Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Beowulf #3: Fighting Grendel

From the character sketches in the last post, we already know Beowulf fights three monsters: Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Fire Dragon. Though each fight is part of a larger narrative, they have three distinct plots, defined as a series of causally-related events that revolve around a central problem, rise to a climax, and ultimately come to a resolution.

Here is the first plot, which revolves around Beowulf’s fight with Grendel.

PLOT SUMMARY
Exposition – The Background

At the outset of the story, we learn of a powerful barbarian king of Denmark named Hrothgar who has built a large hall called Heorot. Symbolic of his strength as well as his generosity, his people gather and feast there nightly, enjoying the security of armed peace.    

Inciting Incident – The Problem

The inciting incident is the problem that sets the plot in motion. Put differently, it is an event of such great proportions that it fundamentally alters the world of the story and must be played out to its fullest extent. 

That’s where Grendel comes in. One night, seemingly out of nowhere, a horrific monster named Grendel breaks up one of the feasts in Heorot and eats a bunch of Hrothgar’s men.

Rising Action – The Build-up

Grendel makes feasting on the Danes his nightly ritual. Unable to defeat such a powerful foe, Heorot is cast low, and Hrothgar finds himself king of a wasted kingdom. Though the Danes had been a brave clan, they are shamed with fear (not to mention sleep deprived) for twelve years. Even Hrothgar turns into a shadow of his former self.  

Their ill fortune finally reaches Sweden. Prince Beowulf, known far and wide as a great warrior, decides to come to their aid.

He sails to Denmark and finds Hrothgar eager to receive him. Only Unferth, a jealous Dane, resents Beowulf’s offer. He contends that Beowulf isn’t really that great, calling him both a coward and a liar. Beowulf tells a story that proves otherwise and gains Hrothgar’s blessing to fight Grendel.

The Geats and the Danes enjoy a feast in Heorot, fully knowing that Grendel will eventually show up. In anticipation, the Danes gradually slip away to their hiding places, but not before giving Beowulf and his men soft blankets and pillows. The irony of their hospitality is never lost on my students!

Climax – The Breaking Point

Scared as they are, all the Geats nonetheless fall asleep—except for Beowulf. Grendel arrives, rips off the door, snatches up a man, and eats him. He reaches for his next victim and chances upon Beowulf.

Vigilant as ever, Beowulf meets Grendel’s grip with his own. The two get locked in a type of arm-wrestling match that ends up with Beowulf ripping off Grendel’s arm, mortally wounding him. Though Grendel manages to flee, he does not live. Meanwhile, Beowulf “wildly waves in the air his blood-soaked trophy,” aka Grendel’s arm.

Falling Action – The Unraveling

Naturally, everyone decides it’s a good idea to nail Grendel’s arm to the wall and have a party like in the days of old.

Resolution – Problem Solved

At long last, Hrothgar’s honor is restored, and his men can sleep easy again. Beowulf has saved the day. In thanks, Hrothgar bestows treasures on Beowulf and his men.

PLOT ANALYSIS

When I study Beowulf’s fight with Grendel with my students, we always come up with a number of different “problems” that could serve as the inciting incident and soon realize they are all related. The most obvious, at least most literal, problem is Grendel eating the Danes. We can go a little deeper, though, and also define the problem in figurative terms with a focus on Hrothgar.

All of Hrothgar’s power, the very essence of his manhood, has been stolen. To put it bluntly, Hrothgar has turned into a weakling, unfit to rule over his people. Lucky for him, no one else is willing to kill Grendel, so none can overthrow him. We are left to wonder if Hrothgar’s rule had somehow invited Grendel in, perhaps by letting his guard down or falling into a sinful pride. Either way, Hrothgar needs to be redeemed so his kingdom can thrive.

As we know, Beowulf does that for him. Sure, Beowulf likes the sport of fighting Grendel and the glory that comes with it, but that is not his real motive. He is fundamentally looking out for Hrothgar and his kingdom by saving their lives and their honor.

Here we see the kind of Christian-barbarian blending that makes Beowulf so important historically. Whoever immortalized this epic for us had great respect for the mindset of the Germanic and Scandinavian people it represents. He knew honor was most understood and respected on the battlefield, but he also knew that Christians needed to serve a higher purpose. For them, honor was gained through service and sacrifice. Hence, Beowulf was a hero among barbarians and Christians.

