5.

Which of the
Beowulf Test following is NOT an
example of a
kenning?
The following test assesses your knowledge and
a) “helpless people”
understanding of Beowulf. Read all the questions
b) “the Almighty’s enemy”
carefully and select the letter that best answers
c) “sin-stained demon”
the question.
d) “hell’s captive”
Part I: Vocabulary
6. What is the name of the hall built by King
a) valor b) malice c) Hrothgar?
purge d) lair e) a) Herot
solace b) Hrunting
1. Most foils are characters included in a story
c) Higlac
so that their _______________________ can stand
d) Scylding
out as a lesson on how NOT to behave when
7. How are the Danes tortured for 12 years?
compared to a hero’s actions.
a) They are at war with the Geats.
2. It seems most “superheroes” act to
b) Grendel’s mother is threatening them with
______________________ the world of dangerous
revenge.
villains so it can be a safer place.
c) Grendel continues killing each night
3. The soldier received the highest award for his
keeping them out of their hall.
______________________ when he bravely faced
d) The warriors are not able to use their
terrible odds while in battle.
weapons against the monsters.
4. It seems odd that _______________________ is a
8. What biblical figure is Grendel connected to?
word with a negative connotation when it is
a) David
actually a place where an animal goes to be
b) Hrothgar
alone, to feel safe and comfortable.
c) Unferth
5. Many lonely people find
d) Cain
_______________________ in reading a good
9. Besides the noise of their merrymaking what
book that allows their mind to escape to
is another probable reason Grendel wanted
another world or adventure, even if just for a
to hurt the Danes?
little while.
a) They had built their hall on his land.
Part II: Multiple Choice
b) He had been banished by both God and
men.
1. Which of the following does NOT describe the
c) Hrothgar was his father.
time of the Anglo-Saxon period?
d) They had attacked his mother.
a) Barbarism
10. What proof does Beowulf offer that he is up
b) Romanticism
to the challenge of killing Grendel?
c) Ignorance
a) He tells stories of his previous battles
d) Violence
with men and monsters.
2. What civilization claimed Briton and, in doing
so, introduced cities, roads, written
b) He challenges King Hrothgar to a fight.
scholarship, and Christianity?
c) He pulls a sword from a stone.
a) The Vikings
d) He offers none, just his help.
b) The Normans
11. What is the prior connection between King
c) The Romans
Hrothgar and Beowulf?
d) The Angles and Saxons
a) King Hrothgar paid a debt once for
3. Which of these is FALSE about an epic?
Beowulf’s father.
a) An epic celebrates a hero’s deeds.
b) Beowulf is a friend of King Hrothgar’s
b) An epic is a short story.
sons.
c) The earliest epic tales survived as oral
c) King Hrothgar and King Hygelac are
traditions.
brothers.
d) Many epics were based on historical fact.
d) Beowulf is in love with King Hrothgar’s
4. In what language was Beowulf originally
daughter.
written?
12. Why does Unferth bring up Beowulf’s
a) Old English
swimming match with Brecca?
b) Middle English
a) He is trying to convince Hrothgar of
c) Victorian English
Beowulf’s skills.
d) Standard English
b) He is jealous of Beowulf and trying to
make him look bad.
 c) He was present at the race and thought d) Both A and B
Beowulf cheated. e) All of the above.
d) He knows the fight against Grendel’s 19. How does Grendel’s mother die?
mother will be underwater. a) Beowulf kills her with a giant’s sword he
13. A character like Unferth is called a found in the lair.
___________? b) Wiglaf helps defeat the monster with his
bare hands.
a) Protagonist
c) King Hrothgar shoots an arrow.
b) Sidekick
d) Grendel’s mother dies of a broken heart.
c) Foil
20. What did Beowulf do to Grendel’s body when
d) Stock character.
14. When used to describe Beowulf, the phrase he found it in his mother’s lair?
“the ruler of warriors” is called what? a) Gave it a proper burial.
a) a symbol c) a simile b) Burned it to ensure it was gone for good.
b) a kenning d) a greeting c) Prayed over it, sending it to hell.
15. Why does Beowulf fight Grendel without a d) Cut off its head and brought it to
sword? Hrothgar as a trophy.
a) He doesn’t want his king to think he’s a 21. How did Hrothgar reward Beowulf?
coward. a) He passed his crown over to him.
b) Grendel doesn’t use any weapons, so it b) He sang a song in his honor.
wouldn’t be fair. c) He gave him treasures and gold.
c) He knew about Grendel’s magical spell d) He offered his daughter’s hand in
making weapons useless. marriage.
22. How many years later is it when Beowulf is
d) Both A and B
faced with wanting to kill a dragon?
e) All of the above a) 20 years
16. How does Grendel die? b) 50 years
a) Beowulf stabbed him with a sword called c) 10 years
Hrunting. d) 25 years
b) Beowulf uses a giant’s weapon that is 23. Why does the dragon attack the Geats?
a) He needs food and desires human blood.
enchanted with magic to slice his arm off.
b) He is not being worshiped anymore.
c) He is stabbed by Beowulf’s knife. c) A thief had stolen a cup from out of his
d) As he tears out of Beowulf’s grasp he is treasure.
severely injured and returns to the marsh d) He is lonesome like Grendel.
to bleed to death. 24. In what way does Beowulf’s sword fail him
17. Why does Hrothgar ask Beowulf to battle during the fight?
Grendel’s mother? a) It has a spell on it so that it can’t hurt the
a) All his soldiers were just killed during her dragon.
attack. b) It breaks apart when striking the dragons
b) He is embarrassed that he allowed the scales and continues to break a bit more
men to return to the hall to sleep. with each strike.
c) He has never expected his own men to be c) The dragon is able to melt the sword with
able to kill a monster. its fiery breath.
d) She murdered someone Hrothgar cared d) Beowulf drops the sword and it stays out
about and carried off Grendel’s clawed of his reach during the fight.
arm, so he wants to be sure she is 25. Why does Wiglaf fight the dragon along with
destroyed. Beowulf?
18. What is so fantastical about Beowulf’s a) He didn’t want Beowulf to get all of the
journey to her lair? glory.
a) Beowulf is able to stay alive under water b) He lost a bet with the other men.
for what seems like hours. c) He respected Beowulf and knew his king
b) