Anglo-Saxon Literature

The Celts

• Literature began in England with the Celtic Druids

• Druids would memorize and recite poems for special occasions

The Anglo-Saxons

• Anglo-Saxon performers known as scops recited poems for entertainment

“The Anglo-Saxon scop was a professional or semi-professional tribal poet who celebrated cultural values by singing epics on occasions of great ceremony and festivity.”

- Dr. Kelly Taylor

The Anglo-Saxons

• Recitation often accompanied by a harp

• Idea of ominous fate, or wyrd, found throughout works

• Contain a mix of Christian and pagan ideas

• Only about 30,000 lines of Anglo-Saxon verse still exist

Poetic Devices• No end rhyme; main thought or idea

often runs over from line to line• Lines contain caesuras, or mid-line

pauses• Poems use alliteration - the

repetition of initial consonant sounds• Poems contain kennings - compound

metaphorical phrases that rename concrete nouns (“sea road” = ocean)

Types of Poetry

• Divided into two main categories – heroic and elegiac

Heroic Poetry

• Heroic = retells the achievements of warriors involved in great battles

• Most important heroic Anglo-Saxon work = Beowulf

Beowulf

• Beowulf = national epic of England

• Author = unknown• Includes values of

warrior society including dignity, bravery, and strength in battle

Elegiac Poetry

• Lyric poem that mourns the loss of someone or of the past

• Famous example of Anglo-Saxon elegiac poetry = “The Seafarer”

“The Seafarer”

• Author = unknown• Speaker = sailor

reflecting on his life

• Includes values of time period but also evidence of changing way of life

Links

• Reading of “The Funeral of Scyld Scefing” from Beowulf http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/readings/bss_oe.html

• The Beowulf Projecthttp://www.beowulf.org/

• Reading of Grendel’s Approach to Herothttp://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Grendel.html