Anglo-Saxon Culture

Society

• kinship groups led by strong warrior chiefs
• people farmed, established local governements
• English emerged as a written language

Values

• high ethical standards
• enjoy feasting, storytelling, riddles, and music
• admire physical strength over intelligence
• importance of the clan: value loyalty to lord and king overall
• honor courage over life
• fear of exile (from clan, land)

Religion

• similar to Norse Mythology
• viewed life fatalistically (meaning, they believed in fate), but there was no hope for an afterlife, so their earthly fame was important to have their name live on after death
• valued earthly virtues of bravery, loyalty, generosity, friendship
• Christianity enters 400 A.D.

Literary Traits

• Kenning
• Caesura
• Alliteration (Assonance and Consonance)

Themes in Literature

• the archetype of the journey across land/sea
• exile, alienation vs. security
• longing for the past
• nature
• love, marital bonds
• mix of pagan & Christian values
• fate (wyrd); afterlife
• elegiac (somber poetry lamenting the dead)
• the meadhall ('townhall' where feasting, storytelling would take place)