Illustration from Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race (1910)

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Beowulf #2: Characters

In order to understand any story, you have to spend time getting to know its characters. From their personal background and physical characteristics to their words and actions, every detail has meaning.

Beowulf is no different. Though the characters may at first seem like a motley cast of barbarians and monsters, each is highly complex, rich in symbolism, and teaches much about the mindset of the early Scandinavian and Germanic peoples they reflect.

Beowulf – “Mightiest yet Mildest of Men”

Let’s begin with our title hero. Most people have heard of Beowulf even if they skipped British Literature 101, not least because he’s fought his way across the big screen so many times. Stylized as a valiant barbarian from the lands of the Geats (aka Sweden), he is somewhat of a contradiction.

Ian Serraillier, my favorite Beowulf author, calls him the “mightiest yet mildest of men.” His “might” comes from his great strength and superior battle skills. Such would have been a prerequisite for a barbarian leader. (If you can’t win an arm-wrestling match against the whole clan, not to mention a giant, flesh-eating monster, take a hike!)

But Beowulf’s character is not just about flexing his muscles; he’s also “mild.” Serrailier uses this word to describe the barbarian hero’s spirituality, which blends the traditions of Germanic paganism with Christianity. Beowulf is both true to the Germanic code of loyalty, called comitatus, and the ideals of Christian virtue. He ultimately gives his life for his people in a very Christ-like way, but he does so at the point of a sword, fighting like a warrior should. We can think of him as a Christianized barbarian who still knows how to win a fight.  

Hrothgar – “Giver of Treasure”

King of the Danes, Hrothgar is also a Christian barbarian warrior. He is so glorious in battle and cares so much for his people that he gives them an abundance of gifts and builds them a great hall, called Heorot. He provides them with all the comforts of armed peace he can—that is until Grendel shows up and starts eating his men. Even Hrothgar, who had been so fearless in the past, finds himself unable to face Grendel. Instead, he slinks away in defeat every night before the monster’s feasting hour.

Poor Hrothgar! His hair turns gray, and his eyes lose their luster during the twelve years of Grendel’s attacks. It is only after Beowulf arrives at Heorot that Hrothgar gets his step back. Hrothgar is a good king to his people, always trying to give them his best. It’s just that his best is no match for Grendel and certainly nothing compared to what Beowulf has to offer.

Unferth – “A Grovelling Jealous Man”

In the character of Unferth, we learn that not all barbarians are good. He is Beowulf’s foil, or opposite, being as weak and selfish as Beowulf is strong and selfless. Nonetheless, he has an inflated opinion of himself and challenges Beowulf—but only in words! At the conclusion of his “fight” with Beowulf, Hrothgar dismisses him as a wimp. Actually in Serraillier’s version, he calls him “an envious, wayward man, unworthy of note,” which is much worse.

If not for the role he plays in attacking Beowulf’s reputation, he would have no part in the story. Still, his character is a good reminder of how important fame was to the barbarian people he represents. Beowulf is famous; Unferth is not. It is that which makes him most jealous. He does not seem to really care about being tougher than Beowulf. If he did, he would have faced Grendel. What he desires is unearned glory.

Grendel – “The Grim Monster”

At last we come to Grendel. To simply call him a monster is to misunderstand him. He is a descendant of Cain, as in the Cain who slew his brother Abel from the Bible. As punishment, God marked Cain with a sign of his sin and cast him out of his “clan.” Like Cain, Grendel is marked with sin. His “arms of hairy gorilla” and “red ferocious eyes” and “ravening jaws,” among other things, are signs of his evilness.  

No longer looking like a man, his oldest ancestor, Cain, was nonetheless created as one. That means their family line has gone against its human nature. It is that which makes him different from say, a lion, who might also attack and eat people. A lion would not be sinning to eat a person, but Grendel is. What’s more, he loves eating humans, and it’s not just because they taste good! He eats them out of vengeance. Like the sin he represents, he has an insatiable appetite. Put differently, he is beyond redemption and must be killed.

Grendel’s Mother – “The Tyrant Queen”

It turns out even Grendel has a mother who loves him—in her own distorted way, of course. Flesh and blood bind them together, so we can pretty much picture a female version of her son, complete with his massive, hairy size and strength. She, too, hates mankind, but her vendetta is more personal. By the time we meet her in the story, she wants payback for her son’s death, and she really wants to kill Beowulf.

