During the first marking period of the school year, the concepts that have been taught was how to do annotations and we covered the literary work, Beowulf. When the topic of annotations was taught I learned how to annotate a text, which basically is marking up a text with questions, pointing out interesting pieces. When learning to annotate I also learned about rhetoric. Rhetoric is the way of speaking or writing persuasively, and an author’s rhetoric can be found using the rhetorical triangle. The rhetorical triangle is a triangle used to answer the following questions: Who created the text, who did they create the text for and why did they create this text? The audience is who the message is for, and may include a specific age or gender to get the author’s purpose across. The rhetorical appeals that might be used by an author to get his or her message across would be appealing to the audiences ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is the perception of credibility, trustworthiness, and characteristics, pathos is the emotional appeal and logos is the perception of logic given off by the author. …show more content…
The poem does have mysteries behind it that cannot be answered such as: Who wrote it, when was it written, and how much of the poem is based on historical truth. I also learned that the only copy of the manuscript was written around the 11th century, but the actual poem dates back to the 8th century and the poem was set in an earlier time period of 500 A.D. The poem also includes a lot of references to Christianity, but the characters and setting stem from the Pagan belief. During the cycle I also learned about kennings which are a compound metaphor, usually consisting of two words where the description replaces the
“I am Beowulf, son of Beowulf...I am Beowulf, father of himself...I am Beowulf, who am myself.” p.71 Beowulf is a good book to read if you are interested in battles between light and dark, great writing, or a real, strong hero. There are many battles in this book, ones that take you into a fen, on top of a mountain in the home of a firedrake, or just with a rotten smell in a great big hall of your uncle’s, friend’s, father.
The night after the day of Grendel’s first attack, some of Hrothgar’s warriors fled Herot’s halls. The wisest fled-knowing that if they sought refuge someplace away from Herot,
“No better king had ever lived, no prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise.” This is an ultimate description of the heroic events of Beowulf, an old Anglo-Saxon poem about a warrior who battles and destroys three horrifying monsters. Although written long ago, the emotions expressed within this work, emotions of bravery, valor, and ethics still speak to us centuries later. The anonymous author of the poem convinces us through the masterful use of various literary elements that emphasize its meaning and message. Conflict, imagery and setting are three literary elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the poem.
“There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.” – Ayn Rand. To fully understand the complex world and culture of the Anglo-Saxons, one must examine the only form of historical evidence available – texts. One particular great work from this time period is often underrated and overshadowed in modern society by many other ancient works such as Iliad or Oedipus Rex. The epic poem, Beowulf, was sung by multiple unknown Anglo-Saxon poets four centuries before the Norman Conquest. The theme of good versus evil was constantly reappearing throughout the storyline, the portrayal of evil and its downfall initially shaped the poem’s plot, and illustrates an alien presence; something that
4. Write a short paragraph about something from the class reading that reflects Anglo Saxon culture and/or belief
Beowulf is an epic poem being cited as one of the most important works of Old English literature. Beowulf is an Old English epic poem. The poem is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Herot has been under attack by a monster named Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory. Beowulf is clearly a hero because of his brave deeds, he is a strong and responsible leader, and his courage. Beowulf is a hero because of his brave deeds. Throughout Beowulf, Beowulf does many deeds which are considered to be brave during the Anglo-Saxon period.“Grendel is no braver, no stronger/Than I am! I could kill him with my sword; I shall not,Easy as it would be. This fiend is a bold And famous fighter, but his claws and teeth.../ Beating at my sword blade, would be helpless. I will meet him With my hands empty-unless his heart /Fails him, seeing a soldier waiting /Weaponless, unafraid. Let God in His wisdom /Extend His hand where He wills, reward /Whom he chooses!”. In his first battle, Beowulf fights Grendel. He fights without any armor. Also, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother. He then
We as humans learn to communicate with each other through many various forms of text: books, newspapers, advertisements, comics, public service announcements, social media, text messages, and the list goes on. Not only do the spaces that are created today allow our voices to be heard, but also these writing spaces provide different styles of rhetoric to be produced. The concept of rhetoric stems from the appeals of ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos, each with unique writing aspect that help convey an idea. Ethos, for example, focuses on author credibility. Pathos, on the other hand, deals with emotions and how the text/speech is able to affect the reader. Next, logos is the logistical standpoint or argument. Finally, Kairos is the idea that there is an appropriate time to do and say an idea. These four appeals are used in different ways depending on certain writing styles.
When it comes to writing and speaking, there are many aspects that make up sophisticated rhetoric. There is the rhetorical triangle and the rhetorical appeals. The rhetorical triangle demonstrates who the author is, who the audience is, and what the purpose is. The rhetorical appeals are pathos, ethos, and logos. All of these together are core components.
Beowulf: A New Telling, by Robert Nye. Not your friendly romance, yet not your average adventure. Beowulf, a hero of many sorts, a hero who uses his goodness against darkness, is really the key to making the story different from all other action/adventure books. Light and dark contradict in the world, yet these elements are blended to create who we are. That is what the story is teaching us, how life can relate to the light and dark of the story.
In the epic poem, Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, it is said, "Behavior that's admired is the path to power among people" (Beowulf 5). That being stated, it is very apparent throughout the entirety of the story. The main character, Beowulf, quickly comes to a position of power once defeating multiple atrocities and executing numerous heroic deeds. The people in the city admire Beowulf and abide to his ways; but once offered kingship, he declines. Throughout the epic poem, it is obvious that Beowulf would rather be a hero than a king because of the individual representation that comes with it, the rewards, and the self-reliant aspect.
Times have changed since the last dragon Beowulf killed. At the time, Beowulf’s acts were seen as brave and noble, but today we would see his dragon killing as cruel and unnecessary, some would even see it as murder. Beowulf’s actions against the dragon were uncivilized and simply barbaric, the situation could have been handled differently by Beowulf as well as Wiglaf.
Although the Middle Ages are set to start at around 500 AD, the first written evidence of Old English only dates to C7. It is a collection of religious hymns by Cædmon VERWEIS Hogg Vol. I S. 463, which was composed in 660/ 670. Other written testimony of the Old English language appears a century later. These texts are for instance tribal laws of the Jutes, glossaries or official documents.
Beowulf begins with a history of the great Danish King Scyld (whose funeral is described in the Prologue). King Hrothgar, Scyld's great-grandson, is well loved by his people and successful in war. He builds a lavish hall, called Heorot, to house his vast army, and when the hall is finished, the Danish warriors gather under its roof to celebrate.
After a long journey, you find yourself in uncharted territory. As you scout the area, you notice a small village off in the distance. Upon approaching this settlement, you are greeted by some armed townsfolk. They attack you without warning, and take you to a large hall in the center of town. There, you see many men parading around in an intoxicated stupor, showing off their trophies and talking of their success in past battles and wars. They eat with bare hands, ripping at the food and drinking until they can no longer handle themselves, finding a home on the open floor. The hall is dressed with weapons of war, from shields to swords and everything in between. The women are wrapped in chains, fulfilling their only purpose of serving the
An epic is a long, narrative poem that encompasses a hero or a heroine who is usually involved in an amazing battle between two forces. It includes forces that are not of the human world such as demons, angels, gods, and spirits. The epic of Beowulf is about a hero with superhuman strength that defeats the demon who torments the soldiers of the kingdom. In The Rape of the Lock, the heroine Belinda has a piece of her hair cut and stolen from her and the major battle is trying to get her lock of hair