beowulf boast assignment

Beowulf Boast like a Pro to Boost Confidence

For Beowulf, boasting was more than just bragging about his accomplishments. Boasting in Beowulf was akin to writing a powerful resume in modern times.

He offered examples of his prowess and promised the king that he was the best man for the job.

The job Beowulf wanted wasn’t one that involved sitting behind a desk or sharpening pencils . He wanted a shot at destroying the monster, Grendel. 

What is Boasting in Beowulf?

In the Beowulf boast poem lines, we learn more about our hero. Not only has Beowulf destroyed monsters on his journey to the shores of Heorot , but he has also  proven himself worthy where others have failed . He has not come to brag about his accomplishments to an admiring crowd. Hrothgar and his people have suffered from Grendel’s attacks for twelve long years.

Countless men have been taken and devoured by the beast. Beowulf boasts first of his heritage as the son of a legendary soldier , then his own prowess and accomplishments. His boasting is a promise to the king- given the opportunity, he himself will battle the mythical beast and succeed where all others have failed.

While most of us will never face a hairy devilish beast like Grendel, many people could use a strong dose of Beowulf’s confidence when presenting themselves for a job or assignment . Certain college classes and even job training courses encourage partaking in learning to boast like Beowulf. 

How to Begin

When you first try to boast like Beowulf , you may feel a bit silly. After all, most of us don’t reference our lineage when applying for a new position or promotion. Yet Beowulf’s pride in his family heritage was a big talking point when he presented his case to the king. Beowulf takes place sometime during the 6th century in Scandinavia.

The region was divided not only by geography but by clans and factions, families who warred and formed alliances that were the stuff of legends. Beowulf speaks of his father’s prowess and adventures, laying the foundation of his own listing of strengths and promises.

Consider your own history, your parents, grandparents, and others in your family.

How did they influence you to become the person you are? Is there someone in your family you look up to who has influenced you?

This may be someone in your school or religious organization for those without strong ties to their biological families. Whoever your mentor is will be the topic of the first part of your boast. 

For example, if you want to write  a boast like Beowulf, you might write something like:

“Many days ago, a strong infant was born to the proud parents Michael of the Country of the United States, in the humble town of Academia, in the State of Tennessee. The Mother of the infant, who gave forth her effort to bring her life, was called Delores, and she was a woman known for the power of her speech. Even the most valiant man could not stand long under her glare, and her cupcakes were a food fit for gods and legends.

Michael of Academia would go forth in each day and do battle with the might of the Paper Pushers. His pencils were rumored to never dull, and he conquered more reams of Paperwork than any other of his position. 

From these legends came forth the mighty Samantha. You may have heard of her, Samantha the Brave, or Samantha the Pen Wielder. Her poems and verses have been heard and sung across the land, in chat rooms of all corners of the grand and glorious Internet.”

While this is a bit silly, the exercise is meant to help you begin considering your qualifications and get into the mindset of an Anglo-Saxon hero.

How to Write a Boast About Yourself Like Beowulf – The Heart of the Matter

As Beowulf continues boasting, he turns from his father’s qualifications to his own . He begins by talking about how he will return to Hygelac with news of his great success. He has proven himself with his past deeds, which included battling giants and sea monsters and rescuing similarly afflicted victims :

“I drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race from the earth. I swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out on the ocean and killing them one by one. Death was my errand and the fate they had earned.” 

Think about your personal accomplishments. Maybe you’ve written a book. Maybe you’ve completed a difficult class. Maybe you’ve learned to ride a bike or use a hula-hoop. Whatever you’ve accomplished in your life, large or small, can become a boasting point. A tip- consider the challenge you overcame.

What made the challenge difficult ?

What strengths did you need to call upon in yourself to overcome and complete your quest? Brainstorm your biggest challenges, and make a list of what made them difficult for you.

You might write something like:

Samantha, the daughter of the Mighty Michael of Academia and his beloved wife Delores, the staunchest supporter who stands by his side, has brought honor to her family. In the first grade, in the year of twenty and eleven, a mighty monster terrorized the halls of Academia Elementary, an institution of learning for the youth.

The metal construct stood proud and stern in the schoolyard, daring any comers to approach. The Jungle Gym was a monstrous beast that claimed the courage of all who saw it standing, haughty and silent in the yard. 

