Anglo-Saxon Study Guide

Question 1

What is the price of a man. If you killed a man, you were required to pay a monetary amount to that man’s relative

Answer 1

Wergild

Question 2

Letters based on the Greek alphabet

Answer 2

Rune

Question 3

Area where a Saxon longboat of artifacts were taken with rich and gold

Answer 3

Sutton Hoo

Question 4

Singing poets companion

Answer 4

Gleeman

Question 5

God of war and sky

Answer 5

Tiu

Question 6

Singing poets

Answer 6

Scop

Question 7

Chief of the gods

Answer 7

Woden

Question 8

Roman emperor that built a wall to protect the northern border

Answer 8

Hadrian

Question 9

Goddess of the home and Woden‘s wife

Answer 9

Fria

Question 10

Six characteristics of Anglo-Saxon poetry

Answer 10

Alliteration, Caesura, Kennings, 4 stress lines, oral, and and - stopped lines

Question 11

Two categories of old English poetry and give and example of each one what

Answer 11

Secular/Heroic -Beowulf (achievements of warrior)

Religious/elegiac - Seafarer (laments mourning deaths and loss of the past)

Question 12

Six characteristics of an epic

Answer 12

1. Long narrative poem
2. Celebrates the deeds of a hero
3. Hero is larger than life and concerns eternal human problems
4. Written in a serious manner
5. Written in elevated language
6. Hero represents widespread national, cultural, or religious values

Question 13

Date of Anglo-Saxon era

Answer 13

(499-1066) (750-1066)

Question 14

Role of religion in Anglo-Saxon life

Answer 14

Pagans ruled their early life

Question 15

Role of warfare

Answer 15

Series of invasions invaded Britain and dominated their life

Question 16

Role of poetry

Answer 16

Used for oral transmissions and performances

Question 17

Civilization that introduced roads in Christianity to Anglo Saxon England

Answer 17

The Romans

Question 18

The father of English history

Answer 18

Bede

Question 19

Anglo Saxton mead hall’s represented

Answer 19

Banquet halls working, wives, and servants gather

Question 20

Who invaded and conquer Britain at the battle of Hastings in 1066

Answer 20

The Normans

Question 21

Characteristics of the heroic Ideal

Answer 21

Skillful, brave, and loyal

Question 22

Why was fame so important to Anglo-Saxons

Answer 22

Since Anglo-Saxon people were pagan, the closest hope to an afterlife was fame

Question 23

Heroic qualities of Beowulf

Answer 23

Courage, generosity, unquestioning loyalty and devotion

Question 24

Why couldn’t Grendel touch Hrothgars throne

Answer 24

It’s protected by God

Question 25

What saves Beowulfs life in the battle with Grendel’s mother

Answer 25

Mail coat

Question 26

How did Grendel’s mother punish Hrothgar for the death of her son

Answer 26

She killed his best friend

Question 27

Contrast Beowulf‘s battle in the lake with his battle at Herot

Answer 27

He uses weapons in the lake and his enemies don’t show fear

Question 28

How did Grendel’s mother die

Answer 28

Beowulf slices her neck with a sword

Question 29

What does the dragon hoard and what does symbolize

Answer 29

 treasure and symbolizes wealth and power

Question 30

Beowulf‘s flaw

Answer 30

Greed for fame 

Question 31

What Wiglafs fighting the dragon tells you about the importance of honor in the Anglo Saxon period.

Answer 31

A warrior sacrifices his own life to save the kings life. Not everyone who you think shows loyalty to you, will sacrifice their own lives to save yours. They show that they are cowards in dishonor to the family

Question 32

Epic heroes embody and fight for the values of the time. Grendel represents something or someone who is trying to destroy what the Anglo Saxons value. Think about what our culture values during today’s time. Who or what threatens to destroy our values? Compare Grendel symbolic threat of destruction to that of our own.

Answer 32

Our culture values freedom of speech. Defamation is in is an example of what threatens to destroy our values. A person may be sued for committing a false statement that harms the reputation of another person. Grendel‘s symbolic threat of destruction and defamation both tries to harm what each other value. Defamation limits an individuals freedom of speech while Grendel’s threat keeps the epic heroes from fighting for the values of time. The values of each of the time periods Has a situation that acts as an obstacle from being able to express their values completely. They both can fight against the values. For example, heroes can counter act Grendel to get their values back while people can file a lawsuit to defend against an opinion that was false.