5V - Old English literature

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• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

HWAET

Old English Literature

VWO-5

Anglo-Saxon England

The Old English Period

• c. 500-1066: Anglo-Saxon England
  
• until c. 900: present-day England divided into 7 seperate kingdoms
  
• c. 800: attacks and invasions by Danes (Vikings)
  
• Danes control much of modern England: Danelaw
  
• Anglo-Saxons unite: Alfred the Great (c. 875)
  
• an abrupt end: 1066, the Norman Conquest

Anglo-Saxon England: characteristics

• c. 500-800: period of the seven kingdoms, often at war with each other
  
• from c. 800: a slow process of unification (under pressure from Danish invaders)
  
• period of relative prosperity
  
• gradual conversion to Christianity
  
• monasteries important centres of learning (Jarrow, Lindisfarne, Whitby)
  

highly developed craftsmanship

Old English Literature

Characteristics Old English Literature

• Oral tradition
  
• Importance of scop or minstrel
  
• Poetry
  
• No end-rhyme or fixed rythm; alliteration

Beowulf

• example of an epic poem
  
• characteristically Germanic in content and outlook:
  
•       courage in battle
  
•       obedience to the king and other (war) leaders
  
•       belief in magic and in dangerous demons
  
• probably composed in 8th century (in England)
  
• original story much older (Scandinavia)
  
• earliest manuscript: c. 1000 (by anonymous monk)

Beowulf opening lines

Page 4 of SURVEY

Old English!

Which words remind you of Dutch?

What attracts a modern audience to this old story?

Extract from Beowulf

Read part of the modern translation with me

Page 1-2 of the READER&WORKBOOK

I liked the Beowulf fragments

😒🙁😐🙂😃