Young Samantha was not to be swayed. She gathered her courage and approached where others feared to tread. Overcoming the obstacles, she set foot fearlessly upon the structure, conquering the beast after many attempts and endeavors.

She came away victorious, having bested the monster and climbed to the very top. Thus she defeated the beast and brought honor onto her family.

Finish Your Beowulf Boasting Strong

Finally, Beowulf not only boasted of his accomplishments and promised to carry out the task at hand- the destruction of the terrible monster Grendel, he completed the story by not only destroying Grendel but the mother of the monster as well . The story didn’t end with Beowulf’s boasting. He went on to battle the monster. It entered the Hall while Beowulf pretended to sleep, murdering one of the guards.

The Hero leapt to his feet and dove into battle, brawling with Grendel until he finally yanked the monster’s arm off its body . Howling in pain and fury, Grendel fled to its den, where it later died. Beowulf carried out his boast. In fact, he went above and beyond his initial boast to destroy its vengeful mother. 

To complete your boasting, consider something you’ve accomplished that you’re proud of. Something that took your initial victory and went above and beyond Beowulf destroyed Grendel , gaining honor and glory for himself, his men, and his king. He went on to destroy Grendel’s mother, stabbing her with a giant’s sword in her own den .

He then returned with Grendel’s head, to assure King Hrothgar and the people of Heorot that the reign of terror had truly ended. Later, Beowulf returned to his own land, where he was declared king. He was a beloved leader of his people. When a dragon threatened his lands, Beowulf went forth once more, to slay the dragon and sacrifice his own life to defend his lands in one last heroic act. 

To return to our fictional example, Samantha has come far since conquering the Jungle Gym in the first grade. She has gone on many new adventures. Now, she stands once more on the shores of her former school and has come to face her old nemesis one last time. The Jungle Gym now threatens a new generation of children, and Samantha is the Hero they need. 

Ending the boast is telling the rest of the story, bringing the epic quest to a satisfying conclusion:

Samantha The Conquerer returned to the gentle shores of Academia, having sallied forth and conquered such monsters as Internships and gained the Holiest of Grails, the Degree. She returned to answer the call of her people. Finding that her nemesis, the Jungle Gym remained, she came to aid the people of the land who trembled under its haughty silence . 

Once more, Samantha would take on the mighty monster, directing and leading the children of the land in an attack that would result in their conquering of the monster . She led the charge, and the Jungle Gym quailed under her assault. Soon, the children played upon the bones of the fell monster, conquering its reign of terror once and for all. Samantha was hailed and renowned as a hero. A plaque with her name now resides upon the Hallowed Walls, and it reads “Samantha Green, 1st Grade Teacher.” 

Beowulf’s boasting is a storytelling tool and also a technique of oral communication . By boasting of his accomplishments, Beowulf didn’t just stroke his own ego. He reassured the people of his ability, promised to solve their problems, and created a narrative that recorded his victory. 

Poetically Boastful. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=102671

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Building Book Love

Meaningful and Fun Activities for Teaching Beowulf

With its challenging language and old world setting, the classic Epic of Beowulf can be difficult to teach in a modern high school classroom. However, with a little bit of inspiration, it is possible to include meaningful, engaging, and fun activities for teaching Beowulf into your unit plan.

In addition to my 11 years of experience teaching Beowulf , I spent the last few months researching the Anglo-Saxon time period and designing creative Beowulf activities to connect with today’s scholars and engage them with the challenging text.

As I share in this post How to do a Diverse ELA Curriculum Audit and this post How to Diversify Your British Literature Class , it is my goal to make sure all students see themselves in each unit I create. British Literature is often male focused, so it was important for me to include creative pairings that ensure all students can see a hero inside themselves.

In our book, Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning , we divide wonder into four elements: surprise, curiosity, freedom, and inspiration. I thought it would be fun and helpful to organize my ideas for teaching Beowulf in the same way. My Beowulf unit pulls from several ideas from the book, so it’s very fitting. 😊

Adding surprise to your Beowulf Unit

Surprise – A super easy way to transform your classroom and create a flashbulb learning experience is to simply hit play on an ambient media scene. For teaching Beowulf, I like to use mead-hall ambience on the first day of the Beowulf unit plan . Not only does the scene add an element of surprise, but it also provides a setting and cue for the first of many mead-hall meetings students will have throughout the unit.

