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Miss Alexander

Name: __________________________

Guided notes

Date: ___________________________

Beowulf
1. Reasons to read Beowulf:
-Beowulf is the________________ poem in the English language.
-The story encompasses common _____________ that we still see in literature today.
-Studying ________ English improves your understanding of ______________ English.
- It is a great story!

2. Background:
-Beowulf was originally told _____________ by ______________ (who were traveling poets) in
the 8th century.
- The poem was finally written down in the ____ th century by a _________________ monk.
- ________________ (who do not believe in God) versus ________________.
-Written in ______ English (Anglo-Saxon).

3. Setting: Beowulf is set in a place we now call ______________, where a tribe called the
___________ used to live.

4. Terms to know:
- Beowulf is an __________ poem.
- An epic poem tells a large scaled story about the ____________________ of a heroic character
or group of heroic people.

- In epic poems, the hero begins as a dependent character and flourishes into an
_______________________ character.
- A scop is a traveling ___________ who sang stories of _________________ and heroes as
entertainment. (Scops are the reason that the story of Beowulf is still alive today.)
-A ________________ is a warrior or knight.
- The mead hall is a large hall where the lord and his warriors ____________, drank,
____________, held ceremonies, ______________, and hung out.
- Comitatus was the mutual loyalty of the warriors ensured by _____________ from the king.
- Wyrd means ________________. In Anglo-Saxon tradition, fate means making your own
_________________ and taking responsibility for them.
- Quest means: ______________, ______________________, ___________ of
________________.
*The Anglo Saxons hold _______________ to be extremely important. They believed that
boasting and bragging was a good thing.
5. Themes:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
2

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