Anglo-Saxon Literary Terms

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Anglo-Saxon Literary Terms
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Epic

• A long narrative poem
• On a serious subject
• Written in a grand or elevated style
• Centered on a larger-than-life hero

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Epic Conventions

• A concern with the fate of a nation or people
• A correspondingly large scale, often ranging
  around the world
• The intervention of supernatural figures
• Extended similes, generally called epic similes
• A simile is an explicit comparison of two
  things, usually with the word "as" or "like."
• Long catalogues, whether of ships, characters, or
  places
• Extensive battle scenes
• Begins in medias res

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Caesura

• a pause somewhere in the middle of a verse. Some
  lines have strong (easily recognizable) caesurae,
  which usually coincide with punctuation in the
  line, while others have weak ones.

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Kenning

• a compound poetic phrase substituted for the
  usual name of a person or thing. For example the
  sea in Old English could be called segl-rad
  'sail-road', swan-rad 'swan-road'. In line 10 of
  the epic Beowulf the sea is called the hronrade
  or 'whale-road'

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Epic Boast- Flyting

• A proclamation of things a character has done or
  will do in the epic

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Archetype

• The word archetype is commonly used to describe
  an original pattern or model from which all other
  things of the same kind are made.

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Comitatus

• The word archetype is commonly used to describe
  an original pattern or model from which all other
  things of the same kind are made.

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Oral Tradition

• A process by which songs, ballads, folklore, and
  other material are transmitted by word of mouth.
  The tradition of oral transmission predates the
  written record systems of literate society.

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Fate

• The word archetype is commonly used to describe
  an original pattern or model from which all other
  things of the same kind are made.

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Thane

• The word archetype is commonly used to describe
  an original pattern or model from which all other
  things of the same kind are made.

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Mead

• A fermented beverage made of water and honey,
  malt, and yeast

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Pagan

• Paganism is a catch-all term which has come to
  bundle together (by extension from its original
  classical meaning of a non-Christian religion) a
  very broad set of not necessarily compatible
  religious beliefs and practices that are usually,
  but not necessarily, characterized by polytheism

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Alliteration

• Alliteration occurs when the initial sounds of a
  word, beginning either with a consonant or a
  vowel, are repeated in close succession.The
  function of alliteration, like rhyme, might be to
  accentuate the beauty of language in a given
  context, or to unite words or concepts through a
  kind of repetition.

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Epithet

• A word or phrase, often but not always
  disparaging or abusive, that expresses a
  character trait of someone or something.

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Motif

• A theme, character type, image, metaphor, or
  other verbal element that recurs throughout a
  single work of literature or occurs in a number
  of different works over a period of time.

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Scop

• An Anglo-Saxon poet The scop fulfilled  many
  roles in an Anglo Saxon tribe.  Among those
  functions were
• court singer
• tribal historian
• genealogist
• teacher
• composer
• critic
• warrior
• traveler and reporter