The Epic A long narrative poem that celebrates

The Epic A long narrative poem that celebrates the deeds of a great hero.

Epic Conventions • Story opens in medias res (in the middle of things) • Setting is vast (multiple countries) • Plot involves supernatural deeds • Dialogue includes long, formal speeches • Theme reflects timeless values and universal ideas • Combines history, mythology, and folklore

Epic Hero • Noble birth or historical importance • Character traits reflect ideals of society • Courageous and superhuman deeds • Actions determine the fate of a nation or group of people • Strives for honor and fame • Is on a QUEST!

Oral Epic • Originally, epic poems were an oral art form (both memorized and performed) • Epic poems combined history lessons, moral sermons, cultural pride, and character instruction. • Beowulf is a folk epic and an elegy. • Beowulf was written in the West Saxon dialect of Old English • 449 A. D. Anglo-Saxon invasion results in mixture of German and Celtic languages producing Old English

Beowulf Terms • Thane: warrior • Comitatus: loyalty between thane and king which was rewarded by treasure • Wergild: monetary value owed for a man’s death

Mead Hall • A rectangular hall of entertainment • A communal gathering place for feasting and drinking mead • Mead: An alcoholic beverage made a water and fermented honey. Mead was a popular drink in Denmark and other Scandinavian countries during the Middle Ages because grapes were not readily available to make wine. • “Gloomy Hour starting at dusk: Free Mead if you survived!”

Scop • Revered poet/musician who recounted the history, traditions, and folktales of the culture • Performed in mead halls • Kenning: metaphorical compound word or phrase substituted for a noun or name “sin-stained demon” • Alliteration: repetition of initial consonant sounds • Caesura: pause which divides each four-stress line in half which is essential to the rhythm (Anglo-Saxon poetry)

Beowulf and Language • Composed between 700 A. D. and 900 A. D. in Mercian dialect (transmitted orally for three centuries) • Written around 1000 A. D. in West Saxon dialect • Old English (Beowulf), Middle English (The Canterbury Tales), Modern English (Shakespeare) • Literacy was restricted to the clergy and all manuscripts were written at monasteries • Christianity infused into the local language and oral tradition

Beowulf and Culture • • • Literature is invested in the transmission of belief and identity Literature is relative to the culture that produced it Residual (original) Dominant (intruding or additional) Emergent (new form arising from fusion of cultures Residual/Dominant/Emergent constantly changing and evolving (culture as an on-going process)