Grade 10 S1 Exam Review

Study.

What was the spoken language in Beowulf?

Old English

Who is thought to have edited the book?

Two Christian monks

When and where does Beowulf take place?

Around 500 AD, Scandinavia (Northern Europe)

What are the two Germanic tribes?

Geats and Danes

What kind of a poem is Beowulf?

Epic

What were the languages spoken by the tribes?

West Saxon, Kentish, Mercian, and Northumbrian.

Who are Beowulf's three combatants?

Grendel, Grendel's mother, and Dragon

What is the author of Beowulf trying to convey throughout the battles?

The significance of battle, what makes a hero heroic

What is the most important quality of a hero?

Driving will for glory

Why don't we know when Beowulf composed or who it was composed by?

Because there was a destruction of Henry VIII's great libraries

What are the characteristics of an epic?

Based on both historical fact and legend, hero is male of noble birth who values courage and honor, hero is courageous and almost superhuman, hero must complete a long dangerous journey and fight supernatural creatures, hero's actions will determine the fate of his people or nation, themes (good vs. evil) are universal.

Beowulf is essentially what kind of a poem?

Aristocratic

What is the significance of battle according to the writer?

The battles illustrate what makes a good fighter tick, and what makes a hero heroic; he looks inside the minds of both good men and evil monsters

What can we conclude about the author of Beowulf?

It is the work of one man and that its author was Christian monk

Why did the translator of Beowulf insert all of his studies on the history and language and the story itself?

To prove that it was a scholarly endeavor

What is the name of the mead-hall that Hrothgar builds?

Herot

What caused Grendel to be so irritated with the Danes?

He grew impatient because the Danes would feast day after day, playing their loud music

What religion are the Danes?

Christian

How long were the Danes tortured by Grendel?

Twelve years

Why didn't Grendel ever touch Hrothgar's thone?

He was protected by God

Beowulf

Higlac's follower, and the strongest of the Geats, destroys Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon

How many men did Beowulf take with him to help the Danes?

14

How does Beowulf defeat Grendel?

He tears his arm off with his bare hands

Why couldn't the swords or weapons the Danes used hurt Grendel?

Because Grendel had bewitched all men's weapons so that it could not hurt him

What did Grendel's arm represent?

Proof of Beowulf's strength, and proof of Grendel's torture ending

What does Grendel's mother take as revenge?

Kills Hrothgar's closest friend, and takes Grendel's claw

What did Unferth give to Beowulf?

A sword, Hrunting

Where does Beowulf go to fight Grendel's mother?

The bottom of the lake

How does God help Beowulf in his battle with Grendel's mother?

He sends a sword that can be used to defeat Grendel's mother, because it was forged by giants and monsters

How did Beowulf kill Grendel's mother?

By striking in the neck and cutting through (beheadded)

What does Beowulf bring back with him to represent his glory?

He brings back the sword and Grendel's head

What happened to the sword he used to kill Grendel's mother?

The blade melts, and all that is left is the runic, it has a story of a race of giants wiped out in a battle with God. He sends a flood and wipes them out of existence

Who was the only person who stayed and helped Beowulf defeat the monster?

Wiglaf

What happened to Nagling when Beowulf tried to smash the beast?

The blade shattered

How did Beowulf die?

The dragon drove its tusks into Beowulf's neck and it's venom was in his blood

How does Beowulf want to be buried?

He wants to be burned at the water's edge, and to build a tower and call it's Beowulf's tower

What did Wiglaf do with the treasures that he had won with Beowulf?

He buried them in the sand near Beowulf and his (Beowulf's) tower

Wiglaf

Beowulf's cousin. Wexstan's son. Only person who comes to Beowulf's rescue when he needed help and support (both physical and mental) the most aka in his dying hours/last fight/fight with the dragon. Becomes the king once Beowulf dies

Unferth

Danish warrior. Tension between him and Beowulf. Unwilling to fight against the evil forces in the book. Makes amends by giving Beowulf sword

Grendel's Mother

Wants revenge on the Geats (mainly Beowulf) for killing her son. "greedy she-wolf" "fierce". Second of three Beowulf will fight; evil in the battle between good and evil

