Do Now
Journal: Rant/review of quarter 1
5 -8 minutes
Freewrite
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Journal Entry: Write a well developed
paragraph about a hero. (15 minutes)
 Plan..
 Identify a real or fictional hero.
 Include a stated or understood main idea for your
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paragraph.
Provide 4-5+ CDs or examples of Evidence to
support your hero’s worth.
Couple CM or Analysis for each detail.
Hook your reader in the first sentence or two.
Clinch your paragraph by letting your reader know
he/she has also gained new knowledge or
appreciation from your writing.
Consider unity and coherence throughout your
paragraph.
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The Epic Hero - Beowulf
. . .a quest story on a grand scale
 Exceptional strength
 exemplary character and morals
 just and ethical
 evil he must challenge is super sized.
 Embodies the virtues, values and ideals of his/her
society.
 defeats an inordinate evil
 rewarded and honored
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Literary Epic
 A long narrative poem reflecting the values of the
society that produced it.
 Began in the oral tradition and contains some
elements of historical accuracy.
 The tone is serious, the style elevated.
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The author is usually anonymous.
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Literary Epic
 large issues of good versus evil.
 hero is larger than life: stronger, braver, and more
insightful
 hero who is on a quest wherein the fate of his
tribe, nation, or the entire human race rests on his
shoulders alone.
 God/gods or other quasi-divine creatures come to
the aid of one side or the other or both.
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Beowulf: Survival Guide
Civilization and Community
Achieving Order over Chaos
Good Leaders and Good Citizens
Youthful Quests for Glory and Growing Old and Wise
Questions the Existence of God
Struggle between Good and Evil
National Preparedness
Importance of Intelligence and Force
Family and Intergenerational Loyalty
Mistakes, Retribution, Forgiveness, Accountability, Individual
Responsibility
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Primary Concerns
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Good vs. Evil
Leadership: King & his people
The Hero
Passage from Youth – Old Age
Alienation and loneliness
Codes of behavior: kings, queens, families, friends, the people, warriors
Justice – Retribution – Judgment – Rule of law
Pagan beliefs vs. emerging Christian beliefs
Gold, rewards, bounty, hoarded treasure
Wisdom
Facing Death
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Beowulf
Cornerstone
Beowulf tries to explain what
civilization looks like.
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Beowulf is remarkable in
its sophistication, artistic
storytelling, and literary
devices.
It is the oldest story we
have in English.
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Literary Techniques:
Literary devices and constructions used to add meaning
are numerous and include metaphor, hyperbole, irony,
flashback, foreshadowing, alliteration, symbolism, and
motif.
The Oral Tradition:
The epic poem was created to be recited by a scop (shope).
As the story was told, listeners would try to envision the
images and carefully placed details for full appreciation.
Oral reading of the last chapters will be helpful in
reviewing the story.
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Essay Preparation
 Reading a text in multiple drafts
 Poetry/text reading and explanation
 Story explanation
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story elements
literary techniques
author’s intentions
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As storytelling goes . . .
story elements & literary techniques
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Allegory
Alliteration
Allusion
Antagonist
Characters
Characterization
Conflicts
Context
Creative license
Diction
Figurative language
Metaphor, hyperbole,
personification,
Flashback
Flash-Forward
Foil
Foreshadowing
Juxtaposition
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Imagery
Irony – verbal, situational,
cosmic, dramatic
Mood
Motif – light, God’s presence
Parallelism
Plot – exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, resolution
Point-of-view – third-person and
first-person
narration
Protagonist
Repetition
Setting
Structure
Symbolism
Theme
Tone
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Bard & Scop (shope)
How would you memorize a poem of
3,200 lines? How did you memorize
your Poetry Out Loud poem?
 Language was new and the word-hoard was
small.
 Alliteration
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Ceasura (tempura)
Kennings
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Point of View
 Omniscient Third-person narrator –most of the time
 Intrusive first-person narrator – some of the time
 Scop – 300-500 years of revisions
 Pagan versions
 Christian versions
 Monk theory
 Two Monk Theory: Monk A and Monk B
 Singular Poet Theory – Tolkien’s belief in a single, vastly talented
author
 End result integrates the values of each group who passed on the
story –at times these differences are visible and at times these
differences result in ambiguity, contradiction, and uncertainty.
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Monk A and Monk B or ???
The omniscient, third-person narrator
On occasion an intrusive, first-person narrator who states directly that certain
facts have been given to him by someone else. . . A possible attempt at reminding
the reader that this story is the truth.
Throughout, the narrator knows the feelings and thoughts of Beowulf and other
major characters.
