Book II: Grendel's Mother--Note Changes

This book starts with what kind of an event?

How does this event contradict Medieval Christian values?

Who is Hrorthulf?

What is Beowulf given?

Note that God is given credit for the victory: "...the creature would surely/ have murdered more had God in his wisdom,/ man in his strength failed to foretell it./ So the Almighty has always moved men;/ yet man must consistently strive to discern/ good from evil, evil from good/ while drunk with days he dwells in this world" (927-933). 

Who is Finn and who are his followers?

Who was Hnaef the Half-Dane? What happened to him?

Who is Hildeburh?

What does Finn offer "as tokens of truce"?

What does Hildeburh offer?

Who were the Frisians?

Who are Guthlaf and Oslaf?

Who are Hrethric and Hrothmund?

What is so special about the collar that Beowulf has been given?

What other item is he given?

Everyone thinks he is safe but he is not:

"Grendel's mother,/ a fearsome female bitterly brooding/ alone in her lair deep in dread waters/ and cold currents since Cain had killed/ the only brother born of his father./ Marked by murder, he fled from mankind/ and went to the wastes. Doomed evil-doers/ issued from him. Grendel was one, but the hateful Hell-walker found a warrior/ wakefully watching for combat in Heorot./ The monster met there a man who remembered/ strength would serve him, the great gift of God,/ faith in the All-Wielder's favor and aid./ By that he mastered the ghastly ghoul; / routed, wretched, the hell-fiend fled,/ forlornly drew near his dreary death-place. Enraged and ravenous, Grendel's mother/ swiftly set out on a sorrowful journey/ to settle the score for her son's demise" (1111-1129).

The above passage also explains how it has come to be that there are monsters in this world. They are the offspring of Cain.

Words that show she is evil: fearsome, bitterly brooding, alone in her lair....

Those of you who took my world literature class might remember that Christian philosophers saw human-nature as being made up of the following:

Our animal or biological nature--we have physical needs (that sometimes get us into trouble)

Our human nature--emotional nature--often gets us into trouble

Our divine nature--our ability to reason. We are supposed to use that ability to overcome our human nature. Though we have emotions, we are not to be ruled by those emotions. 

Like her son, Grendel's mother is sneaky. Also, do you think the following passage is a little sexist?

"She slipped into Heorot.../where sleeping earls soon would suffer/ an awful reversal. Her onslaught was less/ by as much as a woman's mettle in war/ is less than a man's wielding his weapon:/ the banded blade hammered to hardness,/ a blood-stained sword whose bitter stroke/ slashes a boar-helm borne into battle./ In the hall, sword-edge sprang from scabbard;/ broadshield was swung swiftly off bench,/ held firmly in hand. None thought of helmet/ or sturdy mail-shirt when terror assailed him" (1130-1141).

Note how she also sneaks away.

What is the name of the character that is killed in this attack?

Again, note the motifs that identify Grendel and Grendel's mother as evil. They reside in dark, misty, often dirty places. They are dirty and ugly. They are solitary--exiles. They have superhuman qualities. 

"I have heard spokesmen speak.../country-folk saying they sometimes spotted/ a pair of prodigies prowling the moors,/ evil outcasts, walkers of wastelands./ One, they described, had the semblance of woman;/ the other, ill-shapen, an aspect of man/ trudging his track, ever an exile,/ though superhuman in stature and strength./ In bygone days the border-dwellers / called him Grendel. What creature begot him,/ what nameless spirit, no one could say. [In other words, he doesn't know who is daddy is.] / The two of them trekked untraveled country: wolf-haunted heights and windy headlands,/ the frightening fen-path where falling torrents/ dive into darkness, stream beneath stone/ amid folded mountains. That mere is not far,/ as miles are measured. About it there broods/ a forest of fir trees frosted with mist. / Hedges of wood-roots hem in the water/ where each evening fire-glow flickers / forth on the flood, a sinister sight./ The pool is unplumbed by wits of the wise;/ but the heath-striding hart hunted by hounds./ the strong-antlered stag seeking a thicket, / running for cover, would rather be killed/ than bed on its  bank. It is no pleasant place where water-struck waves are whipped into clouds,/ surging and storming, swept by the winds,/ so the heights are hidden and heaven weeps" (1190-1218).

