Beowulf:Over the next week we will be reading and working with Beowulf and other Anglo Saxon poetry and various informational texts to help your understand and contextualize this epic that is foundational to Western literature and culture.
Additional Info:
What is an Epic?
A long story in poem form.
An epic has a hero.
The epic is the story of the hero's travels and his fights with monsters, gods, and bad guys
An epic is in the 3rd person.
Epics were originally sung, often to a harp.
Epics contain information about the culture that created them: religion, dress & ornaments, homes, weapons and war, roles of men and women, values, moral standards.
Epics often contain clues to what the people who created them feared or did not understand: natural disasters, natural features (like boiling springs and water red with rust), death, the heavens, storms.
AP Readings #1: Intro Grendel & Beowulf (lines #2: The Battle with Grendel (lines 642-1250) #3: The Battle with Grendel's Mother (lines #4: The Battle with the Dragon & Beowulf's Funeral (lines
CP Reading Schedule: 1) Intro text, "Grendel" and "Beowulf" 2) "The Battle with Grendel" 3) "The Battle with Grendel's Mother" 4) "Beowulf's Last Battle" & "The Death of Beowulf"