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Beowulf

Day 1/2) Introduction: The Hero’s Journey and an outline and explanation of it. The
circular nature of things and how life was viewed in pre-Christian times and how
Christianity became connected to the Pagan way of life. (adapted from Glenda Funk’s
lessons on “Betterlesson.com).

Length: One to two class periods.

Activity: Use both Burton Raffel and Seamus Heaney translations of the poem. Give
copies of each to students of the opening. Have students compare/contrast—which one do
they like better and why? Lit. circles, reading of the work.

Materials: Copies of Seamus Heaney’s translation and textbook version of Burton


Raffel’s translation. Graphic organizer for compare and contrast of translations. Youtube
Link: Benjamin Bidlack on the Hero’s journey. Handout: Hero’s journey. Video: Michael
Wood on Beowulf.

Day 3/4) The Epic Hero: Discussion: The epic hero throughout literature and film.
Why the hero’s journey is the template (Chris Vogler’s “memo to Hollywood”). What
characteristics should an epic hero have?

Activity: View examples of epic heroes, read translations of Beowulf through Grendel.
Based on the example, create your own epic hero and provide characteristics of
him/her. Create an image of the hero and write the characteristics of them to the
right of the image.

Materials: Translations, paper, colored pencils, Video clip: Vogler. Template of epic hero
and characteristics.

Day 4/5: Oral tradition and storytelling through boasting: Having read Beowulf’s arrival
to Denmark, students will have some idea of the tradition of boasting of one’s
deeds.

Activity: Based on epic hero creations, students will write a poetic boast about their epic
hero and his/her feats and deeds that indicate their prowess, greatness and
abilities. Someone-or small group-will read their boast in class.

Materials: Epic hero characteristics, paper, pens, pencils. Collaboration.

Day 5/6: Annotating, poetic devices and their uses in Beowulf.

Activity: Using handout on literary devices, students will read sections of Beowulf and
determine various poetic devices while annotating a section from the poem. Using
the basics of “most important idea,” to indications of time, references to history,
Christianity and Paganism, students will annotate a portion of the text. After
annotating, students will write a brief summary of that portion of the text as they
understand it. As a class, we’ll discuss how to summarize and annotate and collect
an annotated summary on the screen.

Materials: Handout with section of Beowulf, pens, pencils.

Day 5/6: The Sutton Hoo Exhibit and Beowulf’s culture.

Activity: Students will view clip of Michael Wood’s Beowulf regarding Sutton Hoo.
We’ll then view collected images of the exhibit and discuss what the artifacts tell us.
Students will discuss the nature of Anglo-Saxon culture and its remnants today (Royal
weddings, burial of the dead, etc.).

Days 6-10: Stations: Students will rotate through the following stations with activities at
each one.

Station 1: Blood Feuds in America: based on a film of that name, students will write brief
comparison contrast of what famous blood-feuds (Hatfield-McCoy, Hamilton-Burr, Earp-
Clanton, etc.) had in common with the Beowulf story
(http://www.bestliberalartscolleges.org/the-15-deadliest-blood-feuds-in-united-states-
history/).

Station 2: Christian vs. Pagan: Notecards with passages from the poem will ask students
to identify Christian or Pagan characteristics for a graphic organizer they create.

Station 3: The First three lines: Students will have access to several translations of the
first three lines of the poem. They will write down specific “good phrasing” from each
and decide based on reading which translation they like and explain why.

Station 4: Translating Old English: Students use Old English passages of the poem and
find words they can translate and write a brief translation as best they can.

Station 5: Alliteration: Underlining alliterative text in Beowulf and other poems.

Station 6: Eulogizing Beowulf: Students will write their own eulogy of Beowulf or other
character from the poem.

Summative assessment:
Based on our work around Anglo-Saxon and Epic hero values and characteristics,
write a brief, well-developed essay (500-750 words) that argues how Beowulf
embodies any of these.
Beowulf translations and interpretations
Drawing/Pictures/Painting: If you’re no artist-perhaps try
something else? No stick figures on lined paper, please. Have some
fun with creating figures, atmospheres, setting and place. Pick a
passage, illustrate it and then write one-half to one full page of
metacognitive explanation (that is, why did you draw or depict the
scene the way that you did? What does it reveal to you about the
story?)

Video: Here again, don’t be shy—and don’t work in a hurry. No


need to costume up, unless you’d like to—but in a video, depict a
scene/passage from the play. Then, either talk about the
metacognitive portion-or write up the same as above.

Script: Pick a passage from the story and write a script that
includes description of places and stage directions. Give characters
a unique “voice” and express them as you think it may be. You
could set it in modern times or in its proper historical setting—or
anywhere else. Here again-metacognitive.

Live action scene: Try out your acting chops, perform a scene for
us in class. You could do this live—or you could make puppets
(example shown). Bring the poem to life, focusing on themes and
motifs. Again, metacognitive either spoken or written.

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