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Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:04

Beowulf a la Shmoop

00:06

An Introduction

00:09

And welcome to Beowulf a la Shmoop.

00:12

Here we go.

00:13

"Hwaet! We gardena in geardagum

00:16

peodcyninga prym gefrunon

00:19

hu oa aepelingas ellen fremedon!"

00:22

And that was not Klingon; that was actually

00:25

English in the era of Beowulf.

00:27

And good luck spelling all that.

00:29

So, we're here with Dr. Deb talking about this.

00:32

Beowulf's considered the first great work of literature

00:34

written in the English language.

00:36

And that was the English language, not Klingon.

00:38

But you'll notice pretty quickly,

00:40

this is not the English we use today.

00:43

It's Old English.

00:44

Which is just bizarre stuff.

00:48

But, Deb, so why don't you give us

00:50

context of the era and what we should expect

00:52

from a reading of Beowulf

00:54

and why you need Shmoop so badly

00:56

when you do read Beowulf.

00:57

Sure, well, I mean, the first thing you mentioned is

00:59

it's written in Old English.

01:01

And, just to kind of give a little background on what that means.

01:03

Before the Norman conquest in 1066,

01:08

we were not speaking in English that sounds anything like

01:11

it sounds today.

01:13

The Norman Conquest brought in a lot of, like,

01:15

French-iness into the language.

01:16

So, Old English is very Germanic.

01:19

So it has German, Latin, Norse, Scandinavian sounds in it.

01:24

So, yeah, basically it sounds like someone is sneezing.

01:26

And for those of us who missed school that day,

01:28

the Norman conquest is the Nordic tribes

01:32

coming down, basically taking over what's now England.

01:36

And that was kind -- And then King William emerged from that.

01:39

Yeah, and this all happened in 1066,

01:42

so we'll talk a little bit about how Beowulf

01:44

is really centered right in the middle of that.

01:47

Because Beowulf was told before the Norman conquest,

01:50

but then it was written down after.

01:52

So we'll talk a little bit about that play,

01:54

but the historical conquest is important to keep in mind

01:56

as we read.

01:57

Great. Tell us a little about a day in the life of.

02:00

Because, just living in this era,

02:02

feels like it's an important element

02:04

of the story and the context of things.

02:07

Like, what was a day in the life?

02:09

Yeah, well, what we wanna remember is that

02:10

Beowulf is an epic poem.

02:12

So it really isn't about a day in the life.

02:14

It's about a day in the life of someone incredibly important.

02:18

Epic poems tend to be about

02:20

big, heroic rulers.

02:23

And this is, you know, an epic poem at its best.

02:25

It's about heroism; it's about really showing the cultural values

02:31

of the ruling class.

02:32

It's written in an elevated style; there's supernatural things

02:36

going on...

02:38

And through all this,

02:39

we're able to see what was most important

02:41

to the people who were telling this story.

02:43

So, yeah, when you read Beowulf, you don't really get

02:47

the idea of what a day in the life was for, you know,

02:49

Joe Schmoe in the fifth century.

02:53

Or, you know, the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh century

02:55

when it was written.

02:56

But instead you get a day in the life of, you know,

03:00

a hero who fights monsters.

03:01

So it's a little different.

03:07

What can we expect from a reading of Beowulf?

03:10

What's the historical context of Old English?

03:14

How did the English language change after the Norman conquest?

03:18

Is Beowulf a day in the life story? Why or why not?

03:25

And that was the English language, not Klingon.