Questions and tasks on lecture 1

1.  Who were the  ancient Britons and what language did they speak?
2. Where did the Celts come to  the British Isles?
3. Who were the Druids ?
4. What was the lifestyle in that period like?
5. What legends did Britons have?
6. Why are myths so popular among people?
7.  What Germanic tribes invaded Britain in the 5-7th centuries?
8. What was their influence on the culture of Great Britain?
9. What signs of their invasion can still be traced in the Modern English language?
10. How did Germanic legends, stories and poems spread? Who wrote them down?
11. What is the most famous poem in Old English? Who are the main characters?
12. When was it written? Who is the author?
13. What is its plot? When and where does the action take place?
14. What was the lifestyle in that period like?What were the occupations of people of that time?
15. Why does the poem have a great social and historical significance?
16. What's the main feature of the language of " Beowulf"?
17. What was the name of the Norman Duke who was at the head of the Norman Conquest? What language did the invaders speak?
18.  When did the battle at Hastings take place?What was its result?
19. What languages were spoken in Britain in the 12th and 13th centuries? How did the Norman Conquest influence the English language?
20. What's the main feature of the Danish influence on the language of Anglo-Saxons?
21. What two major fields does English poetry fall into?
22. Make a list of modern films featuring the Roman and Norman Conquests of Britain. Have you seen any of them? How do you  depict the natives  of the British Isles and the invaders?
23.  Find examples of alliteration in the poem ( Beowulf): with [l], with [e], with [g], with [s], with [k]
24. Find these descriptive combinations in the extracts of the poem given in lecture 1.2  and explain what these metaphors mean: 

 Light-hearted laughter;

twelve-winters' time;

soul-crushing sorrow;

hero-in-battle;

hand-grapple;

devil-shaped woman

crime-worker;

tardy-at-battle;