Though I give detailed instructions in the Beowulf teaching resources , in short, students form mead-hall groups at the start of the Beowulf unit as a little community building activity and then regroup into these mead-halls throughout the unit for group discussions and games (more on this below in the Freedom section!).

I also rather enjoyed this hilarious surprise I played on my students:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ashley Bible 📚 English Educator (@buildingbooklove)

It provided a great way to talk about Old English, language change, and the fear of reading aloud!

Getting students curious about Beowulf

Curiosity – When I was preparing for this big Beowulf unit plan update , I polled my teacher friends on Instagram to find out what challenges they faced when teaching Beowulf. I got several responses, but one really piqued my curiosity. She asked, “Why do we even read Beowulf??? The focus on British lit in ELA confounds me.” Whao! This is a valid argument for a different post, but this opinion made me question my own bias and set me down a path of research with a new lens.

First, I do think the themes and topics in Beowulf are still as relevant today as they were in the Anglo-Saxon time period. For example, how many boxes would you and your students be able to mark on this Beowulf Bookish Bingo Board? The cousin to literary personality quizzes , a board like this can help spark curiosity and show relevance of classic texts. Learn more about them in this post: 10 Creative Ways to Introduce a Literature Unit and grab your free board to template here:

Secondly, this commenter did push me to make my Beowulf unit more relevant for all students. Due to my experience as a student and then my position as a British Literature teacher, I always told my students that Beowulf was important because it was the first notable work in the English language. The genesis. The archetype. The epic of all epics.

But of course, this English-centric viewpoint is limited, not to mention just plain wrong. While there’s no denying Beowulf is an important first for the English literature, looking at the text from a world lens opened so many exciting new paths to teach Beowulf to high school students!

By putting a world-view lens on Beowulf , I sparked my own curiosity about things like women’s roles in the Anglo-Saxon period and how values are revealed in other stories from around the world.

Here are a couple of the meaningful and engaging Beowulf activities I added to my Beowulf unit .

Though I did not add a project option to my Beowulf unit, for those who prefer projects over essays or want to dig into the world view even further, a fantastic Beowulf project would be to have students research a story from around the world that they are curious about then create a presentation or children’s book that showcases the values that are revealed through that culture’s story.

Here are some resources to get you started on facilitating this Beowulf project:

• Play this hero’s journey overview – The Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25
• Create a hero story choice board with lots of options from around the word. Though I have not previewed all these stories, here are some places to start:

The Epic of Gilgamesh: Crash Course World Mythology #26

  Ma’ui, Oceania’s Hero: Crash Course World Mythology #31

The Mwindo Epic: Crash Course World Mythology #29

The Myths and Legends Podcast not only has some Beowulf episodes, but also offers stories from around the world. Their website is organized by tags, so you can preview Native American stories , Middle East stories , African stories , etc. While I have not listened to all the stories in the tags, I do know that the narrator gives warnings for mature topics. If you want to learn more about how I incorporate podcasts in the classroom, start here: How to plan a podcast unit

I did listen to the Native American Folklore: Monster episode and it was hilarious! It would make a fun pairing for the Grendel section of Beowulf .  

• Encourage students to research the story they are most curious about and find multiple tellings, illustrations, and sources for the story. Then, have students make a list of cultural values that are showcased in the story.
• Have students create a presentation for the class or create a children’s book that showcases the values they infer. You can find my storybook assignment here: Create a Storybook: A fun project for any text or any narrative goal!

Adding fun activities to your Beowulf unit

Freedom – In the Freedom Section of Keeping the Wonder: An Educator’s Guide to Magical, Engaging, and Joyful Learning , we talk about the importance of movement and play in the secondary classroom. Since the language of Beowulf is difficult to read for extended periods of time, I make sure to offer plenty of fun activities for teaching Beowulf that break up the challenging text.

For example, students practice tone by standing up and shifting from middle (neutral) to left (negative) to right (positive). Then students close read a single section by three different translators and determine the translator’s tone toward Grendel.

