heroes

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heroes
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• Take a few minutes to answer these questions in
  the Notes section of your binder. As these are
  your notes, you do not need to write in complete
  sentences if you do not wish to. However, you
  must write down your answers.
• Who are your heroes? Why?
• What is your definition of a hero?
• What qualities make someone heroic?
• Has your view of what makes someone a hero
  changed over the years?

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Consider the following people
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Now consider these
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Benjamin Keefe Clark
As the sole corporate chef for Fiduciary Trust on
the South Tower's 96th floor. Clark urged
hundreds of people to head down the stairs
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Katherine Avery
Avery arrived in New York just more than a week
after September 11 to serve as volunteer
coordinator at St. Paul's Chapel, an Episcopal
church- turned relief center just yards from
Ground Zero.
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Thomas Burnett Jr.
Tom Burnett Jr. made four phone calls to his wife
Deena from United Airlines Flight 93 after
learning of the attacks on New York and
Washington and pledged to "do something."
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Welles Crowther
An equities trader on the South Tower's 104th
floor, Crowther helped dozens of people to safety
on September 11.
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Isaac Ho'opi'i
A Pentagon police officer, Ho'opi'i ran
back-and-forth from the burning building,
carrying eight people to safety. On one of his
last trips in, he yelled, "If you can hear me,
head toward my voice."
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Eric Jones
A graduate student, Jones was driving to school
when he spotted smoke over the Pentagon. He
pulled into the building's parking lot and began
rescuing people from the debris.
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David Lim
Lim, a Port Authority K-9 officer, was in the
South Tower when American Flight 11 slammed into
the North Tower. He ran up to the North Tower's
44th floor before heading down.
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Maureen Schulman
Schulman arrived shortly after both towers had
been hit, and she twice narrowly skirted death
when the buildings fell. One of just a handful
of women in the 11,000 strong New York City fire
department, Schulman spent many hours at Ground
Zero working alongside her colleagues -- two of
whom are her brothers.
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Yvette Washington-Montagne
A New York City 911 operator for the last 21
years, Yvette Washington-Montagne talked to
distraught family members and others injured in
the terrorist attacks. She stayed on the job for
16 hours.
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David Lim
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So, what do we know about heroes
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• In light of the 10th anniversary of September
  11th, we remember the tragedy and mourn those we
  lost. We also honor the heroes -- firefighters,
  police officers, and brave citizens who risked
  their lives in remarkable ways. Our country will
  be forever grateful for their courage and
  strength.
• A hero, doesn't have to be someone who steps up
  in an extraordinary circumstance, wins a
  championship, or achieves fame and glory. He or
  she can be a peer who calls out a bully, a mentor
  who spends time helping a child with her
  homework, the parent who packs yummy wholesome
  snacks for lunch and drives to soccer practice
  every weekend.

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What influences our definition of the hero?

• Society influences our definition of the hero
  the traits that we envy, the traits that we
  admire, and what our concept of success or
  greatness is.

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We are always looking for heroes.

• Society wants to cheer for someone, something,
  anything.
• This past summer, these were the movies

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8th Century Anglo-Saxons were no different they
just didnt have televisions or movie theaters
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Beowulf.
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Introduction to Beowulf

• Themes
• Importance of Lineage
• Traits of the Epic Hero
• Anglo-Saxon Earthly Virtues
• Cultural and Societal Context
• Structure and Style

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Before there was Chuck Norris

• there was Beowulf.

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Its not important what you know, its about who
you know.

• Beowulf and Lineage
• All of the Chuck Norris facts in the world
  couldnt get Chuck Norris noticed in Anglo-Saxon
  society. To them, Chuck would just be a Texan
  with red hair and a roundhouse kick. Now if Chuck
  Norris father was known, then there would be
  something to talk about
• Beowulf, for all of his physical prowess, fell
  into the same category. Simply, everyone was
  known based on their ancestors. Beowulf had not
  individual identity. He had to introduce himself
  as Beowulf, son of until he earned a name of
  his own which was achieved by earning glory by
  going on quests.
• Why did Beowulf have to refer to himself as the
  son of?
• Kinship, loyalty, and reputation held Anglo Saxon
  Society together

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The Epic Hero

• The epic hero is the central figure in a long
  narrative that reflects the values and heroic
  ideals of a particular society. An epic is a
  quest story on a grand scale.
• Beowulf is ancient Englands hero, but he is also
  an archetype (perfect example) of an epic hero.
• Traits of the Epic Hero that Beowulf embodies
• Glorified relates to lineage and ability to
  build upon reputation. At the end of his quest,
  Beowulf is glorified by the people he saved.
• On a quest - In his quest, Beowulf must defeat
  monsters that embody dark, destructive powers.
• Ethical Beowulf embodies the highest ideals of
  Anglo-Saxon culture. See Anglo-Saxon Earthly
  Virtues
• Strong - Beowulf, like all epic heroes, possesses
  superior physical strength and supremely ethical
• (mnemonic acronym GOES, as in Beowulf GOES to
  battle.)

