Beowulf
Old English Literature
Few people read in this period 
Oral tradition – was performed and/or
sung by a Bard (Scop) from memory in
Old English
This is why there are often 
several versions of the 
same story. 
Scops – poet/minstrels 
Authors were unknown 

About Beowulf
Beowulf was written in England, but is set
in Scandinavia. It has variously been dated to
between the 8th and the early 11th centuries.It
is an epic poem told in historical perspective; a
story of epic events and of great people of a
heroic past. Although its author is unknown, its
themes and subject matter are rooted in
Germanic heroic poetry, in Anglo-Saxon
tradition recited and cultivated by Old English
poets called Scops.
There is only one
original Beowulf
manuscript existing
today. It is in the
British History
Museum in London.
This Epic poem of
Beowulf is often
divided into 3
sections; it is about
Beowulf’s 3 epic
battles with evil.
EPIC: a long, narrative poem that relates 
the great deeds of a larger-than-life hero
who embodies the values of a particular
Beowulf himself represents good
society.
loyalty 
valor 
Selflessness 
sense of justice 

Motifs of Beowulf
Motifs : a motif is a recurring theme or
image in a work of literature
Biblical and Christian Allusions 
Pagan Customs 
Social Customs 
Traits of the Warrior 
Beowulf Boasts 

Beowulf Story
The main protagonist,
Beowulf, a hero of the Geats,
comes to the aid of Hroðgar,
the king of the Danes, whose
great hall, Heorot, is plagued
by the monster Grendel.
Beowulf kills Grendel with
his bare hands and Grendel's
mother with a sword of a
giant that he found in her
lair.
Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of
the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by
a dragon whose treasure had been stolen
from his hoard in a burial mound. He
attacks the dragon with the help of his
thegns or servants, but they do not
succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the
dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his
young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join
him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is
mortally wounded. He is buried in a
tumulus or burial mound, by the sea.
Some Lines from Beowulf Poem
Beowulf spake, Ecgtheow’s son:
“Recall now, oh, famous kinsman of
Healfdene,
Prince very prudent, now to part I am
ready,
Gold-friend of earlmen, what erst we
agreed on,
If I fail, act as a kind liegelord to my thanes,
5
Should I lay down my life in lending thee
assistance,
When my earth-joys were over, thou
wouldst evermore serve me
In stead of a father; my faithful thanemen,
My trusty retainers, protect thou and care
for,
Fall I in battle: and, Hrothgar belovèd,
and send Higelac the jewels thou hast given
me 10
Send unto Higelac the high-valued jewels
Why do we read Beowulf?
It’s a very creative, imaginative, poetic 
masterpiece.
It gives us insight into the origins of the 
British people, the culture, who, through
seafaring conquests, founded the world
we currently live in.
It gives us insight into the origins of our 
language.
It gives insight into all people everywhere
and throughout time (time, birth, death,
fame/success/glory, honor, friendship,
conflict, home, country, adventure,
spirituality – all of these things transcend
English literature and matter to all
people)

It’s scary and gets people to think about
their own worst fears
It’s a VERY important piece of literature
historically


