Beowulf Flashcards
How did J.R.R. Tolkien change how Beowulf is appreciated?
treated the poet as a creative individual who imagine the story just as modern fantasy writers do today
mead
a fermented alcoholic beverage
in the halls @ meal times
mead-hall
a structure built by an Anglo-Saxon lord as the social center for his immediate communitym, esp. for his thanes & warriors
constructed primarily of wood → few survivied
scop
a story-teller, wandering minstrel/bard
lay
a narrative poem of popular origin
Finnsburg Lay, Sigemund’s lay, Heremond’s lay
ring and ring-giver
a principle form of currency was the gold arm ring or band, which had the advantage of being valuable, portable, & showy
hence the king is often referred to as a ring-giver
sword
the older, the better; family heirlooms w/ a long history favored by heroes & poets
elaborately decorated hilt often had ornamental ring attached & perhaps runic inscription for powers
very valuable = part of the warrior, w/ own identity, etc.
fen
low land covered wholly or partially w/ shallow water, or subject to frequent inundations
a tract of such land, a marsh, sometimes a bog
mere
a sheet of standing water
a lake, pond
ogres and trolls
a member of a race of humanoid beings, fierce & cruel monsters, that eat human flesh
often dwell underground or live in/near water
sometimes: shy, cowardly, “undead”
thane
a warrior who has sworn his loyalty to a lord
in return for a gift of weaponry & provisions of food & drink @ the mead-hall, vows to fight for his lord & die in his service; avenges lord’s death
eorl, thane, ceorl
liege and liege-lord
liege - party in oath of allegiance to smoeone; sometimes specifically reserved for a “privileged” allegiance, to take precedence in case of conflictin allegieances
liege-lord - any person/entity to which one has pledged allegiance
retainer
a person being part of the retinue (suite, train) of a dignitary, etc. either performing personal services such as man servant, pageboy, bodyguard, or occasionally minstrel
wyrd
~ fate
refers to the past/that which has become; how past actions continually affect & condition the future
the interconnected nature of all actions, & how they influence each other
some relation to predestination except constantly creating our own Wyrd through how we respond to present situations karma
Cain
Cain & Abel = 1st & 2nd sons of Adam & Eve born after the Fall of Man
Cain commits 1st murder by killing Abel after rejected by God
Cain cursed to wander the earth forever friendless & homeless & never killed
chain-mail
a type of armor that consists of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh
sometimes punctured by a spear/shorn by the blow from heavy axe/sword & flexibility means wearer somewhat vulnerable to blunt weapons; nevertheless, effective & popular
refers to the armor material, not the garment made from it
hauberk
a shirt made from mail
byrnie
a knee-length shirt from armor material
haubergeon
waist-length shirt made from mail
chausses
mail leggings
coif
mail hoods
mitons
mail mittens
camail
aventail
mail collar hanging from helmet
pixane
standard
mail collar strapped around neck
pyre
a structure, such as a mound of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite
early form of cremation
sometimes on ship
Valhalla
“hall of the slain” Norse
Odin’s hall, home for those slain gloriously in battle (Einherjar)
important concept in background
called the shining citadel in Beowulf
peace-weaver
kenning
men were war-makers
a woman of nobility had few roles → many young girls found themselves bound across the region in the capacity of a peace-offering b/w clans
woman respected & honored for her sacrifice
Wealhtheow successful, Hildeburn failure, Hygd successful, Freawaru failure
beot
“vow” “boast”
a ritualized boast/vow made publicly by warriors as thanes before the lord of the mead-hall generally the night before a military engagement
often accompanied by stories of his past glorious deeds
valued behavior → determination & character
fame/shame culture
code of martial honor
“death before dishonor”
rewards those who display bravery by engaging in risk-taking behavior to enhance one’s reputation, facing certain death in preference to accusations of cowardice, and displaying loyalty to one’s king in the face of adversity
fame = most valuable reward since it alone will exist after death
fear of shame > fear of death
wergild
a reparation payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death, altho could be demanded in other cases of serious crime
set a fixed monetary value on the life (sometimes body parts) of each man @ each rank of society
important legal mechanism; other common form = blood revenge
payment made to family/clan
“man price”
if not payed, blood feud
epic
a long narrative opem that celebrates the deeds of an heroic figure
elevated style w/ episodic structure
often opens in media res
primary or secondary
primary epic
folk epics i.e., transmitted orally in pre-literate cultures
secondary epic
literary epics, i.e., versions actually written dwn rather than chanted/sung
often retain elements of oral-formulaic transmission (staggered intervals in which poet summarizes earlier events, standardized epithets, phrases)
qualities of an epic hero
- unusual background - orphaned, great tragedy in youth
- special power/ability that sets him/her above ordinary humans
- goes on quest - generally involves the triumph of good over evil
- literally/figuratively descends into the underworld - often initiates change in hero
- role model who embodies the values of his/her society
epithet
short, poetic nickname
adjective/adjectival phrase attached to normal name
allows poet to extend line by a few syllables
Homeric epithet
in classical lit
often compounds of 2 words “fleet-footed Achilles” “cow-eyed Hera”
in other cases, phrase “Odysseus the man-of-many-wiles”
historical epithet
a descriptive phrase attached to a ruler’s name
King Alfred the Great
in media res
“in the middle of things”
later in narrative, hero will recount verbally to others what events took place earlier
usually used to heighten dramatic tension/create sense of mystery
opp. of ab ovo (beginning
foil
a character/situation that thru strong contrast underscores/enhances the distinctive traits of another character/situation
1st, must be a pt of comparison before the strong contrast can be made
Anglo-Saxon poetry
alliterative verse
4 accented syllables per line, w/ a caesura sep-ing the 1st two accented syllables from the last 2
frequent alliteration & wordy play, but not a set rhyme scheme
rhythm
the pattern of stressed & unstressed syllables in verse or prose
diff lines of verse can have the same meter but a diff rhythm. thus 2 lines of alliterative verse in Middle English poetry might have the same metrical pattern of 4 stressed syllables, but rhythm might differ by having a greater/lesser # of unstressed syllables intervening b/w the stressed syllables
caesura
caesurae
a pause abt the middle of a metrical line
can be quite violent or almost inaudible
alliteration
poets often use this to audibly represent the action that’s taking place
emphasis
head rhyme
alliteration in which 1st letters of words r the same
consonance
if alliteration also involves changes in the intervening vowels b/w repeated consonants
compounding
taking 2 common words & sticking them together to create a brand new concept
