Dragonslayer helmet. http://s273.photobucket.com/user/Saltwater_Nomad/media/beowulf-helmet.png.html

Beowulf Study Guide

Despite what Woody Allen says about Beowulf in his movie Annie Hall ("just don't take any class where you have to read Beowulf"), there are a lot of good reasons to take a good long look at the early English epic:

  • We can see where our English language came from, exploring how it looked and how it sounded.
  • We can see the beginnings of England as a nation.
  • We can examine Beowulf as an epic, which is at the preliterate beginnings of all cultures.
  • We can compare the pre-Christian hero to our modern notions of the hero.
  • We can look at the aesthetics of Beowulf, how it may have functioned for ancient English people.
  • And, finally, we can see how Beowulf when translated less closely, can sound more like beautiful poetic language.

Readings

Here are some versions of Beowulf on the Internet:

Beowulf (in modern English)
Beowulf (in Old English)

Here are some background readings:

Beowulf: the Ultimate Study Guide. Provided by OnlineEnglishDegree.com
Beowulf: A Study Guide.
Beowulf on the Web
The History Behind Beowulf

The Old English Language of Beowulf

History of English (combined). OpenLearn from The Open University.
Old English. Provided by WikiPedia.
Old English / Anglo-Saxon (Englisc). Provided by omniglot.com.
he Anglo-Saxons and Their Language. Made available Peter S. Baker of Western Michigan University.
Old English Online. From the University of Texas at Austin.
The Lords Prayer in Old English from the 11th century. Provided by Sondre Danielsen
Old English Fonts. Write like Beowulf!

The Beginnings of England as a Nation

The Anglo-Saxons and Their Language. Made available Peter S. Baker of Western Michigan University.
Coenwulf of Mercia. England in the time of Beowulf.

Beowulf and Other Epics

La chanson de Roland

La chanson de Roland (in modern French). Provided by archive.org.
La chanson de Roland (in Old French). The Oxford text provided by Bibliotheca Augustana.
The Song of Roland. Provided by WikiPedia.
Song of Roland Background. Provided by gradesaver.com.
La chanson de Roland: Overall Analysis and Themes. Provided by sparknotes.com.

El Cid

El Cid. Provided by WikiPedia.
Background on El Cide. Made available by Barbara E. Kurtz, University of Illinois.
Cantar de mío Cid. In modernized Spanish, provided by PlanetaLibro.net.
The Lay of the Cid. English translation made available by sacred-texts.com.

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh. Provided by WikiPedia.
Epic of Gilgamesh. Provided by WikiPedia.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Summary of the parts of the epic made available by Washington State University.

The Epic Hero and Beowulf

Epic poetry. Provided by WikiPedia.

The Aesthetics of Beowulf

Poetic Translation of Beowulf

Lyrical translation by Burton Raffel.

Beowulf Quizzes

Part 1
Part 2

Classroom Activites with Beowulf

Reenactments. Break up into groups 7 or 8. Each group with members playing Beowulf, Hrothgar, Unferth, Grendel, Gendel's mother, meed hall victims, the Dragon, and cowardly people. Individual groups will enact one of the three parts of Beowulf.

Posters. Teams of three will develop posters depicting the key aspects of Beowulf.

Old English font. Write a document using old English font, perhaps a poster.

Back to the schedule page.

Programs and information provided by davidm@austincc.edu.