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Anglo-Saxon Literature

Anglo-Saxon Literature. Lyric Poetry. Poetry Terminology: Genres. Genre A classification or category of a literary form Dramatic poem Involves more than one speaker Narrative poem Tells a complete story Lyric poem Expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker

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Anglo-Saxon Literature

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  1. Anglo-Saxon Literature Lyric Poetry

  2. Poetry Terminology: Genres • Genre • A classification or category of a literary form • Dramatic poem • Involves more than one speaker • Narrative poem • Tells a complete story • Lyric poem • Expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker • Presents an experience or single effect (does not tell a full story) • (orig.) A song accompanied by a lyre

  3. General Poetry Terminology • Speaker • Who is the voice of the poem—the character who tells the poem? • Subject (story) • What is the speaker telling about—what’s going on in this poem? (where? When? What?—if supplied) • Tone • What is the speaker’s attitude about the subject/story? • Mood • What is the poem’s atmosphere—what the audience feels? • Theme • What message about life, about the human experience, does the poem present?

  4. Anglo-Saxon Lyric Poetry • Elegy • A solemn and formal lyric poem about death • Mourns the passing away of an individual person or reflects on a tragic theme, such as the passing of youth, beauty, or a way of life • (adj.) elegaic • Planctus • Medieval literary genre • Means “complaint” • Distinguished from elegy— • Fictional speaker • Mourns a loss other than death

  5. Anglo-Saxon Themes • Exile: separation or banishment from one’s native country, region, or home • Expressed with memorable sadness and pain • Wraecca—wretch, stranger, unhappy man, and wanderer • Allegiance: pledging loyalty to a particular lord or king (hlaford –“lord”) • Source of sustenance (hlafweard—“guardian of the loaf”) • Dispenser of wealth • Guarantor of the security of his followers in a dangerous and uncertain world • Longing for home and comfort • Mead hall • The lord and his followers shared the warmth of a fire, the comfort of food and drink (mead), and the pleasures of recited poetry (scops)

  6. Anglo-Saxon Literary Characteristics • Kenning • An appositive phrase (renames something or someone) • Often a colorful metaphor • Examples: • The ocean, “the whale’s home” • “Beowulf,/A prince of the Geats” • Grendel, “shepherd of evil, guardian of crime”

  7. Anglo-Saxon Literary Characteristics • Caesura • A natural break/mid-line pause in the middle of a line of Anglo-Saxon poetry • Divides each four-stress line in half • Essential to the rhythm (meter) of the poem • Example: • . . . My feet were cast In icy bands, bound with frostWith frozen chains, and hardship groanedAround my heart. Hunger toreAt my sea-weary soul.

  8. Anglo-Saxon Literary Characteristics • Alliteration • Repetition of initial consonant sounds • Examples: • “I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.” • “This tale is true, and mine. It tells . . .” • Anglo-Saxon convention (tradition) is to use alliteration with a heavy hand (a bit overused)

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