Preparing for Class: October 27

Heroic Poems

Deor

  1. Deor is a scop (or poet/singer), but he's a wanderer when we meet him. How does he console himself for the unforseen tragedy that he has survived?
  2. How are the examples of others in extreme situations appropriate for this particular speaker to cite?
  3. What evidence can you find that if he were living today, Deor might be diagnosed with clinical depression?
  4. What does he find to be true for Christians who live on middle-earth?
  5. What in his own experience confirms this insight?

The Finnsburgh Fragment

  1. Before reading this fragment, you should go back to Beowulf and review the story of Hildeburgh, who was married to Finn, King of the Frisians (pp. 100-103). This poem zooms in on the attack on the visiting Danes that started the entire conflict.
  2. When the Danes see fire approaching, what do they immediately suspect as the source of the attack?
  3. Why is it that an attack by dragons seems to them so much more plausible than an attack by their hosts?
  4. What does the poet find significant about the fight at Finnsburgh?

Waldere

  1. Here we have another fragment, and the translator's introduction to this section does a good job of orienting you to the situation and the speakers.
  2. What does Hildegund value about Waldere, her fiance?
  3. What's Guthere's rebuttal to her speech based on?
  4. How does Waldere answer him?

The Battle of Maldon

  1. This is the longest of the heroic poems, but it's still missing its opening and closing sections. What is happening with Byrhtnoth when this segment opens?
  2. Who are the seafarers? Why does he let them cross the ford at low tide rather than picking them off as they wade over?
  3. As the battle begins, we are told that "The time had come for all the doomed men to fall in the fight." How does this reflect traditional Anglo-Saxon beliefs?
  4. Your translator, Kevin Crossley-Holland, believes this poem to be the finest expression of the Germanic heroic code in the surviving Anglo-Saxon literature. Mark and be ready to discuss (and write about) some passages that illustrate the code of comitatus when you get to class.

The Battle of Brunanburgh

  1. This final poem celebrates a battle fought in 937 in which the Kings of Wessex lead an allied Anglo-Saxon force against the Scots and seafarers (led by Constantine and Anlaf), and they win the day.
  2. The Wessex kings, descended from King Alfred, are Æthelstan and Eadmund. What are they doing as the story opens?
  3. What is the cost of victory for the Anglo-Saxons? How does the poet feel about their opponents? What is the cost for them?
  4. How does the poem suggest a theme of nationalism, promoting the unified Anglo-Saxon rulers of England?

 

 

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