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Beowulf Response Essay

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From the medieval period we would read Beowulf. This text is the best one text to sum up the period with it’s style and several themes. The style is an epic, which brings up in a class discussion what that is and how it applies to the medieval time period. Therefore, we can talk about the ideas of comitatus, Paganism versus Christianity, leadership qualities, and loyalties as themes. The class is also open to the discussion of the elements of literature back then such as: frame narrative, alliterative verse, caesuras, and scops (who told the stories before they were written). The story of Beowulf, containing many of the ideas and elements of literature during the medieval period and so much to teach on, is clearly the best story to chose from …show more content…
The next text we would read can be found outside the book as well. During the renaissance, the vernacular was becoming popular along with ideas of humanism, which can be found in the poetry of the period, and there was no greater poet of the time than Shakespeare. For this and several other reasons we would read Othello for the renaissance time period. This is a 5 act play which brings into discussion the theaters as well as the writing style of iambic pentameter. We can also discuss some of Shakespeare's other poems for fun and to further examine the use of iambic pentameter, which was used often in sonnets as well as in Othello. This tragic play has many elements and themes to be discussed that can be found in the period such as humanism. Also the story was very entertaining, and with the availability of side by sides it was easy to understand as well. With limited time we don’t have the luxury to explain every thing in the story and discuss the necessary information as well as the fun information. The next book we would read is Gulliver’s

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