Beowulf
Name:
Period: 4A 2B 3B
My Gallant Boast . . .
WHAT IS THIS? Throughout the poem, Beowulf repeatedly makes the kind of speech that the poet calls a “gallant
boast.” While we usually think of humility as a heroic, socially acceptable trait, the Anglo-Saxons believed that a true
hero had the right and responsibility to let the world know how amazing he was! Unlike today’s heroic values, acting
shy, humble, or apologetic about one’s strengths would have seemed cowardly and weak then.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Write a “gallant boast” speech you could give about yourself. I have made notes for you on
one of Beowulf’s speeches so you can see the format. Your poem/speech is about you and your life so it won’t be
exactly the same. However, I would like you to follow the formula and write a poem/speech about the same length.
(Around 45 lines)
YOUR AUDIENCE: Imagine you are in a situation like Beowulf’s: the people in front of you don’t know you, they
doubt your motives and strengths, and might even be ready to dismiss or taunt you. You will write a formal speech
like Beowulf’s, one with conviction and boldness!
YOUR CHALLENGE: While most of the time you are encouraged to be humble, I want you to “sing a song of
yourself” (see excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem). Okay, some of you have no problem boasting! Others, though,
may feel a little weird praising themselves. LET IT OUT!! I won’t make you read these to anyone else – and I ASKED
for you to brag to me!
Start with 8-10 lines →
that introduce youthe amazing worthy
person you are!
In the next 8-10 lines, →
list your heroic feats:
the “foes” you have
overcome, & the battles
you have won.
Now, describe the main goal →
or resolution that you have
before you at this moment
in 8-10 lines.
In the next 8-10 lines, →
explain how your great
attributes will help you
through this current task
and/or how you plan to
accomplish your goals.
Greetings to Hrothgar. I am Hygelac's kinsman,
one of his hall-troop. When I was younger,
I had great triumphs. Then news of Grendel,
hard to ignore, reached me at home:
sailors brought stories of the plight you suffer
in this legendary hall, how it lies deserted,
empty and useless once the evening light
hides itself under heaven's dome.
Go every elder and experienced councilman
among my people supported my resolve
to come here to you, King Hrothgar,
because all knew of my awesome strength.
They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies
when I battled and bound five beasts,
raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea
slaughtered sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes
and avenged the Geats (their enemies brought it
upon themselves, I devastated them).
Now I mean to be a match for Grendel,
settle the outcome in single combat.
And so, my request, O king of Bright-Danes,
dear prince of the Shieldings, friend of the people
and their ring of defence, my one request
is that you won't refuse me, who have come this far,
the privilege of purifying Heorot,
with my own men to help me, and nobody else.
I have heard moreover that the monster scorns
in his reckless way to use weapons;
therefore, to heighten Hygelac's fame
and gladden his heart, I hereby renounce
sword and the shelter of the broad shield,
the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand
is how it will be, a life-and-death
fight with the fiend. Whichever one death fells
must deem it a just judgment by God.
If Grendel wins, it will be a gruesome day;
he will glut himself on the Geats in the war-hall,
swoop without fear on that flower of manhood
as on others before. Then my face won’t be there
to be covered in death; he will carry me away
as he goes to ground, gourged and bloodied;
he will run gloating with my raw corpse
and feed on it alone, in a cruel frenzy,
fouling his moor-nest. No need then
to lament for long or lay out my body;
if the battle takes me, send back
this breast-webbing that Weland fashioned
and Hrethel gave me, to Lord Hygelac.
Fate goes ever as fate must.”
↑In 4-5 final lines, write a
convincing conclusion.
TO ALSO BE INCLUDED:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
One (1) example of ALLITERATION, highlighted
One (1) CAESURA, highlighted
Two (2) original KENNINGS, highlighted
Two (2) original EPITHETS, highlighted
One (1) example of ASSONANCE, highlighted
SOUND YOUR BARBARIC YAWP!
This poem is not the same style as what you’re writing, but it’s the same spirit and tone.
Boast “gallantly” – without apologies, without reserve!
“Song of Myself”, I II, & LII
By Walt Whitman
I
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil,
this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and
their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never
forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
...
II
...
the passing of blood and air through my lungs,
The sniff of green leaves and dry leaves, and of the shore and
dark-color'd sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn,
The sound of the belch'd words of my voice loos'd to the
eddies of the wind,
A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms,
The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs
wag,
The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the
fields and hill-sides,
The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising
from bed and meeting the sun.
...
LII
The spotted hawk sweeps by and accuses me, he complains
Of my gab and my loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
...