Beowulf – Songs of Ancient Heroes

1. Beowulf – Songs of Ancient Heroes • Setting • Conflict (external & internal) • Epic • Alliteration • Imagery • Kennings • Foil • Symbolism

2. Cinderella • Dramatic Plot Structure • Exposition • Rising Action • Climax • Falling Action • Resolution Climax Rising Action Falling Action Exposition Resolution

3. Beowulf – Songs of Ancient Heroes • Epic – long, narrative poem that recounts the adventures of a hero – narratives about larger than life characters. Hero is a great leader and identified with particular people or society Hero does great deeds and often includes upper and lower worlds Hero does great deeds in battle or undertakes an extraordinary journey Involves God or other supernatural beings Story is told in heightened language.

4. Journal and Short Answer Responses:Beowulf -- • Find examples of Alliteration and Kennings in the epic story of Beowulf. • Why do you think it is important to Beowulf and to his image as an epic hero that he meets Grendel without a weapon? What symbolism do you see in the uselessness of human weapons against Grendel? • What do you think of the way women are portrayed in (or absent from) Beowulf? (48)

5. --from Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel (textbook page 17) Songs of Ancient Heroes. And sometimes a proud old soldier Who had heard songs of the ancient heroes And could sing them all through, story after story, Would weave a net of words for Beowulf’s Victory, tying the knot of his verses Smoothly, swiftly, into place with a poet’s Quick skill, singing his new song aloud While he shaped it, and the old songs as well.

6. Beowulf - 3 Week Common Assessment2011-12 In what ways is Beowulf a model of leadership for our own times? In what ways do his traits and skills fail to translate to our own times? Support your response with details from the epic poem.

7. Gene Roddenberry – Star Trek Crew 1976 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry

8. Flash Gordon TV/Comics Buck Rogers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers_in_the_25th_Century_(TV_series)

9. Star Trek – Beowulf Making the Connection • Gene Roddenberry (1921 – 1991) - Star Trek’s creator and noted visionary, futurist, nicknamed the “Great Bird of the Galaxy.” • Former Airline pilot, police officer, writer • Star Trek Original Series 1964, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise (Prequel to Original Series) • NASA posthumously recognized Roddenberry’s contribution to space exploration and is ashes were taken into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992. Gene Roddenberry finally voyaged into the final frontier.

10. Journal and Short Answer Responses:Beowulf -- • Compare and Contrast Star Trek Voyager episode, “Heroes and Demons” with the epic story of Beowulf. • Does Beowulf remind you of any heroes from history, current events, books, television, or movies? Who? What similarities do you notice among them? Just as important, how are they different?

11. Beowulf Check Test • Using his ancestral sword, Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother. • Beowulf carries Grendel’s head to King Hrothgar and returns home with many fine gifts. • Beowulf becomes king of the Geats. • After Beowulf’s weapons fail him against the dragon, his men rush to help him. • Beowulf names Wiglaf as his successor to the throne. Answer Key: 1. F 2. T 3. T 4. F 5. T

12. The Head of Humbaba from Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative retold by Herbert Mason Journal: Why does Gilgamesh kill Humbaba even after Humbaba offers to serve him? Enkidu tells Gilgamesh not to trust Humbaba. Humbaba has tried to kill Enkidu. After listening to the this epic narrative verse: • Does it remind you of any details in Beowulf’s story? • Does the story have anything to say about people today?

13. The Head of Humbaba from Gilgamesh: A Verse Narrative retold by Herbert Mason • Gilgamesh is frightened when he hear Humbaba coming. • Humbaba has never been appreciated by the gods he works for. • Humbaba attacks Enkidu first. • Humbaba offers to serve Gilgamesh instead of the gods. • Gilgamesh lets Humbaba escape. Answer Key: 1. T 2. T 3. T 4. T 5. F

14. Making the Connection: Star Trek and Beowulf - Great Bird in the Galaxy Star Trek Voyager: Heroes and Demons Written by Naren Shankar, Directed by Les Landau.

15. The Gift of Story – ChaucerLiterary Vocabulary • Characterization • Frame Story • Allegories • Inferences Drawing Conclusions Speculation • Metaphors • Irony • Personification • Context Clues • Syntax • Diction Idioms Satire

16. Federigo’s Falcon from the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio Read this tale looking for clues to medieval values: Courtly love Good manners • 1. What conflict does Monna Giovanna face? Do you approve of the way she resolves it? • 2. Situational Irony occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or of what would be appropriate.—How is this meal an example of situational irony? • What other stories have you read in which a gift intended to please someone turns out to be exactly what that person does not need or want? • What does the role of the brothers suggest about the status of women at this time?

17. Essential Vocabulary for The Fall of Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton: • Drawing Conclusions • Repetition • Irony - (dramatic) • Images • Paradox • Analogy 1. Alliteration2. Making Predictions3. Allusions 4. Word Origins 5. Theme 6. Epic Simile

18. The Fall of Satan, Paradise Lost Satan (noun) (Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell synonyms: Satan, Shaytan, Old Nick, Devil, the Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Tempter, Prince of Darkness http://www.search.com/reference/Satan

19. The Fall of Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton: Reading Check/Assessing Learning Quiz:Answer True (T) or False (F)1. Satan had been one of God’s favored angels.2. Satan was very ugly, with red skin and horns.3. When Satan says “[F]arthest from him is best” (I. 247), he means that the rebels can do as they please when away from God.4. Satan rebels because God made him a slave. 1. T 2. F 3. T 4. F

20. From The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope Essential Vocabulary:1. Allusions2. Mock Epic3. Wit/Humor4. Prefix/Suffix5. Antithesis6. Interpreting7. Tone • Epic Simile • Satirical • Iambic Pentameter • Inverted Sentence • Blank Verse Elements of Literature: Wit: Ne’er So Well Expressed True wit is Nature to advantage dressed: What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed. Alexander Pope page 533

21. Shakespeare’s Sister from A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolfpages 1122- 1129 (Includes: Votes for Women). Introduction and Biography of Virginia Woolf page 1122Essential Elements:1. Persuasive Message/Argument2. Tone3. Diction Reading Assessment: For what purpose does Woolf invent Judith Shakespeare? Why does Judith run away to London? According to Woolf, how does the repressed genius of women show itself in the Elizabethan age? How does the world treat male writers and female writers differently, according to Woolf?

22. Rabindranath TagoreLet this be my last word, that I trust in thy love.Rabindranath Tagore (7 May1861 - 7 August1941) Indian philosopher, poet; winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.; also known as Rabi Thakur.Quotes by Tagore: My debts are large, my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted. All the great utterances of man have to be judged not by the letter but by the spirit — the spirit which unfolds itself with the growth of life in history. The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore