Beowulf Flashcards
Oral Poetry
Poems that were usually sung, not written. This necessitated a strong beat and alliteration
Scop
Tribal Historian, Professional Poet
Heroic Tradition
Bravery of central hero
Elegiac Tradition
Mourns the passing of earlier, better times
Epic
A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and reflecting the values of the society from which it originated
Rhythm
The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern
Alliteration
The repetition of similar sounds, usually consonants or consonant clusters, in a group of words
Caesura
A break or pause in a line of poetry
Kenning
In Old English poetry, an elaborate phrase that describes persons, things, or events in a metaphorical and indirect way
Dialouge
Oral communication. conversation`
Paradox
A statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems at first to be self-contradictory and untrue
Host
A great number
Gabled
Built with a gable, a section, a section of roof that sloped down on two sides in a triangular shape
Moor
A tract of wasteland, often marshy
Spawn
To produce, give birth to, to bring into being
