Beowulf, Day 2Lines 1-188

ImportantTerms

• scop: an Old English poet or storyteller • kinship: a social relationship• thane: a warrior• heroic code: governed the Anglo-Saxon

culture• wergild: man-price• wyrd: Old English, means something like

fate (although their conception of it is different than ours)

Characteristics of Old English Poetry• kenning: an Old English poetic device in which a compound poetic

phrase is substituted for the usual name of a person or thing– Examples: whale-road (line 10), ring-giver (line 36), sea-rider

• litotes: an ironic understatement, also a common feature of Old English  poetry. Pronounced "LIE-TA-TEES." – Example: “no less bountifully” (line 43)

• alliteration: the occurrence in a phrase or line of poetry of two or more words having the same initial sound. In OE poetry, alliteration is the principal poetic device.

• caesura: a pause in a line of poetry.

•  metonymy: a figure of speech in which one thing is used to designate something with which it is commonly associated, for example, using "bottle" for "liquor."

•  synecdoche: a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to designate a whole, for example, using "keel" for "ship."

Question: Who is the author of Beowulf?

Important Passages• 64-85: What kind of King is Hrothgar?

– Heorot (69-79); his generosity (72, “God-given goods”; 80, “doled out rings”)

• 86-98: Who is Grendel?– Why does Grendel resent the Ring-Danes?

• 88: “It harrowed him to hear the din…”• 106: Grendel descended from Cain (wyrd and

wergild)

• 156: Grendel and wergild

Important Passages• 194-209: pay close attention to the way

Beowulf is introduced

• 258-285: Beowulf speaks

• 440-455: Beowulf speaks again– Fate, wyrd: 440-1 and 455

• For tomorrow, read what we didn’t get through in class today and also read lines 662-835

• Complete Beowulf homework assignment

• also be sure and do Vocabulary Unit 4, S&A