1.
2.
Family identity: These Germanic tribes
considered the family the basic unit of society.
Loyalty to family and to protecting the kind:
To be exiled from your tribe was the worst
punishment.

3.
4.
The Comitatus: a group of men bound by loyalty
and bravery for the mutual protection of their
families.
Honesty: even to boast
Glory: Your goal was to bring honor to family
and your king
5. Bravery: This must be tried and proven.
Cowardice was the worst sin.
6. Fame meant immortality: the scops or
storytellers, had the power to make someone
immoral in song.
7. Treasure: a symbol of pride and respect. ( the
Anglo- Saxons were excellent goldsmiths and
wore ornaments encrusted with jewels)



An epic is a long narrative poem that celebrates
a hero’s deeds.
The earliest epic tales survived for centuries as
oral traditions before they were finally written
down.
Most orally composed epics date back to
preliterate periods—before the cultures that
produces them had developed written forms of
their languages.


Most epics are based in historical fact, so that
their public performance by poets (known in
different cultures by such names as scops or
bards) provided both entertainment and
education for the audience.
Oral poets had to be master improvisers, able
to compose verse in their heads while
simultaneously singing or chanting it.



Stories were not made totally from scratch;
they drew on existing songs and legends,
which they could embellish or combine with
original material.
One characteristic feature of oral poetry is the
repetition of certain words, phrases, or even
lines.
Two of the most notable examples of repeated
elements are stock epithets and kennings. (We
will learn more about these later.)


The Poet or Bard’s sole job
was to create songs of
praise for deserving
members of the comitatus
and commit to memory
the stories of the tribal
society.
The Scop performed in
the Meade Hall and was a
highly respected keeper
of the communal song.


A central hall or
communal court where
victory celebrations were
held nightly and around
which the comitatus built
their homes.
Meade: an alcoholic ale
made with honey herbs
and water was served
nightly as the men
celebrated their
successes.
1. The hero, generally a male, is of noble birth or
high position, and often of great historical or
legendary importance.
2. The hero’s character traits reflect important
ideals of his society.
3. The hero performs courageous—sometimes
even superhuman—deeds that reflect the values
of the era.
4. The actions of the hero often determine the
fate of a nation or group of people.
5. The setting is vast in scope, often involving
more than one nation.
6. The poet uses formal diction and a serious
tone.
7. Major characters often deliver long, formal
speeches.
8. The plot is complicated by supernatural
beings or events and may involve a long and
dangerous journey through foreign lands.
9. The poem reflects timeless values, such as
courage and honor.
10. The poem treats universal themes, such as
good and evil or life and death.


Scops/Bards: skilled storytellers that sang of gods
and heroes.
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds
at the beginning of words

The ancient blade broke, bit into…
The monster’s skin, drew blood



Caesura: a pause or break within a line of poetry
usually indicated by the natural rhythm of
language.
Old English poetry has a strong rhythm, with each
line divided into two parts by a pause, called a
caesura.
In the translation we will read, the translator uses
punctuation like a comma to reproduce the effect
of the caesuras.

Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty
Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred
Grendel came, hoping to kill…


One of the literary devices popular in the
Anglo-Saxon Old English poetry tradition is
the kenning.
Kenning: a literary device in which a noun is
renamed in a creative way using a compound
word or union of two separate words to
combine ideas
Examples:
 If you call "school" a "scholar's home" -- then
you have created a kenning.
 If you tell your friends that your parents are
the "car loaners" -- then you have created a
kenning.
 The folks at Coca-Cola might agree that a cold
Coke is "humanity's beverage."
Below are all different types of kennings for the
same object. What do you think this object is?

Arrow aimer
Dust terror
Antique printer
Tickle tool
Fowl Fashion

FEATHER




Directions: Consider carefully how you could
creatively rename each of the following through
the use of the kenning technique.
1. a teacher
2. a bus driver
3. firemen
4. television
5. meatloaf
6. police
7. pop tarts
8. music
9. love
10. computer