Grendel's mother lives "in chasm or cave, in cliff-climbing thicket/ or bog's bottom" (1234-1235). 

Note how we get the genealogy of Beowulf's weapons. This will be important because of what will happen to the weapons when Beowulf eventually dies.  The weapons go only to those who are worthy of them. 

Before he goes to fight the monster, Beowulf makes a list of who will get his weapons. 

Where does Beowulf go to fight Grendel's mother?

Notice all the booty that Grendel's mother possesses. It is worthless to her. She doesn't appreciate it. That makes her even more "ungodly."

"He beheld in a hoard of ancient arms/ a battle-blessed sword with strong-edged blade,/ a marvelous weapon men might admire/ though over-heavy for any to heft/ when fine forged by giants of old" (1379-1383).

What is Hrunting?

What happens to Beowulf in this battle?

While Beowulf is fighting, what are the other soldiers doing?

What does Beowulf bring back this time?

Who is Hygd? 

Who is Modthryth?

Who was Offa?

What parting gift does Hrothgar give to Beowulf?

Notes from "Grendel"

Scyld Scefing—name means “shield” or “protection” of the “sheaf” suggesting an earlier association in Norse mythology with the god of Vegetation. Danes afterward known as “Scyldings,” descendants of Scyld.

Scyld Scefing arrives among the Danes as a foundling, a dangerous position in both Norse and Anglo-Saxon cultures. Solitaries and outcasts were generally regarded with suspicion; it is a tribute to Scyld Scefing that he surmounted these obstacles to become their leader and organizer of the Danish people.

Who is Scyld’s heir?

Healfdene has four children: Heorogar, Hrothgar, Halga—the fourth was Onela’s queen
Heorot—Hrothgar’s house

“So the king’s thanes/ gathered in gladness; then crime came calling,/ a horror from hell, hideous Grendel;/ wrathful rover of borders and moors,/ holder of hollows, haunter of fens./ He had lived long in the land of the loathsome,/ born to the band whom God had banished/ as kindred of Cain, thereby requiting/ the slayer of Abel. Many such sprang/ from the first murderer: monsters and misfits, / elves and ill-spirits, also those giants / whose wars with the Lord earned them exile” (91-101).

“After nightfall he nosed around Heorot, saw how swordsmen slept in the hall, unwary and weary with wine and feasting,/ numb to the sorrows suffered by men. The cursed creature, cruel and remorseless,/swiftly slipped in. He seized thirty thanes/ asleep after supper, shouldered away/ what trophies he would, and took to his lair/ pleased with the plunder, proud of his murders” (102-110).

“The evening after/ he murdered again with no more remorse,/ so fixed was his will on that wicked feud” (119-121).--Concept of the Hardened Heart

“The monster craved no kinship with any, / no end to the evil with wergild [cash payment for someone’s death—regarded as an advance over violent revenge] owed;/ nor might a king’s council have reckoned/ on quittance come from the killer’s hand./ The dark death-shadow daunted them all, / lying in ambush for old and young,/ secretly slinking and stalking by night./ No man knows where on the misty moor/ the heathen keepers of hell-runes wander” (135-143).

“Raiding by night, he reigned in the hall,/ and Heorot’s high adornments were his;/ but God would not grant throne-gifts to gladden/ a courage who spurned the Sovereign of Heaven” (146-149).

What evil thing (breaking a commandment) do some of Hrothgar's men start doing?

“Great among Geats” (171).

Skilled sailor

One of Hrothgar’s men asks who they are and where they are from.

Geatish men—“shares of Hygelac’s hearth and hall. My father was famous among our folk/ as a lordly leader who lived many winters/ before, full of years, he departed our fastness./ His name was Ecgtheow” (234).

Of what race is Beowulf?

