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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090117065625im_/http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson_images/lesson410/SaxonBroochSml.jpg)
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This sixth-century brooch illustrates the Anglo-Saxon love of elaborate surface decoration. Courtesy of the EDSITEment-reviewed Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Folklore |
History and Social Studies
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World History - Europe |
Literature and Language Arts
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British |
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Classic |
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Poetry |
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Time Required |
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Manuscript Appreciation and Analysis should take one to one and one-half 45-minute class periods.
Riddle Background and Analysis should take two 45-minute class periods. |
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Skills |
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Appreciation of art (illuminated manuscripts)
Analysis of art (how it reveals era)
Memorization and application of literary terms (kenning, caesura, alliteration)
Analysis (riddles)
Creative Writing (riddles)
Reflection (writing to learn) |
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Additional Data |
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Date Created: 07/15/02 |
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The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf
Introduction
Who says the Dark Ages were “dark”? In the
world that we sometimes think of as barbaric and violent, beauty was prized
in visual ornamentation and literary elaboration. In this introduction to Anglo-Saxon
literature, students will study the literature and literary techniques of the
early Middle Ages, thus preparing students to read Beowulf with an appreciation
for its artistry and beauty. Students will learn the conventions of Anglo-Saxon
poetry, solve online riddles, write riddles, and reflect on what they have learned.
Guiding Questions:What can we
learn from the manuscripts and literature of the Anglo-Saxons? What are some formal elements of Anglo-Saxon poetry?
Learning
ObjectivesAfter completing the lessons in this unit,
students will be able to - Define and give examples
of kennings, alliteration, and caesura
- Analyze and solve Anglo-Saxon
riddles
- Reflect on how literature and art were important aspects of Anglo-Saxon
life.
Preparing to Teach this Lesson:
- Review the lesson and download and copy any handouts you will be using.
For Exercise
1: Riddle Background and Analysis, please download the file Riddles
Analysis. As this lesson is suitable as a prelude to the study of Beowulf,
additional resources dealing with Anglo-Saxon culture, Old English, and information
specific to Beowulf have been added to "Preparing the Lesson" below. These
are intended as supplementary resources and should be used as needed.
- Internet
Sources for Riddles. Read through the following information on literary elements,
and share with your students the following information to help them understand the syntax and style of Anglo-Saxon poetry:
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The website Anglo-Saxon Riddles, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed Labyrinth website, has a wealth of information on riddles, as well as original and translated Exeter Book Riddles for use in the classroom (complete with answers). Analyze several riddles in terms of kennings, caesura, and alliteration in preparation for the students analyzing the riddles on their own.
The following definitions
and examples come from The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary
Theory, by J.A. Cuddon, third ed. (London and New York: Penguin, 1991).
Alliteration: A figure of speech in which consonants, especially at the
beginning of words, or stressed syllables, are repeated…In [Old English] poetry
alliteration was a continual and essential part of the metrical scheme and until
the late Middle Ages was often used thus. [Cuddon provides some classic examples,
such as Coleridge's description of the sacred river Alph in his poem, Kubla Khan:
"Five miles meandering with a mazy motion."]
Caesura: (Latin: "a
cutting") A break or pause in a line of poetry, dictated, usually, by the natural
rhythm of the language…In [Old English] verse the caesura was used…to indicate
the half line.
Kenning: The term derives from the use of the Old
Norse verb kenna 'to know, recognize'…It is a device for introducing descriptive
colour or for suggesting associations without distracting attention from the essential
statement. [Cuddon offers the following instances of Old English kennings: a)
helmberend—"helmet bearer" = "warrior" b) beadoleoma—"battle
light" = "flashing sword" c)
swansrad—"swan road" = "sea" Essentially, then, a kenning is a compact
metaphor that functions as a name or epithet; it is also, in its more complex
forms, a riddle in miniature.]
Examples of each of these aspects
of Anglo-Saxon prosody can readily be found in this online text of Beowulf
from the Labyrinth
Library (for other texts, see the last bulleted item in this section, below).
- To help your students understand the pacing of Anglo-Saxon poetry and its relationship to alliteration and caesura, visit Old English Riddles, available from Old English at UVA website (via the EDSITEment resource Center for the Liberal Arts). Listen to these poems in Old English and download the sound files to share the experience with your students.
- Internet Sources for Old English
- Internet Sources for Anglo-Saxon Culture. You may want to supplement this lesson or your future work with
Beowulf with a more general discussion about Anglo-Saxon history, culture, and beliefs.
- The Anglo Saxon Chronicles, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed Labyrinth website, has a wealth of such resources, including information about Beowulf (see next section). Charters from Anglo-Saxon England at Anglo-Saxon
Charters, from Trinity College, Cambridge,
reveal details about the daily life of these Germanic peoples: marriages, battles,
coins, deaths, and other matters.
- Artwork from the archeological dig at Sutton
Hoo that yielded important information about the era can be found at The
Sutton Hoo Society, a link on the EDSITEment-reviewed ArchNet.
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Information on the comitatus, the warrior bands, and wergeld—or man-price—is
found at The
Comitatus and Tribal Identification, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website
The Victorian Web; in this feature
from the same website, read in Peace-Weaving
about the position of women and tribal relationships (notice the kenning!)
