Beowulf, Dragons, and the Resolution and my birthday.

Today I am 35.

We have been studying Norse culture and history, which is a series of violent actions and reactions of a brave and strong and cold people. Our objective for this week is to prepare for this week's exam at the end of the week.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Latin Proverb: Non scholae, sed vitae discimus. 
1. This proverb contains the purposive essence of classical education: "Not for school, but for life do we learn." School is not job training, nor is it to perpetuate the "system" of school. Knowledge is valuable, and is not utilitarian. We should be life-long learners, not merely because our knowledge has use. We learn because it conforms to those transcendent qualities of being, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, which Christ our Lord made incarnate.
3. Review and discuss RJ: Beowulf, lines 2070-3182
1. How does Beowulf fight and slay the "fire-drake"?
2. What happens in the end? Explain the resolution. 
4. Review, discuss, and take notes on the following comparison of Christian and Anglo-Saxon Society:
1.  In lines 2020-2068, Beowulf foresees the grim consequences of a proposed marriage between the Danes and Frisians. How does this inform and foreshadow the ending of the poem?
2. In lines 2911-2927, what does the messenger who tells the Geats of Beowulf's death predict?
3. What do these episodes tell us about the pagan culture of death before the conversion to Christianity? 
5. Review HW:
1. Beowulf Exam Friday (11/15). Study your Notes on Anglo-Saxon England and your RJs on Beowulf.  
2. Binder Check Friday (11/15). 
3. Finish reading Beowulf. If you haven't already.Take notes as you read.
4. Be wise; be perfect.