When put in the context of motherhood, Grendel’s Mother is somewhat sympathetic, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is evil. She and Grendel lived together in an eerie lake, symbolic of Hell, over which she reigns supreme. Though her son may have been the one who killed so many humans at Heorot, she most certainly was an accomplice if not the instigator.

The Fire Dragon – “Twilight Foe”

Last but certainly not least of the monsters comes a fearsome, fire-breathing dragon that lives in Beowulf’s own kingdom of Sweden. If the idea of Grendel and Grendel’s mother harkens back to the fall of mankind, the Fire Dragon takes us back even farther to the fall of the angels. With his long coiled body, he looks like a serpent but with wings and legs, drawing an obvious connection to the devil.

And the similarities don’t stop there. His is the kind of evil that sleeps in the shadows, always hoping for a chance to trap an unsuspecting human into doing something foolish, aka sinning. He lures them with an ancient treasure tucked beneath a burial ground, reminding us that he is an instrument of death. The treasure proves too great a temptation for one of the Geats. He breaks in, wakens the sleeping dragon, and thus ignites a fiery rampage. Though Beowulf kills the Fire Dragon, he needs help doing so and dies in the end. This final monster is the strongest and most evil of all.

Wiglaf – “Close Kinsman of the King”

Enter Wiglaf. He alone stands by Beowulf to fight and defeat the Fire Dragon. They share many of the same qualities, perhaps partially because they are related. He, too, is a powerful warrior, though presumably not equals in their prime. More importantly, Wiglaf knows the value of loyalty and was prepared to give his life for Beowulf just as Beowulf was prepared to give his life for his people.

It is Wiglaf who shames the other warriors for abandoning Beowulf. It is he who obeys Beowulf’s dying wishes and builds his burial mound on the Fire Dragon’s treasure, refusing to take any of the spoils even for himself. Fittingly, he becomes the next king of Sweden.

Conclusion

That’s about all we can say about the characters without getting into the whole story. Although you can piece it together here, you will want to look at each of the subsequent plot analyses to get a fuller picture.

Please note the taglines for each character and quotations are derived from Beowulf the Warrior retold by Ian Serraillier.

Image Credit: Rockwell Kent, Beowulf, 1931, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

Beowulf #1: Introduction

Beowulf is hard, Shakespeare hard. Both take a lot of time and attention to understand what is really being said. But when it comes to Shakespeare, that effort is rewarded with something akin to gold. With Beowulf, however, it feels a little more like unearthing a fossil. You know you found something valuable, even priceless, but it’s hard to know exactly what.

As the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language, Old English really, and with an oral tradition dating back to the fifth or sixth century, it feels worlds away from today. In fact, we knew nothing of this story until 1731 when it was found amidst the wreckage of a fire. Tucked away on some back shelf of Ashburnham House in London, who knows how long it would have remained hidden if not for that fire.

Beowulf Mask by Student

Since then, scholars have translated and transliterated Beowulf dozens of times. For an eager student, going through the stylistic differences and tonal shifts of each would be fascinating, if not fun. But for many, just reading one of these translations would feel tiresome.

Now, I’m not judging one way or the other. I like this stuff. As a seventh grade teacher, I also like giving my students a work that will immediately pull them in. That’s why I was so excited when I found Ian Serraillier’s version, Beowulf the Warrior. It’s a faithful text, written as much for a child as an adult, complete with blank verse, and full of literary elements. To return to our previous fossil analogy, it reads more like the dragon than the dragon’s bones.

Better still, it sounds like the dragon!

True to the oral tradition from which it came, Serraillier’s retelling makes a hauntingly beautiful read-aloud. Its primordial pulse paints my students’ faces with fascination and suspense when we read something like:

“Tricked of his treasure, angrily he prowled

Over the headland, sniffing the ground, devouring

The track of his enemy—but none could he find. At nightfall,

When the daystar was darkened, the candle of the world snuffed out,

Revengeful, riotous with rage, he went forth in flame,

Breathing out ruin, snorting hurricane.”

And just like that, the whole class begins to wonder if dragons really did exist!

