ENGL 3543: English Literature I

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide: Assignment 1

Revised 8-17-10

 

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages in England (449-1485) can be divided, based on language, into two periods, both of which we will study in this unit:

  • Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period (449-1150)
  • Middle English Period (1150-1485)

 

The history of England before and during the Middle Ages was marked by a series of invasions of the island of Great Britain.  Learn in chronological order the invaders of the island:

  • Celts came to Britain in prehistoric times.
  • Romans occupied Britain 43-420 C.E. (“Common Era”; same as “A.D.”).  They left because their troops were needed to defend Rome, which was about to fall to “barbarian” invaders, ending the Classical Period and beginning the Middle Ages.
  • Anglo-Saxons began their invasion of Celtic Britain in 449, continuing until at least 600.
  • Vikings (also known as Danes) invaded Anglo-Saxon England throughout the 700s and 800s.
  • Normans (of Scandinavian descent but living in Normandy in northern France) conquered England in 1066 (the Norman Conquest).

 

Throughout the semester, if you can’t find answers to particular questions in the textbook, try to find the answers on the Internet or just ask about these questions in class.

    1. What peaceful “invasion” of England (not listed above) led to Old English becoming a written language?  When did this occur?
    2. Why did the Norman Conquest have such a dramatic impact on the English language, being a major factor in its change from Old English to Middle English?
    3. If the Norman Conquest occurred in 1066, why is 1150 (almost 100 years later) used as the date of the end of Old English and the beginning of Middle English?

 

Old English Language and Poetry

1.      Old English is a highly inflected language.  What does this mean?

2.      Your assignment includes a short passage titled “Old English . . . Prosody.”  According to your college dictionary, what is the meaning of “prosody”?

3.      What is oral-formulaic poetry?

 

Bede’s Eccelesiastical History of the English People, 25

  1. Who was the Venerable Bede?
  2. Who was Cædmon?  According to Bede’s account, how did Cædmon come to compose  “Cædmon’s Hymn”?
  3. According to your college dictionary, what is the meaning of “ecclesiastical”?  How is Bede’s account of the composition of “Cædmon’s Hymn” appropriate to an ecclesiastical history?

 

“Cædmon’s Hymn,” 25(b)

  1. Although Bede quotes “Cædmon’s Hymn” in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede is not the author of this poem.  Who is?   
  2. What distinction does this poem hold in English literature?
  3. The subject of this poem comes from Genesis 1:1.  What does this first verse of the Bible say?  According to Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, what subject was Cædmon told in a dream to write about?
  4. Critics have pointed out that in this poem the creation of the world is likened to the construction of a building (perhaps of a great mead-hall).  What specific phrases in the poem support this interpretation? 
  5. This poem frequently uses the Old English poetic technique called variation (multiple synonyms). 
    1. Every line except one contains a different name for God.  List the different synonyms for God. 
    2. Which of these names for God could also be considered kennings (stereotyped compound metaphors used in place of simple nouns)?  Explain how each fits the definition of “kenning.”
    3. The poem contains two different names for the earth.  What are these?
  6. Like all Old English poems, “Cædmon’s Hymn” is written in a poetic form known as Old English alliterative verse. (See the explanation on pages 19[m]-20[t].)  Line 6 of “Cædmon’s Hymn” in Old English exemplifies the features of Old English alliterative verse:

                                                /                 /                       /           /

heofon to hrofe  [caesura] halig Scyppend

[half-line]                                [half-line]

 

    1. How many stressed (accented) syllables appear in this line (and in each line of the poem)?
    2. The extra space in the middle of each line indicates a caesura, which divides each line into two half-lines. What is the definition of “caesura”? 
    3. What sound device links the first three accented syllables (and, in every line, at least one accented syllable before the caesura [in the first half-line] with an accented syllable after the caesura [in the second half-line])?  What is the definition of “alliteration”?  According to our textbook, in what one respect does alliteration in Old English poetry differ from alliteration as we now define it?

 

“The Dream of the Rood,” 27

“The Dream of the Rood” is the best known of the many Old English poems with a Christian theme.  Your text provides a Modern English prose translation (in paragraph form) of this Old English poem.

  1. In what verse form were all Old English poems written?  What features of this verse form are missing in a prose translation?
  2. What is a “rood”? 