Edgetho

Beowulf's father

Higlac

Beowulf's uncle, Geatian king, whenever his name is mentioned, it is referring to the Geats

Grendel

"powerful monster", "demon", "mankind's enemy"; the first of three Beowulf will fight; evil in the battle between good and evil

Hrothgar

Healfdane's son who becomes a great Danish king whom everyone loves; whenever his name is mentioned, it is referring to the Danes

Kenning

Device for introducing descriptive color or for suggesting associations without distracting attention away from the essential statement

Scop

Composer and story-teller of Anglo-Saxon poetry

Foreshadowing

What will happen next or how the narrative will end to add suspense to draw the reader to the story

Repetition

Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis

Alliteration

A literary device that consists of repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words in close succession

Compounding

Combining two words to make a new word

diazeugma

the linkage of a single subject with two or more verbs, either to add dimension to the first verb or to establish a clear sequence of actions or events

apposition

the placement of two elements, typically nouns or noun phrases, side by side so that the second identifies, clarifies, or elaborates on the first

lair (n.)

the home or den of a wild animal; any hideout

stalked (v.)

followed, hunted

stalked (adj.)

having a stalk or stem; borne upon a stem

gorge (n.)

a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it

gorge (v.)

to eat or swallow greedily

gruesome (adj.)

causing shock or horror

writhing (v.)

twisting and turning in pain

loathsome (adj.)

causing hatred or disgust; repulsive

The Knight

Lines 43-45

There was a most distinguished man, who from the day on which he first began, to ride abroad had followed chivalry

Squire

Lines 96-100

He knew the way to sit a horse and ride, he could make songs and poems and recite, knew how to joust and dance, he loved so hotly that till dawn grew pale, he slept as little as a nightingale

Yeoman

Lines !10-112

And in his hand he bore a mighty bow, his head was like a nut his face was brown, he knew the whole of woodcraft up and down

Prioress

Lines 162-166

She wore a coral trinket on her arm, a set of beads, the gaudies, tricked in green, whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen, on which there first was a graven crowned, and lower amor vinvit omnia

Monk

Lines 170-171

Who rode the country, hunting was his sport, a manly man to be an abbot able

Friar

Lines 244-246

He knew the taverns well in every town, and every innkeeper and barmaid too, better than lepers beggars and that crew

Merchant

Lines 291-292

He was so stately in negotiation, loan, bargain, and commercial obligation

Oxford cleric

Lines 317-318

The thought or moral virtue filled his speech, and he would gladly learn, and gladly teach

Sergeant at the Law

Lines 333-334

He knew of every judgment, case and crime recorded, ever since king williams time

Franklin

Lines 353-355

His house was never short of bake meat pies, of fish and flesh and these in such supplies, it positively snowed with meat and drink

Guild Fraternity

Lines 381-384

Their wisdom would have justified a plan, to make each one of them an alderman, they had the capital and revenue, besides their wives declared it was due

Cook

Lines 395-397

But what a pity, so it seemed to me, that he should have an ulcer on his knee, as for blancmage he made it with the best

Skipper

Lines 411-414

As for skill in reckoning his tides, currents and many other risks besides, moons harbors pilots he had such dispatch, none from hull to carthage was his match

Doctor

Lines 451-452

Yet he was rather close as to expenses, and kept the gold he won in pestilences

Wife of Bath

Lines 484-486

In company she liked to laugh and chat, and knew the remedies for loves mischances, an art in which she knew the oldest chances

Parson

Lines 522-524

He stayed at home and watched over his fold, so that no wolf should make the sheep miscarry, he was a shepherd and no mercenary

Plowman

Lines 550-554

He would help the poor, for love of Christ and never take a penny, if he could help it prompt as any, paid his tithes in full when due, on what he owned

Miller

Lines 576-578

A wrangler and buffoon, a store of tavern stories, filthy in the main, master hand at stealing grain

Manciple

Lines 587-590

He was never rash, whether he bought on credit or paid cash, he used to watch the market, ang go in first quite nicely

Reeve

Lines 618-620

Under contract to present, accounts right from his masters earliest years, no one had ever caught him in arrears