Beowulf is more than fantasy, however. It is also a window into the past, showcasing what people of the early Middle Ages valued, believed, and loved. This includes not only the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples of Europe who were the focus of the tale, but also the Anglo-Saxons who eventually claimed the story as part of their cultural heritage.

Whatever your interest in Beowulf—anthropological, literary, or just plain old fun—this blog series has something for you. You’ll meet our title character, his three beastly foes, and a few other important figures. We’ll also analyze the plot and a number of significant motifs. Here is the line-up:

I. Characters

II. The Fight with Grendel

III. The Fight with Grendel’s Mother

IV. The Fight with the Fire Dragon

V. Motifs

Whether you read Serraillier’s retelling or one of the originals, I hope this series helps transport you to the world of Beowulf and unlock its mysterious beauty.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Authentic Sentences #3

Being able to classify and diagram the work of William Shakespeare is considered a sign of mastery, not least because he is the foremost master of the English language himself. Everything about his writing often seems highly complex at first, but with a little mental muscle we can break his verses down into their core parts just as we would with any other sentence.

Doing this in the classroom has an amazing effect. Students may need a little help getting started on one of his verses, but they soon figure out the sentence pattern with all its modifiers and create an elaborate diagram connecting each word.

Even better, doing this demystifies what Shakespeare is saying. From figurative language to humor, it pretty much all makes sense in the end.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

In this series on the language of grammar, we already covered William Shakespeare’s connection to Queen Elizabeth. In contrast to that earlier post which was written to practice participles, this post will work with Shakespeare’s own words as yet another example of authentic language.

There is, of course, much to choose from, so I like selecting verses from one of his plays that we already study in Literature. Here are the classifications and diagrams from the “Tomorrow Speech” in Macbeth. Though it consists of ten verses, it is only four sentences.

“The way to dusty death” is part of a prepositional phrase in which “on” is inferred. I have used an “x” as a placeholder for it.
There is no verb in this sentence, but we can infer Shakespeare to have meant, “Go out, out brief candle.” Once again, I used an “x” as a placeholder for the missing word.
“Player” is an appositive of “shadow,” so we place them on the same line separated by a comma.
I treated “full of” as a compound preposition. Another option is to separate them and use “full” as an adjective, but I don’t think that works as well.

The meaning of Macbeth’s speech is readily apparent after classifying and diagramming it: life is pointless. Don’t worry; my class spends ample time discussing this message, and we always disagree with Macbeth.

And yet we also realize that this sentiment is fairly common in the world. None, however, have expressed it with the same poignancy as Shakespeare.

Therein lies another important lesson. Shakespeare could have just had Macbeth say, “Life is pointless!”

Instead, he used ten whole verses of poetic genius to turn one of the saddest thoughts imaginable into a work of art. His words seem more than words. They are feelings so real we can almost touch them. At the same time, however, we recoil from their horror. Rather than live the life of a morose idiot strutting and fretting toward death, Shakespeare has actually called us to live a true and meaningful life.

Now that’s a powerful use of language, not to mention an interesting Grammar lesson.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Authentic Sentences #2

Today we will classify and diagram some of Queen Elizabeth’s most famous quotes. Though we have covered her story quite extensively in this series on the language of grammar, it has not always been glowing. It is only fitting, then, to give Elizabeth a chance to speak for herself. After all, it was her words more than her actions that won the hearts of her people.

Before we begin, let’s recap what we have covered about her so far and match it up with our grammar lessons.

First, we looked at her ascent to the throne of England in connection to learning pattern six. Then, we covered some basic background on her rule when we learned pattern seven.

We continued her story through three lessons on verbals. For infinitives we considered her relationship with Saint Edmund Campion. For participles, we examined her patronage of William Shakespeare. For gerunds, we reviewed her leadership role in defeating the Spanish Armada.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

Now it’s time to look at what Queen Elizabeth said during her lifetime. That will give us a window into how she perceived herself and how she wanted to be perceived by others. It will also give us more practice with authentic language, or words spoken in their natural context. 

