OLD ENGLISH

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Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encompasses literature written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England after the withdrawal of the Romans and “ending soon after the Norman Conquest”. These works include genres such as epic poetry, hagiography (biography of saints/religious leaders), sermons, Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period.

 

The most famous surviving work from the Old English period is the epic poem Beowulf composed by an unknown poet.

 

Beowulf is dates between the 8th and early 11th century. In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the help of Hrotgar (the king of the Danes), whose mead hall in Heorot has been under attack by a monster known as Grendel. After beowulf slays him, Grendel’s mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty yearsd has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendenats bury him in a tumulus, a burial mound (grafheuvel), in Geatland.

To let you see that the poem Beowulf is best when someone performs it we are going to watch a small part (start – 8.33)