Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature

1. Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature Beowulf: day one

2. Background Information • 449-1066 A.D. • The Britons • Agriculture • Metalwork • Trade with Celts in Ireland • Oral tradition • Education through druid priests

3. Invasion! • 449 A.D. (but actually over several decades) • Angles, Saxons and other Germanic tribes began settling on the eastern and southern shores of the island • Germanic tribes won out and formed a confederation of seven kingdoms that are still used today (Kent, Sussex, Essex, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria) • Angles were dominant and their area was called Angle-land, or England

5. Change of Culture • Changes over time with invasions • First group were seafaring wanderers who led bleak, violent, short lives. • Pagan religion • Believe in fate • Value heroic warriors • Later becomes more stable • Agricultural • Less violent • More secure from threats

6. With Rome Comes Stability • Rome colonized Britain and brought: • Cities • Roads • Written literature • Christianity • Dependency on Roman military • First recorded history from the Romans who colonized the area The Romans left the Brits on their own when they needed to defend their home country, and Britain was invaded.

7. Religion • Pagans brought belief in fate, admiration of heroic warriors • Christianity is attributed to “civilizing” England in the late sixth century • Saint Patrick—a Romanized Briton who converted the Gaels (the people in Scotland) • 597- Augustine established the monastery at Canterbury • By 690, all of the country was nominally Christian • Spreads literacy

8. Development of Language • Old English • Written phonetically, no silent letters • Confusing grammar—words can change form to serve different purposes • Easily adaptable for new words

9. Literature • Oral tradition • Scops- oral poets • Mead halls • Epic poems-long narrative poems that celebrate a hero’s deeds • Stories go from oral to being written down centuries later

10. Epic Poetry • Many based on historical fact—entertaining and educational • Freestyling scops—improve using songs and chants • Stock epithets—words or phrases a scop would turn to in order to describe character traits • Kennings-descriptive phrase or compound word that stands in for a person’s name (sin-stained demon) • Lots of repetition

11. What is a Hero? • Let’s brainstorm about what this word means to us. • Here’s what it means to the Anglo-Saxons • Hero is of noble birth and of great historical importance • Hero’s character traits reflect ideals of his society • Hero performs courageous, sometimes superhuman, deeds • The actions of the hero determine the fate of a group of people

12. Epic Poetry • Characteristics: • The setting is vast • The poet uses formal language and a serious tone • Major characters have long speeches • Plot is complicated by supernatural beings or events—maybe a long journey • Reflects timeless values • Deals with universal themes

13. Beowulf • Setting: European mainland • Battle between the Danes (Denmark) and the Geats (Sweden) • Beowulf is a Geat • Goes to help the Danes (Hrothgar) • Returns to become king of the Geats • Occurs historically when Christianity not in England, but recorded after—What will this mean for us when we read it?

14. Advice for Reading • Pay more attention to punctuation than to line breaks • If there are too many commas, try to find the main subject and verb and work backwards • Take notes, draw pictures, stop and ask yourself questions, summarize….do anything to keep yourself thinking as you read!