We have looked at a lot of these elements already, so let’s focus on the appositive phrase “and a king of England.” It is an appositive because it is restating the idea of “king” in a different way. We stack “and” on a dotted horizontal line because it is an expletive, meaning it does not really have a function or add meaning to the sentence.
This is a rather complicated diagram. Let’s focus on the phrase “more anxious than my country.” Whenever we see a comparison of the degree of something, we have to break down the inferred words in that comparison. In this case, we can understand the sentence to be saying, ‘There is nothing about which I am more anxious than I am anxious about my country.” Then, we draw the diagram with all of the inferred words marked by an “x.”
Notice that “but” is not a conjunction here. It is an adverb that means “only.”
“We pay for love” modifies “price.” It answers the question, “What kind of price?”
“Whose” is an adjective modifying “those.” It answers the question, “Which of those?” The answer is, “Those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.” Notice that “faith and silence” are compound direct objects even though they come at the beginning of the adjective clause.
Notice that “cannot” is a verb here as opposed to “can not,” which is a verb plus an adverb. The difference is that “cannot” means something is impossible whereas “can not” means something may or may not be possible.

This last quote is my favorite because of its political genius. With her characteristic eloquence, Queen Elizabeth aligns her rule with the Will of God and presents herself as His humble servant. This would have been a particularly important message to convey in light of England’s split with the Catholic Church. Without the pope to sanction her rule, she needed God to do so Himself.

But her cleverness does not stop there. In praising the gratitude of her people, she is actually applauding herself and implicitly stating that the people should be thankful she is queen.  

Now let’s focus on that last word for a moment: queen. Elizabeth knew that she was ruling in a man’s world. She felt the threat of rebellion at many points in her rule and knew she needed to present herself in a way that would make her appear not merely as strong as a king but even stronger.

At the same time, she needed to retain her femininity and make herself lovable. When taken as a whole, these quotes showcase the brilliant ways in which Queen Elizabeth walked that fine line. She was strong and beautiful, severe and magnanimous.

I imagine she would have taken Machiavelli’s advice about it being better to be feared than loved, if one cannot be both, as a challenge. “Of course I can be both!” she might have answered. Elizabeth was feared by many during her lifetime because of her iron-fisted rule, but it is the extent to which she was loved that is most remembered.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Authentic Sentences #1

Now that we have mastered classifying and diagramming the various sentence patterns and sentence types, we are ready to work with authentic language, or words spoken in their natural context.

So far, I have composed all the sentences in this blog series to fit a particular lesson. That is no longer necessary. We can now move on to sentences drawn from the bottomless treasure trove of the written and spoken word. There may be a few outstanding classifying and diagramming rules for us to learn, but we will deal with them as they come up.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

In keeping with our theme of the Renaissance and building off of our last post on Francis Petrarch, we turn to another humanist, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527). He is considered one of the most influential political thinkers of his day and is most well-known for writing The Prince, which was meant as a guide for Medici de Lorenzo, ruler of Florence.

Machiavelli’s ideas continue to shape politics, statesmanship, and power today. Here are some of his most famous, not to mention controversial, quotes for us to classify and diagram.

“Who wishes to be obeyed” is a noun clause modifying “He.” It answers the question, “What kind of he?”
This sentence has another noun clause. “He has around him” modifies “men.” It answers the question, “Which men?”
“Who has power” is a noun clause that modifies “he.” It answers the question, “What kind of he?” Notice also that the subject noun in the second complete thought is inferred. I left it blank, but another option is to write an x in the space.
This complex sentence has the added complexity of using an unequal comparison between being feared and being loved, which is set up by the word “than.” We can infer a parallel structure in the comparison such that the phrase means “it is better to be feared than to be loved.”
This sentence has another noun clause. “That does not trust its people to be armed” modifies “government.” It answers the question, “What kind of government?”
Here we have another unequal comparison set up with the word “than.” The “sureness” of the sign of decay is guaranteed, or we might say maximized, by the contempt that is “held.”
The subject noun of the second complete thought is inferred, so I left it blank. While we could think of “few” as the subject pronoun, the sentence is meant to be parallel. Hence, “few” is an adjective just as “all” is an adjective.

Whether we agree with Machiavelli’s principles or not, he certainly had great insight into the politics of governance. He understood how to read and exploit the feelings of society for the advantage of his prince.

While we may not like his lack of moral scruples, his judgment was governed by something he thought far more sacred—power. In his view, every decision, every action of a ruler should be a careful calculation designed to secure and augment the strength of the state.