 

Paragraph 1

  1. Who is the narrator (using the first-person pronoun “I”) in the first paragraph in your Modern English prose translation? 
  2. What different names does this narrator use for the cross?  What is the name of the Old English poetic device in which many different synonyms refer to the same noun?
  3. In this paragraph, what vision does the first narrator report having seen? 
  4. The narrator’s vision begins with a cross covered with jewels.  Where in Anglo-Saxon England (or in 21st-century Tulsa) might one actually see such a cross?  How might this help explain how the poet was inspired to write this poem?
  5. What human qualities are attributed to the cross?

 

Paragraph 2

  1. Beginning in paragraph 2, who is the narrator?  How are the words of this second narrator distinguishable from the words of the first narrator?
  2. What different names are used to refer to Christ?  What poetic device is being used?
  3. What specific phrases depict Christ not as a meek, passive victim but as a Germanic military hero who actively embraces his crucifixion on the cross?  What other work in this week’s assignment combines Christian and pre-Christian materials?
  4. How is the cross personified?  What shows that the cross identifies with Christ?

 

Paragraph 3

  1. After Christ’s body is removed from the cross and buried, what happens to the cross?  Then what?
  2. Who are the “warriors”?  Why is this word used?

 

Paragraph 4

  1. What now happens to both Christ and the cross?

 

Paragraph 5

  1. Whom does the cross directly address?  What command does the cross make?
  2. The cross then states various tenets of Christian doctrine.  In a liturgical church service, how would these beliefs be stated?  Extra-credit research: Find the text of the Nicene Creed or Apostles’ Creed, and compare it with the doctrinal statements here.   

 

Paragraph 6

  1. Who is the narrator of this paragraph?  What other part of the poem has had this same narrator?  In literature, what is a frame? Explain how this narrator creates a frame for the rest of the poem.
  2. Whose experience gives the dreamer reason for hope?  According to the very end of the poem, for what does the dreamer hope?
  3. Tone is the writer or speaker’s attitude toward the subject.  What adjectives would you use to describe the tone of this poem?

 

Extra-credit research: Part of this poem is inscribed in runes on the Ruthwell Cross, a medieval stone cross now on display in a church near Dumfries, Scotland, where I saw it in 1978. 

  1. What are runes? 
  2. What is the history of the Ruthwell Cross?  What does the inscription on the Ruthwell Cross suggest to scholars about “The Dream of the Rood”? 

 

Beowulf, 29(b)

In the film Annie Hall, when Woody Allen’s young girlfriend asks his advice about what college courses to take, he replies, “Don’t take anything where they make you read Beowulf.”  Despite Allen’s feelings, however, Beowulf is an exciting action-adventure story. 

 

Literary distinctions of Beowulf:

  • oldest of all Germanic epics
  • only surviving Old English epic
  • greatest work of Old English literature

 

Genre: Beowulf is an epic.  In general, epics of all cultures and types have the following seven characteristics.  Determine to what extent each of these characteristics applies to Beowulf, and support your answer. 

  1. long narrative poem
  2. elevated style, high seriousness
  3. characters of high position
  4. series of valorous or superhuman adventures of the epic hero (main character)
  5. vast setting
  6. supernatural intervention
  7. importance of story to an entire nation or race

 

Composition of Beowulf: This is an oral-formulaic poem, composed orally until written down.  Extra-credit research: Learn more about the oral tradition and oral-formulaic poetry, especially as they relate to Beowulf.

 

Original performance of Beowulf: In Anglo-Saxon culture, Beowulf would have been performed before an audience, sung by a bard to the accompaniment of a harp strummed on accented syllables.

 

Characters: The genealogical chart on page 32 shows the family relationships of the main characters in Beowulf.  Refer to the chart if/when you get confused about who’s who and who is related to whom.

 

Setting:  The events of Beowulf are set in Sweden and Denmark.  Extra credit: On the Internet, find a map that identifies the land of the Geats, Beowulf’s home, and the home of King Hrothgar, King of the Danes. 

 

Historical Chronology

Beginning of Anglo-Saxon invasion: 5th cen. (449 C.E.)

End of Anglo-Saxon invasion: ca. 600

Historical events described in Beowulf: 6th cen. (after 520, since the poem refers to a historical event that occurred in 520)

Conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity: throughout 7th cen. (beginning in 597)

Composition of Beowulf: early 8th cen. (or later)

Existing manuscript of Beowulf: late 10th cen.

