Beowulf Study Questions & Topics for Discussion

Beowulf Topics for Further Study

Research the finds of the Sutton Hoo Burial excavated in 1939 and compare the burial and the treasures found to the burials and treasures in Beowulf.

Investigate the recent research done on the development of kingship in the seventh and eighth centuries and compare the findings to the presentation of kingship in Beowulf.

Read J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, particularly the chapters dealing with the Riders of Rohan. How is Beowulf reflected in the work?

Investigate the new Beowulf manuscript project and report on the scientific tests which are used to investigate manuscripts, including infra-red photography and chemical analysis. Information on the project is available on the world wide web at http://www.edu/~kiernan/BL/kportico.htral.

Beowulf's a poem almost exclusively concerned with the upper end of society. Investigate the economic basis of migration-age tribes or early medieval kingdoms.

The society which created Beowulf accepted the...
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