Beowulf's “ane ben” and the Rhetorical Context of the “Hunferþ Episode”

Abstract

Abstract: Recent scholarship argues that Anglo-Saxon rhetorical strategies derive from an extended grammatical curriculum such as the praeexercitamina, an argument which complements the trend to rehabilitate our understanding of the Anglo-Saxons, from the romantic notion that they were bound to native conventions to one which recognizes their acquisition and application of Latin learning. This paper extends these arguments by seeking to show that elements of the progymnasmata, on which the praeexercitamina are based, seem to inform the invention and arrangement of material in the “Hunfer]) Episode” of Beowulf.