Beowulf and Its Formulas
The making of Beowulf involved the choosing of formulas mostly, from a common body of narrative, rather than individual words, and largely on the basis of alliterative needs.
In his esay, “The Pessimism of Many Germanic Stories,” A. Kent Hieatt says:
The Germanic peoples seem to have inherited a common body of narrative, which is a key to understanding the often incomplete and puzzling allusions and interpolated stories forming a large part of Beowulf” (45).
In his essay “The Point of View and Design for Terror,” Alan Renoir states: “The theory that Old English poetry was formulaic and composed orally at the time of recitation is all but generally accepted today” (154). About 20% of the half-lines are repeated at least elsewhere in the poem. An essential part of 50% of the half-lines are likewise repeated. A large percentage of these essential parts, or formulas, have a resemblance to others in the poem, suggesting that the poet was guided by the sense of the poem, and perhaps by other factors like its sound or rhythm. “The diction of Beowulf is schematized to an extraordinary degree” (Creed 141).
The concept of “formula” needs defining perhaps. A formula can be a half-line, a whole line, a line-and-a-half sometimes, or as small as a single-syllable word as long as it is a significant part of the scop’s rhythm. If not a phrase or a clause, a formula should be an article and its noun, a noun/pronoun and its verb, a verb and its object, a preposition and its noun, etc. For example the verb-adverb pair hwearf pa is proven to be a formula because it is repeated at the beginning of lines 1188 (hwearf pa bi bence), 1210 (gehwearf pa in Francna faepm), and 1573 (hw...
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Throughout history, civilizations have organized their members and incentives in citizenship systems. Athens and Rome, both portray the traits of semi-perfect systems of their time. While Rome may have been the greater civilization, Athens had the better citizenship system, for having protective, unbiased, and open minded tradeoffs.
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out to be related to the main character, his father. He also gets his first
One of the first literary work studied by our class was “Beowulf,” the longest and greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem. The poem is packed full of Christian and Pagan elements that are constantly fighting for the dominant position. In order to understand these thematic elements portrayed throughout “Beowulf,” we must first discover
Hieatt, Constance B. "Envelope Patterns and the Structure of Beowulf," English Studies in Canada 1 (1975): 249-265.
Hieatt, Constance B. "Envelope Patterns and the Structure of Beowulf," English Studies in Canada 1 (1975): 249-265.
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The stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The phase that applies to these children at the age of 4 years old is the preoperational stage, which covers approximately ages 2 to 7 years old. During this stage, “ preschool children use symbols to represent their earlier sensorimotor discoveries,” (Berk, 2010) and the use of language. In this preoperational stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, and cannot mentally manipulate information . Piaget and Vygotsky had different ways to explain cognitive development. Piaget’s roots were in biology and the evolutionary adaptation of humans, and Vygotsky in theory that focus on how people transform their world rather than adapt to it (Vianna, 2006). Vygotsky focused on the importance on the psychosocial aspect of cognitive development. Piaget believed cognition was a result of the of the child 's maturity. Vygotsky felt that learning was only as strong and powerful as the environment surrounding the child. Piaget’s felt that one stage of devlopment must be completed prior to moving forward, whereas Vygotsky’s cognitive development perspective has little dependence on time, but more emphasize on social
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