70 likes | 158 Views
Anglo-Saxon Literary Devices. Oral Tradition. Most people aside from the clergy could not read or write Information was passed by word of mouth This lead to omissions, embellishments, or outright changes from the original story. Scops. Stories/poems told by scops (pronounced: shooops )
E N D
Oral Tradition • Most people aside from the clergy could not read or write • Information was passed by word of mouth • This lead to omissions, embellishments, or outright changes from the original story
Scops • Stories/poems told by scops (pronounced: shooops) • Were the keepers of stories for hundreds of years • Sang the tales with an accompanying harp or other instrument
Caesura (si-zhooreh) • mid-line pause in Anglo-Saxon poetry • Breaks up long lines and makes the piece more dramatic • It will look like this in the text • (space between the two parts of a line)
Alliteration • Repetition of initial consonant sounds • Helpful to oral stories because • Easy to remember: if one word has a D sound, can remember an alliterative D phrase • Catches listener’s attention
Assonance • Repetition of vowel sounds • Can be at the beginning or middle of words • Ex: lying in waiting, hidden in mist, invisibly following them • The “i” sound is repeated in these lines
Kennings • Poetic synonym; descriptive compound phrase that replaces an ordinary noun with a more interesting one • Example: a kenning for “ocean” could be “whale-road” • Help create mental pictures and aid in memorization