Although it makes Machiavelli seem somewhat sinister by our modern sensibilities, there is an honesty to his politics. He did not pretend to serve the people, at least not directly. His allegiance was to his “prince” who, in turn, offered safety and security to the kingdom. Without a strong centralized government, he contended, the people would suffer—not that he necessarily cared about them for their own sake

In any event, Machiavelli’s ideas make for wonderful practice classifying and diagramming sentences. They also make for wonderful debate in the classroom!

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Compound-Complex Sentences

We have finally arrived at the dreaded compound-complex sentence, the very name of which often strikes fear in the hearts of my students. It sounds so complicated! At least it did to me when I was their age. I had a hard time breaking the sentence down into its parts. There are three in all, consisting of two complete thoughts and one incomplete thought.

Complete Thought + Complete Thought + Incomplete Thought = Compound-Complex Sentence

Once my students memorize this formula, they simply need to put it together with the same rules for compound sentences and complex sentences. As the name implies, a compound-complex sentence builds from those earlier structures, so a good foundation in them is essential.

SAMPLE LESSON

Here is our first sample sentence.

(We’ll look at the merits of Petrarch’s philosophy shortly. For now, let’s focus on the sentence structure.)

When I guide my students through a sentence like this, I tell them to first look for any conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, or subordinate conjunctions. For example, if we see a comma conjunction, then we know two complete thoughts are being combined. If we see a subordinate conjunction followed by a phrase that otherwise looks like a complete thought, then we have an incomplete thought.

In this example, we have the conjunction “but” set off with a comma. We also have the subordinate conjunction “because” followed by a complete thought. Right away, that should tell us we have two complete thoughts and one incomplete thought. That makes the sentence compound-complex!

To be more precise, the first complete thought is “Francis Petrarch considered the Middle Ages a period of darkness.” The second complete thought is “he considered himself enlightened.” The incomplete thought is “because he valued the principles of classical antiquity.”

Yes, there are a number of steps in identifying a compound-complex sentence, but they follow a predictable pattern. With practice, students come to recognize them quickly.

To diagram a compound-complex sentence, we start off with the two complete thoughts, stacking the first one on top and the second on the bottom. We connect them with our “step” from the top verb to the bottom verb and place the conjunction on the step.

Once we have done that, then we diagram the part of the incomplete thought that looks complete. That should be placed beneath the complete thought it modifies, which may mean it needs to be pushed far off to the side to fit below.

Finally, we connect it with a dotted diagonal line from verb to verb and write the subordinate conjunction on it.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

We’ll continue with Francis Petrarch (1304-1374) for our practice sentences and try to get to the bottom of why he considered his era, the Renaissance, so far superior to the preceding Middle Ages.

In fact, we have Petrarch to thank for all those comics with knights riding around in the pitch black. No, he did not actually draw them, but his philosophy gave birth to them. He called the Middle Ages the “Dark Ages,” and that term has stuck throughout the centuries. Only in modern times have historians begun to reconsider the merits of this term and all the negative connotations it implies.

Obviously, knights were not really riding around blindly in the dark, but more to the point, society as a whole was not simply devoid of culture and learning during the Middle Ages. There were ample great thinkers throughout the era, many of whom went on to become saints: Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Thomas Aquinas, to name a few.

What’s more, they were not wholly disconnected from the works of classical antiquity. Rather, they expanded and developed them in innovative ways, often drawing previously unseen connections to Christianity. One might even argue the Middle Ages gave birth to greater originality than the Renaissance where artists painstakingly copied the work of their classical icons as if they were a fixed formula or pattern.

The point is not so much to compare which era is better but to acknowledge the richness found in both. Petrarch may have been a genius of sorts, but that does not mean the generations of the preceding era were inferior, or worse yet, “backwards.” Rather, the differences between the Renaissance and the Middle Ages reflect a major shift in the worldview that prevailed throughout Western Civilization.

We’ll look at some of those differences in the next post.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Complex Sentences

It’s time to move on to complex sentences. Unlike compound sentences, which combine two complete thoughts, complex sentences combine one complete thought with one incomplete thought.

Complete Thought + Incomplete Thought = Complex Sentence

And the order does not matter. We can put the complete thought at the beginning or at the end and still have a complex sentence. The only difference it makes is in the punctuation, explained below.

SAMPLE LESSON

So let’s see what this looks like with a few examples.

