Some notes for BLIT

The midterm will be short essay/short answer. You will be asked to give responses to questions similar

to the prompts we do in class: that is, one third to one half of a page in length. Possible questions are as

we discussed:

1. FATE, the concept of it, how is it manifest in Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poems.

Include ubi sunt, and the ‘exile’ theme—in some way this is an example too of paganism as opposed to

Christianity.

2. The HEROIC, the concept of (how is it manifest in Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poems.

Include ring givers, heroes, bravery, honor, loyalty, boasting, the EPIC, oral poetry. etc.

3. The CHRISTIAN, how is it manifest in Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poems.

4. PROSODY—what is the nature of the formation of the LINE of poetry in Old English /Anglo-Saxon

poetry, with some examples and use of the terms ‘alliteration,’ ‘beat’ and ‘caesura.’

5. ORAL vs. literate composition results: kennings and litotes as marks of the ‘oral’ style of composion.

6. The meaning of GRENDEL—

7. The meaninging of the DRAGON—

DLI/SLI: What is the meaning—or what are the possible meanings— of Beowulf? Of Grendel? Of the

dragon? AND how do we get there: SLI— Plot, ACIC, include ‘conflict’ (internal and external), character,

setting, POV. DLI— metaphor, symbolism, imagery, irony, theme and meaning.

These answers can by gleaned and garnered from careful reading of the texts (the short poems and

Beowulf) and the section introductions in the Norton textbook, as assigned.

Here are some helps on the midterm:

> Dragons, dragons. Snakes. On boats, on belt buckles, mitgaard serpent,

> Beowulf, St. Columba

St. Columba and the Loch Ness monster?

Thor= Beowulf? [Or is it Beowulf= Christ?]

Fafnir is dragon in Beowulf ???????????????????????

Adam + Eve???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnarok

Is Thor Beowulf? Dragons in Ragnarok, the world reborn after Thor’s

Death (Wiglaf after Beowulf, winter of Beowulf, spring of Wiglaf).

Edyth

Sutton hoo wiki