beowulf: part one -...

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BeowulfPart One

EPICChapter 1, Grade 12


California Standards

Reading Standard 3.6

– Analyze the way in which authors through the centuries have used archetypes drawn from myth and tradition in literature.


Before You Read

Standards Starter

What are some characters in books, movies, or TV programs that can be described as:

– a wise and brave leader?

– a loyal companion?

– a mysterious stranger?

– a villain who plots against a person or group?

– a naive young person seeking to become an adult?


Preteaching

Standards Starter

These are some of the basic types of characters in literature, called archetypes, that appear in literary traditions around the world.


Before You Read

Make the Connection

Quickwrite– Write about a contemporary hero, real or fictional,

and the challenges he or she faces.

– Describe your hero, and then briefly analyze him or her using these questions.

» What sort of evil or oppression does your hero confront?

» What is your hero’s motivation for confronting evil?

» What virtues does your hero represent?


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– Beowulf is ancient England’s

hero, but he is also an archetype, or perfect example, of an epic hero.

– In other times, in other cultures, the hero has taken the shape of King Arthur or Gilgamesh, or Sundiata or Joan of Arc.


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– In modern America, the hero may

be a real person, like Martin Luther King, Jr., or a fictional character, like Shane in the western novel of the same name.


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– The hero archetype in Beowulf is the dragon

slayer, representing a besieged community facing evil forces that lurk in the cold darkness.

– Grendel, the monster lurking in the depths of the lagoon, may represent all of those threatening forces.


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– Beowulf, like all epic heroes,

possesses superior physical strength and supremely ethical standards.

– He embodies the highest ideals of Anglo-Saxon culture.


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– In his quest, he must

defeat monsters that embody dark, destructive powers.

– At the end of the quest, he is glorified by the people he has saved.


Before You Read

Literary Focus

The Epic Hero– If you follow current events and the

stories of people who have gained freedom after years of oppression, you will still see this impulse to glorify those people who have set them free.

– You might also see this impulse in the impressive monuments in Washington D.C.


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Epic Convention: Boasting– Boasting is a tradition of epic

poetry and Odysseus does it often in the Odyssey.

– You may consider boasting offensive, but in the world of Beowulf, it serves as both an implicit promise to help and a presentation of credentials.


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Archetype– If Beowulf is an archetype of an

epic hero, of what is Grendel an archetype?

– What details support your answer?


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Rhyme– These lines demonstrate how translators

(Burton Raffel, in this case) can use rhyme in surprising ways.

– There is no end rhyme but:» hot and thought and know and gnaw

are examples of approximate rhyme.

» crowded and rows are an example of eye rhyme.

– You’ll appreciate them more if you read aloud.


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Making Inferences– Why do you think

Beowulf allows Grendel to slaughter one of the Geatsbefore taking action?


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Reading Inverted Sentences– In many sentences in this narrative, the subject is

preceded by one or more descriptive phrases.

– Making the subject come first, can help you understand this better. Reread lines 64-66.

» The building-shaped and fastened with iron, inside and out, artfully worked-stood firm.

– Try it with the sentence beginning “Down the aisles the battle swept” (II.59-61)


Direct Teaching

Content-Area Connections

History: Herot– Archaeologists have confirmed

that Herot was built of wood held together with iron bands.

– The gabled roof was overlaid with gold, and the floor was inlaid.


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Enrichment– How does the passage at

the end of page 23 show a tension between the paganism of Beowulf’s day and the Christianity of the recorder’s day?


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Epic Hero– As this episode ends, what details

remind you that Beowulf is a hero of epic proportions, able to represent a people and their values?


Direct Teaching


History: The Geats– The Geats lived in what is

now southwestern Sweden.

– Higlac, king of the Geatsand Beowulf’s kinsman, was killed during a raid on the Franks in A.D. 521.

» The complete epic of Beowulf forecasts the Geats’ defeat by the Swedes.


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

• Epic Hero– Many princes and leaders travel to Herot after

Beowulf’s victory.

» How does this add to Beowulf’s status as an epic hero?

• Imagery– What images in the description of Grendel’s lair

associate Grendel with death and darkness?


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Re-reading

– Remember to re-read when you lose track of the action or setting.

– What can you learn about the setting by re-reading II. 197-203?


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Epic Hero

– What characteristics of an epic hero does Beowulf display during his fight with Grendel’s mother?


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Rearranging Syntax– How might you rearrange the words in II.

236-237 and why?

» Syntax like this often appears in the poem.

– Find the noun phrase to which the appositive Ruler of the Heavens in I. 240 refers.

» What would be a more common syntax for that long clause?


Direct Teaching


Culture: Christian Parallels

– Critics who trace Christian parallels in the epic suggest that the light that blazes when Grendel’s mother dies indicates God’s favor upon Beowulf.

– Similarly, Beowulf’s immersion in the lake is seen as a kind of baptism – a type of purification before he achieves his goal.


Direct Teaching

Reading Skills

Evaluating Plot

– Do you think that Beowulf’s search for the body of Grendel and his beheading of it add anything to the story?

» Why or why not?


Direct Teaching

Literary Focus

Verbal Irony

– What words and expressions indicate that Grendel is using irony in his storytelling?

– What does the irony suggest about his personality?


Direct Teaching

Literary Connections

Scop: Anglo-Saxon Storyteller

– The “old Shaper” refers to a storyteller.

– Since the days of the bard Homer, who was rumored to be blind, storytellers are often depicted as blind harpists.


Direct Teaching

Reading Informational Materials

Characterizing the Historical Period

– Why might a write use the concept of speed to define a particular historical age?


Direct Teaching


Culture: Salt

– So crucial was salt to people’s lives long ago that the world salaryreferred to the money paid to Roman soldiers so that they could buy it.


Direct Teaching

Reading Informational Materials

• Finding Supporting Details– The main idea of this paragraph is that life

expectancy in the Anglo-Saxon age was short.» What details does the author cite to prove this point?

• Characterizing the Historical Period– What metaphor does the author use

to sum up the millennial period in Europe?» What does the author mean by this?

beowulf: part one -...

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