This example begins with a complete thought, “Galileo was famous.” It ends with an incomplete thought, “because he developed the first telescope.”  Now if we flip the order of the sentence and put the incomplete thought first, then the punctuation changes.

Notice we put a comma after the incomplete thought. That is because incomplete thoughts are always attached to the predicate, making it an inverted sentence. The comma is a handy way to show this.

Much like compound sentences which are combined using conjunctions or connective adverbs, complex sentences are combined using subordinate conjunctions.

In the examples above, the subordinate conjunction is “because.” If we were to take out “because,” “he developed the first telescope” would actually be a complete thought. As soon as we put it in, however, it can no longer stand alone. It becomes dependent or subordinate to the rest of the sentence. Without the addition of “Galileo became famous,” “because he developed the first telescope” would not make sense. It would leave us wondering what else was meant to be said.

This brings us to a few additional terms. When talking about incomplete thoughts in the context of complex sentences, we can also call them dependent thoughts or subordinate thoughts. Likewise, complete thoughts can also be called independent thoughts. In order to have a term that opposes subordinate, my students and I also call them bossy thoughts.

No matter the terminology, the point is the same. One of the thoughts can stand alone; the other cannot. By putting them together, we end up with a complex sentence.

Diagrams of complex sentences always start off with the complete thought on top. We diagram this in the regular way. Then, we diagram everything else but the subordinate conjunction as if it were a complete thought just beneath it. Finally, we attach the two thoughts with a diagonal dotted line from verb to verb. Just make sure to capitalize the first word of the sentence so readers know whether the sentence is inverted or not.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

Renaissance scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) will be the focus of these practice sentences. He was a controversial person in his day because he pushed the boundaries of scientific discovery in a way that challenged the Church, ultimately leading to conflict. Let’s take a quick look at what happened and practice complex sentences as we do so.

This sentence has a direct object phrase, which needs to be placed on a pedestal. Many direct object phrases begin with the word “that.” If “that” is not included, and often it is not, then simply put an “x” on the horizontal line on top of the direct object phrase.
Note that “out of” is a compound preposition, so both words go on the same line.

Sadly, Galileo’s story is not the most flattering for the Church. Its stubborn resistance to heliocentrism reflects a complex insecurity. At stake was not only the Church’s credibility on scientific matters but on theological ones as well, or so they thought. If they could get the galaxy backwards, then might they also get a lot of other things backwards?

And so, Galileo was compelled to recant. As a devout Catholic, he preferred to maintain his ties with the Church than to push his theory forward. Perhaps he knew that time would allow the Church, as well as the rest of the world, to realize he was right about heliocentrism—and that a True worldview could never undermine the authority of the Church.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Compound Sentences

After students have mastered the organizational structure of the simple sentence, they are ready to move on to the compound sentence, which combines two complete thoughts. I like presenting this with a math equation.

1 Complete Thought + 1 Complete Thought = 1 Compound Sentence

In short, a compound sentence is really just compounding or combining two simple sentences to make a new sentence. There a few ways we can do this.

SAMPLE LESSON

The first is to place a comma followed by a conjunction between two complete thoughts.

In this example, our first complete thought is “Michelangelo loved painting.” Our second complete thought is “he loved sculpting.” The glue that holds them together, so to speak, is “, and”.

Of course there are many other conjunctions (listed below), which are more appropriately called coordinating conjunctions, that could be used in a similar format, but the most common are and, or, but. It’s important to remember that the choice of which conjunction to use depends on the message within the sentence.

If we want to show continuation or similarity such as in the sentence above, then we use and.

If we want to show alternatives, then we use or.

Note that “depending on” is a two-word preposition in this case.

If we want to show contrast, then we use but.

Another way to make a compound sentence is to place a semi-colon between two complete thoughts. This format, however, is a bit harder to pull off, so it takes a degree of trial and error to figure out when it works. Typically, students might write something like this at first.

Yes, this sentence is grammatically correct and connects two related ideas in a logical way. However, we could just as easily use the comma conjunction format and say exactly the same thing.

If we want to get the most out of the semi-colon format, then we have to imagine it offering something different than the other compound sentence formats. There should be an even more intimate or profound connection between two related ideas. Likewise, the first complete thought should lead to something bigger or more significant in the second complete thought.

Now this sentence uses the semi-colon in a much better way. The ideas are connected very deeply, and the second complete thought builds on the first.

