DAY ONE
Beowulf by Anonymous (Raffel translation) pg. 36, the last ½ of section 8.
Desiring nothing but escape; his claws
Had been caught, he was trapped. That trip to Herot
Was a miserable journey for the writhing monster!
The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,
450 And Danes shook with terror. Down
The aisles the battle swept, angry
And wild. Herot trembled, wonderfully
Built to withstand the blows, the struggling
Great bodies beating at its beautiful walls;
455 Shaped and fastened with iron, inside
And out, artfully worked, the building
Stood firm. Its benches rattled, fell
To the floor, gold-covered boards grating
As Grendel and Beowulf battled across them.
460 Hrothgar's wise men had fashioned Herot
To stand forever; only fire,
They had planned, could shatter what such skill had put
Together, swallow in hot flames such splendor
Of ivory and iron and wood. Suddenly
465 The sounds changed, the Danes started
I n new terror, cowering in their beds as the terrible
Screams of the Almighty's enemy sang
In the darkness, the horrible shrieks of pain
And defeat, the tears torn out of Grendel's
470 Taut throat, hell's captive caught i n the arms
Of him who of all the men on earth
Was the strongest.
While reading pages 36-38,Sections 9&10,answer the following questions in constructed response form. Write your answers on a piece of paper stapled to this page.
Extension Question
- Identify the motivations of key characters and those points where their motivations conflict with other characters: 2.then examine what those conflicts reveal about the characters and how they affect the text as a whole. Take the information from the criteria given and write a paragraph using Beowulf and Grendel. I am expecting at least 7-10 sentences minimally.
FSA Item Specification Question
- For the following question you may choose either Grendel or Beowulf. Your answer to the question should yield at least 5 sentences for both parts combined.
Part A:
How is the main character introduced?
Part B:
How does this way of introducing her affect the meaning of the story?
DAY TWO
Beowulf by Anonymous (Raffel translation) pg. 38, the first ½ of section 10.
And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded
Herot, warriors coming to that hall
520 From faraway lands, princes and leaders
Of men hurrying to behold the monster's
Great staggering tracks. They gaped wit h no sense
Of sorrow, felt no regret for his suffering,
Went tracing his bloody footprints, his beaten
525 And lonely flight, to the edge of the lake
Where he'd dragged his corpselike way, doomed
And already weary of his vanishing life.
The water was bloody, steaming and boiling
In horrible pounding waves, heat
530 Sucked from his magic veins; but the swirling
Surf had covered, his death, hidden
Deep i n murky darkness his miserable
End, as hell opened to receive him.
While reading pages 38-39,Sections 11 and the first ½ of 12, answer the following questions in constructed response form. Write your answers on a piece of paper stapled to this page.
Extension Question
- Explain the choices the author has made regarding setting, be sure to include the settings the writer as used as well as what impact those settings have had on the text. What was gained or added by having major events in the text occur in their respective settings.
I am expecting at least 7-10 sentences minimally.
FSA Item Specification Question
- Pg.38
...”They live in secret places, windy
Cliffs, wolf-dens where water pours
From the rocks, then runs underround, where mist
Steams like black clouds, and the groves of trees
Growing out over their lake are all covered
With frozen spray, and wind down snakelike
Roots that reach as far as the water
And help keep it dark.
At night that lake
Burns like a torch. No one knows its bottom,
No wisdom reaches such depths.
What impact does this description of Grendel and his Mother’s home have upon the text? What is gained by the author’s word choice in this particular piece of text?
DAY THREE
Beowulf by Anonymous (Raffel translation) pg. 40
590 And there the water’s heat could not hurt him,
Nor anything in the lake attack him through
The building’s high-arching roof. A brilliant
Light burned all around him, the lake
Itself like a fiery flame.
Then he saw
595 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. But her guest
Discovered that no sword could slice her evil
600 Skin, that Hrunting could not hurt her, was useless
Now when he needed it. They wrestled, she ripped
And tore and clawed at him, bit holes in his helmet,
And that too failed him; for the first time in years
Of being worn to war it would earn no glory;
While reading pages 40-41,Sections 12 and 13, answer the following questions in constructed response form. Write your answers on a piece of paper stapled to this page.
Extension Question
- Explain how the character development of Beowulf or Grendel’s Mother drove plot through their respective attributes. Then explain the effect a specific setting one of the characters had a major action also had on the order of events in the text using pages 40-41.
I am expecting at least 7-10 sentences minimally.
FSA Item Specification Question
How does the order of the action in the story affect the overall meaning of the text?
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Instructor, N. Pachecker