Beowulf brags about his accomplishments, something antithetical to Medieval values:

“’They have seen me return/ bloody from binding brutish giants,/ a family of five destroyed in our strife;/ by night in the sea I have slain monsters./ Hardship I had, but our harms were avenged,/ our enemies mastered. Now I shall match / my grip against Grendel’s and get you an end/ to this feud with the fiend” (374-381).

How will Beowulf fight the monster?

The good guy always wins because God is on the side of the good guy. Though Beowulf boasts, he is also somewhat modest. Also note the importance of the hero's weapons. They can only go to certain people, not just anyone. In this culture, genealogy is important. So is the genealogy of the weapons.

“’Whomever death takes, his doom is doubtless/ decreed by the Lord. If I let the creature/ best me when battle begins in this building,/ he will freely fast as he often has fed/ on men of much mettle. My corpse will require/ no covering cloth. He will carry away/ a crushed carcass clotted with gore,/ the fiend’s fodder gleefully eaten,/ smearing his lonesome lair on the moor./ No need to worry who buries my body/ if battle takes me. Send back to my sovereign/ the best of shirts which has shielded my breast, / the choice chain-mail, Hrethel’s heirloom/ and Weland’s work. Fate goes as it will’” (392-405). Weland is a legendary blacksmith of the Norse gods

Hrothgar says that Hrothgar had once helped Beowulf’s father.

What is the name of the jester who makes fun of Beowulf, who says that Beowulf is not that great?

What is the name of Hrothgar's wife?

Note the alliteration, not just here, but throughout. It was one way that poets could more easily remember the story.

“Then from the moor under misty hillsides,/ Grendel came gliding, girt with God’s anger./ The man-scather sought someone to snatch/ from the high hall. He crept under clouds/ until he caught sight of the king’s court/ whose gilded gables he knew at a glance./ He often had haunted Hrothgar’s house; / but he never found, before or after,/ hardier hall-thanes or harder luck./ The joyless giant drew near the door,/ which swiftly swung back at the touch of his hand/ though bound and fastened with forge-bent bars./ The building’s mouth had been broken open,/ and Grendel entered with ill intent./ Swollen with fury, he stalked over flagstones/ and looked round the manse where many men lay./ An unlovely light most like a flame/ flashed from his eyes, flared through the hall/ as young soldiers dozing shoulder to shoulder,/ comradely kindred. The cruel creature laughed/ in his murderous mind, thinking how many/ now living would die before the day dawned,/ how glutted with gore he would guzzle his fill” (638-660).
“Wailing in anguish,/ the hellish horror, hateful to God,/ sang his despair, seized by the grip/ of a man more mighty than any then living” (704-707).

“The shielder of men meant by no means/ to let the death-dealer leave with his life,/ a life worthless to anyone elsewhere” (708-710). Humility

“Then the young soldiers swing their old swords / again and again to save their guardian,/ their kingly comrade, however they could. / Engaging with Grendel and hoping to hew him/ from every side, they scarcely suspected/ that blades wielded by worthy warriors/ never would cut to the criminal’s quick./ The spell was spun so strongly about him/ that the finest iron of any on earth,/ the sharpest sword-edge left him unscathed./Still he was soon to be stripped of his life/ and sent on a sore sojourn to Hell./ The strength of his sinews would serve him no more;/ no more would he menace mankind with his crimes,/ his grudge against God, for the high-hearted kinsman / of King Hygelac had hold of his hand./ Each found the other loathsome while living;/ but the murderous man-bane got a great wound/ as tendons were torn, shoulder shorn open,/ and bone-locks broken. Beowulf gained/ glory in war; and Grendel went off/ bloody and bent to the boggy hills, / sorrowfully seeking his dreary dwelling” (711- 733).

What kind of "trophy" does Beowulf display?

“Weary and weak, defeated in war,/ he dripped his blood-spoor down to dark water,/ tinting the terrible tide where he sank,/ spilling his lifeblood to swirl in the surge. There the doomed one dropped into death/ where he long had lurked in his joyless lair,/ and Hell harrowed his heathen soul” (754-760).

Who is Sigemund? For what particular feat is he known?