Old English Phonetics
Phonology & Orthography:
- Different vowels sounds; no
independent // sound.
-Different characters: æ, þ, ð (Æ, Þ,
Ð){asch, thorn, eth)
- Many words that look very different
in OE (e.g. ecg, scip, bæc, benc, þorn)
were probably pronounced as they
are now.
OE
Description; Position; Pronunciation
Examples
a
Short back vowel; Mainly in open syllables, when the
following one contains a back vowel; English cup
macian (to make),
habban (to have)
á
Long back vowel; In any kind of syllables; English star
stán (a stone),
hátan (to call)
æ
Short back vowel; Met mainly in closed syllables, or in
open ones, if the next syllable contains a front vowel;
English bad
dæg (a day), wæter
(water)
æ'
Long back vowel; as Gothic é found only in some verbal
forms, as Gothic á is the result of the so-called i-mutation;
German za"hlen
stæ'lon (stolen),
hæ'lan (to cure)
e
Short front vowel; as Gothic i, ai noticed only in some
infinitives, otherwise is result of the mutation of i; English sengean (to sing)
bed
é
Long front vowel; resulted from the i-mutation of ó;
German Meer
déman (to judge)
i
Short front vowel; can be either
stable or unstable, the unstable bindan (to bind), niht - nyht (a
sound can interchange with ie and
night)
y; English still
í
Long front vowel; also stable and
unstable (mutating to ý); English wrítan (to write), hí - hý (they)
steal
o
Short back vowel; English cost
coren (chosen)
ó
Long back vowel; English store
scóc (divided)
u
Short back vowel; used only
when the next syllable contains
another back vowel; English book
curon (they chose)
ú
Long back vowel; English stool
lúcan (to look)
y
ý
a.
Short front vowel; i-mutation of
u; German fu"nf
Long front vowel; i-mutation of
ú, German glu"hen
A special short sound met only
before nasals in closed syllables
gylden (golden)
mýs (mice)
monn (a man)
Old English Morphology
Anglo-Saxon morphology changes before
French influence, although some scholars
think it would have changed anyway
because it was so difficult to say. The
system simplifies so that instead of having a
lot of levels and even two loops it has only
one level where everything attaches,
though some disagree. This is called the
Ease of Articulacy Argument, although it
did not happen in other German languages.
Main Features of OE Morphology
Loss of inflections: reduction of vowels in
unstressed inflectional endings, need for
syntactical support (word order) and
prepositions
The development of a weak verbal group in
opposition to the inherited strong verb
innovation of the Germanic verbal system.
Nouns
Old English nouns had grammatical 
gender (masculine, feminine, neuter),
singular and plural number, and were also
classified as "strong" or "weak" according
to the distinctness of their inflectional
endings
Cases
OE has four cases: 
Example, bat ("boat") (a masculine, strong a-stem 
noun):
Singular 
Nominative: bat 
Accusative: bat
Genitive: bates
Dative: bate
Plural 
Nominative: batas 
Accusative: batas
Genitive: bata
Dative: batum
Old English Syntax
The standard order of subject, object, and
verb in a declarative sentence in Modern
English is subject first, followed by verb,
followed by object.
Now the big secret about learning Old
English is that Old English doesn't always
use SVO order in its sentences and
clauses.
VSO order:
Þa geascode he þone cyning
Then he discovered the king.
Prepositions
The funny thing about Old English
prepositions is that they often come
after their "object"; that is, an Old
English prepositional phrase can consist
of a noun or noun phrase followed by a
preposition:
God cwæð him þus to.
God said thus to him.
Old English order: Verb Phrases
Negation:
Ne + verb
- Ne geseah ic næafre fla burg.
Not saw I ever that town.
- se cynincg ne sceall arĩsan of ðām bedde
The king not shall arise from the bed.
Old English order: Nouns
Adj-N:
- Fla beorhtan steorran
- The bright stars
N-Adj:
- Fearn unweaxen
- Boy youthful
Old English Core
Vocabulary
The list below presents
some Old English words
which could be regarded
as literary core
vocabulary. Some of the
words are among the
most frequent in Old
English literature; some
are of particular
importance on account
of their literary or
linguistic usage.
adl, noun, f.,
sickness, disease
agen, adj., own
andswarian, verb, to
answer
art - are
betwixt – between.
beon, verb, to be
beorgan, verb, to
save, protect
boc, noun, f., book
cempa, noun, m.,
warrior
clipian, verb, to call
cunnan, verb, to know
canst - can.
dost - do, does.
ellen, noun, n.,
courage, strength.
fere - friend,
companion.
hath - equivalent of
modern has.
thou - you
shall or shalt - will
Graphics
At the beginning of Christian era, the
alphabet employed by the Germanic
peoples was the Futhorc or Runic
alphabet; the sixth-century
Christianization of England led to
adoption of Latin/Roman alphabet;
handwriting in early Old English
manuscripts was influenced by Irish
scribes and is known as Insular hand.

Special characters in Old English
writing
:
thorn: þ (th), derived from the runic alphabet, 
example: þæt ("that")
eth: ð (voiced th), example: ðeoden ("prince") 
ash: æ (a+e, pronounced like the "a" in "mat"), the
name "ash" is derived from the name of a letter in
the runic alphabet but the runic character is
different; example: ælf ("elf")
wen/wynn: (w), example; æpen ("weapon") 
was the Old English graphic sign for "g" 

The End
Anfal Al- Mouther
Daniah Al- Dossary
Hajar Al- Moshehin
Leena Al- Muqbil
Sara Al- Daeej
Sara Al- Dossary
Shaima Al- Dossary
Arwa Al- Askar
Yasmeen Al- Otaibi