Write a two-three page essay in which you analyze Beowulf as an epic, using the definition provided below. Your paper must have a recognizable point to make, several reasons for why your position is correct, and evidence to back up your points (i.e., you must quote correctly and substantively from the text, and you must explain why the quotations you selected are appropriate as evidence). You must use the translation in the Longman Anthology of British Literature, 4th edition. Your paper must be typed, double-spaced, in a 10- or 12-point standard font with one-inch margins all around. Please use MLA format when you quote from the text.

Common errors:

1. Using a different definition for epic. Please use the definition provided below. The definitions provided in standard dictionaries may be easier to apply, but they are not specialized enough to be useful in a course in literary studies. Also, not all internet definitions are made equal; more websites about literature are created by nonspecialists in the field than by specialists. Just as you would use more technical definitions in college courses in science or business, you should use more technical definitions for literary terms in a literature course.
2. Using only part of the definition. Higher grades will be given for more thorough critical analysis. You should attempt to address all aspects of the epic definition and epic devices, and you should provide examples to back up your points.
3. Writing about another topic. Please note that this is not a paper about Beowulf as an epic hero; it is about the work Beowulf as an epic.
4. Not submitting the paper in MLA format. If you need to review MLA format, I have a copy of the MLA style manual in my office you may consult. I also have a few xeroxes of parts of the MLA guidelines that I let students borrow. There is also a copy of the MLA style manual at the reference desk in the library. The guidelines are also available on a Purdue university site located at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_mla.html.

Definition of Classical Epic

An epic is a long, narrative poem. Its hero is a noble person, and the fate of a nation or a people depend upon this hero's actions and/or fate.  Conseqently, epics tend to be of national or even of cosmic importance.  The diction of the poem tends to be formal, elevated, and decorous.  The setting of the epic is expansive and even global, as the hero embarks upon journeys that take place over many years, often decades.  The gods, referred to as the epic machinery in classical epic, are interested in and take an active part in shaping the events of the epic.  Several epic conventions include the poet's invocation of the muse (in classical epic), a beginning in medias res (in the middle of things), epic battles (sometimes referred as epic games), catalogues (of ships, warriors, horses, etc), delivery of set speeches, arming of the warrior, performance of rituals, and (sometimes)  transmogrification of a dead hero to the celestial sphere (classical epic).