“Thus the wayfarer famed far and wide/ among nations of men, that mighty war-maker, / shelter of shield-bearers, outshone another:/ unhappy Heremod [earlier Danish king, the stock illustration of the unjust and unwise ruler. After bringing bloodshed upon his own house, Heremod took refuge among the Jutes, who eventually put him to death], king of the Danes, whose strength, spirit, and courage were spent. He fell among foes, was taken by traitors/ and swiftly dispatched” (798-804).

Hrothgar himself, / keeper of treasures and leader of troops,/ came from the queen’s quarters to march/ with measured tread the track to his mead-hall;/ the queen and her maidens also came forth” (815-819).

Quarter 2, Week 2--Note the Change as of 9/10/08

There will be some changes in the schedule since I won't be there on Tuesday.

Tuesday:

Read the background on Medieval England and answer some questions that will be handed out. Some of them are already on the blog. Next, begin reading "Beowulf"--the first book, "Grendel." Answer some more questions. You should have finished "Grendel" by Friday. Expect a quiz then.

Thursday:

We will have the speech discussion. Then we will have a discussion and I will answer any questions I can regarding "Grendel."

Friday:

We will have a reading quiz and I will go over it in class.

I want to get started on the college essay. Start by keeping a daily journal. Journals can generally be about anything. This weekend, however, I want you to write about a significant experience. By telling a story, you show me things about who you are. You reveal things about your character, your sense of humor, your sensitivity to others, etc. Tell a story that does this. Here are some ideas for the kinds of stories that might work, along with some examples:

Tell a story where you failed to do what you wanted to do and how you learned from that.

Tell a story related to a sport or club in which you participate. One of the best college essays I ever read was about a girl who was on our then-losing field hockey team. That year, the team lost all games but one--and they tied that game. A pessimist might view the tie as not a real win. She, of course, did not, and wrote a wonderful essay about the event.

Community service is a great source for stories. One student (at another school) wrote a story about working with autistic children on a horse farm. She wrote about one particular child who responded to no one else but her.

If you have a job, you probably have some interesting stories.

If you are a part of a home community that treats bright teenagers as geeks or outsiders, as "uncool" or even worse, you might want to write about how you have dealt with that.

Tell a story about your heritage. Maybe English is your second language. Write about that struggle. Or tell a story about your parents' heritage. Maybe they came here only a few years ago. Maybe you have had to play the role of the interpreter in your family. What is it like living in two worlds?

One student (from another school) wrote about her Native-American heritage. She had recently learned that her Saponi grandmother had registered her children as white because she was told to do so at the hospital. Her grandmother never talked about her Native-American heritage, and seemed embarrassed by those relatives who still celebrated those rituals. This young woman was coming to terms with who she was and that heritage.

We all have special moments when we suddenly see something differently. That experience is called an epiphany. Know this word. Talk about an experience that changed the way you thought about the world in some way.

You can write a number of different things besides this. You might have a better idea of your own. But come to class on Tuesday with the first draft of a story. The story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It should be interesting to read or to hear (if you choose to share it).

If you already have your college applications, select one of the questions and answer it.

Avoid listing your accomplishments. Tell a story instead. It is okay to be humorous, just make sure that the humor is appropriate.

Very important: I want a typed story. Make sure your name, date, and class-period are at the top of the page. Double-space, so that I can make comments.

On Tuesday, we will share some of the stories as they will inspire others. I will not make anyone share his/her story before the class if he/she does not want to do so. It will only be on a voluntary basis. You will turn it in, however.

Another thing I want you to do is to learn what kind of house you have. Is it a brick ranch or rancher house? Is it a colonial style or transitional? Do you live in a cape cod? If you are in an apartment, what kind of a building is it? Find the word that describes the outside of your home. One of the things I want to do this year is to build your vocabulary by teaching you to more precisely describe the world.

New Addition: Describe not only your house (type) but its specific architectural details. If you are in an apartment, do you have a patio or balcony? Do you have a picture window? Are there columns in front of your house? What kind of roof do you have?

What are the other houses in your neighborhood like? Describe them too--give me a feel for your community. Tell me when your house was built (or around when). Do you have a lot of trees or did they cut all the magnolias down and name your sub-division "Magnolia Park"? Was your neighborhood once an old farm? Do some research.

