Beowulf Group and Individual Projects

Beowulf Project
Group Project Purpose:
Develop the skills to identify and discuss salient literary components within a piece of literature.
Group Project Directions:
In groups read and analyze assigned lines from Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney. Also, create a
PPT to present your group’s findings.
You PPT should show the following:
1) Summary of events that occur in your assigned lines
2) Archetypes— identify archetypes/prototypes that appear in your assigned lines, which add
layers of meaning to the poem.
3) Beowulf as epic hero—in action and character traits
4) Minor Character(s)—discuss and explain role and purpose of any minor characters that pop
up in your assigned lines
5) Themes—role of women, role of honor, good vs. evil, revenge, role of good king vs. good hero,
mortality and immortality
6) Illustrative Literary Devices—alliteration, kenning, personification, caesuras, enjambment,
euphemism, synecdoche, etc. Explain how any and/or all enhance the literature (what do they
DO for the assigned lines?).
PPT Rubric:
Key Points Level of Skill Comments
Summary
Included a detailed
summary of assigned
lines.
Beowulf
Explains Beowulf’s role
as an epic hero (both in
word and deed)
Archetypes
Highlights exs. of literary
archetypes & identifies
how these archetypes add
deeper understanding
Themes
Interprets theme(s) to
better explain
importance of assigned
lines
Literary Devices
Demonstrates how
literary devices do
something for the
language and
understanding of the
poem

Individual Project Purpose:
To engage with the literature in your own way and to promote creative interpretation
Individual Project Directions:
Choose one of the following. You may work with one other person per teacher’s approval on
the projects that are in bold below. Once project is approved you write an exploratory
paragraph that maps out what you imagine to do with your chosen project. On due date of the
project, you will also have written an artistic defense of your creation.
1. Write a poem titled “The Beowulf in Me” or “The Grendel in Me” or write about the
duality of B & G in you.
2. Choose a specific scene from Beowulf to illustrate. Pay close attention to the language
and details from a passage(s). Include the passage or fragments of the passage in your
illustration.
3. Write an original scene for Beowulf. Create the lost story of ? that might enhance
some aspect of the poem.
4. Retell the events in Beowulf as a children’s story. Include colored illustrations and
binding for the book. Be conscious of word choice and target your audience.
5. Modernize. There are many 21 st c adaptations of stories from literature. For example,
Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew was adapted for the film in Ten Things I Hate About
You. If you choose this option, how would you create a modern-day Beowulf? Think
about modern-day or futuristic counterparts for each major character. Sketch out a
storyboard for the movie. Think about costumes, sets, and special effects that might be
needed and include them in a final proposal for your modernization of Beowulf.
6. Scrapbook. Create one based on Beowulf. Write captions explaining each item included,
which should be items that the characters might have saved or which somehow identify
the characters. You might include pictures, personal articles, and other physical
objects or symbols.
a. Create a Beowulf time capsule.
7. Create a collage of images and/or quotations from Beowulf that demonstrates the book’s
themes, characters, or messages. Include an artistic defense of your collage in which
you explain the choice of each quote and its significance in the book.
8. Interpret a scene from Beowulf and make an iMovie of it. Suggested scenes are
Grendel’s attack, the battle bwt Grendel and Beowulf, the attack of Grendel’s mother,
Beowulf’s battle with Grendel’s momma, the battle with the dragon, or Beowulf’s
funeral.
9. Create a found poem from words that appear in Seamus Heaney’s translation. The
poem should elucidate some larger purpose within Beowulf. Cite the original line #s. Do
a reading for the class.
10. Create your own proposal. Need my approval first.