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What earthly virtues did Anglo-Saxons
value?(mnemonic Brit Lit is Good Fun.)

• Bravery
• Loyalty
• Generosity
• Friendship

Buzz Word Comitatus
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Anglo-Saxon Concepts

• The Anglo-Saxons had a custom called wergild,
  of paying compensation to the relatives of the
  people they murdered. If the murdered person was
  not related to the murderer, then this kind of
  payment was considered satisfactory by the
  relatives of the victim. No such way of making
  amends existed, however, for taking the life of
  ones own kin.

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Anglo-Saxon Concepts continued

• According to the Anglo-Saxon code of the
  comitatus, warriors must defend their lord to the
  death. Some critics see the failure of Beowulfs
  men to come to his aid a catastrophic breach of
  comitatus as an ominous forecast of the demise
  of the Geats.

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The Oral Tradition

• Poetry was as important to the Anglo-Saxon as
  fighting, hunting, and farming.
• The Anglo-Saxon bard was an honored member of
  society.
• The Anglo-Saxon communal hall, besides offering
  shelter and a place for council meetings,
  provided space for storytellers their
  audiences.
• As in other parts of the ancient world (Homeric
  Greece), skilled story tellers, or bards, sang of
  gods and heroes.

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Anglo-Saxon Mead Hall

• Herot means hart or stag. The hart was an
  Anglo-Saxon symbol of kinship.
• Archaeologists have confirmed that Herot was
  built of wood held together with iron bands. The
  gabled roof was overlaid with gold, and the floor
  was inlaid.
• The mead hall was a communal gathering place.
  Warriors gathered here to drink mead and
  celebrate victories. The community gathered here
  to hear ancient epic tales told by scops.
• In literature, the mead hall symbolizes safety,
  fellowship, and all that is good in humanity. The
  Anglo-Saxons lived in a dark, cold, often
  frightening world. The mead hall was a bright
  spot in this darkness.

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Language

• English is divided into three periods
• Old-English (ca.449-1100)
• Middle-English (ca. 1100-1500)
• Modern-English (ca. 1500-).
• Old English is also known as Anglo-Saxon.
• Old English makes use of unfamiliar letters, most
  of which derive from the runic alphabet, an
  alphabet used by the Germanic peoples.

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What characteristics of the heroic epic are found
in Beowulf?

• Tells of the traditions of the people
• Is a long, dignified narrative poem
• Tells of the actions of the hero
• Has definite verse
• The characters are of noble birth.

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Anglo-Saxon Elements

• Stern, barbarous life
• Religious feeling
• Mixtures of savagery, sentiment, and nobility
• Love of nature, and nautical influence
• Common sense, power of endurance, seriousness of
  thought
• Emotional, imaginative, sensitive.

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The Features of an Epic Poem

• Takes the form of a long narrative poem about a
  quest, told in formal, elevated language
• Narrates the exploits of a larger-than-life hero
  who embodies the values of a particular culture
• Begins with a statement of subject and theme and,
  sometimes, a prayer to a deity
• Deals with events on a large scale
• Uses many of the conventions of oral
  storytelling, such as repetition, sound effects,
  figures of speech, and stock epithets
• Often includes gods and goddesses as characters
• Mixes myth, legend, and history

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Beowulf Verse Form

• Four stressed syllables with three syllables
  alliterated /()/
• Alliteration means repetition of the same letter
  sound, usually the first letter of the accented
  syllable. Ship, its timbers icy, waiting (three
  ss one c)
• The verse does not rhyme
• Lines have a pause in the middle, called a
  caesura, or are end-stopped (definite pause at
  the end of the line)
• Use of parallelism ideas expressed in the same
  form or repeated for emphasis
• Use of kennings two words separated by a hyphen
  as sea-horse, a ship whales road, the sea
  sky-candle, the sun
• Gnomic sentences used for emphasis as There
  was a king!
• Written to be accompanied by a harp with a person
  singingmeant to be heard, not read.