Literary Pieces in Old English Historical Background Beowulf exeter venerable beede

1. Old English
Period

2. Old English is the term used
to refer to the language
literature spoken and written
in England during the rule of
the Anglo-Saxons.

3. Old English is the language and Literature of the
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon ruled England from 450 AD to 1066
Old English is directly related to modern English
(Many of the modern words came from old English)
Old English was first oral (with runic inscriptions)
then used alphabets writing on manuscripts.
Old English Literature

4. • Strong belief in fate
• Juxtaposition of the church and pagan
worlds
• Admiration of heroic warriors who prevail
in battle
• Express religious faith and give moral
instruction through literature
CONTENT

5. Style / Genres
♠Oral tradition of literature
♠Poetry is the dominant genre
♠Unique forms includes:
o Caesura
o Alliteration
o Repetition

6. Key Literature: Authors
• Beowulf
• Exeter Book
• The Venerable Bede
URSULA HUANCAS DONAYRE

7. Why is Old English
Important?
It shows us where English comes from
and how it relates to other language
It tells about bout the history, society and
geography of England.

9. A Brief Glimpse of the History
of English from “Our Father”
OLD ENGLISH
400-
1066
Beowulf
Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum
si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on
eorðan swa swa on heofonum
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg
and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum
and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.
Middle English
1066-
1485
Chaucer
Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name;
þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is doun
in heuene.
yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred.
And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure
dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us.
And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl.
Early Modern
English
1485-
1800
Shakes-peare
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen.
Giue us this day our daily bread.
And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill. Amen.
Modern
English
1800-
present
Austen Extra Credit! Write “The Our Father” in Modern English.

10. The time period of about 500-1100AD in British history was
characterized by foreign invasions and internal struggles. This
resulted in the mixing of several races, tongues and cultures.
 Rome- 41 AD
 Anglo-Saxon- 5th century
 Vikings- 9th century
Historical Background

11. Rome - 41 AD

13. Anglo-Saxon- 5th century

14. Vikings- 9th century

15. Thus…
English words were Germanic, having come from the
languages of the Angles, Jutes and Saxons. Latin, however, also had a
strong influence on early English. Later, the Scandinavians (Vikings)
contributed many words to Old English.
Old English literature consists of poetry, prose, charms, riddles,
maxims, proverbs, and various other wisdom sayings. It is a mixture of
pagan traditions, thoughts about life, the universe and nature, as well
as Christian thought and moral values. There is often no clear-cut
delineation between religious and non-religious poetry or sometimes
even between poetry and prose.

17. Beowulf

18. Beowulf

19. • Its author is unknown, but he seems to have had a good
grasp of the Bible and other great epics, such as Homer's
Odyssey.
• The work glorifies a hero and the values of bravery and
generosity
• Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English poem in the
English language, so everything written since Beowulf
stems from it in some way.
• The story of Beowulf encompasses common themes that
we still see in English literature today.

20.  Some of the characters in
the poem actually existed.
 The only copy of the
manuscript was written
sometimes around 11th
century A.D.
 The epic caught the
imagination of writers such
as J.R.R. Tolkien

21. Setting: Beowulf’s time and place
•Although Beowulf was written in
English, it is set in what is now Sweden,
where a tribe called the Geats lived.
•The story may take place as early as
400 or 500 A.D.

22. THE SCANDINAVIAN TALE
WHICH BECAME THE FIRST
ENGLISH EPIC
• Although the story of Beowulf centres around the heroic
exploits of the Scandinavians, it found fame in the epic
poem written in Old English by an Anglo-Saxon bard.
• It tells the tale of Beowulf, a Great warrior from modern-
day Scandinavia, who travels to Denmark to help King
Hrothgar defend his magnificent hall of Heorot.