The final way to combine two complete thoughts is to place a semi-colon followed by a conjunctive adverb followed by a comma between them.

Conjunctive adverbs (listed below) are sometimes called connective adverbs. They are commonly confused with coordinating conjunctions because their functions are so closely related. I think it’s fine to lump them in with conjunctions as long you remember the difference when it comes to diagramming.

To diagram compound thoughts connected with coordinating conjunctions and semi-colons, we stack the first thought on top of the second thought. Then, we simply draw a dotted step leading from the top verb to the bottom verb. Lastly, we write the conjunction, if there is one, on the step.

Complete thoughts connected by conjunctive adverbs are also stacked on top of each other, but instead of a dotted step, we draw a dotted vertical line connecting the top thought to the bottom thought. Place the vertical line all the way to the left, and write the conjunctive adverb like a regular adverb connected to the second verb.  

SAMPLE LESSON

Much like Leonardo, Michelangelo’s (1475 – 1564) talents launched him into the forefront of Renaissance art. His work was so revered that he became the subject of two biographies during his own lifetime, which was pretty much unheard of for anyone, let alone an artist. A look at our practice sentences illustrates some of the reasons for his fame.  

Scholars are unsure whether Michelangelo had help interpreting the theological aspects of his paintings. Either way, he was an artistic genius and Biblical scholar in his own right. What my students often find so incredible is that his works make complex Church doctrine feel simple and easy to understand.

What’s more, his works garner a level of contemplation that is both intellectual and prayerful, ultimately evoking wonder and awe in God Himself.

Posted on by Stephanie McGann

The Language of Grammar: Simple Sentences

To close out this blog series, we are going to focus on the various sentence types. Different from sentence patterns that reflect core parts (e.g., SN + V), sentence types reflect the organization of thoughts in sentences.

As every writer knows, it can be hard to organize one’s ideas into a sentence that makes sense. Grammatically, we call this a complete thought or a simple sentence, meaning it has a clear subject, or who or what the subject is about, and a clear predicate, or what is being said about the subject.

Let’s put this in context with a few examples of simple sentences.

SAMPLE LESSON

Alas, it’s time to say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth and move onto another area of the Renaissance. For this lesson, we’ll consider some of the greatest artists of the time period.

This sentence is a complete thought. It has a subject (Leonardo) and a predicate (liked painting). When we put them together, they make sense. If we separate them, they no longer make sense because they turn into incomplete thoughts or fragments.

Happily, most seventh graders have mastered this concept long before they get to my classroom. Nevertheless, I still walk through this organizational structure because it serves as the foundation for all the other sentence types.

A variation of the simple sentence is a simple sentence with a compound subject (SCS).

This time, our complete thought consists of two subject nouns and one verb. If we wanted, we could combine many more subject nouns.

Another form of the simple sentence is a simple sentence with a compound verb (SCV).

Instead of combining multiple subject nouns, we have combined multiple verbs. Following the same logic above, it’s still just one complete thought. We could add even more verbs, and that would still be true.

Diagrams provide a helpful way to visualize how simple sentences consist of only one complete thought.

Recall from any of our previous lessons that diagrams are formed by crossing a long horizontal line with a short vertical line. That vertical line separates the complete subject from the complete predicate. If you have only one of those vertical lines, then you have only one complete thought no matter how many compound subjects and compound verbs there may be.

PRACTICE SENTENCES

Now it’s time to practice what we’ve learned. Here are several simple sentences about Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).

To review pattern two sentences, click here.
This one is another pattern two sentence.
Here is another pattern two sentence, this time with a compound verb-transitive.
Here is another pattern two sentence.
Here is another pattern two sentence.
To review pattern seven, click here.
Here’s one last pattern four sentence.
Note that “Renaissance” could just as logically be placed in the same space as “Man” since it’s a title. Here, I diagrammed it as an adjective.

It’s no wonder his legacy extends far beyond the Renaissance. The diversity of his interests and the steadfast commitment to excellence he applied therein reminds us that we are all endowed with multiple talents waiting to be developed. His achievements, impressive as they are, were not the product of superhuman abilities.

Rather, they came from constant and deliberate practice, which is infinitely more commendable than raw talent. I view Leonardo as a model of the boundless potential of humanity and a wonderful example for my students.