Study Help
Practice Projects
1. If you could change anything about Beowulf, what would it be? In what way would you change it?
2. Read John Gardner's novel Grendel and compare the title character, his mother, or the dragon to their counterparts in the poem.
3. Identify who your mythic heroes are. Are they male or female? Do they come from sports? Movies? Cartoons? Folk legends? Some other source? What do you admire about them?
4. As a class project, divide into small groups and present, in the oral tradition, a performance that tells the story of some current or recent event in the school or community. You may use contemporary poetic forms or invent your own. Music might be part of the presentation.
5. In modern English, create ten of your own kennings that refer to people, places, objects, or events in your daily life.
6. Working together, have the class design its own Web site for the epic and decide what will be featured on the various pages.