For example, I live just inside the Chesterfield County line, in a subdivision called "Surreywood"--a name that suggests horses and carriages and visits to neighbors with calling cards. There are 497 houses in my neighborhood (I counted). Most were built in the late sixties and early seventies. My husband and I have lived in Surreywood for three years now.

My house was finished in 1968. It is a Dutch colonial, which basically means that it looks like a barn. It's more roof than anything, and it's the roof that makes it a Dutch colonial as opposed to just a colonial. It has a finished basement and a driveway under the house. We have Masonite siding that needs to be replaced one of these days. No one makes Masonite siding any more, because it's like putting a paper-mache product on your house. It does not hold up.

Most of the house has hardwood floors. We recently remodeled (ourselves) our family room, which was covered with carpet which must have been around for at least 20 of the last 40 years. We were waiting for the three-legged cat to die. There was no sense in putting in hardwood floors if he was going to be ruining it.

The week before I had to go back to work, we put in the hardwood floor. We also took out that awful wood paneling that was so popular in the late sixties and early seventies and put up drywall and painted it light yellow.

The two houses on each side of us are ranchers with basements. Behind us is a tri-level, also popular in the early seventies. In the winter, when the trees lose their leaves I can see the neighborhood lake. I have to go into my bedroom and turn my head just so, however, in order to see it.

Background on the Middle Ages

Some of the following comes straight from your textbook; some comes from my own familiarity with and affinity for Medieval history and culture.  I'll put my parts in italics.  The questions I ask will relate directly to your textbook, and be mostly in order.  In between, I may insert some facts of my own.  You will be responsible for this information. Expect a reading quiz on Thursday.

By the way, make sure that you look at the art and the artifacts and various illustrations in your book. We will do much this year to connect art, history, and literature.

Who wrote The Ecclesiastical History of the English People?

Approximately when was it written?

Which race of people overcame the Celts and the Picts?

Christianity in the British Isles was ______________-based Christianity.

What kind of culture best describes Medieval Britain?

Which culture began to have a great influence on British culture in the 13th century?

What happened in 1066?

______________ humanism began to influence the Britons as they neared the end of the Middle Ages.

Medieval art and Medieval literature are stridently religious and allegorical. If you look at a Medieval painting, it has not been signed by the artist, because it is not about the artist. It's about doing God's work, and not glorifying the self. An allegory is a symbolic story.  Characters represent concepts like love, death, faith, and charity, to name a few.  Everything in a Medieval painting is there for a reason.  The most important figures are largest.  They are also symbolically dressed. The Virgin Mary, for example, is almost always in blue. This is because blue was made from lapis lazuli, which was the most expensive ingredient in colored paint. Other figures or animals or items appear in Medieval painting, not for the purpose of creating a pleasing composition, but for the purpose of getting out a particular message. Often you will see a skull below Jesus' cross. The skull represents fallen man, or Adam. 

Medieval humans were supposed to focus not on this world, but on the next. They were not to seek glory for themselves, but for God. That is one reason that there were not a lot of discoveries--in science or globally--because the focus was inward and upward. Suffering was good; it got you closer to God.  Lavishing money upon yourself was considered sinful. 

The art and the literature of the Middle Ages reflected that. You don't see much portraiture until you get to the end of the era. That would have been a vanity. If you look at the faces of the various Biblical characters depicted in a work of art, they show humility or suffering or old-fashioned piety. The emotional contexts were pretty much limited to these.

You also have to remember that the Church ran everything, including much of the government. You could not become a lawyer without going through a church-run school. 

Toward the end of the Middle Ages and at the beginning of the Renaissance, writers and painters became more interested in expressing their humanity in their work.  Works were still somewhat allegorical, but characters and figures expressed a wider range of human emotion. This is partly what is meant by humanism. 

Know what the book says about Medieval society: "rigidly hierarchical, feudal, and Church-dominated."

The Old English Period: 700-1066

The Middle-English Period: 1066-1500

The Celts:

The recorded history of Britain actually begins in ________________ and in _____________.

