Beowulf Introduction

Arizona State Standards

Reading 1.6.1:
Predict text content using prior knowledge.

Writing 1.1.1:
Generate ideas through a variety of activities.

Quick View

Read the information
below so you can understand the literature which follows.

Write the paragraph
described in "Before You Read."

Objectives

When you are done, you should be better able to...

Predict the content of a story based on preliminary information, and

Generate ideas to write about given the outline of a story.

Rubric

I will grade your paper on whether it is...

imaginative in describing the monster,

on topic given the "Before You Read" directions,

and a reasonable best effort (minimum 150 words).

Copyrights

Lesson, Background, Layout, and Source Code were created by me, Mark Greenberg. Use them as you wish; don't sell them.

The painting "El Dios Saturno Devorando a sus Hijos" by Francisco Goya is in the public domain because it was painted in 1823, over 100 years ago.

Beowulf: The Manuscript

A decaying manuscript from the Dark Ages surfaced in the collection of a British man named Laurence Nowell in the 1500's. The manuscript was already over 500 years old. He passed it down to others until, finally, it was recognized as a literary treasure and preserved. Though this manuscript was the victim of a fire, a careless attempt to rebind it, and a general rotting of its pages, the story of Beowulf is nearly complete. Now this story is considered the origin of English literature (because it was written in Anglo-Saxon, a predecessor of English) and a national treasure in Denmark and Sweden (because the story takes place in those countries). You will be reading a modern English translation.

Beowulf: The Story

The author, who is unidentified, wrote the 3,200-line epic poem around the year 1000. The story takes place in a historic past from the author's point of view, in other words, in the darkest part of the Dark Ages when the people of Northern Europe were banded into tribes and loose kingdoms. At that time there were two tribes, the Geats and the Danes, whose kingdoms were separated by a small sea.

Beowulf, a warrior from Geatland, heard that there was a monster terrorizing the Danes, so he gathered up some trusted men and sailed for Denmark to help them kill the monster. Upon arrival, Beowulf brags that he is the world's best warrior and that he can rid Denmark of the dreaded monster called Grendel. The Danes welcome him because, in spite of the embarrassment of not being able to kill the monster themselves, the Danes are tired of Grendel breaking into their mead-hall and killing their warriors. To gain more glory, Beowulf decides to fight the monster without a weapon. The plan is for all the warriors, Geats and Danes, to pretend to sleep in the mead-hall. When Grendel comes, Beowulf will jump up and fight him.

You'll be reading two short portions of Beowulf that pick up the story from that point.

Before You Read

Few details about the appearance of the monster Grendel are provided in the narrative. Most of it is left to the imagination of the reader. Free write for about ten minutes about what the ultimate monster might look like. This will be a loose paragraph of about 150-200 words, a Type 1 writing. Submit your response to me. Please use this file name: E7YourNameBeowulfIntro

BeowulfLesson Introduction