King Alfred the Great of Wessex (849-901)
A Saxon Village
St. Augustine of |
St. Columba, apostle |
Canterbury |
to the Picts |
A modern representation of a Viking an his ship
Normans as represented on the Bayoux tapestry
Norman King
William the
Conqueror (1066)
HWÆT, WE GAR-DEna in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
Initial lines from the
Old English poem “Beowulf”
Alliterative Poetry Features
1) each line was made up of two half-lines, separated by
a pause (caesura); |
|
oft Scyld Scefing |
sceaþena þreatum, |
2) each half-line consisted of two ‘feet’ (each foot has a stressed syllable (X) and a number on unstressed ones
(x)); oft Scyld Scefing |
sceaþena þreatum |
|
x X |
X x |
X x X x X x x |
3) the two half-lines are joined by alliteration -- the same consonant of the stressed syllable;
oft Scyld Scefing |
sceaþena þreatum |
|
x X |
X x |
X x X x X x x |
4) a word beginning with a vowel alliterated with any other word beginning the any other vowel.
Old English kennings
“sea”: seġl-rād “sail-road” swan-rād “swan-road” hwæl-weġ “whale-way”
“the sun” heofon-candel “sky-candle” heofones ġim “sky’s jewel”
