• KENNING: metaphorical compound word used as a poetic device. In Beowulf, there are many examples of kennings. The king is the "ring-giver," the rough sea is the "whale-road," and the calm sea is the "swan-road.“

• Examples (NA 6): – “whale-road” = sea – “life-house” = body

– More examples: – “hall-watcher” (l. 142) = Grendel – “death-shadow” (l. 160) = Grendel– “corpse-maker” (l. 276) = Grendel– Beowulf unlocked his “word-hoard” (l. 258)

= opened his mouth (with access to a treasured vocabulary)

LITOTES: A form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite.

To say "She was not unmindful" when one means that "She gave careful attention" is to employ litotes.

Litotes were a staple of Old English poetry, although often used by more modern poets.

For example, Tennyson employed litotes several times in his poem, "Ulysses." Ex: "not least" for "greatest“; "not to fail" for "succeed plentifully“; and "not unbecoming" for "thoroughly appropriate."

• METONYMY: A figure of speech characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself. In this way we commonly speak of the king/queen as "the crown," an object closely associated with the monarchy thus being made to stand for the monarch. In Beowulf, iron = military power.

• SYNECDOCHE: A literary term in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part. In order to be clear, a good synecdoche must be based on an important part of the whole and not a minor part, and usually, the part selected to stand for the whole must be one directly associated with the subject under discussion. Ex: Lend an ear/hand = attention/help or “wheels” for a car or “threads” for clothes

Cultural Terms, Concepts, and Vocabulary

• FORTUNA: the goddess who determines changes in life. Fortuna sits in the middle of a wheel which spins arbitrarily thus changing the fortunes of everyone in life. Therefore, one should never be too comfortable or too unhappy

• WYRD: the word used by the Anglo-Saxons to represent one's lot in life (sometimes mistranslated as Fate). Since the Anglo-Saxons did not believe strongly in an afterlife, it was mostly through personal fame, attained through heroic actions, that one lived on and thus resisted Wyrd.

• WERGILD: literally--man payment or man price. Sufficient financial payment was considered satisfactory recompense to the relatives of a slain man. This was suspended during war. However, this payment could not be made if one killed one's kindred. Death of kindred by kindred could not be appeased.

• COMITATUS: Latin term; military adherents and dependents around a warrior king, bound by mutual ties of fidelity

• LOYAL DEPENDENCE: uncertainty of life in a hostile climate/environment; the way to live with honor is to be willing to die

• NORDIC DAY: began with night and ended with sunset

• NORDIC YEAR: began with winter and ended with fall

PHILOSOPHY:SPARROW IN THE MEAD HALL

• A sparrow flies into the mead hall out of chaos and darkness.

• He stays in the mead hall, enjoying food, drink, warmth, and companionship before

• Flying back out into chaos and darkness again

• You do not know what went before or what will come after. Therefore, enjoy the banquet.

GODS AND GODDESSES

• THOR: God of war; hammer and twisted cross; Thor’s Day

• ODEN/WODEN: God of poetry, death & magic; Woden’s Day

• FREYA: Goddess of fertility; Freya’s Day

• TIR/TIW: another war god; Tir’s Day• FREYR: God of sunlight, rain,

fruitfulness and peace. Sacred symbol was the boar.

• ELEGIAC: expressing sorrow or lamentation; coming from the word “elegy” which refers to a death song or death poem

• FEUDAL: system of social and political organization that prevailed in Western Europe during a large part of the Medieval period. In theory, every landholder was merely the tenant of some greater landlord. Peasant answers to farmer who answers to knight who answers to lord who answers to baron who answers to king who answers to God. Some confusion of status of clergy.

• HART: a stag or deer• LAIR: an animal's den• MERE: a mountain lake• THANE: in early English history, a man who ranked

between an earl and an ordinary freeman. Thanes held lands of the king or lord and gave military service in return. In Scottish history, a baron or a lord.

• Beowulf = Bee Wolf, Wolf of the Bees = Bear

• Scyld Schefing = Shield + Sheaf = Provider

• Heorot = Hart (Deer) Hall

• Wealtheow = Foreign Slave

“What’s In a Name?”Shakespeare,

Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene

Homework

Read “Beowulf” through Section 28

Take note of the literary devices you encounter as you read!