FRIDAY IN CLASS
Discussion focussed on the section between Unferth's taunt (might have finished that up in some classes) and the end of Beowulf's actual battle with Grendel.  This is mostly from 499 or later (depending on how far we'd gotten with the taunt and Beowulf's handling of it) through part of the battle--it varied.

Announcement of two quizzes:

• Tuesday, Oct. 27 Beowulf from the beginning to line 990 (end of  Section 14)
• Wednesday, Oct. 28  Fuller quiz over Anglo-Saxon historical intro and invasion history, the literary and cultural material in the textbook, the PowerPoint on the manuscript composition and history,  significant terms, and the three short poems.
• Students received a stapled hand-out of the early history/invasion history of Britain.  STUDY THIS.
• 6th period got the complete study guide.  

TODAY IN CLASS

All of the material for the Wednesday quiz is listed on a hand-out.  I will try to link that, but right now I can't find where it is saved.  GET ONE TOMORROW IF YOU DON"T HAVE IT, but what is listed above is a great start.
And here is the manuscript history to review: Beowulf PowerPoint

In 2nd/3rd, I returned the Seafarer work and encouraged a review of that poem with an emphasis on relating the parts to similar elements we have seen so far in Beowulf.  The idea is to understand that Anglo-Saxon poetry has certain features that are present in many texts--NOT just something that the Beowulf poet did.

• Note the number of times that the poem refers in close connection to God (through Christian influence) AND to Fate (wyrd in Old English).  Lines 41-43, 64-70, and 115-116 are examples of this.
• However, the poem ENDS with the focus on Heaven:  "that eternal joy, / That life born in the love of God/ And the hope of Heaven" (120-123)
• In pagan tradition, immortality is gained through FAME--the stories people tell after you are gone.  Study lines 72-80 to see how this works.
• Also, the end of the pagan tradition is indicated with the fact that throwing coins into a grave (or putting treasure on a burial ship) does NOT go to heaven . . . .See lines 96-102.
• Two terms to connect to this poem:  Mutability (everything changes; what's on earth now will be gone tomorrow) and elegy/elegiac tone (the sense of loss or mournful regret about past leaders, or ways of life, or culture of the past),  See lines 81 and following.

In 6th we didn't try to go over this.  You will be just fine if you go over it on your own.  

Here's a link to the same Burton Raffel translation of "The Seafarer" as the one in your book:

"The Seafarer" in a different textbook
Scroll down to the poem.  I'm using this vs. other individual versions because this has line numbers and they don't.

We didn't talk about kennings/alliteration/assonance today in any class.  Most people had the first two just fine on the homework--we'll look at a couple of (harder-to-find) examples of assonance.

FOR TOMORROW re: poetry review:
Review the Wanderer before class, using the online version that marks key devices:
"The Wanderer" (with study aids!)

Now Back to the Main Event--Keep reading Beowulf.  You have a schedule that says we should finish by Friday.  We may have to adjust that.

• But for tomorrow, you should do your best to get to Friday's schedule:  line 1250, end of Section 19.  
• On Wednesday, after the quiz, your in-class reading should be 1321-1816. It should  be easy enough to finish that by Thursday even if you don't have much time after the quiz.
• More later on finishing up from there-- I will probably "abridge" a few sections and and pick up closer to the end.