- Internet Sources for Beowulf
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This lesson is suitable as a prelude to the study of Beowulf.
As an introduction to that text, and as a capstone activity, you may wish to end
this lesson by sharing with your students the resources of the Electronic
Beowulf Project, a resource available through the EDSITEment-reviewed Labyrinth
website.
We know of Beowulf today because of a single manuscript,
which was badly damaged by fire in the early eighteenth century. Some sections
of the poem exist only in the form of transcriptions made from the original manuscript
before the fire; moreover, when in the nineteenth century the remaining fragments
of the manuscript were encased in frames to prevent further damage, portions of
the text were hidden to anyone not able to physically inspect the original. The
Electronic Beowulf Project
is an effort to collect and digitize all images from that manuscript, as well
as the eighteenth-century transcripts; in addition, it makes available to scholars
all over the world those portions of the script previously hidden by the protective
frame (you can read more about the process and advantages of Digital
Preservation at the Electronic
Beowulf website). While the project in its entirety is available only on a
set of two CDs, on the website you can find numerous sample images of the manuscript.
Having experienced the beauty of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, your students will be
ready to approach the Beowulf manuscript with a better understanding of
what has been preserved—and what has been lost.
- You have several options
for online versions of Beowulf. Besides the online text of Beowulf
from the Labyrinth
Library mentioned above, see also the modern
English edition of Beowulf, translated by Francis B. Gummere, at Bartleby.com,
a resource from Internet Public Library.
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Beowulf in Hypertext,
a link on Labyrinth, has a wonderful hypertext version that allows you to switch between the original and translated text. This valuable resource also provides information about characters, cultural background, and the manuscript history.
- Old English
Aerobics, a link through the EDSITEment resource Center
for the Liberal Arts, has Readings
from Beowulf, where you can listen to a recording of various parts
of Beowulf in Old English.
- Anglo Saxon Chronicles has an introduction to Beowulf (under the Poetry section), with notes on the historical background, setting, and composition history of the text, followed by links to related websites.
Suggested Activities
1. Riddle Background
and Analysis
- This
activity should also be conducted either in an Internet/computer room with the
means to project images from a computer or in the classroom with a mobile, wireless
computer lab, also with the means to project images from a computer. Each student
computer should have the relevant web pages book-marked to facilitate student
use and learning. If computers are not available, photocopy the texts for the
students.
- Visit the visit Old English Riddles, available from Old English at UVA website (See Preparing
to Teach this Lesson, above.). Before class, download the sound files so that you can play them while the students look at the Anglo-Saxon words and "read" along. Show your students what Old English Riddles look like and play the sound files so they understand what Old English sounds like.
- Share the definitions and give examples of
kenning, caesura, and alliteration, typical elements of Anglo-Saxon literature.
(See Preparing
to Teach this Lesson, above.)
- Have the students
open the bookmarked website Exeter Book Riddles, part of Anglo-Saxon Riddles, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed Labyrinth website, (or have them look at the photocopied text).
- Read one of the riddles (either in Old English or in translation) and then analyze one or two poems for kenning, caesura (look at the gap, the pause, the caesura in each line), and alliteration. Ask students to help analyze a third poem. The teacher and students will discuss how these poetic devices shape our understanding of the poem. Kennings can be discussed as "mini-riddles" in their own right.
(For definitions of kenning, caesura, and alliteration, see Preparing
to Teach above).
- Next, have students
pick a poem from Texts
and Translations, which lists nearly one hundred Anglo-Saxon riddles. Again,
if computers are not available, copy the text for the students. Students can work
in pairs or small groups to see if they can solve the riddles. Instructors may want to guide the students in their choice; some Riddles are particularly difficult or do not even have a "best" answer. For example, Riddles #1, 2 and 13 have a reasonable level of difficulty, whereas the answer to Riddle #2 remains uncertain to scholars. Review riddles you plan to assign prior to the class (and you might also print out riddles for student groups, if the internet is unavailable). Warn students that
once they click on "solution" that all the answers will be shown, so it is best
to write their answers and check them at the end of the given time. Alternatively, you might assign the riddle, but ask the students to present their answer to the class, explaining what led them to guess their particular answer.
- Download and pass out copies of the handout Riddles
(in PDF format). The handout will be used for each of the following activities:
- Students analyze the riddles for kennings, caesura, and alliteration.
They may do this analysis by using either the Anglo-Saxon or translated version.
- Next, each student writes a riddle in the Anglo-Saxon style and
turns it in to the teacher. Compile the riddles and give them
to students' classmates or another class to see if they can solve the riddles.
- Finally, students may write a reflection paper (writing to learn) on what they have
learned about the Anglo-Saxon people/culture from their riddles.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Other Information
Standards Alignment
- NCSS-1
Culture and cultural diversity. more
- NCSS-2
Time, continuity, and change. The ways human beings view themselves in and over time. more
- NCSS-3
People, places, and environments. more
- NCTE/IRA-1
Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. more
- NCTE/IRA-11
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.
- NCTE/IRA-12
Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information). more
- NCTE/IRA-2
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. more
- NCTE/IRA-3
Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. more
- NCTE/IRA-5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. more
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