Beowulf

Creative Assignments: A Baker's Dozen

l.Write a poem titled "The Beowulf in Me" or "The Grendel in Me." (Or perhaps write about your duality.) Be specific.

2. Choose a specific scene from Beowulf to illustrate, paying particular attention to specific details given in your selected passage. Include the passage on your poster.

3. Write an original episode for Beowulf. Create some new foe for him to fight. Try to follow the Anglo-Saxon style.

4. Design a poster to advertize a movie based on Beowulf. Be sure to include everything normally found on a movie poster.

5. Retell the events in Beowulf as a children's story, including illustrations and binding the finished project in booklet form. Be especially careful about word choice.

6. Write a resumé for Beowulf. Include name, origin, height, weight, experience, skills, position applied for, etc. Avoid anachronisms.

7. Research medieval foods on the Internet and/or the library and re-enact the feast at Heorot. Include invitations, decorations, recipes, and food!

8. A trend in film today is to modernize old stories. (Example: the movie O is a modernization of Shakespeare's play Othello portraying the Othello character as the school's black star basketball player, dating a white girl. The Iago character, the coach's son, is jealous and seeks to destroy the Othello character). How would you envision a modern-day or futuristic Beowulf? Think about what modern-day or futuristic counterparts each major character might have and what roles they would play. Sketch out a storyboard or write a proposal for the movie. Think about what costumes, sets, and special effects might be needed. Write a treatment proposal or film/video tape part of the movie.

9. Create a newspaper outlining the major events in Beowulf. Write articles and include appropriate pictures (hand or computer-drawn, cut from magazines or newspapers, or found on the Internet). In addition to major articles, include typical newspaper features like editorials, obituaries, advertisements, and comics.

10. Compile a scrapbook 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. Suggested items include pictures, personal articles, and other physical objects. A twist on this idea is to create a Beowulf time capsule.

11. Create a collage of images and/or quotations from Beowulf that somehow demonstrate the book's theme or message. Include an explanation for each image and/or quotation that appears on the collage. Tell why it was included and its significance to the book.

12. Interpret a scene from Beowulf, dressing as the characters and performing the scene for the class. Some suggested scenes include Grendel's first attack (27-29), the battle between Beowulf and Grendel (46-48), the attack of Grendel's mother (63-64), Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother (70-71), the battle with the dragon (102-109), or Beowulf's funeral (119-120).

13. Create a found poem from words that appear in the text. The poem should somehow demonstrate a theme from Beowulf. Remember to cite the original lines.

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Updated 10 July 2006.