A View of Anglo-Saxon Culture

Only one copy still survives

It is housed in the British museum

The copy is dated about 1000 AD before the use of the printing press

It was hand copied by monks in a monastery

It was nearly lost when King Henry VIII closed all the monasteries

It was saved by a collector and survived the great London fires with minimal damage.

Beowulf is written in Old English

It was composed between 700 and 950 AD.

It is more than 3000 lines long.

More than 80% of our words are derived from Old English

The poem contains caesura- a midline pause to help poets remember their lines

The poem was originally told orally and was not written down until much later

It also contains many kennings, or an epithet that is made up of two word metaphors, usually connected by a hyphen:ex. - a dragon is a cave-guard or a hoard-guard, armor is war-gear or battle-dress

These are just a few examples found in Beowulfmoder = motherHond = handLif = lifeMan = manHus = houseEald = oldSwearde = swordLonde = landWorulde = worldWundor = wonder

The poet is writing in the English period following the collapse of the Roman Empire (about 400 AD) referred to as the Anglo-Saxon period

After the Romans left England Northern Germanic tribes began to invade, the strongest being the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They conquers the Celtic inhabitant of the island (about 500 AD)

These groups set up small kingdoms or realms also know as city-states

The kingdoms lived in constant fear of invasion.

In the 8-9 c. the island was constantly warring with the Vikings, who managed to conquer most of England, leaving only the West Saxon kingdom.

This culture was marked with a persistent fear of their group being swallowed up and assimilated into another culture. This fear is echoed in Beowulf.

After settling England, the Anglo-Saxons became a Christian agricultural society.

Beowulf is written by an Anglo-Saxon but takes place in Scandinavia

It tells the story of a warrior from Geatland, Beowulf, and his battles with 3 monsters.

Beowulf travels from Geatland (modern day Sweden) to assist the Danish King Hrothgar in ridding his kingdom of the man-eating monster, Grendel.

He is then faced with Grendel’s mother.

Upon slaying her, Beowulf returns home to Geatland to rule for 50 years.

He meets his death while trying to defend his kingdom against a fire-breathing dragon.

Tribal warfare The kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon

England live in constant fear of invasion

A revenge ethic exist, an eye for an eye mentality

Princesses were given as peace-weavers, that is they were given in marriage by their fathers to other rules to settle conflicts between kingdoms

The Sword is more than just a weapon. It is symbolic of past conquests, and is handed down from father to son. Swords in this era were very elaborate and often told the story of legendary family victories in scroll work and jewels.

WyrdMeaning fate. For

most Anglo-Saxon warriors the ultimate wyrd is death. One of the ways for a warrior to escape death and gain immortality was to create a name for himself through heroic acts.

These acts would allow the warrior’s name to live on in the stories of others.

ScopThe poem was most likely

told by a scop, or oral poet who told legendary stories to the aristocracy

A scop is the same as a Greek rhapsod

The poem has several digressions that tell the stories of famous rulers and warriors, many of which we only have knowledge of from the text of Beowulf

Does the narrator interject his own judgments on Beowulf or is he neutral? Is he a reliable narrator?

Are there any connections between individual characters? How?

Is Beowulf a hero?