"Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and dies in his old age in a vivid fight against a dragon.

"The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the power from deep beneath its surface".  - The citation is provided below!

Through this course, students will read the epic, Beowulf, which is the oldest piece of English literature known to exist. While its author is unknown, the story remains classic in its heroic tale of action and adventure. In this class we will discuss, the following topics throughout the entirety of the poem:
     - Historical Relevance, Accuracy, and Significance
     - Cultural Traditions 
     - Epic Hero Characteristics
     - The Role of Religion in Anglo-Saxon Life
     - Monsters and Other Creatures of the Supernatural

Students will also work through annotations as a style of note-taking and writing analysis. They will be provided a guide to complete their annotations and this will be a portion of our discussion as we examine the annotations for a better understanding of the story!

Citation:
          Beowulf. Translated by Seamus Heaney, Bilingual ed., New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 2000.