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Course Introduction to Beowulf 2178 Views
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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.
Full Transcript
- 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.