Concetti Chiave
- Beowulf is an epic poem in Old English featuring a Scandinavian hero, written by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet in the 7th century.
- The poem was originally oral and untitled, later named after its hero, Beowulf, in the 19th century.
- Minstrels used mnemonic devices like caesura, kenning, alliteration, stress, rhyme, enjambment, and text division for memorization.
- Written in the 11th century, the poem portrays a warrior society with strong loyalty between kings and their warriors.
- Beowulf is considered an epic due to its narrative of heroic deeds, elaborate language, and mythical references like monsters and dragons.
Indice
Origini e misteri di Beowulf
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem written in Old English, although why a poem with a Scandinavian hero exists in Old English is a mystery. Maybe it was an elergy for a king, a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead, written in 7th century by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred by scholars as the "Beowulf poet". The poem was originally oral and untitled, but around the 19th century began to be called by the name of the Scandinavian hero, Beowulf.
Tecniche mnemoniche dei menestrelli
The menestrels, man who had to sung poems, stories and elergy in the halls of the kinkgs often accompained by an harp, used to use devices to memorize better and faster the poem as:
-the caesura, break that divided in two halves each line
-the kenning, a very simple methapor made up of a compound metaphor
-the alliteration, the repetition of the same consonant sound in a line
-the stress of the words
-the rhyme, the repetition of the same sound at the end of two lines
-the enjambement: a line that doesn’t stop with a puntuaction but continues in the next line
-the division in two parts of the text.
Società guerriera e temi epici
It was written down in the 11th century and it describes a warrior society based on the loyalty between king and his warriors, who defended him in return of gold, food, treasures…we can considerate Beowulf an epic poem because it is a long narrative poetical composition which narrates of a glorious past and the brave deeds of Beowulf, the hero, with an elaborate language and a lot of references to mythical elements as monsters and dragons.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è il mistero principale riguardante l'origine di Beowulf?
- Quali tecniche mnemoniche utilizzavano i menestrelli per memorizzare i poemi?
- Come viene descritta la società guerriera nel poema Beowulf?
Il mistero principale è perché un poema con un eroe scandinavo esista in inglese antico. Potrebbe essere stato un'elegia per un re, scritto nel VII secolo da un poeta anglosassone anonimo.
I menestrelli usavano tecniche come la cesura, il kenning, l'allitterazione, l'accento delle parole, la rima, l'enjambement e la divisione del testo in due parti per memorizzare i poemi.
La società guerriera è basata sulla lealtà tra il re e i suoi guerrieri, che lo difendevano in cambio di oro, cibo e tesori. Beowulf è considerato un poema epico per la sua narrazione di un glorioso passato e le gesta eroiche di Beowulf.
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