Consider how the shifts in the point of view might alter how you evaluate
different topics. For example, if you are looking at how evil is portrayed within
the poem, consider what the Christian monk might have believed about evil, its
source, its power, and its destructive nature. Consider what the monk might
have understood precluded God from stepping in at the start.
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Alliteration
Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,
Leader beloved, and long he ruled
In fame with all folk since his father had gone . . .
The Anglo-Saxon poets used alliteration to nail home the story, to
draw attention to important details and events, and to help them
remember the rest of each line.
Usually, two words would alliterate in the first-half of a line, then
there was a pause, and then in the second-half of the line at least
one word would follow the alliteration from the start.
There was no standard rhyme scheme, but attention was given to the use
of stressed and unstressed syllables in combination with alliteration.
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Caesura
Imagine memorizing 3,200 lines of poetry. In the Old English version of
the text the caesura is easy to see.
The Caesura [\si-ˈzyu̇r-ə] was a “rhythmical pause” taken in the middle of
each line. Pairing the alliteration and caesura aided memorization.
Translations try to retain as much of the alliteration as well as the is lines
with stressed and unstressed syllable patterns the Anglo-Saxon audience
enjoyed.
[For extra credit, try memorizing 100 lines of Beowulf. ]
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Caesura – half-line breaks
 The line reads from left to right with the pause in the middle.
 Cunningly creeping,
slunk through the night.
who ought to have held
all except one,
now became known:
drag under darkness
Wrath was wakeful,
hot-hearted Beowulf
a spectral stalker
The spearmen were sleeping
the high-horned house,
for the Lord's will
no more would the murderer
whomever he wished.
watching in hatred;
was bent upon battle.
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Kennings
Because the English vocabulary was in its infancy, the wordhoard was small.
Kennings provided the scop or poet ways to expand meaning and
make the story more colorful.
You might recite blood 50 times or include an occasional “Battle-Dew” to
add a new perspective on bleeding out on grass.
The kennings were used as metaphors, as synonyms, and to help alliterate
lines.
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Kennings
 bone-house (banhus ) - the human body
 battle-light (beadoleoma) - sword
 wave-floater (wægflota) - ship
 Whale-road (hronrad) - _____________
 Fish-home (fiscesethel) - _____________
 word-hoard - __________________
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Setting
•Geographical references - Denmark and Sweden.
•Great halls, dangerous seas and lakes, mountains, hidden lairs
•Changing settings - additional meaning
•Ex./ Within Grendel’s mother’s battle-hall are those high
arches which foreshadow the involvement of God in the
outcome.
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Plot
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution/Dénouement
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Conflicts
 Individual ~ self
 Individual ~ others
 Individual ~ nature
 Individual ~ society
 Individual ~ God/Fate/Wyrd
There are five basic forms of conflict
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1. physical description,
2. speech,
3. thoughts/feelings,
4. actions/reactions,
5. what other say about them
6. Narrator’s direct comments
• Of course, you can put all this together and come out
with your own interpretation by reading between the
lines.
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Ambiguity
Many actions and comments remain confusing and unresolved for the
contemporary reader. Some issues are true within the historical context, such
as the value of boasting which today has a negative connotation. Other beliefs
or actions remain difficult to appreciate even with an understanding of the
history and the environment. Other significant concerns deliberately remain
ambiguous even within the historical context. For example, the relationship
between God and evil is unclear.
Authors hopefully use ambiguity intentionally. Situations may seem ambiguous
but actually be the author forcing the reader to work harder to interpret and
understand.
Dennis Lehane in Newsweek criticized reader complaints and discontent with his
Shutter Island. Readers were confused about what happens in the end; Lehane
snapped that they [the readers] should go back read the denouement - he
insisted the story resolved entirely, as it should, at the end.
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Ambiguity
Other times, an author uses ambiguity to remind the reader that so much about
life is difficult to understand or unresolved. In Beowulf the poet acknowledges
that many of the big questions in life go unanswered.
If Hrothgar is blessed and protected by God, why doesn’t he step in and slay Grendel?
If God protects those whom he loves and provides for, such as Hrothgar’s Danes, why
does he allow Grendel to slaughter them so viciously or for 12 years?
If all of Cain’s decedents are marked for evil deeds, why does God allow them to
breed and commit such heinous acts?
Where does Shield Sheafson come from? Why does the story start with an infant
floating in from parts unknown and a dead, aged hero floating out to parts unknown?