Adding excerpts by the female author , Maria Dahvana Headley and insight from the acclaimed Tony  Morrison really enhanced both the depth and diversity of teaching Beowulf. Headley’s writing is playful, modern, and nuanced but it does contain mature language. However, I highly recommend at least playing her reading for the Grendel’s Mother section then using Tony Morrison’s insight about this scene as a talking point.

As I mentioned in the Surprise Section above, another way I incorporated fun activities for teaching Beowulf is through a whole- unit gamification of Beowulf .

At the start of the Beowulf unit , students form into mead-hall groups. The mead-hall in Beowulf is named Heorot and stands for Hall of Heart. We talk about how the mead-hall is a gathering place and represents community. Students add what they want in their mead-hall and give it a creative name.

These mead-hall groups then become hubs for the rest of the Beowulf unit . Either before or after each reading section, I have a little Beowulf themed game for groups to play. For example, before reading the Dragon section of Beowulf, students play Dragon Trivia to activate schema on dragon archetypes.

Dragon Trivia: Which ancient language does the word “dragon” or “draconta” meaning “to watch” come from? (read to the end to check your answer!)

Other games in my Beowulf Unit include tone sorting, Beowulf job interview tournament, naming Grendel’s mother competition, review riddles, etc. These games only take a few minutes but really up the Beowulf buy-in and engagement!

Another cool element of the mead-hall groups is that they can be used for small group discussions. I call these “Mead-hall Meetings”, or “Mead-hall Meanderings” and students gather in their “mead-halls” to chat about discussion questions like this one:

Inspiration for fun activities to teach Beowulf

Inspiration – The last chapter of our book is about inspiration so I would like to end with fun activities for teaching Beowulf that inspired me.

Jewish Superhero History- My historian friend Megan shared a post about the Jewish history of the comic book industry, and it was fascinating! Beowulf lends well to superhero pairings in general but adding the Jewish history really elevates the comparison. A few of the activities in my Beowulf unit plan address the mix of pagan traditions and Christian additions. Coupling those with pairings like this video unpacking the Jewish history of comic books provides a dynamic discussion and insight opportunity.

Epic Names – My coauthor Staci did a fun community building activity in our book study as well as with her students on the first day of school. I thought the style went really well with Beowulf’s boast so I included a fun Anglo-Saxon avatar assignment that prompted students to create their own epic name.

Short Animated Film- My other coauthor Jenna shared about a cool video she found that gives Grendel’s perspective in a creative way. It’s adorable, clever, and surprisingly deep! Use Grendel by BYU Animation to discuss Grendel’s point-of-view or to do a comparison between how Grendel is portrayed in other animated Beowulf films.

I hope this blog post inspired you with engaging ideas for teaching Beowulf! If you want access to all of my meaningful and fun activities for teaching Beowulf, you can find all of my Beowulf teaching resources in this pack: Editable and Engaging Beowulf Unit Plan with Digital Options

Oh, and the answer to the Dragon Trivia question is Greek! 😊

Reader Interactions

[…] ready to start Beowulf, there’s an ambient sound for that too! Mead Hall Ambience, who knew!? As I know from […]

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[…] Meaningful and Fun Activities for Teaching Beowulf– The timing was off on this post, but I would love for you to read it if you teach Beowulf! Lots of great ideas and I worked SO HARD on the update! […]

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Special thanks to colleagues on the AP ListServ who shared their assignments and materials. Please let me know if I have miscredited or neglected anyone.

Updated 3 January 2023.

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Boast Like Beowulf Writing Assignment *GOOGLE DOC* Digital WS

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Description

With this creative and engaging assignment, your students will apply what they learned about the Anglo-Saxons and Beowulf after reading Beowulf's boast to King Hrothgar's court and their knowledge of figurative language terms to create their own unique poem! I use this assignment after doing my Beowulf Boast Job Application assignment (also listed on my TPT store!), but you could also just instruct your students to read Beowulf's boast independently and use it as a model.

This digital worksheet includes:

• Detailed, step by step instructions and criteria
• Definitions of relevant terms
• Guided pre-writing
• Teacher model (I included mine, but you can replace it with your own example!)
• Space for students to write their own poem

This assignment is Google Classroom/Canvas ready! Just link it to your LMS and instruct student to make a copy. They can then type their answers right in the Google Doc and submit to the LMS when finished.

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