  1. Historically, what would have been the religion of Beowulf and the other characters in the poem?
  2. What was the religion of the poet who orally composed Beowulf?
  3. How does the above historical chronology help to explain the mixture of pagan and Christian elements in Beowulf?
  4. How does the above historical chronology help to explain how this great Anglo-Saxon epic could be set in Scandinavia rather than in England?  

 

Narrative Techniques

Find examples of the narrator’s use of each of the following techniques in telling the story.

  1. The narrator divides the story into clearly separate parts:
    1. Part I: Beowulf as a young thane (assigned reading)
    2. Part II: Beowulf as an old king (extra-credit reading)
  2. The narrator adds to the sense that the story is based on oral history by repeatedly saying (especially in the story of Beowulf and the dragon, which is not assigned) things like “I have heard that” and “the story goes.” Where is this technique used in your assigned reading?
  3. The narrator creates vivid, moving, memorable scenes, such as Beowulf’s fight with Grendel, Beowulf’s underwater adventure in Grendel’s mother’s mere, and Beowulf’s farewell to Hrothgar.  Extra credit: Identify and discuss the techniques that make one or more of these scenes effective.
  4. Through dialogue, a character retells an episode that has already been narrated, such as the story of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel.
    1. What new details are revealed when Beowulf tells King Hygelac (HEE-uh-lack) about this fight (lines 2000-2100)?
    2. What other episodes are retold through dialogue?
    3. Why would the narrator use this seemingly redundant technique?
  5. The narrator deliberately removes suspense, preparing the audience for a good or bad outcome.  In the following episodes, how does the narrator remove suspense?
    1. Beowulf’s fight with Grendel
    2. Beowulf’s fight with the dragon (in extra-credit reading)
  6. The narrator relates two characters’ exchange of mocking insults (a technique known as flyting).
    1. What charges and retorts do Unferth and Beowulf make (lines 506-606)? 
    2. Who appears to win this contest of insults?  Support your answer.
  7. The story includes digressions (departures from the main narrative). The stories in these digressions are allusive rather than clearly explained because the original audience would have already been familiar with them.  Some scholars believe that, in Anglo-Saxon times, these digressions would be included or excluded at will by the scop (bard) singing the epic to an audience.  In the assigned reading, the entertainment at feasts includes two songs that are digressions:

a.       The Lay of Sigemund (lines 884-914): What definition of “lay” applies here?

b.      The Lay of Finnsburg (lines 1070-1158): Don’t worry if you don’t understand this song, in which a bard at a feast given in Beowulf’s honor recounts an old story. Extra credit: Explain what happens in this lay.

 

Plot

Beowulf is an exciting action-adventure story, so always be sure to follow what is happening in the plot.  If you get lost, refer to a plot summary (which should be readily available from various Web sites), and ask questions in class about anything you can’t follow.  

  1. Who is Hrothgar (ROTH-gar)?  What serious problem does he face at the beginning of the epic?
  2. Who is Beowulf (BAY-uh-wolf)?  What is his relationship to Hrothgar?  Why does he come to Hrothgar’s aid?
  3. Who is Wealhtheow (way-AL-thay-o)?  What functions does she perform at the feasts?
  4. What is Heorot (HAY-uh-rot)?  In Modern English, the word heorot would be translated “hart.”  What is a hart?  Why would a hart be important in Germanic culture?
  5. According to Unferth (at Beowulf’s first feast at Heorot), why is Beowulf unworthy to defend Hrothgar?
  6. On the night of Grendel’s attack, how many men does Grendel kill before he fights with Beowulf?
  7. What weapon does Beowulf use against Grendel?
  8. At what joint does Beowulf dismember Grendel?
  9. What rewards does Beowulf receive for killing Grendel? 
  10. How many men does Grendel’s mother kill?
  11. What is a “mere”?  Why does Beowulf go to a mere?
  12. What weapon is ineffective in killing Grendel’s mother?  What weapon is effective?
  13. What items does Beowulf take with him out of the underwater cave?

 

Extra-credit reading (the following questions are answered in Beowulf, Part II, beginning with line 2200):

  1. Where does Part II take place?  In relation to Part I, when does Part II take place?  How is Beowulf’s role in society different in Part II?
  2. Where does the dragon’s hoard of treasure come from?  What angers the dragon?
  3. How many men remain to help Beowulf fight against the dragon?
  4. What is the outcome of the fight between Beowulf and the dragon?
  5. What happens to Beowulf’s body?  What happens to the hoard of treasure?  (See the item below concerning the barrow.)

