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You are hereBeowulf

Beowulf

Lessons and projects by students and teachers on the Anglo-Saxon hero, Beowulf.

Old English Made Easy

A terrific site full of content and  useful pages and links for making Old English (Anglo Saxon) easy.  One of the most useful parts of the site includes an Old to Modern Dictionary - which include pieces of three different dictionaries that have been cross- referenced.  It is not complete - but even the level of completion has been color-coded.

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Beowulf Translations .NET

What a terrific site for text-centered teachers.  There are many excerpts from many different translations of Beowulf and the site's creator has created an easy to use interface to access everything.  In their words, the site gives "...a comparative library presenting excerpts from over 100 English language translations of the epic poem Beowulf"

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Beowulfpoet.com - A performer's site

Created by a musician who performs different versions of the story (though I couldn't find any audio on the site), there is background information on the epic as well as links to other sites and to essays.  In the words of its creator, "This site offers resources both for appreciating Beowulf as a masterwork of dramatic poetry and for exploring the fascinating world of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature."

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The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry

A great place to see Anglo-Saxon Poetry in its original Old English.  If you were doing a project with students doing translation - this would be a great initial place to send them.  And as the name of the website implies - it is very complete: The Exeter Book, Beowulf, The Paris Psalter, The Meters of Boethius, and more.

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The Ballad of High Noon Song Reflections

An interpretation of the song "Do Not Forsake Me" also known as The Ballad of High Noon. A look about how innovative the idea of narration in a song was at the time, and the popularity of a famous song.

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Bagby Beowulf

My students always love to hear the Old English language when we study Beowulf. I found this website  that my students and I really enjoy. The website is about Benjamin Bagby, the founder of a medieval music ensemble, and shows video clips of his performance of Beowulf in Old English. He not only tells the tale, but he sings and plays the harp as he performs. It's a great introduction to the Old English language and entertaining, as well!

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Fractal Computer

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Old English Online

Part of a larger linguistics course at the University of Texas, this very complete and useful site has sections on the language as well as the Literature of the Anglo-Saxons.  The glossary is very complete and has each construction encountered in the manuscripts that survive.  There are also lessons on Old English built around the surviving texts.

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_3067_waltz-dancing-beginners.html

Just basic steps for those who would like to waltz along with Thomasina and Septimus. It is a dance for those in love, although anyone caould do it.

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Beowulf, Heroism, and 9/11 - A Presentation

This brief slide show begins with the moving, translated words of Beowulf where he states that he would not race ahead of his friend Brecca, because he had promised him he would stay by his side.  The presentation next recounts some of the heroes of 9/11while subtly (I hope) comparing it ideas of heroism from Beowulf.  It ends with the fiery funeral of Beowulf and the casket of the last 9/11 firefighter being carried away on his fire truck.  This is used with a group work on the same subject.

Presentation

Group work

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Grendel Group Work #2 - Chapter 5 - The Dragon - Connect the dots...

A very different kind of group work.  The students are given a sheet filled with ideas and quotes from Grendel (and the poem "Auto Wreck").  They must then take extensive notes (before joining a group) and draw lines and arrows connecting the ideas.  The student then joins a group and must come up with a thesis or overiding idea(s) between the quotes and boxes (and poem).  It is interesting that some students (to be honest -- a smaller percentage, but significant nonetheless) actually do much better at this kind of unstructured assignment -- while the majority seem to want the guidelines found in most of the group works on this site (all the more reason to shake things up).

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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Grendel: Lyrics to "The Wrong Child" and "Grendel"

Lyrics to REM's song "The Wrong Child" about someone who is different and doesn't want to be (works wondefully with Chapter 2) and Sunnyday RealEstate's song, "Grendel."

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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Epic Hero Cycle

Teaching Level: 
High School

This PowerPoint starts with a definition of an epic poem.  It moves into the unique characteristics of an epic.  Finally, it describes the epic hero cycle with pictures from modern "epics" such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  The pictures are there to gain the students' attention as well as a memory-trigger for later on.  I use this PowerPoint as part of an introduction / background information for Beowulf. [A wonderfu, very complete presentation on Epics - it is, in fact, epic in itself. JRS]

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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Beowulf and the Fire Dragon - Group Work

 An in-class collaborative assignment for 3-4 students designed to be finished in one class period.  Students do a close reading of the end of the Beowulf saga as they try to answer the questions and put together some "big" ideas.  It is important that your students have read both Beowulf's encounter with the fire dragon and have read Hrothgar's warning to Beowulf before he leaves the land of the Danes.  My textbook does not have the latter -- so I give them a handout with that text on it.  I have also incorporated (and will upload the revised edition) a question that references the Batman movie (The Dark Knight) and the encounter between Batman and the Joker.  This not only works well here -- but is also prepares the students for their reading of Grendel.

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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Beowulf - Group Work 1

A young Beowulf's faceA lesson designed for 3-4 students to complete in one period, on the first part of Beowulf from their text books.  For my students that is pages 27-35 in Elements of Literature.  It also gets the students to see something that was subtle enough that I probably missed teaching it for my first 12 years or so.  The idea that Beowulf stays with Brecca during their great swimming race because he had promised he would not leave him behind -- and not because of the race itself.  This idea of heroism is echoed when students watch a Power Point Presentation on the heroes of 9/11.  Some of their acts of heroism resemble that unselfish deed of Beowulf.

Full text, downloads, and audio available to registered users with 50 points (Letterman).  An uploaded original lesson or Illuminated Text is worth 50 points.

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Text to Remember

Mortality

The spirit lives on, all else perishes.

Le Retour de Martin Guerre

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Do other teacher's field trips have a negative impact on your classes?

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