Beowulf Vocabulary Kenning A metaphorical compound noun or

Beowulf Vocabulary: �Kenning: A metaphorical compound noun or phrase: ‘whale’s road’ for ‘ocean’ �Litotes: Understatement, in which something is affirmed by the negation of its opposite: ‘he was less than helpful’ for ‘he was not helpful at all’ �Allusion: A reference to something from another literary work or historical event: when the Beowulf poet refers (or alludes) to different Anglo-Saxon heroes or Biblical characters

More vocab �Metonymy: A thing is substituted with something closely associated with it: ‘crown’ for ‘royalty’ or ‘The White House’ for ‘the President’ �Synecdoche: Substituting the name of a thing with the name of a part of the thing: ‘wheels’ for ‘car’ or ‘threads’ for ‘clothing’ �Alliteration: Repetition of the same consonant sounds : ‘Hot-hearted Beowulf was bent upon battle’ This was also a way to help remember the lines in an oral poem

Yet more vocab �Didactic: Intended to instruct of teach: ‘So should a king act, ’ phrases with the word ‘should’ in general �Scop: Old English poet or bard: https: //youtu. be/Pzmm. PRG 4 sm. U �Hwæt: The first word in Beowulf, means something like “So, ” “Listen, ” or “Hey. ” An attention getter.

Important Characters �Humans: �Monsters �Beowulf �Grendel �Hrothgar �Grendel’s Mother �Wealhtheow �Dragon (wyrm) �Unferth �Wiglaf

Beowulf as Allegory � Allegory is a literary device: � Characters or events represent or � � symbolize ideas and concepts. Used widely throughout history, a major reason is its immense power to illustrate complex ideas and concepts in ways that are easily digestible and tangible. Conveys its hidden message through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, and/or events. As a literary device, an allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor. One of the best known examples is Plato's "Allegory of the Cave. " In this allegory, there a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to the allegory, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality.

Titian, Allegory of Age Governed by Prudence (c. 1565– 1570): The three human heads symbolize past, present and future, the characterization of which is furthered by the triple-headed beast (wolf, lion, dog), girded by the body of a big snake.

Beowulf