The Bards: Singing of Gods and Heroes Hope in Immortal Verse

1. The Bards: Singing of Gods and HeroesHope in Immortal Verse Shelby Stephens Matt Kelecy Bethany Schoch Kyle Bramble

2. The Bards: Singing of Gods and Heroes • Anglo Saxons are well renowned for storytelling • More than one thousand years before, in Homeric Greece, storytellers sang of Gods and Heroes of their era • Skilled storytellers were called ‘Bards’

3. Bards were referred to as ‘scops’ by the Anglo Saxons • Anglo-Saxons found poetry just as important as fighting, hunting, farming, or loving

4. Scops • In the Anglo-Saxon period they were referred to as ‘scops’ or ‘shaper(s)’ • ‘Shaper’ came from their ability to shape “men’s reputation by songs”

5. Scops • Well valued and respected among tribal warriors • Warriors who listened to scops did not believe in a “christian type of heaven” • Immortality meant being remembered after dying

6. Anglo Saxon poets sang while playing a lyre or harp This is an example of the six-stringed musical instrument used while telling stories or singing poetry

7. Many poets used improvisation to create interesting stories to tell • Inspiration came from heroic tales that descended from people’s common concerns of the time period: War, disease, or old age

8. In Beowulf we are told of the King: …sometimes Hrothgar himself, with the harp In his lap, stroked its silvery strings And told wonderful stories, a brave king Reciting unhappy truths about good And evil-and sometimes he wove his stories On the mournful thread of old age, remembering Buried strength and the battles it had won. He would weep, the old king. -lines 2107-2114 This example shows how the king would improvise while playing the harp and telling stories

9. Hope in Immortal Verse • Anglo Saxon literature had a large emphasis on mourning or death • The Seafarer, for example, stresses the hardships of life and that death is the end of the spirit

10. The Seafarer “ This tale is true, and mine. It tells How the sea took me, swept me back And forth in sorrow and fear and pain, Showed me suffering in a hundred ships, In a thousand ports, and in me…” -Lines 1-5 This is an example of the life struggles contained within Anglo-Saxon literature

11. Anglo-Saxons • Since they did not believe in an after-life their poetry focused on reality • Creative poetry held an emphasis on Gods and Wyrd (fate)

12. Non-Christian Anglo-Saxons with no promise of an after-life had poetry as a defense against death • Only a poem’s fame and its celebration gave the non-Christian a reason for living

13. Anglo-Saxons • Non-Christian Anglo-Saxons focused on reciting heroic poetry • Christians focused on Christian poetry

14. Anglo-Saxon scops were gifted with the ability to preserve fame in memory with their poetry • Their skill in poetry and creating such a memorable poetry era could be the reason they were dignified and honored members of society

15. What to remember • Bards are also known as scops • Scops were the entertainment of the era • Scops did not believe in an after-life or Christian Heaven

16. What to remember Inspiration for poetry came from real-life experience; war, diseases, common issues They desired their poetry to be well renowned after their death