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University of OxfordHearing voices: getting more out of reading Old English texts

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3.5 First assignment

Go to the Beowulf in Hypertext website and look at the first lines of the ‘Prologue’ in Old and Modern English. Try to identify some of the features we have looked at (other than the examples below), such as compound words or kennings, alliteration, the placement of strong stresses and caesurae, and decide whether each or any of these can be found in both the Old and Modern English versions.

The word limit for this assignment is 200 words.

Click here to see some examples of alliteration:

Reveal

Lo, praise of the prowess of people-kings!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,

Click here to see an example of kenning:

Reveal

in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,

Click here to see an example of alliteration, the placement of stresses and caesurae in the Old English text. The caesura is marked \\ and x marks stressed syllables.

Reveal

Oft Scyld Scefing \\ sceaþena þreatum

         x     x             x             x

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