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Language of Epics

Language of Epics. metaphor, simile, personification, kennings, epithets, allusion, assonance, alliteration, paradox, etc…. SWBAT:. Identify characteristics of an Epic Identify language of an Epic. Epics: Rewind!.

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Language of Epics

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  1. Language of Epics metaphor, simile, personification, kennings, epithets, allusion, assonance, alliteration, paradox, etc…

  2. SWBAT: • Identify characteristics of an Epic • Identify language of an Epic.

  3. Epics: Rewind! • A long, narrative poem written in a lofty style, set in a remote time and place, involving heroic characters and deeds.

  4. Structural Elements: • Larger than life hero • Supernatural forces influence action • Vast setting • Lofty language • Often opens with an invocation, an appeal to the Muses for inspiration • Often begins in media res • Middle of action • Long, formal speeches

  5. Examples of Epics: • Beowulf • Paradise Lost • The Odyssey • The Iliad • Aeneid • Braveheart • Lord of the Rings • Gladiator • Troy

  6. The Scop • Composers and storytellers who travelled from court to court- the entertainers of the Anglo-Saxon times. • Expected to know a broad repertoire of tales and compose tales in tribute to patrons who financed them

  7. Comitatus • Germanic code of loyalty. Thanes, or warriors, swore loyalty to their king, for whom they fought and whom they protected. • In return, the king was expected to be generous with gifts of treasure and land. • King protected his thanes, was highly praised for generosity and hospitality. • Warriors expected to be brave, courageous, and loyal. Their reputation for such qualities was very important, as evidenced by Beowulf’s description of the swimming match in Brecca.

  8. Wergild • Germanic custom; “man-payment” • Practice of paying a slain man’s family to atone for the deed and to prevent them from taking revenge against the manslayer. • Wergild is mentioned in Beowulf. Hrothgar paid a wergild to Beowulf’s father.

  9. Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Society • Fellowship and community • Ritual of mead hall • Allegiance to lord and king/relationship between leader and follower • Love of glory as ruling motive of every noble life • Belief in the inevitability of fate • Respect for forces of nature • Dependence on the sea • Natural world as pawns of gods, monsters, magic • Sense of the beautiful

  10. Metaphor • a comparison between two unlike things not using like or as: Fame is a bee It has a song It has a sting Ah, too, it has wings!

  11. Simile • a comparison between two unlike things using like or as: • I’m as hungry as a horse. • The flower was as yellow as the sun.

  12. Personification • assigning human characteristics to non-human objects: • The wind whispered through the trees. • Fear crept slowly up my spine.

  13. Kennings • A literary device in which a noun is renamed in a creative way using a compound word or union of two separate words to combine ideas. • whale’s road: ocean • storm of swords: battle

  14. Kennings Match the following kennings with their meanings. • breaker of rings ship • sword dance sun • oar steed battle • whale-road Beowulf • world-candle ocean • knowledge-giver king • Sea-Geat teacher

  15. Epithets • a descriptive word or phrase expressing some quality or attribute; a way to identify • add variety and poetic imagery • praise the hero and add information about the hero; such as lineage, “The son of Healfdeane” (Hrothgar); “my shoulder-companion” (AEschere) • aid in the memorization of these originally oral epic tales • usually “______ of ________” • usually attached to a name • Ms. Cafarelli = Giver of Knowledge

  16. Epithets and Kennings: • These “formulas” helped to establish tone and reinforce essentials of character and settings!

  17. Create your own Old English • Create 3 epithets based on people everyone in the class knows • Must conform to standards of epithets (not used as a put-down!) • Create 1 epithet for yourself • Create 2 kennings for common objects unfamiliar to the Anglo-Saxon world– cars, computers, cell phones, etc.

  18. Paradox • a statement that, at first, appears to be contradictory but is actually true: • The silence of midnight rung in my ears. • This statement is false.

  19. Alliteration • repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words: • The breakers were right beneath her bows • tongue twisters

  20. Allusion A reference to something with which the reader is already familiar. Usually a literary or historical person, place, event, or some other aspect of cultural significance.

  21. Assonance • the repetition of identical vowel sounds in non-rhyming words • Some ship in distress, that cannot live

  22. Caesura • Space in the middle of the line in Anglo-Saxon poetry which indicatesa pause.

  23. Appositive • Noun or pronoun followed immediately by another noun or pronoun that identifies or explains. • Ex. Beowulf, the warrior, fought bravely against Grendel.

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