LI1 02

Esta é uma pré-visualização de arquivo. Entre para ver o arquivo original

LITERATURA INGLESA I
Old English Literature – The Beowulf
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Class content:
The idea of literature.
The author, the work and the reader.
 Literature, experience, human expression, culture and society.
 
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
What is Beowulf?
Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. More than 3,000 lines long, Beowulf relates the exploits of its eponymous hero, and his successive battles with a monster, named Grendel, with Grendel’s revengeful mother, and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard of treasure. 
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
The story of Beowulf
Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil, and divides neatly into three acts. The poem opens in Denmark, where Grendel is terrorising the kingdom. The Geatish prince Beowulf hears of his neighbours’ plight, and sails to their aid with a band of warriors. Beowulf encounters Grendel in unarmed combat, and deals the monster its death-blow by ripping off its arm. 
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
There is much rejoicing among the Danes; but Grendel’s loathsome mother takes her revenge, and makes a brutal attack upon the king’s hall. Beowulf seeks out the hag in her underwater lair, and slays her after an almighty struggle. Once more there is much rejoicing, and Beowulf is rewarded with many gifts. The poem culminates 50 years later, in Beowulf’s old age. Now king of the Geats, his own realm is faced with a rampaging dragon, which had been guarding a treasure-hoard. Beowulf enters the dragon’s mound and kills his foe, but not before he himself has been fatally wounded.
Beowulf closes with the king’s funeral, and a lament for the dead hero.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed. Beowulf is set in the pagan world of sixth-century Scandinavia, but it also contains echoes of Christian tradition. The poem must have been passed down orally over many generations, and modified by each successive bard, until the existing copy was made at an unknown location in Anglo-Saxon England. Beowulf survives in a single medieval manuscript, housed at the British Library in London. The manuscript bears no date, and so its age has to be calculated by analysing the scribes’ handwriting. Some scholars have suggested that the manuscript was made at the end of the 10th century, others in the early decades of the eleventh, perhaps as late as the reign of King Cnut, who ruled England from 1016 until 1035.  
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
An epic (from the Ancient Greek adjective ἐπικός (epikos), from ἔπος(epos) "word, story, poem") is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. 
The first epics were products of preliterate societies and oral poetic traditions. In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means. 
The hero generally participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
An attempt to delineate ten main characteristics of an epic:
Begins in medias res.
The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe.
Begins with an invocation to a muse (epic invocation).
Begins with a statement of the theme.
Includes the use of epithets.
Contains long lists (epic catalogue).
Features long and formal speeches.
Shows divine intervention on human affairs.
Features heroes that embody the values of the civilization.
Often features the tragic hero's descent into the Underworld or hell.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Beowulf - the perfect hero.
 
Grendel
Likely the poem’s most memorable creation, Grendel is one of the three monsters that Beowulf battles.
Hrothgar
Hrothgar, the aged ruler of the Danes.
Unferth
Unferth’s challenge to Beowulf’s honor differentiates him from Beowulf and helps to reveal some of the subtleties of the heroic code that the warriors must follow.  
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
A hero (heroine is sometimes used for females) (Ancient Greek: ἥρως, hḗrōs), in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancien Greek religion. A demigod is the son or daughter from one immortal and one mortal parent, an example would be Heracles, son of the mortal queen Alcmene and the god Zeus. Later, hero (male) and heroine (female) came to refer to characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good of all humanity. This definition originally referred to martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence. 
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Characteristics of an epic hero?
Answer:
Characteristics of an epic hero  
1. The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well into the story; antecedent action will be recounted in flashbacks.
2. The hero is not only a warrior and a leader, but also a polished speaker who can address councils of chieftains or elders with eloquence and confidence.
3. The hero, often a demi-god, possesses distinctive weapons of great size and power, often heirlooms or presents from the gods.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
4. The hero must undertake a long, perilous journey, often involving a descent into the Underworld (Greek, "Neukeia"), which tests his endurance, courage, and cunning.
5. Although his fellows may be great warriors (like Achilles and Beowulf, he may have a commitatus, or group of noble followers with whom he grew up), he undertakes a task that no one else dare attempt.
6. Whatever virtues his race most prizes, these the epic hero as a cultural exemplar possesses in abundance. His key quality is often emphasized by his stock epithet: "Resourceful Odysseus," "swift-footed Achilles," "pious AEneas."
7. The concept of arete (Greek for "bringing virtue to perfection") is crucial to understanding the epic protagonist.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
8. The hero establishes his aristeia (nobility) through single combat in superari a superiore, honour coming from being vanquished by a superior foe. That is, a hero gains little honour by slaying a lesser mortal, but only by challenging heroes like himself or adversaries of superhuman power.
9. The two great epic adversaries, the hero and his antagonist, meet at the climax, which must be delayed as long as possible to sustain maximum interest. One such device for delaying this confrontation is the nephelistic rescue (utilized by Homer to rescue Paris from almost certain death and defeat at the hands of Menelaus in the Iliad).
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
10. The hero's epic adversary is often a "god-despiser," one who has more respect for his own mental and physical abilities than for the power of the gods. The adversary might also be a good man sponsored by lesser deities, or one whom the gods desert at a crucial moment.
11. The hero may encounter a numinous phenomenon (a place or person having a divine or supernatural force) such as a haunted wood or enchanting sorceress that he most use strength,
cunning, and divine assistance to overcome.
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
The Beowulf – Themes:
Good vs Evil
Identity
Strengh and Skill
Wealth
Religion
Courage
Mortality
The Supernatural
Tradition and Customs
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
SYMBOLS, IMAGES AND ALLEGORIES
The Sea, the Mere, and Water Imagery
Heorot Hall, Mead-Halls
Swords
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Beowulf Setting
Why did the late-medieval Anglo-Saxons tell stories about early-medieval Scandinavians? Well, mostly because those Scandinavians were their ancestors. It's sort of like when 21st century Americans tell stories about Robin Hood back in Merry Old England. In each case, we look to a distant homeland where some of our ancestors came from and we tell a legend about the heroes in our past.  
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
THE BEOWULF
Customs
Habits 
Values
Ideology
History
Geography…
Tema da Apresentação
First Contact and impressions
LITERATURA INGLESA I
an Deireadh!
Tema da Apresentação