An Introduction to
the English Folk
Epic
 W her e does the wor d “barbarian” come fr om?
 Just w hat WERE the Dar k Ages? W hat made them “dar k?”
A Story About a
445-1485 A.D.
The helmet has become
a symbol of the Sutton
Hoo burial; it survived
as a mass of small
pieces, and was only
reconstructed after
years of painstaking
work in the British
Museum Laboratory.
DARK AGES DOES NOT MEAN
NO ART
VIKINGS LOVED GOLD, JEWELRY,
WEAPONS, AND RINGS
Art resulted
in stories,
some of which
were told in
manuscripts
that were
beautifully
decorated
and colored.
Many of the artworks pictured in this
presentation were a part of a discovery at
Sutton Hoo, a Medieval burial ground.
Folk Epics are
tales of a national
HERO
But What Is
Characteristics of a
Pagan Hero
• Good Fighter
• Loyal
• Persevering (Never Gives Up)
• Wins “Fame” (in Songs in a
Mead Hall)
Pagan Characteristics,
cont.
• Little Regard for Danger or Self:
Brave
• Battle as a Way of Life
• Personal Vengeance as Familial
Requirement
• FATE: Revenge and/or Death
Characteristics of a
Christian Hero
•Recognizes God as Creator
•Humility in the presence of
God’s Power
•Altruism in Action
Christian Characteristics
cont.
• Contrast between Good and
Evil Rulers
• Personal Vengeance transmuted
into Fighting Evil
• Good is Rewarded and Evil is
Punished (Evil in the World)
Historical
Background
The Poem
•Part
•Part
History Fiction
Author/Composer
• Likely an educated Christian,
possibly a monk
• Wove together many oral traditions
with consummate skill
• Slightly sanitized the pagan
traditions
• Produced a single tale
Manuscript History
• Authored in 1,000 B. C.
• Saved from looting of monasteries
under Henry VIII
• Saved from fire in Sir Henry
Cotton’s Library in 1731
• Danish scholar translated it in 1787;
first published in 1815
Structure and
Style
Macrostructure
Macrostructure
• Begins and ends with a
FUNERAL (Scyld Scefing and
Beowulf)
• Arrival and Departure of a HERO
• Youthful Adventure/Kingly exploits
• Good and Evil Characters
Contrasted
Microstructure
Example: Death of Grendel and
Aeschere
Seeming irrelevant digressions
digressions/
collections
Allusive incidents and characters
Suggestive of past and future
Complexity often lost on modern
reader
Style of the Folk
Epic
•Lyric
A poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the
thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem may
resemble a song in form or style.
•Epic
A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic
figure. Two of the most famous epic poems are the Iliad
and the Odyssey by Homer
•Narrative
Characteristics of
Style
•Elegiac tone
•Concentration on feelings
•Extra epithets delay
narration and focus the
point of view
A poem that laments the death of a person,
or one that is simply sad and thoughtful.
Like “Richard the Lion-hearted” for Richard I
Literary Devices
•Scops used harp to add beats to poetry
•Four Lifts per line; with a caesura
A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.
There is a caesura right after the question mark in the first line of this sonnet by
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
•Understatement/Litotes
What do we mean when we say, “THAT’S an understatement!”
•Allusions
What is an allusion?
Literary Devices,
cont.
•
Exalted Vocabulary
•
Ritual Objects
•
Kennings: bardic formulae,
used as appositives, for
example, “swan-road”
A phrase used instead of the simple name of a thing, characteristic of Old
Teutonic, and esp. Old Norse, poetry. Examples are oar-steed = ship, storm of
swords = battle.