Question

Choose one of the following essay prompts to complete. Note: Your teacher will grade your response for the following question to ensure that you receive proper credit for your answers. Each essay should include the following to receive the points in parentheses: Respond in a well-organized essay. Answer is written in complete sentences. (16 pts)
3. Prompt A: The epic poem Beowulf combines elements of paganism and Christianity. One aspect of paganism is the concept of wyrd, the Old-English word for "fate." What is the role of fate in the poem? Based on your understanding of Beowulf, how do you think Anglo-Saxon society viewed fate? Click on the link below to access the online textbook. British Literature

Prompt B: The three poems from The Exeter Book you read in this unit all deal somehow with the themes of travel and exile. These poems can be interpreted allegorically, meaning that their elements have a significance that goes beyond their literal meaning. What do you think travel and exile symbolize in each of the three poems? Explain your interpretation in an essay containing at least five quotes from the poems you read from The Exeter Book. Make sure to base your interpretation on your knowledge of Anglo-Saxon life and culture.

Prompt C: Based on the epics and legends you have studied in this unit and other epics you have read in previous courses, why do you think epic narratives were important to ancient cultures?

Prompt D: Aer reading the selections in this unit, what values and ideals would you attribute to AngloSaxon society? Compare characters and situations you encountered in the selections from Beowulf and The Exeter Book to support your ideas.

Answer 1

Prompt C: Based on the epics and legends you have studied in this unit and other epics you have read in previous courses, why do you think epic narratives were important to ancient cultures? 

Epic narratives were important to ancient culture, because it gave a theme of heroism to a certain people group (gave them pride), & is part of their history, which gives them a good background of how they came to be as a people group. For example, in "part of their history", epics were usually passed down orally, & allowed history to be passed down through generations before writing was created. After writing was created, it was used to help save the epics so that people later on can read them. Both of these were a way they can keep history & pass down stories from one generation to the next.

For example, the "Epic of Gilgamesh" talked about Gilgamesh, king of Babylon, which talks about how Gilgamesh oppressed the people of Uruk, & afterwards shows how strong he was after defeating Enkidu, a wild man sent from the gods to punish Gilgamesh. They later become friends, & kill the bull of Heaven, which leads to Enkidu dying. After witnessing Enkidu's death, Gilgamesh went on to try to discover the secret of eternal life. He learns at the end that life was "held by the hands of the gods", and that he cannot become immortal. From this epic, you can learn about what the people group valued, and what they decided was a 'good' life to live (or bad). They teach lessons from the story, and so it is passed down in generations for others to learn the truth through the stories


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