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English 12

Unit 1

Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Literature

6 topics · 24 practice questions · Free responseNot yet reviewed

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Notes

Old English poetry and Beowulf

  • Old English poetry was first spoken by a scop. It uses alliteration, a caesura in each line, and kennings such as "whale-road" for the sea.
  • The epic hero is larger than life and shows his culture's values: courage, boasting, loyalty and the hope of lasting fame.
  • The comitatus binds a lord and his thanes: loyalty from the warriors, treasure and protection from the lord.
  • Wyrd (fate) rules, but the hero still chooses to act bravely. Beowulf mixes pagan warrior values with Christian touches.

Middle English and Chaucer

  • After 1066, Norman French reshaped English into Middle English.
  • Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a frame narrative: pilgrims travel to Canterbury and tell tales.
  • Chaucer uses characterization, satire and irony to comment on the church, the nobility and ordinary people.

Other medieval forms

  • Romance (quests and chivalry), ballad (sung story), and morality play (allegory about living well).

Topics in this unit

Each topic has its own short notes and practice.

Practice

Which pair best shows two features of Old English verse?
"The ring-giver sat in his hall and spoke to his sea-farers." In this line, "ring-giver" is a kenning for:
A warrior stays beside his dying king while the others run away from the dragon. Which Anglo-Saxon value does he show?
Why is The Canterbury Tales called a frame narrative?
A narrator describes a greedy friar as "a worthy man, the best beggar in the whole house" and lists how he flatters rich women. The narrator's praise is best described as:
Which statement about Middle English is accurate?

Free response

Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.

Free-response question

Read this original passage written in the style of an Old English epic: "Across the whale-road he came, gray-mailed and grim, a sea-wolf from the Geatish shore. At the hall door he cried: 'No sword shall stand between my hand and this fiend. Let fate spin as it will; I will win glory or the grave.'"

(a) Identify two kennings in the passage and explain what each stands for.

Show the answer and scoring guide

"Whale-road" is a kenning for the sea. "Sea-wolf" is a kenning for a fierce sea-warrior (the hero himself).

Check off the points you earned:

(b) Explain how the hero's speech shows both the epic boast and an attitude toward fate.

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He boasts that he will fight the fiend with bare hands, "no sword," which is a typical epic boast of strength. By saying "let fate spin as it will," he accepts wyrd but chooses to act anyway.

Check off the points you earned:

(c) What Anglo-Saxon values does the speech reflect? Support your answer.

Show the answer and scoring guide

The speech values courage and the pursuit of fame ("glory or the grave"). Glory means being remembered after death, which was a central goal for a warrior, and the hero is willing to risk death to earn it.

Check off the points you earned: