1)    What are the symbols of the Anglo-Saxons social culture in the two texts?

From the two text “Beowulf and Grendel: the fight” and “Beowulf’s funeral”, we can get some information about Anglo-Saxons society. The Anglo-Saxons lived in fortified (probably to defend themselves by the other populations) and rich (lines 6 and 7 “a sheer keep of fortified gold) houses. In their social organisation, a leader (line 27 “lord”) who lived in a castle. The leader was the best of the community and warriors worked to defend him. If the text use the word “warriors”, we can infer they were tribes of warriors strong, courageous, and with a strong sense of loyalty, indeed they fight to the death with their ancestral blades. When Beowulf was death, his community commemorates their hero with a funeral, so we can abstract how they celebrate funerals. First, they built a pyre placing on the body of the death and some commemorative symbols (in the case of Beowulf, “helmets”, “war-shields “and a “shining armour”) next, when the fire is extinguished, the community build a mound on a hill and put in jewelleries.

2)    Discuss the stylistic choices the writer has made in the two texts.

The writer used alliteration forms and kennings to create an image in the reader’s mind of what happens in the scene that is also created by the contrast between the clarity of the castle and the darkness out of the castle. He added elements of Anglo-Saxons and Cristian culture.

3)    What are the features of Beowulf that have allowed the survival of the poem?

A poem is a literary composition that deals and celebrate the actions of a people. This poem exalts the exceptional hero Beowulf and the courage, the strength, the loyalty of his warriors, so really exalts the actions of a people. This makes the composition a national epic and with the use of metaphors, alliterations and kennings helps the memorisation then the transmission.