The Historical Battle of Brunanburh and Writing a Panegyric
To earn another 2 points and get a 5/5 score, answer both prompts in at least 150 words each (300 words total).
Considering that the unified Kingdom of England had only been around for ten years at the time of the historical Battle of Brunanburh, for what reasons might the poet have chosen to compose his work (“The Battle of Brunanburh”) as a panegyric* about King Athelstan and the English armies?
Write a panegyric about a person or event in recent history or pop culture. It doesn’t have to be written as poetry: you can just write a paragraph in praise of a person, group, or event. Make sure to include at least one kenning.**
* a piece of writing composed in order to praise, honor, or glorify a person, group, or event
** poetic technique where you replace one simple noun with an imaginative compound image, e.g., instead of a simple “warrior,” you say something like “feeder of ravens” because ravens eat dead bodies and warriors kill the people those ravens later eat, thus, in a sense, feeding the ravens
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Reading Response #5
Prompt 1: Considering the Battle of Brunanburh
The 937 Battle of Brunanburh shaped Early English history. In a panegyric, the poet praised King Athelstan's ten-year unity of England and its warriors. History, culture, and politics affect this choice. King Athelstan's Brunanburh victory helped consolidate England. Before his rule, England was a patchwork of smaller kingdoms and provinces with internal unrest and external threats. Athelstan's empire unification was impressive. The poet composed a panegyric for Athelstan's unification of England.
Literary and cultural context is crucial. Oral storytelling, poetry, and epics ruled Anglo-Saxon times. Panegyrics and epic poetry about heroes and great leaders preserved and transmitted a society's history and principles. The historical text "The Battle of Brunanburh" highlighted the struggle and Athelstan's unification of England. A panegyric praised Athelstan and boosted allegiance to the new king. Aristocrats, commoners, and