Beowulf study guide questions with page references:
Units 1-2: Grendel attacks the Danes – the battle with Grendel’s mother
Directions: Type your answers in complete sentences. Use Times New Roman font, size 12 (like this). The questions follow the chronology of the epic.
Due dates:
Unit 1: Questions 1-15 ( pages 48 – 55) : ______
Unit 2: Questions 16-27 (pages 55 -63): ______
Before you start, define the following rhetorical devices:
1. Allusion
2. Alliteration
3. Kenning
4. Caesura
5. Hyperbole
6. Synecdoche
7. Metonymy
8. Metaphor
Questions:
1. What is Grendel’s grievance against Hrothgar and Heorot? (48)
2. Evaluate: What change in tone occurs after the first two lines of the poem? (48)
3. How does the story of Grendel’s origin show a mixture of Biblical and pagan influences? (48)
4. Evaluate: What is the symbolic value of the conflict between the Danes and Grendel?
5. Identify the literary device in the following lines: “His misery leaped/The seas, was told and sung in all/Men’s ears”
6. Identify the following rhetorical/epic device: “That shadow of death hunted in the darkness”
7. Reread lines 106-119 on page 51. What rhetorical devices does the poet use to describe the Danish ship? Why are these devices effective?
8. How does the poet describe Beowulf? (51)
9. How do the Danes react to the threat of Grendel? (49)
10. What happens in the exchange between Beowulf and the watchman when the Geats landed in Denmark? (52-53)
11. Identify the rhetorical device used in the following quote:
“Keep it safe here on our shores,
Your fresh-tarred boat, watch it well,
Until that curving prow carries
Across the sea to Geatland a chosen
Warrior…”
12. What accomplishments does Beowulf boast of to Hrothgar? (54)
13. Describe Herot. (54)
14. How does Beowulf propose to fight Grendel? Why? (55)
15. What is Beowulf’s view of his chance of success? Evaluate: How does this explanation reflect on Anglo-Saxon values? (55)
16. Briefly summarize Beowulf’s battle with Grendel. (56-57)
17. Identify the rhetorical device: “And his heart laughed, he relished the sight.”
18. How do the Danes react to Beowulf’s victory? (58)
19. Identify the epic device: “Only to die, to wait for the end”
20. Identify the rhetorical device:
“Then old and young rejoiced…
… retelling
Beowulf’s bravery as they jogged along.
And over and over they swore that nowhere
On earth or under the spreading sky
Or between the seas, neither south nor north,
Was there a warrior worthier to rule over men.”
21. Identify the rhetorical device:
“Then he saw
The mighty water witch, and swung his sword,
His ring-marked blade, straight at her head;
The iron sang its fierce song, Sang Beowulf’s strength.
22. Briefly summarize Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s mother.(60-61)
23. Why does Beowulf continue to fight Grendel’s mother even though he is having difficulties? (61)
24. Evaluate: Read the following quote and identify what light might symbolize:
“The brilliant light shone, suddenly,
As though burning in that hall, and as bright as Heaven’s
Own candle” (62)
25. Evaluate: Reread lines 518-533. The description here contains an allusion to a Biblical passage describing Christ’s death. Is Beowulf a Christ-like hero?