The Celts migrated to Britain around ____________________.

Which emperor's conversion to Christianity brought Christianity to Europe?

How were the Goidelic Celts different from the Britons?

"The Irish converted to Christianity early but slowly, without the pressure of a Christianized colonizer. When the great Irish monasteries flourished in the sixth century, their extraordinary Latin scholarship seems to have developed alongside the traditional learning preserved by the rigorous schools of vernacular poetry" (5).

The Roman Church sent many of its best scholars to Ireland. Thus, while most of Europe was in the Dark Ages, Ireland was experiencing a kind of Renaissance. The church-scholars translated, interpreted, and documented church-texts, but they also preserved elements of the pagan culture. They wrote down many of the stories (myths) that had only been told orally. Many of the stories have what I call "pagan" endings but others also have acceptably Christian endings. These scholars also wrote down the histories and preserved and protected ancient artifacts and structures. 

In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent __________________ to expand Christianity in England.

In England, there were disputes over the Roman v. the Celtic ways of worship. The Roman eventually won, but the Pagan craftsmanship shows up in art that expressed the faith, particularly in the Illuminated Manuscripts. 

What elements of Pagan craftsmanship can be seen in the Illuminated Manuscripts?

The Germanic Migrations:

Which part of Great Britain never Romanized?

What was going on between the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes?

Bede viewed Britain's conversion to Christianity "as part of a divine plan."

In what way does pagan culture (particularly that of the Germanic Barbarians) show up in "Beowulf"?

Tacitus called this ___________________.

What quality was valued most?

What was just beneath that?

What was a warrior supposed to do when his leader was slain?

Besides loyalty to a tribe, what other kind of loyalty was important?

Pagan and Christian: Tension and Convergence

Most texts from the Latin period focus on __________________ subjects.

How was vernacular literature expressed?

How did the pagan values conflict with Christian values?

How did the pagan culture regard treasure?

How did the Christian culture regard treasure?

Primary Poetic Modes: Heroic and Elegiac

Describe the Heroic:

How is the elegiac mode different? Give several examples.

Oral Poetry, Written Manuscripts:

What is a scop?

What else does the scop do?

"In Celtic areas, oral poets had even greater status. The ancient class of learned Irish poets were honored servants of noblemen and kings...."

A fili was the highest class of Irish oral poet. He or she had to know hundreds of stories by heart. He or she also kept the history of kings and peoples alive. A poet or storyteller had great power.  A satirized king could lose his job.

"...the fili also carried out some functions of spells and divination inherited from the pagan priestly class--the druids."

"Possession of the word bestows tremendous, even magical power" (9).

Christianity brought with it the religious story. Augustine and Jerome were two of the pioneers of this genre.

The Norman Conquest

In what year did it occur?

What famous woven work of art expresses this?

How did the culture and language change?

What is the Domesday Book?

Which king is responsible for that book?

How did the feudal system work?

The Normans brought a stronger central government. Know that the Church also became more centralized through _______________ law.

What happened between Henry II and Thomas Becket?

How did this end in 1170?

Where did the event take place?

What is Hagiography?

Continental and Insular Cultures

Schools were expanding in many ways. "Along with biblical and theological study, schools revived an interest in Latin writing, ___________________ philosophy, and science deriving from _________________."

Women, Courtliness, and Courtly Love

Many images during this time were of which two women?

Women (nuns) were somewhat literate--certainly more so than the masses.

Know about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Marie de France.

What is Mariolatry?

How did Ovid's works come into play during this era?

Romance

Women were also seen "as agents of disaster"--and the catalysts of "transgressive love."

A Reminder to 4th and 6th

Bring your textbooks (A) to class on Tuesday. You will begin to read "Beowulf."

A Reminder to 4th and 6th

A Plea to 4th Period

Hello Class!

It has been a few years since I taught British literature and I did not realize that Barnet & Con's A Short Guide to Writing About Literature was for the classroom, not for individual students. In previous years, students bought this text. Now, these texts belong to the school. So please bring them back on Thursday. On the up side, you won't have to haul the book around.

Thanks.

Ms. Losen