Anglo-Saxon Values

Paraphrase the following lines. Tell what Anglo-Saxon ideals they show. Are these ideals still important to us today? Explain.

From The Coming of Beowulf

Lines 173-179

“We are Geats,

Men who follow Higlac. My father

Was a famous soldier, known far and wide

As a leader of men. His name was Edgetho.

His life lasted many winters;

Wise men all over the earth surely

Remember him still.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

From The Coming of Beowulf

Lines 246-254

…They have seen my strength for themselves,

Have watched me rise from the darkness of war,

Dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove

Five great giants into chains, chased

All of that race fromteh earth. I swam

In the blackness of night, hunting monsters

Out of the ocean, and killing them one

By one; death was my errand and the fate

They had earned.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

From The Battle With Grendel’s Mother

Lines 501-509

But

Beowulf

Longed only for fame, leaped back

Into battle. He tossed his sword aside,

Angry; the steel-edged blade lay where

He’d dropped it. If weapons were useless he’d use

His hands, the strength in his fingers. So fame

Comes to the men who mean to win it

And care about nothing else!

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

From The Battle With Grendel’s Mother

Lines 557-562

But Beowulf repaid him for those visits,

Found him lying dead in his corner,

Armless, exactly as he that fierce fighter

Had sent him out from Herot, then struck off

His head with a single swift blow. The body

Jerked for the last time, then lay still.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

From The Last Battle

Lines 722-737

Wiglaf’s
Mind was made up; he raised his yellow

Shield and drew his sword-an ancient

Weapon that had once belonged to Onela’s

Nephew, and that Wexstan had won, killing

The prince when he fled from Sweden, sought safety

With Herdred, and found death.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

And Wiglaf’s father

Had carried the dead man’s armor, and his sword,

To Onela, and the king had said nothing, only

Given him armor and sword and all,

Everything his rebel nephew had owned

And lost when he left this life.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.

And Wexstan

Had kept those shining gifts, held them

For years, waiting for his son to use them,

Wear them as honorably and well as once

His father had done; then Wexstan died

And Wiglaf was his heir, inherited teasures and weapons and land.

Paraphrase

Anglo-Saxon Ideals

Example of Modern Ideal that would compare.