Beowulf: Oral Tradition
Clare Gaskell
Meritt Miller
Jennifer Craig
Claire de Back
Alex Chapple
Talking to Audience
• Pg. 7 lines 74-76
• “Far and wide through the world, I have
heard, orders for work to adorn that wallstead
were sent to many peoples.”
• No character is speaking, but it’s as if a
raconteur is telling you the story from his
point-of-view
Historical Memory
• A.k.a. background information
• Pg. 139-141 Lines 2020-2069
• “Sometimes Hrothgar’s daughter
distributed…their alliance with the Danes.”
• The storyteller is giving background
information to the audience so that they will
understand the history of the story better and
foreshadows what’s coming up
Narrative
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Pg. 3 line 1
“So. The Spear-Danes…”
Starts telling the story of Beowulf
Sounds like it’s coming naturally
Repitition of Events
• Pg. 155 lines 2287-2293
• “When the dragon awoke, trouble flared
again….by the grace of God.”
• Story repeats plot events to make a statement
of how persistent/important the events are to
the plot
How is Beowulf Poetic?
• Alliteration and Compounds are found
frequently.
• Ex. The song sung by Hrothgar’s
minstrels(883- 914)
• Ex. War-sword (2154)
How is Beowulf Heroic?
• Main character, who is followed throughout
the entire story
• Follows Heroic Journey Path (Campbell)
• Dies in a very drawn out yet heroic manner
How is Beowulf Anglo-Saxon?
• Much blending of the Pagan and Christian
beliefs
• Ex. (2858-2859)
• Gift-giving after celebrations or events
• Ex. (1019-1061)
How is Beowulf Part of the Oral
Tradition?
• Action based story that follows the epic
storyline
• It is adapted to the culture and times at hand.
What impact did Anglo Saxon language and
literature have on today's English language?
• The language was used by the Germans but heavily
based on the Latin language
• Root words from Latin made their way into Old
English and then into Modern English
What influence over contemporary lit
has the epic and epic hero?
• Sets the mark for today’s heroes and many
journey based movies
• The fights go back and forth until finally
Beowulf works with his men and together they
defeat the monster
How is Beowulf a product of its time?
• Passed down by oral tradition
• Used to lift up the spirit of man by showing his
many accomplishments
• Easily captures our attention
Works Cited
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Beowulf by Seamus Heaney
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/main.html
http://www.library.unr.edu/subjects/guides/beowulf.html
http://www.southparkx.net/gallery/data/media/2/braveheart
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• http://baixaki.ig.com.br/imagens/wpapers/star-wars-episode3-6800.jpg