 The Iberians were in Britain (from Portugal and Spain)
 The Celts inhabited Great Britain before and during
the 4th century B.C.E.
 There were many separate Celtic tribes.
 Britain known for one: the britons.
 The Celts continually were pushed
back by both the Romans
and the Germanic tribes
that later invaded Britain.
 The Celts practiced a form of animism.
 Latin for “spirit,” believers of animism see spirits in
everything—every rock, stream, lightning bolt,
tree, etc.
 These spirits controlled all of existence and had to
be constantly satisfied by sacrifice.
 Many historians believe that human sacrifice was
not uncommon in Celtic religion.
 Celtic priests were called Druids.
 The Anglo-Saxons did not believe that an individual
had the ability to choose his own path. (fatalism)
 Instead, they believed in the power of fate (wyrd)
 Many believe that Stonehenge was used by Druids for
religious rites having to do with the lunar and solar
cycles.
 Julius Caesar led the first invasion in the year 55 B.C.E.
 It was the Emperor Claudius who conquered the Celts
100 years later.
 The Romans were able to hold off other invaders for
several hundred years.
 Romans built up British infrastructure (roads and
defensive walls) that is still standing in some parts of
Britain.
 Christianity begins to take hold.
 If the Romans had stayed, Londoners would be
speaking Italian.
 However, the Roman Empire was crumbling. The
Romans had evacuated Great Britain by C.E. 409.
 Romans left behind villas, homes, roads, defensive
walls, and public baths—but no central government.
 The early Brits were susceptible for an attack.
 The Angles and Saxons from Germany and the Jutes
from Denmark invaded the island of Britain after the
Romans left in the middle of the fifth century.
 These tribes pushed out the old Britons.
 Britain was then named Enga land, or England, after
the Angles.
 Celts put up a great deal of resistance.
Jutes
Angles
Celts
Saxons
 Anglo-Saxon Britain was no more unified than it was
before.
 There were several different principalities.
 There were many “kings.”
 King Alfred, also known as Alfred the Great, reigned
from 871-899.
 Alfred led the united Anglo-Saxons against the Danes,
a fierce Viking people who crossed the North Sea.
 Alfred the Great also brought scholars into Britain to
allow learning to flourish there.
 In 1066 the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons were defeated
by the Duke of Normandy and his invading force of
Normans from northwestern France.
 This further changes the language.
 Honor came in winning.
 Warfare was an everyday occurrence.
 “Fame and success, even survival, were gained only
through loyalty to the leader, especially during war,
and success was measured in gifts from the leader.”
 There was a sense of loyalty to the clan.
 “Anglo-Saxons tended to live close to their animals in
single-family homesteads, wooden buildings that
surrounded a communal court or a warm, firelit…hall.”
 The cluster of buildings was surrounded by a fence.
 There were community discussions in the chief’s
central hall.
 Religion:
 There was no after-life, despite the Christian influence.
 It was heavily influenced by Norse mythology.
 The dragon was a constant source of fear for Anglo-
Saxons.
 Because there was no belief in the after-life, people
wanted to live on in legend.
 Storytellers, scops, were often looked at as equal to
warriors. In this oral tradition, the storyteller was the
keeper of legends, religion, heroes’ quests, and history.
They were revered.
 Poets sang to the strumming of a harp
 There was a hope to live on in verse.
 Ireland was protected from the Germanic tribes




because of the wild seas surrounding it.
St. Patrick (Patricius) converted Ireland to
Christianity.
The monks and other religious leaders kept learning
alive.
It was in Ireland that Christianity, in the words of
Winston Churchill, “burned and gleamed through the
darkness.”
Irish monks continued to transcribe histories, legends,
and literary pieces.
 Old English
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQVyol7N1Jo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K13GJkGvDw
 England’s Iliad and Odyssey
 First great work of English national literature
 It is the “mythical and literary record of a formative
stage of English civilization”
 Epic of the heroic sources of English culture
 “Bear” (Bee+Wolf)
 Beowulf is a Geat from Geatland (now Sweden)
 Oral Epic
 Epic Devices:
 Hospitality codes
 Supernatural interventions
 Visit to hades
 Vast setting
 Epic boasting
 Epic: a long narrative poem that recounts, in formal
language, the exploits of a larger-than-life hero
 Epic hero: is usually a man of a high social status and is
often important in the history of his people
 Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds-usually at
the beginning of words and in stressed syllables “miserable
mighty men tormented by a monster…”
 Caesura: an obvious pause in a line of poetry
 Found near the middle of a line
 Sometimes indicated with slashes or an actual space in the
line
 Kenning: an imaginative phrase that takes the place of
a single noun
 Whale-Road (sea)
 Life-House (body)
 Link Online
 Epic One
 The Monster Grendel
 Sections 1-3
 Epic Two
 The Arrival of the Hero
 Sections 4-5
 Epic Three
 Unferth’s Challenge
 Sections 6-7
 Epic Four
 The Battle with Grendel
 Sections 8-11
 Epic Five
 The Monster’s Mother
 Sections 12-13
 Epic Six
 The Final Battle
 Sections 14-17
 Two Sentence Summary
 Most Important Quote with Line Number
 1. What was significant about Ireland during the
Anglo-Saxon time period? Why is it important in
terms of literature?
 2. What was the heroic ideal of the Anglo-Saxons?
 3. Define wyrd. Why is this significant in Anglo-Saxon
culture?
 4. Including dates, create a flow chart representing the
occupation in Britain starting with Celts.
Celts
• Language: Varying
Languages
• Contribution: Pagan
Influences/Animism
?
• Language
• Contributions:
?
• Language:
• Contributions
?
• Language
• Contributions:
 Name
 Date
 Class
 “The Seafarer”
 Turn to Page 69
 Handful of elegies:
 Elegy: a serious poem of lament; usually mourning a
death or other great loss (last bit of Beowulf)
 The Exeter Book
 Rare collection of old English poetry; compiled and
copied by monks in 900s
 Unknown author; some belief that monks changed
poem after line 65
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is the theme of “The Seafarer”?
What is the mood created in lines 1-26?
What are the hardships at sea the speaker describes
in lines 1-26?
What part might fate play in the speaker’s attitudes
about life at sea?
In line 117—what home is the speaker referring to?
 When referring to imagery, we must discuss all five
senses. Complete the chart below by finding quotes in
“The Seafarer” that appeal to each of the senses.
Sight
*Just
Quotes*
Sound
Smell
Taste
Touch