The Anglo-Saxon Era
Early England
Ancient
People



Paleolithic man arrived 50,000 years before the ice cap severed
Britain from the continent in 5,000 B.C.
Neolithic man wandered from the Mediterranean area, leaving a trail
of weapons and tools. These people were possibly the builders of
Stonehenge.
Celtic tribes were among the earliest inhabitants of England.
Invasions and War
Julius Caesar invades in
55 B.C. and the empire
doesn’t withdraw until
410 when the Roman
empire collapses.
 When Romans withdraw,
Germanic tribes begin to
threaten Celtic chiefs.
 Germanic tribes include:

– Angles
– Saxons
– Jutes
http://www.history.com/videos/dark-agesbarbarians-ii-the-saxons---alfred#darkages-barbarians-ii-the-saxons---alfred
Anglo-Saxons gain control, but they are
subject to frequent raids and battles.
 Vikings invade in 787 A.D.
 The raids continue until The Battle of
Hastings in 1066, which ushered in an
entirely new era for England.

Paganism / Christianity
Anglo-Saxons didn’t believe in an afterlife in the
way that Christians do.
 The Anglo-Saxon warrior could only live on in
the memory of others – this is why it was so
important to perform heroic deeds during life.
 To become “legend” is the only way to become
immortal.
 Anglo-Saxons believed that their lives were
subject to fate or “wyrd.” This is unlike the
Christian idea of free will and choosing salvation.

Anglo-Saxon Life




Often brutal, violent, and short
– the fearful Grendel of
Beowulf symbolizes this
worldview.
Many struggled to find
meaning.
Anglo-Saxons clung to their
code of conduct that
emphasized bravery, loyalty,
and heroism,
Code of the warrior predates
the later chivalric codes of the
medieval knights.
http://www.history.com/shows/clash-of-thegods/videos#battle-of-beowulf-andgrendel
“The Seafarer”
Written in Old English – the name given to the Germanic
tongues brought to England by invading tribes from
Northern Europe.
 Provides an accurate portrait of the sense of stoic
endurance, suffering, loneliness, and spiritual yearning
characteristic of the time.
 The poem addresses both pagan and Christian ideas
about overcoming a sense of loneliness and suffering.
 Can be thought of as an allegory discussing life as a
journey and the human condition as that of exile from
God on the sea of life.
 Most critics believe the poem was written down by a
Christian monk

Anglo-Saxon Poetry

Alliteration
– Always occurs on stressed syllables
– All vowel sounds alliterate with each other
– A consonant alliterates with itself and
consonant blends (“s” alliterates with “sh,”
etc.)
More Poetry

Meter
-Composed in ½ lines separated with a
caesura or pause in the middle
-You must have 2 accented syllables in
each ½ line
-You may have as many unaccented
syllables as you like
Terms
Wyrd – Anglo-Saxon word for fate
 Caesura – Pause
 Kenning – A poetic replacement for an
ordinary term (“sea” changed to “whaleroad”)

Grendel

Both Beowulf and Grendel use 1st person
point of view.
– In Beowulf the narrator is a scop who tells the
story as he heard it, and he frequently
intrudes into the story to forewarn and
comment on the action. The effect of the
narration is the same as 3rd person, but
without a disembodied voice.
– In Grendel the monster tells his own story.
Point of View in Grendel
Gardner’s use of Grendel provides a
counterpoint to the Beowulf-poet’s admiring
description of the Danes and Geats.
 The lesser of the heroic ideal implied in Beowulf
is shown clearly in Grendel.
 Hrothgar and his people struggle with a lifestyle
that demands fighting and bloodshed and a
religion which gives no answers.

Humor and Symbolism





Gardner is noted for his use of different genres.
Grendel mixes poetry, myth, allusion and black humor in
Grendel’s interior monologue.
He evokes the heroic language of Beowulf with poetry,
kennings, and sentences reminiscent of the rhythm and
phrasing of lines of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
The dragon is a symbol of evil.
Grendel’s grim resignation to meaninglessness and
absurdity is underscored by his sardonic, cynical, bitter,
disillusioned, morbid humor – black humor.
Philosophical Terms

Solipsism
– A philosophy that suggests the theory that
only the self exists or can be proven to exist.
– An extreme preoccupation with and
indulgence of one’s feelings, desires, etc.

Existentialism
– A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness
and isolation of the individual experience in a
hostile or indifferent universe. It regards
human existence as unexplainable, and
stresses freedom of choice and responsibility
for the consequences of one’s acts.

Nihilism
– An extreme form of skepticism: the denial of
all real existence of the possibility of an
objective basis for truth.