Boast Like Beowulf

Beowulf had no shame about boasting. In fact, the Anglo-Saxons warriors saw nothing wrong with letting the world know who they were, who their noble parents were, what great feats they had accomplished, and what they planned to do next. This boasting was perfectly polite, even expected.

Assignment: Write a formal boast about yourself, draft a rough draft in your journal and then copy it on to a white piece of paper, and decorate it (if you don’t draw, just use design a boarder!). BE SURE TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE BACK.

Guidelines:Your boast must show your understanding of Anglo-Saxon poetry by following the Anglo-Saxon poetic format:

Self-identification (I am ______, daughter/son of ______)

Your immediate ancestry and something about your lineage (daddy/mama)

Your bravery (not gonna take nothin’ from nobody)

Your beliefs (honor, glory, loyalty, honesty, decency, etc.)

Boasts of at least 3past achievements (academic, athletic, musical, social, artistic, etc.)

Boast of at least one achievement to come (you can make this as outlandish as you like)

Include at least 3 identifiable kennings (compound expression w/ metaphorical meaning: oar-steed = ship; whale-road = ocean)

Include at least 3alliterative phrases (repeated first consonant sound: monster-mashing, death-dealer; brain-basher)

 15-30 lines – approximate verse form (no need to rhyme)

  1. Greetings Mythology students.
  2. I am Irish maiden, Kelly, of Austin, Texas,
  3. mentor of men and sailor of seas,
  4. daughter of Marty and Nancy from the kingdom of Florida,
  5. proud parent of precocious progeny: Will, Tracy and Erin.
  6. I am wife to hubby Bill,
  7. a marriage with many mountains and very few valleys.
  8. I am a lover of fine foods and fresh fruits
  9. Who fears nurses with needles and sharks in the shallows.
  10. I have not lived a lazy life,
  11. and I am proud of my many careers,
  12. foremost my tutelage of teens.
  13. I have weathered many hellish summers in Austin
  14. and cultivated grand gardens in my time,
  15. providing tasty fire-colored fruits to my family and neighbors.
  16. It is with this determination that I wish to fight the many-headed monster that has taken over my classroom – the cellphone.
  17. For too many years, this bane of mankind has tormented me
  18. And disrupted learning in this great hall.
  19. And so my request is this,
  20. that you retire your electronics along with your swords and shields when there is learning in the classroom.
  21. Save combat with your “Angry birds” and “2048” for your free time at the end of class.
  22. If I should fail in this battle, clobber me over the head with largest club you can find
  23. And bury me in my castle along the bog of Lake Travis
  24. for I shall certainly suffer a prolonged and brutal death by cellphone otherwise.