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Anglo-Saxon Literature

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.

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Anglo-Saxon Literature

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  1. Anglo-Saxon Literature

  2. The Celts • Literature began in England with the Celtic Druids • Druids would memorize and recite poems for special occasions

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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)

  6. Types of Poetry • Divided into two main categories – heroic and elegiac

  7. Heroic Poetry • Heroic= retells the achievements of warriors involved in great battles • Most important heroic Anglo-Saxon work = Beowulf

  8. Beowulf • Beowulf = national epic of England • Author = unknown • Includes values of warrior society including dignity, bravery, and strength in battle

  9. Elegiac Poetry • Lyric poem that mourns the loss of someone or of the past • Famous example of Anglo-Saxon elegiac poetry = “The Seafarer”

  10. “The Seafarer” • Author = unknown • Speaker = sailor reflecting on his life • Includes values of time period but also evidence of changing way of life

  11. Links • Reading of “The Funeral of Scyld Scefing” from Beowulf http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/readings/bss_oe.html • The Beowulf Project http://www.beowulf.org/ • Reading of Grendel’s Approach to Herot http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Grendel.html

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