each student is given one packet; if you lose...
TRANSCRIPT
Name: ________________________
Date: _________________________
Due date: _____________________
DO NOT lose this study guide. It will be worth a TEST GRADE at the end of the unit.
EACH STUDENT IS GIVEN ONE PACKET; IF YOU LOSE YOURS, REPLACEMENT PACKETS WILL COST YOU $2.
BEOWULF
This is how the United Kingdom looks now:
This is how England, Scotland, and Wales looked before we gave them their
modern names.
From the maps we can tell that:
The Angles came from the area we
call _____________________
The Saxons came from the area we
call _____________________
The Jutes came from the area we
call _____________________
The Picts lived in the area we call
_____________________
Part 1 – Early history of England
The island was originally inhabited by ________________ tribes from Central Asia prior to the
____________invasion c50-100 CE. Some of the Celts fled west over the mountains to the
places we now call ____________ and ____________. Others stayed and intermarried
with the invading Romans. The ____________ brought architecture, art, roads, and founded
cities including ____________ (then called Londinium). The ____________ Empire collapsed in
410. The Romans left behind roads, but not much of their Latin language. Most Latin words in
English today are ____________, ____________, or roots.
War and chaos resulted. The ____________who were left behind had gone soft from years
of Roman rule, so many different tribes competed for land. The Jutes invaded from Denmark.
The Angles and Saxons from ____________ invaded Britain in 449. The Angles invaded the
____________and the ____________, the Saxons invaded the ____________.
Today, we do not distinguish much between the Angle and the Saxons, we simply call the
shared culture, religion, language, and customs, “________________________.” There were
_____ major kingdoms in Anglo-Saxon England. The Anglo-Saxons conquered all of what is now
England, but they could not conquer the ____________, who stayed in what is now called
____________.
Life in Anglo-Saxon England was ____________ because their lives were dominated by
____________. Men were loyal to their leaders, called ____________ and were bound to each
other until ____________. If the lord was killed, his warriors had to avenge his death or die
beside him. The average age for men was _____, and was only ____ for women. Anglo-Saxon
women had many rights; they could inherit and own ____________. Women were responsible
for weaving and dyeing of clothes, the slaughter of ____________, and the brewing of mead.
Mead is an alcoholic ____________ made from fermented honey and water.
Most communities had a hall, where people gathered to feast and tell stories. These
storytellers, called ____________, sang their stories while playing a ____________. The stories
were memorized and passed from generation to generation.
In 597, ____________ missionaries came and under Alfred the Great, Christianity helped to
unify the culture. The Anglo-Saxons still held some of their ____________ beliefs, so their
songs and poems included some elements of Christianity and some elements of their pagan
beliefs. The Anglo-Saxon lifestyle was not luxurious because of constant war. Anglo Saxons
believed in wyrd, which means one’s ____________ in life.” Prior to Christianity, the Anglo-
Saxons did not believe in an afterlife, but they did believe that immortality, or lof – fame that
survives beyond ____________, could be earned through ____________ action. The four most
important virtues in the Anglo-Saxon society were ____________, ____________,
____________, and ____________.
Christian monks were important because they were educated: they knew how to
____________ and ____________. It is thought that a monk was the first person to write down
the spoken poems of the Anglo-Saxons.
In 865, the ____________ invaded England and conquered 6 of the 7 Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms. The ____________ rule England from 865-1042. After a period of more chaos and
uncertainty, The ____________ invaded England in 1066, which was officially the end of Anglo-
Saxon England.
Extra Notes about the Anglo-Saxons:
Part 2 – Figure out the kennings
In class, we’ve talked about the prevalence of the kenning in Anglo-Saxon poetry. Kennings
function as compact, riddle-like metaphors. Structurally, they consist of a compound word. In
modern English, they manifest as two word, hyphenated metaphors. Most kennings either
function as a name or emblem that is metaphorically rich, such as “whale-road” for the sea or
“word-hoard” for mouth. Some kennings are metaphoric because they are synecdochic, a type of
metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, such as when someone says to you “nice
wheels” to describe your car as a whole. The kenning “gold-giver” for the king is a metaphor
because a part of him, his penchant for awarding gold, stands in for the whole.
Kenning Meaning
Light of battle
Fighting gear, battle gear
Twilight-spoiler
Battle-sweat
Hilt
Bent-necked wood
Whale-road
Sea-farer
Storm of swords
Sin-stained demon
Peace-weaver
Shelterer of warriors
Gas guzzler
Show-stopper
Red-handed
Land-line
Eye-candy
Boob-tube
Cancer-stick
Headhunter
Couch potato
Part 3 – Kennings Poem
Your job is to come up with kennings that function as compact, riddle-like metaphors for various aspects
of you: your characteristic qualities, your characteristic activities, how others see you, and what gifts you
bring to others.
Use the four-part T-chart on page two as a drafting board to write your kennings and to determine their
significance. For example, I came up with “List the thought-wrapper” using the following process under
“that which I do” on page two:
What you are What you do How others see
you
What gifts you
bring to others
Step 1: Think of at
least 3 real words
for each category
Step 2: Create
kennings that
represent the real
words
Anglo Saxon alphabet
Step 3: Use the key below to figure out how to write your name in Anglo Saxon runes.
Step 4: Write your runes name, along with your 6 best kennings on a separate sheet of paper.
Part 4 – Background Info on Beowulf
Method of telling
Source of story
Setting
Length
Date
Why is this story important?
Why are we reading it?
Part 5: The Epic Hero
Watch the TED video on heroes. How do the definitions of heroes from the video fit or challenge
our characteristics above?
Defeat
Returns
Is always
Encounters Makes one
Action
Presented
Carries
Begins
EPIC HERO
Part 6 - Literary definitions and examples
imagery:____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example: lines 1-2 in Beowulf describes Grendel living in the darkness allusion:____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
alliteration:_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
metaphor:__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
personification:
___________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
.
kennings:___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
caesura:____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
foreshadowing:______________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
synecdoche_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
example:_____________________________________________________________________
Part 7 - Major characters/places: tell who these characters are and make a connection
to at least one other character or place in the text
Beowulf: ___________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Hrothgar: __________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Herot (Heorot): ______________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Grendel: ___________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Wiglaf:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Wealhtheow: _______________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Geatland: __________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Denmark: __________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
the dragon: _________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Unferth:
____________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Breca:
______________________________________________________________________________
Connection to other characters/settings:
____________________________________________________________________
Part 8 – Quick jot summary
Summary of part 1:
Important characters: __________________________________________________
Summary: ______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Part 2:
Important characters: __________________________________________________
Summary: ______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Part 9 – Literary Analysis questions
Throughout the text, there are labeled “Literary Focus” questions. We will discuss most of these in
class, but you will need to choose 20 to answer and turn in. You may draft you answers in your notes,
in the margins, or in your journals – really in whatever way works for you. Your final twenty should
be compiled and neatly written or typed and attached to this study guide. Your answers should be
complete sentences and cite evidence from the text.
BE WARNED – DO NOT COPY ANSWERS FROM ANOTHER CLASSMATE. I CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR
WORDS ARE YOUR OWN. CHEATING IS AN AUTOMATIC ZERO ON THIS ENTIRE PACKET.