ENGL 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Varg Vikernes, Hapax Legomenon, Malignancy

• School: McGill University
• Department: English
• Course: ENGL 202
• Professor: Maggie Kilgour

Document Summary

The oldest of the great long poems written in english, estimated to have been composed in first half of the 8th c: composed in the dialect of mercia, the midlands of england today. Damaged in 1731 by a fire before any modern translation had been made of it. Poet who composed beowulf: reviving the heroic language, style, and pagan world of ancient germanic oral poetry. I(cid:373)agi(cid:374)es o(cid:396)al pe(cid:396)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:272)es (cid:271)(cid:455) ha(cid:448)i(cid:374)g ki(cid:374)g h(cid:396)othga(cid:396)(cid:859)s (cid:272)ou(cid:396)t poet (cid:396)e(cid:272)ite a heroic lay at a feast (cid:272)ele(cid:271)(cid:396)ati(cid:374)g beo(cid:449)ulf(cid:859)s defeat of g(cid:396)e(cid:374)del: believed to be a christian, and that his poem reflects well established christian traditions. Contains unusual amount of hapax legomena: words recorded only once in a language. Deals with germanic forebears of native englishmen: danes and the geats, Lived on the danish island of zealand and in southern sweden. Poet mentions that the danes, desperate for help, pray at the heathen. Hrothgar shrines: hrothgar and beowulf portrayed as upright pagans, warrior society.