 

Old English Poetic Devices in Beowulf

  1. In Old English, what name is given to the poetic form in which Beowulf is written?  How does the poetic form of the Modern English translation in our textbook (by contemporary Irish poet Seamus Heaney) differ from the original?  
  2. The use of multiple synonyms in Old English poetry is called variation. Hundreds of examples of variation appear in Beowulf.  Look for these as you read, and answer with quotations and line numbers: 
    1. What different synonyms are used for Heorot hall?
    2. What different terms are used to identify Wealhtheow?
    3. What other examples of variation do you find?
  3. Because Beowulf is an oral-formulaic poem, it contains many examples of repetition of words, phrases, and incidents.  What examples of repetition can you find?
  4. In Old English poetry, a kenning is a stereotyped compound metaphor used in place of a simple noun.  What kennings for each of the following simple nouns are mentioned in the textbook’s introduction to Beowulf?  in the poem itself?
    1. sea
    2. ship
  5. Litotes (pronounced “LYE-toe-tease”) is negative understatement.  The following quotations appear in other translations of Beowulf.  How does each quotation fit the definition of litotes?  How (and in what line) is each translated in your textbook?  
    1. The Lord “had no love” for Grendel.
    2. Grendel “cares not for weapons.”
    3. A large crowd is “no little company.”
    4. The mere where Grendel’s mother lives is “no pleasant place.”

 

Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Culture Revealed in Beowulf

Your textbook explains these aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture, which appear in Beowulf and other Old English works, in the background chapter entitled “The Middle Ages,” the introduction to Beowulf, and/or footnotes to Beowulf. 

  1. In Anglo-Saxon society, what was the relationship of a king and his thanes or earls?  (Please note: When discussing Old English literature and culture, always refer to thanes or earls, not to knights, which are prominent in Middle English literature but did not exist in the Old English period.  What was the role of gift-giving in the relationship between a king and his thanes or earls?  What is a “gold-friend”?
  2. What is mead?  Extra-credit research:  How is mead made?  What modern recipes for mead can you find on the Internet?  (Please do not, however, bring homemade mead to class, as a former student offered to do!)
  3. What is a mead-hall?  What activities take place in the mead-hall in Beowulf?  List as many as you can.
  4. Extra-credit research:  Of what materials were mead-halls constructed?  What did they look like on the outside?  What was their floor plan?  Find an illustration of a mead-hall.  (Please note: Mead-halls, common in the Old English Period, are not to be confused with castles, which did not exist until the Middle English Period.)
  5. What can you deduce from Beowulf about the position of women in Anglo-Saxon society?  Extra credit: Research the role of women in Anglo-Saxon society.
  6. What is a scop (pronounced “shope” in Old English)?  How is a scop involved in Beowulf?
  7. In Anglo-Saxon culture, a barrow was a mound of earth or stone over a burial site. Extra-credit research: How is a barrow involved in the plot of Beowulf, Part II, which concerns Beowulf’s last battle as an old man?  Find an illustration of an Anglo-Saxon or other Germanic barrow.

 

Mixture of Christian and Pagan Elements in Beowulf

Beowulf contains a seemingly incongruous mixture of Christian and pagan (pre-Christian) elements; see the discussion in the textbook, pages 30(m)-31.  It is often unclear whether the characters and worldview of the epic are pagan or Christian.  To explain this phenomenon, see the questions for “Historical Chronology” above.

 

Christian Elements

Find each of the following Christian references in Beowulf.  (The textbook lists and briefly discusses these on 30[m]-31.)

  1. God is the Creator.
  2. The scop sings about the creation of the world, thus angering Grendel.
  3. God’s will is equated with Fate.
  4. Both Hrothgar and Beowulf give thanks to God.
  5. Grendel is descended from Cain, the first murderer in Genesis; thus evil is seen in a Judeo-Christian framework.
  6. The hilt of the sword in Grendel’s cave depicts the Great Flood described in Genesis.
  7. Grendel and his mother are said to be destined for hell.
  8. Hrothgar gives Beowulf a homily (sermon) warning him against pride.

Ironically, however, Beowulf contains no overt references to Christ or to the New Testament.

