Beowulf Unit Test Review Fall 2011
Define the following key terms and be able to find examples in the passages:
§ Alliteration
§ Allusion
§ Kenning
§ Foreshadowing
§ Epic
§ Scop
§ Comitatus
§ Wergild
Know the epic hero traits and be able to identify examples of the trait.
§ Superior in degree to other men and his environment
§ Virtuous
§ Capable of error
§ Vulnerable
§ Not immune to death
§ Loyalty
§ Gentleness
§ Valor
§ Kindness
§ Strives for honor and fame
Vocabulary
Be able to define the following words and use the words in a sentence:
§ Hoard
§ Scruples
§ Skulk
§ Solace
§ Vex
Know the following characters and be able to trace their character development and personality:
§ Beowulf
§ Grendel
§ Grendel’s Mother
§ Hrothgar
§ Wiglaf
Know the role that fate plays in the story and how it affects the characters.
Know the importance of Herot to the Danes and what it demonstrates.
Know the significance of Hrothgar’s throne and the role it plays in the story.
Know the universal theme and how it progresses through the story.
Know the difference between pagan and Christian in the poem.
Know how the Anglo-Saxon culture is reflected in the story—Go over PowerPoint notes
Know how the poem that we discussed in class “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is reflected in Beowulf and the overall meaning of the poem.
Passages: Be able to identify the following passages. Make sure that you can summary the passage and identify any literary terms in the passage.
#1He was spawned in that slime,
Conceived by a pair of those monsters born
Of Cain, murderous creatures banished
By God, punished forever for the crime
Of Abel’s death. The Almighty drove
Those demons out, and their exile was bitter,
Shut away from men; they split
Into a thousand forms of evil—spirits
And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,
A brood forever opposing the Lord’s
Will, and again and again defeated.
#2
So mankind’s enemy continued his crimes,
Killing as often as he could, coming
Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived
In Herot, when the night hid him, he never
Dared to touch Hrothgar’s glorious
Throne, protected by God—God,
Whose love Grendel could not know.
#3
“In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac’s
Follower and strongest of the Geats—greater
And stronger than anyone anywhere in the world—
Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror
And quickly commanded a boat fitted out,
Proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king,
Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar,
Now when help was needed.”
#4My lord Higlac
Might think less of me if I let my sword
Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid
Behind some broad linden shield: my hands
Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life
Against the monster. God must decide
Who will be given to death’s cold grip.
#5
That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime,
Knew at once that nowhere on earth
Had he met a man whose hands were harder;
His mind was flooded with fear—but nothing
Could take his talons and himself from that tight
Hard grip.
#6
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.
#7
…Flames beat at the iron
Shield, and for a time it held, protected
Beowulf as he’d planned; then it began to melt,
And for the first time in his life that famous prince
Fought with fate against him, with glory
Denied him. He knew it, but he raised his sword
And struck at the dragon’s scaly hide.