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Motif*
The text repeatedly presents images related
to passages from youth to old age. These
recurrent strands woven into the text serve
collectively to clarify what was understood
about youthful indiscretion, middle age
struggles, and wisdom in old age.
Characters such as Shield Sheafson,
Beowulf, and Wiglaf reflect or explore
stages of life.
*Recurrent thematic element/
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dominant theme or central idea
Symbolism
Symbols are behind every door, hidden in each conversation,
and presented at every turn.
The torque, the sword, the gold, the mead hall, the mead, the gifts, the
goblet, the hoarded of treasure, the head are items that are both
themselves and more.
The dragon represents evil, death, fate, greed, random violence – what
else?
Have fun finding symbols that will add to your analysis.
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Is Grendel the personification of EVIL?
What is Grendel’s mother a personification of?
What is the dragon a personification of?
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Irony
Verbal
Situational
Cosmic
Dramatic
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Hero vs. Evil
William Wallace-Epic Hero
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Contemporary Stories
 The hero still fights against great odds or
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diabolical evil.
The people still search for a hero and teach
children they must be the heroes they need.
Each generation finds only a few heroes.
In youth, all are willing to be the hero; in old
age, few fight on.
The hero assumes a solitary journey.
One remarkable lesson within Beowulf’s
story is how much he suffers but how
courageous he remains; the suffering and
perseverance (grit) are also portrayed today.
The hero is ever wise, trustworthy and loyal.
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Winston Churchill (right) and Franklin Roosevelt, 1941
During the Second World War, American President Franklin Roosevelt agreed to supply Britain with 50
destroyers in exchange for 99-year leases on British territories in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and the
Caribbean. The United States planned to establish military bases in each territory.
Photographer unknown. From: Morton, H.V. Atlantic Meeting. Toronto: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1943.
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Essay Topics . . .
Perpetual Battle between Good vs. Evil
Good
Evil
Leadership: King & his people
The Hero
Passage from Youth – Old Age
Alienation and loneliness
Codes of behavior: kings, queens, families, friends,
the people, warriors
Justice – Retribution – Judgment – Rule of law
Pagan beliefs vs. emerging Christian beliefs
Gold, rewards, bounty, hoarded treasure
Materialism
Wisdom
Facing Death
Respect for Life
Beowulf as a cornerstone of contemporary views
Sympathy for the devil
Father and son relationships
Shield Sheafson, Hrothgar, Hygelac
Role of Women
Christianity in Beowulf
Heroic Code
Soldier’s Code
Masculinity
Nationality
Spiritual intervention
Significance of the monsters and dragon
Importance of familial ties
Symbolism and allegory
Beowulf as a literary epic
Beowulf as an epic hero
Allusion, flashback, flash-forward
Foreshadowing, imagery, irony, etc.
Repetition
Beowulf as a frame-story for other stories
Ambiguity or motif
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Beowulf
Decide on a subject for your essay before we begin reading. The
theme you focus on can come from the tradition concerns below or
extend from some personal concern.
 Battle between good and evil
 Duty and responsibility Difference between good and bad
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leaders
Definition of the Hero or the Epic Hero
Definition of the monster
The outcast vs. society
The passages from Youth to Old Age ---Differences between the
young and old
Alienation and loneliness of the hero/monster
Codes of behavior – leader, hero, soldiers, people
Justice – Retribution – Judgment
Clash between the Pagan views and the new Christian God
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Role of Gold, rewards, bounty, hoarded treasure
Symbolism
Role of Women
Desire for Revenge
driving force of jealousy
Celebration
Facing death
Society and sacrifice
Use of imagery
Use of juxtaposition to reveal character
Family – heritage: Importance and obligations
Chaos vs. order
Power, subjugation, political domination
Compare and/or contrast aspects of Beowulf and The Stranger
Beowulf vs. a contemporary hero
Use of one literary technique
Beowulf teaches one to soldier-on
Beowulf trusts God in all battles
The hero must become savage
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Beowulf  encapsulates a vision of what people today identify as a
man’s/woman’s worth.
 minimizes its look at our weaknesses.
 acknowledges our fears but teaches us to move beyond them.
 forgives our sins and youthful mistakes
 glorifies our strengths and hopes.
 ennobles our quest for our goodness.
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 You dream not of mediocrity but, like Beowulf, of imagining you too can
fight the good fight, challenge the oppressor, and stand at the end of
your lives and look back with pride at your contributions.
 You hope to do your best and provide for those you love.
 The legend of Beowulf is meant to suggest the best each of you is
capable of.
