Beowulf+and+Percy+Jackson

= Pairing Project, Part One = Cody Johnson, Jeanna Watson, Kirsti Jenkins, Cody Anderson

= Classic Text Title = //Beowulf //. NA. Trans. Burton Raffel. New York: Signet Classics, 1963. 3-128. Print. //Beowulf. //NA. Trans. John McNamara http://www.skschools.net/~malper/FOV2-00105477/FOV2-001089B9/BEOWULF%20(Raffel%20translation)
 * Basics: **
 * Links ** :

**Possible Connections**:

__ - How can the young adult work help readers to understand the classic? __ Language is one of the main ways the young adult book can help understand the classic. There are similar obstacles the two characters have to face as heroes and both are challenged with enemies in similar ways. They defeat their enemies with strength and wit. However, since Percy Jackson is twelve, he comprehends situations differently and it is easier for the young adult reader to understand his motives and actions. This will ultimately help the young adult reader understand the classic Beowulf character as he relates to a similar character (Percy Jackson). Secondly, the reading level is extremely different because one is written in prose and the other is written as a poem. As a young adult reader, Percy Jackson will be easily comprehended because of the simple vocabulary and familiar prose; whereas Beowulf, which has advanced vocabulary and is written in the more foreign format of poetry, is more difficult to comprehend. Therefore, being able to connect the simpler Percy Jackson with the more complex Beowulf will help the young adult reader understand //Beowulf//.

__ - Compare and contrast the main heroes in Beowulf with Percy Jackson and the obstacles they face.__

Differences:
 * **__Beowulf__**
 * Much older and grows up in the story.
 * Physically strong
 * Overcomes most of his obstacles by himself
 * Fully human
 * Publicly recognized as a hero by everyone
 * Similar mythical enemies with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and dragon
 * Reality is based in his understanding of pagan gods
 * Beowulf fights for territory

Similarities: Differences:
 * Identity because his uncle/father figure is a king
 * Helps defeat enemies in hopeless situations (he is the only hero to do it)
 * In his battle against the dragon, he has one trusted fighter.
 * Hero of the story
 * Faces similar obstacles and has to destroy monsters
 * Protector: Beowulf fights the dragon to get the treasure back and protect his people and his home.
 * People stole the dragon’s treasure which caused his wrath against the Geats causing Beowulf to protect his people against the dragon
 * Completely comfortable in sea - his battle in the ocean mentioned in the beginning || **__Percy Jackson__**
 * Is 12-years-old and stays the same age throughout the story.
 * Physically uncoordinated and weak compared to Beowulf
 * Overcomes obstacles with help
 * Half God
 * Publicly recognized as a fugitive by some a possible hero by others
 * Mythical enemies of medusa, hades, three headed dog, furies, etc.
 * Reality is also based in his pagan gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades)
 * Percy Jackson fights to rescue his mom

Similarities:
 * Identity from his father being one of the most powerful gods
 * Helps defeat enemies and prevent war (the last hope for others)
 * Throughout the story, he only has one trusted friend who fights with him.
 * Hero of the story
 * Faces similar obstacles and has to destroy monsters
 * Protector: Percy Jackson gets the lighting bolt to protect the world from war and
 * Zeus’s lighting bolt was stolen which caused Zeus’s wrath against the world and Poseidon causing Percy to protect the world against the God’s wrath by finding the lighting bolt. ||

