Test 2: Riddles, The Battle of Brunanburh, & from Andreas Flashcards
a short sword with a slightly curved blade
cutlass
bright; shining
luminous
enhanced or improved; polished
resplendent
one who attends a royal court as a companion or advisor to the king or queen
courtier
a large, densely packaged group
throng
the location of the battle, believed to have been on or near the northwest coast of England.
Brunanburh
attractive; agreeable; becoming
comely
showing or having skill
dexterous
the scanning of a line of poetry to mark its stresses and meter
scansion
depressingly dull and bleak
drear
supplied with more than can be managed or is desired
sated
taken; robbed
fleeced
noblemen
earlmen
courageous; determined
valiant
a swift horse
courser
descendant of a notable family
scion
in poetry, the continuation of a sentence without pause beyond the end of a line couplet, or stanza
enjambment
easily bent
pliant
happily; in a carefree manner
blithely
a major Anglo-Saxon poet of the late eighth-ninth centuries
Cynewulf
triumphantly rejoicing
exulting
inactive; unproductive
fallow
marked with spots or rounded patches
dappled
went quickly
hied
moving in a turbulent, hectic way
seething
“The Battle of Brunanburh” is a late tenth-century imitation of this form
Old English heroic epic
“I float unweariedly o’er flood and field”
alliteration
the golden era of English literature
the eighth century
“These heroes, like to wanderers on the waves”
simile
a complete victory for King Athelstan
the Battle of Brunanburh
“Sometimes, set off with trappings,/ In comely guise upon the wall I hang / Where heroes drink.”
imagery of a mead-hall
their primary reason and purpose for fighting
“their own land …/ Their homes and their treasures”
“The angels stood / About the Prince, the thanes about their Lord”
syncretism (Christian and Anglo-Saxon)
an Old English poem narrating the story of St. Andrew the Apostle
Andreas
“The venomous sting, with dexterous speed I send / Far and away the quivering stroke of death”
an instance of injambment
“where the waves / Loud thundered, and the streams of ocean beat / Against the shore”
sound imagery
what Edmund and Athelstan earned in the battle
unending glory
attendants of battles in Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry
hawk, wolf, and raven
“The bloom of the trees I wear upon my breast!”
figurative language for the falcon
“when the beacon of heaven / Upmounted at morning, the marvelous orb, / When clear bright on high the candle of God”
extended metaphor
