8/14
BW
• Get your notebook.
• Write “8/14/14” in the upper right-hand corner of a
new page or the back of the one from yesterday.
• Task: Use the following syntax (sentence structure)
from Beowulf to capture a trait about yourself:
“There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,
a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among
foes.”
• EX: There was Ms. Brooks, pedagogue of many
pupils, a reader of book-pages, prattling among
peers.
Mead Hall
Literary Terms
For Beowulf
Taking Notes
The following literary techniques will deepen
your understanding of Beowulf and enrich
your reading generally.
You will have an opportunity later to write
these definitions down, but for now just
annotate your own text (underline the lines
referenced and write the technique in the
margin).
Alliteration
The repetition of the same sound at the
beginning of words in a series
…Behaviour that’s admired
is the path to power among people
everywhere (lines 24-25).
Assonance
A poetic pattern by which same or similar vowel
sounds in stressed syllables end with different
consonant sounds
…So the Lord of Life,
The glorious Almighty, made this man
renowned.
Shield had fathered a famous son:
Beow’s name was known through the north
(lines 16-19)
Assonance
…So the Lord of Life,
The glorious Almighty, made this man
renowned.
Shield had fathered a famous son:
Beow’s name was known through the north
(lines 16-19)
Foreshadowing
The presentation of information in such a way
that prepares readers for later events
The hall towered,
its gables wide and high and awaiting
a barbarous burning (lines81-83).
Juxtaposition
The placement of two ideas side-by-side in
such a way that foreshadows later events,
creates an ironic tone, or signals the passage
from the literal realm into the symbolic or
allegorical.
Where would you break up the following
passage in terms of the change of mood?
Juxtaposition
Nor did he renege, but doled out rings
and torques at table. The hall towered,
its gables wide and high and awaiting
a barbarous burning. That doom abided,
but in time it would come: the killer instinct
unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust
rampant. (lines 80-85)
Juxtaposition
What event does the previous passage seem to
foreshadow?
Kenning
A picturesque (creative) phrase used to
replace or supplement a simple noun
“Spear-Danes” = Danish warriors
A ring-whorled prow rode in the harbor,
ice-clad, outbound, a craft for a prince (lines
32-33).
Metaphor
Strictly defined, a comparison between two
things when “like” or “as” is not used
Loosely defined, a figure of speech in which
one object is identified with another, and the
qualities of the one object are given to the
other
Metaphor
…and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth
a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendor He set the sun and he moon
to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,
and filled the broad lap of the world
with branches and leaves… (lines 90-97)
Metaphor
…and the clear song of a skilled poet
telling with mastery of man’s beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth
a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendor He set the sun and the moon
to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men,
and filled the broad lap of the world
with branches and leaves… (lines 90-97)
Metaphor
Where do see the first type of metaphor?
What two things are being compared?
Where do you see the second type of
metaphor?
What two things are being compared (hint:
one is stated, the other implied)?
What qualities are being given to the one that
is stated?
Scop
An Anglo-Saxon court poet, meaning that he
occupied an official position of importance in
the king’s retinue.
Understatement
A common figure of speech in which the
literal sense of what is said falls short of what
is being talked about
“That was one good king” (line 11).
Allegory
A story in which the characters and action are
largely symbolic.
Allusion
A reference to a person, place, event, or work
of art that the writer thinks the reader would
recognize
Anti-Hero
A protagonist that lacks the typical qualities
of a hero
Archetype
A character type or plot pattern that occurs
frequently in literature, myth, religion, or
folklore.
Caesura
A dramatic pause
Epithet
An adjective used to point out a characteristic
of a person or thing. A Homeric epithet is
often a compound adjective, which requires a
hyphen: “swift-footed Achilles.”
Hyperbole
A gross (as in very big) exaggeration
Simile
A comparison between two things in which
“like” or “as” is used
Symbol
An image that has meaning beyond the literal
Stanza
A grouping of two or more lines of verse
(poetry) in terms of length, metrical form,
and (often) rhyme scheme