= Research Focus: Pairing Classics with Young Adult Works =

= **Process** =
 * Source 1: Mythology by Edith Hamilton (Cody J) Hamilton, Edith. //Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes//. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1942. 1-465. Print. Edith Hamilton's classic // Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes // is the perfect book to help pair two books deeply involved in myth. The text offers the best stories myth has to offer as well as Hamilton's brilliant insight into what a culture's myths have to tell us about the people as a whole. For a reader (or teacher) of // Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief // and // Beowulf // to fully comprehend the story he or she must first have a firm understanding of the Greek and Norse gods and their tales; // Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes // offers the stories and fundamental information about the gods and the respective cultures that will allow students and teachers a much more critical and satisfying read. Hamilton puts it best with the closing thought of her book: "Norse mythology and Greek mythology together give a clear picture of what the people were like from whom comes a major part of our spiritual and intellectual inheritance." (465)
 * Source 2: A Companion to Beowulf (Kirsti and Jeanna) Staver, Ruth J. //A Companion to Beowulf //. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2005. Print.
 * History and Translation
 * History:
 * Period of time it was written in and how that affects the literature.
 * Translation:
 * The unit will be using three different translations of Beowulf and comparing them. Understanding when it was written
 * "Beowulf is one of the most translated of ancient texts" (Staver 17).
 * Possibly have one half of the class read one version and the other half read another version, meet up during class time to compare different versions.
 * Intended to look and sound old according to J.R.R. Tolkien
 * Three Beowulf Trails commentary
 * Grendel: shows Beowulf's strength for the first official time to the reader, gains respect.
 * Grendel's Mother: similar to the first trial but more challenges
 * Dragon: Beowulf's final test of sacrifice and strength, ultimately leads to his downfall.
 * Beowulf connect to J.R.R. Tolkien
 * Tolkien was one of the first authors to be influenced by Beowulf
 * Briefly mention the hobbit and similar dragon enemies
 * Possibly go into Tolkien commentary
 * Religion in Beowulf
 * Dichotomy of Christian and pagan ideologies
 * “Is the poem originally pagan but altered to a Christian form? Or is it originally Christian, depicting ancient pagan life as historical fiction?” (Staver 149).
 * Source 3: Introduction from //Beowulf: A New Verse Translation //. Trans. Seamus Heaney. Bilingual ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. Print.
 * Beowulf: the Poem
 * A discussion on the canonical orientation of the work, which reflects at large its distinct cultural drift when compared to Greco-Roman epics or a similar vein, altogether falling in line with a general Hellenic-skew of cultural reverence that is seen in all types of art including literature, as well as religion, philosophy, and language itself. This underscores the historical backdrop of literary criticism that surrounds Beowulf: "For Generations of scholars too the interest had been textual and philological" (X)//.//
 * Heaney follows this by developing a conception of the narrative as "three agons—three struggles" (XIV) of the titular hero which establishes an understanding of the text as being very much a conquering of the outward terrors (that would be Grendel and his Mother in Beowulf's case) only to prepare oneself for an encounter with the inward terrors (the dragon birthed of Beowulf's own land) that appear in so many other Epic narratives, such as //Gilgamesh//, //Oedipus Rex//, //The Odyssey//, et al.
 * The section ends with an appraisal of Beowulf's irrepressible freshness, as the praise of Beowulf (within the poem) is invariably and "paradoxically, buoyantly down to earth" (XXI) and how the ending funeral mourning seems not to distinct from modern funeral scenes in which a beloved leader is mourned for and beloved, setting the stage for a reading of Beowulf as valuable beyond its status as "the first English epic".
 * About This Translation
 * It is in this section that Heaney reveals his own background of the subject—very much attuned to the subtle distance that his North Irish heredity gives him—while expressing the very struggles he dismisses in he previous section: that of "[the] matter of construing meaning, getting a grip on the grammar and vocabulary of Anglo-Saxon, and being able to recognize, translate, and comment upon random extracts" (X).
 * It is, however, through these random extracts that Heaney, birthed from his distant—but not severed—cultural connection to the Anglo-Saxons (themselves culturally drifted from the figures and features of the Scandanavian narrative) that is able to satiate his desire to comprehend the text which brought about his final product: the ensuing translation that stands still at the forefront of the literary community surrounding this epic.

1.) We will complete the reading of // Beowulf // by September 22nd and begin our reading of // Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief // to be completed by October 10th. 2.) While we read, each of us will always be brainstorming and searching for connections and potential lessons that arise. We will attempt to meet as often as necessary (at least every other week) and share our findings during the meetings. Each member should bring their notes on connections/lessons etc. to each meeting where we can expand and form these ideas into a more tangible idea and keep the meetings efficient and effective. 3.) As more information is given about the further parts of the project we will continue with good communication and a positive energy concerning the readings and work relating to the project.