Sentence Correction

1
Sentence Correction

• This story from the misty regions of Englands
  past is about a hero. To save people, he faces
  the following violence, horror, and even death.
  The epics events take place in the distant past
  but this story still speaks to people today.
  Perhaps beowulf is interesting because their are
  still so many people in need of a hero, or
  rescuer. Beowulf is ancient englands hero.

2
Sentence Correction

• This story, from the misty regions of Englands
  past, is about a hero. To save people, he faces
  the following violence, horror, and even death.
  The epics events take place in the distant past,
  but this story still speaks to people today.
  Perhaps Beowulf is interesting because there are
  still so many people in need of a hero, or
  rescuer. Beowulf is ancient Englands hero.

3
Old English Anglo-Saxons

• Take notes on the following terms epic poem,
  epic hero, oldest English story, bard/scop,
  burden of the bards, kenning, alliteration,
  assonance, hyperbole, and animism.

4
What do these stories have in common?

• The Odyssey
• The Illiad
• Gilgamesh
• Beowulf
• They are long, old stories with poetic lines that
  have regular meter and rhythm.
• The main characters are heroes with superhuman
  qualities
• They have mythology gods or godlike beings
• The action takes the route of journey or
  adventure and the outcome involves an entire race
  or country.

5

• Epic poem
• A long narrative poem that relates the great
  deeds of a larger-than-life hero who embodies the
  values of a particular society.
• Epic hero
• The central figure in a long narrative that
  reflects the values and heroic ideas of a society.

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Epic Heroes

• Who are our heroes?
• What qualities do they have?
• How can a hero reflect or show what values a
  culture has?

7
Beowulf The Oldest English Story
Old English Middle English
Modern English
500
- - - - - - - - - - -1066 - - - - - - - - - -
1485 - - - - - - - - - - present
Beowulf Canterbury Tales
Macbeth Frankenstein composed in 700
started in 1387 1605
1818

• Beowulf, composed by scops or bards around the
  year 700 and written in Old English, is the
  oldest English story that we know of today.
• It was passed by word of mouth for approximately
  300 years before it was finally written down by
  an unknown Christian scribe and poet around the
  year 1000. This forgotten poet is believed to
  have changed it from a story with pagan beliefs
  to one with Christian morals, the story we know
  today.
• Knowing the history of this story is important
  because Beowulf was a very different as an
  Anglo-Saxon oral tale compared to what it became
  after it was written down by a Christian scribe
  who changed it to teach moral lessons of faith in
  one God.

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Bards a.k.a. Scops

• Originally, Anglo-Saxon stories were passed down
  orally by story tellers called bards or scops.
  These bards were important because their stories
  could do the following
• Preserve bits of history,
• Create heroes,
• Provide a way for soldiers to be remembered after
  their dutiful deaths
• For a culture that did not believe in an
  afterlife, stories past from generation to
  generation were the only way to be remembered
  to cheat death.

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Burden of the bards . . .

• Bards or scops had a tough job of remembering so
  many lines.
• The story of Beowulf, for example, is around
  3,200 lines long.
• Two literary devices that helped the bards
  remember their lines were kennings and
  alliteration.

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Kennings

• Kennings are descriptive figures of speech or
  compound words that take the place of a common
  noun. In short, they are multiple-word
  nicknames.
• They were used as stock phrases to help the bards
  with the following
• Add descriptive detail to the story
• Bide time while thinking of the next line
• Flatter the thanes and soldiers and kings
• As you read The Battle with Grendel (p 30-32),
  find as many kennings for Grendel, the monster,
  as you can. Write down all the examples that you
  find.

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Kennings for Grendel

• mankinds enemy
• shepherd of evil
• guardian of crime
• infamous killer

12
Kennings for Grendel continued. . .

• Almightys enemy
• hells captive
• sin-stained demon
• afflictor of men

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Alliteration

• Alliteration is the repetition of consonant
  sounds in words that are close to one another.
• Alliteration is an essential feature in
  Anglo-Saxon poetry. Often, in just one line of
  Anglo-Saxon poetry, two or three of the stressed
  syllables alliterate.
• Look for alliteration in the following lines from
  Beowulf the Battle with Grendels mother
  (p.34-35). Write down examples that you find.

14
Then he saw The mighty water witch and swung
his sword, His ring-marked blade, (went)
straight at her head The iron sang its fierce
song, (and) Sang Beowulfs strength. . .
15
Then he saw The mighty water witch and swung
his sword, His ring-marked blade, (went)
straight at her head The iron sang its fierce
song, (and) Sang Beowulfs strength. . .
16
Then he saw The mighty water witch and swung
his sword, His ring-marked blade, (went)
straight at her head The iron sang its fierce
song, (and) Sang Beowulfs strength. . .
17
Assonance

• Assonance the repetition of similar vowel
  sounds in words that are close together.
• Assonant vowels must be followed by different
  consonants, otherwise the words are rhymes, not
  assonants.
• For example, the words face and base rhyme while
  the words face and fade are assonant.

18
Hyperbole

• A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to
  express strong emotion or create a comic effect.
• Hyperboles are also known as overstatements used
  to make a point.
• Examples
• Its a 150 degrees in the shade!
• Kill yo self!
• The tale of Beowulf is full of kennings,
  alliteration, assonance and hyperboles.

19
Animism

• Before the Romans invaded the British isles and
  introduced Christianity, the religion of the
  Celts (the creators of the original Beowulf) was
  a form of animism which comes from the Latin word
  spirit. Animism is the belief that all natural
  things have a spirit. The Celts saw spirits
  everywhere in rivers, trees, stones, ponds,
  fire, and thunder. According to the Celts, these
  spirits or gods controlled all aspects of nature,
  and they had to be constantly satisfied. Priests
  called druids acted as intermediaries between the
  gods and the people. . . .

20
. . .Some think that Stonehenge was used by the
(Celtic) Druids for religious rights having to do
with the lunar and solar cycles (Holt, Rinehart
Winston 2000).
21
Slides 28-30 Tours to Europe
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Last years tour to London Paris
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This years tour to Italy Spain!
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• Day 1  -  Fly overnight to Italy
• Day 2  -  Rome Arrive in Rome
• Day 3  -  Rome Take a guided tour of Vatican
  CityVisit the Sistine ChapelVisit St. Peters
  BasilicaTake a guided tour of Rome
• Forum RomanumVisit the ColosseumTake a walking
  tour of Rome
• Trevi Fountain
• Pantheon
• Day 4  -  Assisi Florence Travel via
  AssisiVisit the Basilica of St. FrancisContinue
  on to Florence
• Day 5  -  Florence Take a guided tour of
  Florence
• Piazza della Signoria
• Ponte Vecchio

• Chiesa di Santa Croce
• Gates of ParadiseVisit the DuomoSee a
  leather-making demonstrationEnjoy free time in
  Florence
• Day 6  -  Florence Night ferry Travel via
  PisaSee the Leaning Tower of PisaVisit the Pisa
  BaptisteryVisit the Pisa CathedralTravel to
  LivornoBoard a night ferry to Barcelona
• Day 7  -  Barcelona Arrive in Barcelona
• Day 8  -  Barcelona Take a guided tour of
  BarcelonaVisit Parque GuellTake a walking tour
  of Barcelona
• Las RamblasOptional Barcelona Flamenco Evening
• Day 9  -  Depart for home