to
rescue yourself and three other people from our class. You will select three
classmates to go with you in the time machine, escape from Denmark and the wrath
of Grendel, and go back home.
You have to make a quick decision. Whom will you pick to save and return to Texas
and the 2lst century?
Write a five-paragraph paper of approximately 500 words in which you do the
following:
Paragraph l: Briefly tell the situation. Describe Grendel; use a direct quotation
from the epic as part of your description of Grendel. Highlight it in the
text of your paper and label it as a quotation in the margin. In the last
sentence, name the three people you will save.
Paragraph 2: In the first sentence, name the first person you are saving. Remember
parallelism is essential, so whoever is first on your list in the introduction must be
first here. Elaborate on why you will save your first classmate. Be specific and use
concrete details and examples to explain why this person is worth saving. You
must use a metaphor for this person somewhere in this paragraph.
Highlight it in your text and label it as the metaphor in the margin.
Paragraph 3: In the first sentence, name another person whom you are saving. You
must use a simile somewhere in this paragraph to describe this person.
Highlight it in your text and label it as the simile in the margin. Elaborate
on why you are saving this classmate.
Paragraph 4: You guessed it! In the first sentence, name the last person you have
chosen to save. You must use alliteration somewhere in this paragraph to
describe this person. Highlight it and label it in the margin as alliteration.
Tell your reader why you saved this final lucky Raider.
Paragraph 5: In the first sentence of this paragraph, rename your three choices.
Then conclude in any manner you would like. For example, what will happen to the
classmates you left behind; what will happen to those you saved; what will happen
to you? This paragraph must include the use of personification. Highlight
the sentence and label it in the margin as personification.
Things to remember:
Use transitions.
Proofread for the major errors: fragments, run-ons, comma splices.
This paper MUST be typed: double spaced; standard font; front pages only; number
them.
This paper is not difficult to write; it counts three times and should be (sort of) fun!
(Content 2, Mechanics 1)
QUOTATION
Place quotation marks around the quotation only, not around your introductory or
explanatory remarks.
When the men first saw the Green Knight, they
“marveled at what it might mean.”
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight
Metaphor
An imaginative phrase that takes the place of a common noun.
“That shadow of death hunted in the darkness.”
SIMILE
A figure of speech that uses words the words like or as to compare two seemingly
unlike things.
Now, therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew….
Andrew Marvell
“To His Coy Mistress”
ALLITERATION
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Alliteration is often
used to emphasize certain words or to create a musical quality.
Was there a warrior worthier to rule over men?
Beowulf
PERSONIFICATION
A figure of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given human
qualilties.
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
William Butler Yeats
“When You Are Old”