 

Pagan (Pre-Christian) Elements

These aspects of pre-Christian Germanic society would seem to be in conflict with Christianity.  Find each of these pagan elements in Beowulf:

  1. Hrothgar’s people, desperate for relief from Grendel, offer heathen sacrifices.
  2. Wergild is paid.
    1. What is the literal meaning of wergild? 
    2. By whom and to whom was wergild paid?  What determined the amount of payment?
    3. How is the payment of wergild relevant to the plot of Beowulf?
    4. How is the payment of wergild at odds with the teachings of Christianity?
  3. Pre-Christian methods of burial are carried out.
    1. In Beowulf Scyld is given a ship burial; his corpse is set out to sea in a boat with provisions for the next life.  Extra credit research: Research ship burials in Germanic society.
    2. Another kind of ship burial, not mentioned in Beowulf, involves burying a corpse under ground inside a fully provisioned ship. Extra-credit research: Research Sutton Hoo, the site of the best-known archaeological find of an Anglo-Saxon ship-burial. 
    3. Beowulf’s body is cremated and then marked with a barrow or mound. 
    4. Why would all of these methods of burial have been unacceptable to Christians in the Middle Ages?
  4. The concept of immortality in Beowulf does not seem consistent with Christian belief.
    1. There are few (if any) references to heaven.  Can you find any at all?
    2. Immortality seems to come from courageous deeds that win glory and fame that live on after one’s death.  Where does the poem refer to this kind of immortality?
  5. A sense of fate, doom, and pessimism hang over the story (especially Part II, which is optional reading for extra credit).  The Old English word for fate is “wyrd” (pronounced “weird” and source of our Modern English word “weird”).  Where is fate mentioned or suggested in Beowulf?    

 

“The Wanderer,” 111

Genre:  Although the Modern English translation in your textbook is in prose (and printed in paragraph form), in Old English “The Wanderer” is a poem.  More specifically, it is an Old English elegy.  An elegy is a formal meditation on death or some other serious theme.

  1. To what extent does “The Wanderer” fit the definition of an elegy?

 

Mood: In general, the mood of an elegy is elegiac (el-uh-JYE-ik).  What definition of “elegiac” applies here?   

 

Organization and Content of “The Wanderer”

  1. Who is the speaker of the first paragraph (in the Modern English translation in your textbook)?
  2. Who is the speaker of the second paragraph?  How are the words of the first speaker distinguished from those of the second speaker?
  3. Who is the speaker of the third paragraph?
  4. What does the Wanderer tell us about his past situation?  What does he especially miss about the past?  What is a “gold-friend”?  What other poem in this assignment uses this same kenning?
  5. What does the Wanderer tell us about his present situation?  Where is he now? What mirage or hallucination of the past does he describe?   
  6. The poem does not tell us specifically what has happened to change the Wanderer’s situation.  What theories might explain what has happened?
  7. Who is the speaker of the last paragraph?  How can you tell that the speaker has changed?
  8. What “moral” is stated at the end of the poem?  Critics disagree about whether or not this moral is convincingly integrated into the poem as a whole.  Is the moral consistent with what the rest of the poem has shown?  Why or why not?  In comparison with the ending of “The Dream of the Rood,” is the ending of “The Wanderer” more consistent or less consistent with the rest of the poem?

 

Themes of “The Wanderer”

Two universal themes in this poem can be expressed by well-known Latin sentences:

  1. Ubi sunt?: Literally, “Where are they?”  This rhetorical question is typically used to mourn the lost joys of the past.  What lost joys of the past does the Wanderer mourn?  On which of these does the Wanderer place the highest value? (See question 4 in the above section on “Organization and Content.”)
  2. Sic transit gloria mundi: Literally, “Thus passes the glory of the world.”  This is also called the theme of mutability.  What is the definition of “mutability”?  How does it relate to this poem?

 

Comparison of “The Wanderer” with “The Seafarer”

“The Wanderer” is somewhat similar in content to another Old English poem, “The Seafarer,” which you may find in high school English literature textbooks and on teacher certification exams. 

  1. Extra credit:  Find and read “The Seafarer.”  What are the similarities between “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer”?  What are the differences?

 

“The Wife’s Lament,” 113(b)

  1. Who is the speaker of the poem?  How can you tell?
  2. It isn’t clear exactly what has happened to the speaker.  What scenario does the textbook’s introduction offer?  To what extent do the details of the poem support this scenario?   
  3. Your textbook provides a Modern English prose translation of this Old English poem.  What genres of Old English poetry have we already studied?  To what genre of Old English poetry does this poem belong?  Support your answer.
  4. What adjectives best describe the mood of this poem?
  5. How is the situation in this poem similar to that in “The Wanderer”?  How is it different?
  6. What does this poem suggest about the place of women in Anglo-Saxon society?