"Caedmon's Hymn"
"The Dream of the Rood"
"The Wanderer"
"The Wife's Lament"
Beowulf
Directions: After reading the lecture, answer ONLY ONE of the two questions below. This question is due no later than midnight on the night of Thursday, July 21.
Your responses to other students' answers are due by midnight on the night of Friday, July 22. Remember: in order to get the full 20 points, you MUST respond thoughtfully to at least 2 other people's postings.
This set of discussion questions is worth a possible 20 points. Late answers receive 0 points, so post early :)
We will be using the Canvas Discussion Board for this class. Click on the link below to get to the LACCD portal, sign in, and then click on the link for Canvas in the right column. This will take you to the Canvas dashboard. From there, click on the square with the name of our class. Once you've entered the class, you will find the "Discussions" link on the left side of the screen:
Just answer ONE of the following questions.
1. Compare the tone and style of "The Wanderer" and "The Wife's Lament."
2. Does the poet who wrote Beowulf intend us to think of Grendel and his mother as evil? Explain why you think he does or does not, using evidence from the story. Do you think of Grendel and his mother as evil?
3. Do any of the themes from Beowulf--the sacredness of vows, courage, fame, the Heroic Ideal, for example--appear in movies or television shows we see today? If so, have the concepts changed at all? Give specific examples to support your statements.
For further information on these works, see the Links page.