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Beowulf presents a view of life . . .
similar to Ecclesiastes 3 (King James Version)
 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
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heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck
up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to
build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a
time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast
away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to
speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
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A look at most of
today’s stories of
heroes, in fiction and
nonfiction, will show
similar views of good
and evil, of what
people expect from
leaders, and of how to
soldier-on.
The legend of Beowulf
is the root of your
heroes today.
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Literary Analysis
Essay on one theme from Beowulf
Due February 14, 2012
Individual essays should be at least 4 paragraphs long and
include an introduction, conclusion, and a minimum of
2 body paragraphs.
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Formal Academic Writing
You will complete a literary analysis about one theme in Beowulf. Your essay will follow guidelines for formal academic
writing.
•Evidence should come directly from the epic poem, the introduction to the poem or the explanations found in your
anthology.
•Your reader should sense a serious, curious, and satisfying investigation has taken place.
•Use MLA guidelines for documentation and in-text citations.
•Use summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation. If you are unsure about how to use direct quotations, signal phrases,
and indirect quotations, pay attention in class. Follow up with the online materials provided by Purdue University.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/
•Write from the third-person point of view.
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Essay Format
Introduction
Engage and interest the reader with a creative and original “hook.”
Provide sufficient history and context and lead your reader to your thesis.
Your thesis statement may be the last sentence of your introduction and should state the theme you have
chosen, explain what you intend to explore, and share a personal reaction to this concern.
Ex. Thesis Statement:
Despite the battles and bloodshed filling the listeners with dread and excitement, it is essential to remember that
interwoven in the epic of Beowulf are lessons about a powerful Christian God who controls everyone’s destiny,
expects obedience and grants peace and comfort in times of trouble. For the Anglo-Saxon audience familiar with
death and disease, reminders of a powerful God who looked after one from birth to death provided a much needed
respite from a cruel existence.
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Body Paragraphs
(Each student is required to write 2 body paragraphs.)
State the main idea/include a topic sentence for each paragraph.
Concrete Details (CD)
Include at least 3 or more details/examples of textual evidence in the form of summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation. Remember, 3
details per paragraph is for an average to good paper.
Commentary/ Critical Thinking (CM)
Add reflective commentary and opinions to your evidence. You may agree or disagree with the poet’s view and interpretation, but get
involved in the issues you are evaluating.
CD and CM are generally combined in one sentence.
Closing/clincher/transition sentence should end each body paragraph. Provide the reader with clues that you are
ending one topic and moving on.
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Conclusion
The reader should sense you are moving towards the end.
Rephrase your thesis statement so the reader hears it again.
Take the time to add any additional comments that supports what you have proved. For example, you may prove that
the repeated gifting of gold right up to the very end of the story suggests that gold represents fidelity, love, and
trustworthiness and has much less to do with wealth, materialism, and monetary gain than thought initially. As you
look at gold, you might look at how we use gold today; do we still use gold gifts to honor fidelity, love, and
trustworthiness?
Send your reader off with the sense that they have been enriched through the experience of reading your
paper.
End by implicitly helping the reader to prepare to grow from their new understanding about the theme you explored.
The reader should appreciate the lessons you shared and the essay you slaved over.
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Body Paragraphs
(Each student is required to write 2 body paragraphs.)
State the main idea/include a topic sentence for each paragraph.
Concrete Details (CD)
Include at least 3 or more details/examples of textual evidence in the form of summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation. Remember, 3
details per paragraph is for an average to good paper.
Commentary/ Critical Thinking (CM)
Add reflective commentary and opinions to your evidence. You may agree or disagree with the poet’s view and interpretation, but get
involved in the issues you are evaluating.
Closing/clincher/transition sentence should end each body paragraph. Provide the reader with clues that you are
ending one topic and moving on.
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Conclusion
The reader should sense you are moving towards the end.
Rephrase your thesis statement so the reader hears it again.
Take the time to add any additional comments that further support what you have proved. For example, you may prove
that the repeated gifting of gold right up to the very end of the story suggests that gold represents fidelity, love, and
trustworthiness and has much less to do with wealth, materialism, and monetary gain than thought initially. As you
look at gold, you might look at how we use gold today; do we still use gold gifts to honor fidelity, love, and
trustworthiness?
Send your reader off with the sense that they have been enriched through the experience of reading your
paper.
End by implicitly helping the reader to prepare to grow from their new understanding about the theme you explored.
The reader should appreciate the lessons you shared and the essay you slaved over.
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Beowulf - Loyal fans
 New Translations
 Graphic Comics
 Movies
 Fiction
 Computer games
 Websites
 Missiles
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