2
More Texts and Tasks for
English
Literature
Spotlight
Compiled by Maria Eliferova
1. The Birth of English Literature (Beowulf)
From Beowulf (the beginning)
[In Denmark, a horrible man-eating troll called Grendel attacks the king’s palace. Beowulf, who is a young warrior from Sweden, decides to help the Danes and begins his travel across the sea].
A thane of Hygelac heard in his homeland
of Grendel's deeds. Great among Geats,
this man was more mighty than any then living.
He summoned and stocked a swift wave-courser,
and swore to sail over the swan-road
as one warrior should for another in need.
His elders could find no fault with his offer,
and awed by the omens, they urged him on.
He gathered the bravest of Geatish guardsmen.
One of fifteen, the skilled sailor
strode to his ship at the ocean's edge.
He was keen to embark: his keel was beached
under the cliff where sea-currents curled
surf against sand; his soldiers were ready.
Over the bow they boarded in armor,
bearing their burnished weapons below,
their gilded war-gear to the boat's bosom.
Other men shoved the ship from the shore,
and off went the band, their wood-braced vessel
bound for the venture with wind on the waves
and foam under bow, like a fulmar in flight.
Transl. by Adam Sullivan and Timothy Murphy.
From < [link]
TASK
The poem is based on a popular legend saying that one of Medieval saints was so still at his prayer that a blackbird made a nest in his hands. Discovering that, he had to stay motionless more, because he did not want to disturb the chicken until they grew up.
1. Originally, the legend was to emphasise how devout was the person. Do you think it is what Heaney cares for? Or is the poet interested in anything else?
2. How do you feel about Heaney’s paradoxical idea that, to take care of the blackbird, one must forget about the blackbird?
3. Explain the last two lines of the poem.
HOME (RECITATION)
Choose a section (10 to 20 lines) from any of Heaney’s poems you like. Learn it for recitation in class.
