AngloSaxon Literature

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Anglo-Saxon Literature

• 449 1066 AD

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Key Cultural Concepts

• Wyrd Anglo-Saxon concept of fate we live, we
  earn gold , we die

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Key Cultural Concepts

• Wyrd Anglo-Saxon concept of fate we live, we
  earn gold , we die
• Comitatus unquestioning loyalty to a leader

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Key Cultural Concepts

• Wyrd Anglo-Saxon concept of fate we live, we
  earn gold , we die
• Comitatus unquestioning loyalty to a leader
• Scop Bard, singer-songwriter provider of
  immortality

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Key Cultural Concepts

• Wergild man payment restitution for a wrongful
  death offered to the clan of the deceased
• Fratricide brother-killing the only type of
  death not covered by wergild

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Beowulf written c.700 Earliest extant poem
written in English

• Epic poem a long narrative poem that recounts,
  in formal language, the exploits of a
  larger-than-life hero
• Literary elements
• alliteration
• kenning descriptive phrase (usually hyphenated)
  that replaces a noun
• caesura a pause in middle of a line of poetry,
  usually with two stressed syllables before and
  two stressed syllables after, creating a strong
  rhythm

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