Excellence in Literature: Because reading well can change your life.

EIL 4.1 Beowulf Context

British Literature Module 4.1

Beowulf

Study Guide: British Literature (Excellence in Literature, English 4)

Focus Text: Beowulf (translated by J. R. R. Tolkien or Seamus Heaney)

NOTE: This is an epic poem, created to be heard. I strongly recommend listening to it, or at least a portion of it.

Beowulf audiobook: http://amzn.to/2rdrRD2

Honors Texts

Context Resource Links

These links represent only the online resources referenced in this module. Instructions, background information, offline resources, and assignments are all found in the Excellence in Literature study guide listed above.

Readings

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/english/beowulf/

http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/02/slaying-monsters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf:_The_Monsters_and_the_Critics 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333675201_Anglo-Saxon_values_and_culture_in_Beowulf

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/a-micro-history-of-the-english-language

https://www.bl.uk/medieval-literature

http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj1b/names.html

The Author’s Life

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/why-read-beowulf-by-robert-f-yeager

Poetry

https://imagejournal.org/article/caedmons-hymn-the-first-english-poet/

https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/

Audio

The complete text is required for this module, but this shorter audio by Julian Glover can serve as an excellent introduction: https://amzn.to/3aRiMFG

https://www.beowulfresources.com/hear-seamus-heaney-read-his-translation-of-beowulf/

http://faculty.virginia.edu/OldEnglish/Beowulf.Readings/Beowulf.Readings.html

Librivox has an amateur reading of the entire poem (not the recommended translation).

https://librivox.org/beowulf-by-unknown/

Music

Benjamin Bagby Beowulf (Amazon)

https://regia.org/research/misc/music.htm

Samples of modern Beowulf movie soundtrack.

Video

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=beowulf

In Search of Beowulf

https://www.excellence-in-literature.com/beowulf-battle-scene-performed-by-benjamin-bagby

Visual Arts

https://www.abdn.ac.uk/sll/disciplines/english/beowulf/voyage.htm

http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/welcome/1993.htm

https://heorot.dk/beo-guide.html

https://heorot.dk/beowulf_art/

Beowulf illustration

http://www.medart.pitt.edu/

Historic Context

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/

Theological perspective (optional)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/leithart/2006/02/thoughts-on-beowulf/

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=20-06-030-f

Bonus

http://mseffie.com/assignments/beowulf/kennings.html

Index of British Literature context link pages

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links provided for your convenience; full information in footer.

British Literature Texts (recommended editions)

British Lit study guide, and links to focus and honors texts (opens in a new tab at the author’s Everyday Education site)