23. Conflict
in
Beowulf

24. Christian values
vs.
(Anglo-Saxon) Pagan Values
• This tension is at the heart of the poem
• Pagan history and myth are made to point a
Christian moral
• Beowulf is poised between to value system
• It is assumed that the poet was Christian, still
may of the characters embrace pagan heroic
ideals

25. The 2 Value System
• Strong nature presence
• Strength of the hero
• a love of war and the virtue of
courage.
• The biblical Old Testament supplies the
idea about giants and monsters having
descended from Cain's line.
• The poem is sometimes seen as a conflict
between good and evil. From the Christian
tradition, it incorporates morality, obedience
to God, and avoidance of pride

26. Principal
Characters

27. The protagonist of the
epic, Beowulf is a Geatish hero
who fights the monster. In his
youth, he personifies all of the
best values of the heroic
culture. In his old age, he proves
a wise and effective ruler.
Beowulf

28. The king of the Danes.
A wise and aged ruler, Hrothgar
represents a different kind of
leadership from that exhibited by
the youthful warrior Beowulf. He
is a father figure to Beowulf and
a model for the kind of king that
Beowulf becomes.
King hrothgar

29. A demon descended from
Cain, Grendel preys on Hrothgar’s
warriors in the king’s mead-hall,
Heorot. Grendel fits solidly within
the ethos of vengeance that
governs the world of the poem.
Grendel

30. An unnamed swamp-
hag, Grendel’s mother seems
to possess fewer human
qualities than Grendel,
although her terrorization of
Heorot is explained by her
desire for vengeance—
a human motivation.
Grendel’s mother

31. An ancient, powerful
serpent, the dragon guards
a horde of treasure in a
hidden mound. Beowulf’s
fight with the dragon
constitutes the third and
final part of the epic.
Dragon

32. Summary
The first part of the story takes place in Denmark. King
Hrothgar is being pestered by a water monster, Grendel, who is
killing his men. Beowulf comes to his aid and kills Grendel and
later, at the bottom of the lake, also Grendel's mother, who comes
to avenge her son.
The second part happens in southern Sweden about fifty
years later. Beowulf himself is a king and has to fight a fire
breathing dragon.
The poem concludes decades later with a face-off
between the ageing king and a fearsome dragon, ending with the
death of both.

33. Exeter book

34. The Exeter Book gets its name from the Exeter
Cathedral. The book was donated to the cathedral’s library in
1072 by the first bishop of Exeter, Leofric.
Exeter book
c. 975
Inside its covers we
find “The Wanderer,” “The
Seafarer,” “The Wife’s Lament”
and over ninety riddles which
offer a delightful glimpse into
the domestic objects (and
sexual double entendres) of
early Anglo Saxon life.

35. • The Exeter Book is the largest still-existing collection
of Old English poetry and riddles. The Exeter Book is
believed to have originally consisted of 131 pages.
The original first eight pages of the book have gone
missing and were replaced by other pages at a later
date.
• It is known for its Double Entrende

36. Riddle #1
I am a wondrous creature for women in
expectation, a service for neighbors. I harm none of
the citizens except my slayer alone. My stem is erect,
I stand up in bed, hairy somewhere down below. A
very comely peasant's daughter, dares sometimes,
proud maiden, that she grips at me, attacks me in my
redness, plunders my head, confines me in a
stronghold, feels my encounter directly, woman with
braided hair. Wet be that eye.

38. Riddle #2
A curiosity hangs by the thigh of a man, under
its master’s cloak. It is pierced through in the front; it
is stiff and hard and it has a good standing-place.
When the man pulls up his own robe above his knee,
he means to poke with the head of his hanging thing
the familiar hole of matching length which he has
often filled before.

40. Venerable Bede

41. He is widely regarded as the
greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon
scholars.
He wrote or translated some
forty books on practically every area
of knowledge, including nature,
astronomy, and poetry. He also wrote
the first martyrology (a chronicle
about the lives of the saints).
St. Bede
Father of English History

42. Bede’s most famous
work created in 731, tells the
story of the conversion of the
English people to Christianity.
It is a history of the
Christian Churches in England,
and of England generally; its
main focus is on the conflict
between the pre-Schism Roman
Rite and Celtic Christianity.

43. Review