106-013 Beowulf

Usually 106-024 Introduction to Old English A: Prose and 106-029 Introduction to Old English B: Poetry.

This is an advanced course in Old English in which the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf will be read in the original. Students completing this subject successfully will have achieved a deeper understanding of the subtleties of Old English, enabling them to perceive rhetorical figures, formal structures and narrative strategies in medieval literature; will have an understanding of the perceived essential elements of Western epic and of how new works in the tradition draw upon and/or work against generic expectation; and will have studied the impact of Christianity on the traditional pagan Germanic heroic ethos.

A journal of 3200 words 90% (due mid-semester and again at the end of semester) and a book review of 800 words 10% (due at the end of semester). Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to qualify to have their written work assessed.

• B Mitchell & F Robinson, Beowulf. Blackwell, 1998.
• R Liuzza, Beowulf. Broadview Press 2000.