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An Introduction to the English Folk Epic

Beowulf. An Introduction to the English Folk Epic. During a time of Old English Warriors. Called the “Dark Ages” - - a time of Barbarians. A Story About a. DRAGON. VIKINGS INVADE. Beowulf. DARK AGES DOES NOT MEAN NO ART. VIKINGS LOVED GOLD, JEWELRY, WEAPONS, AND RINGS.

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An Introduction to the English Folk Epic

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  1. Beowulf An Introduction to the English Folk Epic

  2. During a time of Old English Warriors Called the “Dark Ages” - - a time of Barbarians

  3. A Story About a DRAGON

  4. VIKINGS INVADE

  5. Beowulf

  6. DARK AGES DOES NOT MEAN NO ART VIKINGS LOVED GOLD, JEWELRY, WEAPONS, AND RINGS

  7. Art resulted in stories, some of which were told in manuscripts that were beautifully decorated and colored.

  8. Many of the artworks pictured in this presentation were a part of a discovery at Sutton Hoo.

  9. Story Of: ADVENTURE

  10. GRENDEL

  11. to the RESCUE HEROES

  12. AUTHOR/ COMPOSER WAS A CHRISTIAN MONK?

  13. SONG of PRAISE

  14. Folk Epics are tales of a national HERO But What Is HEROIC?

  15. Characteristics of a Pagan Hero • Good Fighter • Loyal • Persevering (Never Gives Up) • Wins “Fame” (in Songs in a Mead Hall)

  16. Pagan Characteristics, cont. • Little Regard for Danger or Self: Brave • Battle as a Way of Life • Personal Vengeance as Familial Requirement • FATE: Revenge and/or Death

  17. Characteristics of a Christian Hero • Recognizes God as Creator • Humility in the presence of God’s Power • Altruism in Action

  18. Christian Characteristics cont. • Contrast between Good and Evil Rulers • Personal Vengeance transmuted into Fighting Evil • Good is Rewarded and Evil is Punished (Evil in the World)

  19. Beowulf Historical Background

  20. Part History Part Fiction Beowulf The Poem

  21. Author/Composer • Likely an educated Christian, possibly a monk • Wove together many oral traditions with consummate skill • Sanitized slightly the pagan traditions • Produced a single tale

  22. Manuscript History • Authored in 1,000 B. C. • Saved from looting of monasteries under Henry VIII • Saved from fire in Sir Henry Cotton’s Library in 1731 • Danish scholar translated it in 1787; first published in 1815

  23. Beowulf Structure and Style

  24. Style of the Folk Epic • Lyric • Epic • Narrative

  25. Characteristics of Style • Elegiac tone • Concentration on feelings • Extra epithets delay narration and focus the point of view

  26. Literary Devices • Scops used harp to add beats to poetry • Four Lifts per line; with a caesura • Understatement • Allusions

  27. Literary Devices, cont. • Exalted Vocabulary • Ritual Objects • Kennings: bardic formulae, used as appositives, for example, “swan-road”

  28. This PowerPoint presentation taken in part from: http://www.cbnosf.org/lesson_plans.htm A presentation found on the New Orleans - Sante Fe District of the Brothers of the Christian Schols

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