Language of Epics

1
Language of Epics

• metaphor, simile, personification, kennings,
  epithets, allusion, assonance, alliteration, and
  paradox

2
Metaphor

• a comparison between two unlike things not using
  like or as
• Fame is a bee
• It has a song
• It has a sting
• Ah, too, it has wings!

3
Simile

• a comparison between two unlike things using like
  or as
• Im as hungry as a horse.
• The flower was as yellow as the sun.

4
Personification

• assigning human characteristics to non-human
  objects
• The wind whispered through the trees.
• Fear crept slowly up my spine.

5
Kennings

• a poetic phrase substituted for the usual name of
  a person or thing
• whales road ocean
• storm of swords battle

6
Kennings

• compound poetic phrase, adds information about
  the hero, such as lineage!
• usually titles
• blood worm sword
• feeder of ravens warrior

7
Kennings

• Match the following kennings with their
  meanings.
• breaker of rings ship
• sword dance sun
• oar steed battle
• whale-road Beowulf
• world-candle ocean
• knowledge-giver king
• Sea-Geat teacher

8
Epithets

• a descriptive word or phrase expressing some
  quality or attribute a way to identify
• add variety and poetic imagery
• praise the hero and add information about the
  hero such as lineage, The son of Healfdeane
  (Hrothgar) my shoulder-companion (AEschere)
• aid in the memorization of these originally oral
  epic tales
• usually ______ of ________
• usually attached to a name
• Miss Cafarelli, Giver of Knowledge

9
Create your own Old English

• Create 3 epithets based on people everyone in the
  class knows
• Must conform to standards of epithets (not used
  as a put-down!)
• Create 1 epithet for yourself
• Create 2 kennings for common objects unfamiliar
  to the Anglo-Saxon world cars, computers, cell
  phones, etc.

10
Paradox

• a statement that, at first, appears to be
  contradictory but is actually true
• The silence of midnight rung in my ears.
• This statement is false.

11
Alliteration

• repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of
  words
• The breakers were right beneath her bows
• tongue twisters

12
Allusion

• A reference to something with which the reader
  is already familiar. Usually a literary or
  historical person, place, event, or some other
  aspect of cultural significance.

13
Assonance

• the repetition of identical vowel sounds in
  non-rhyming words
• Some ship in distress, that cannot live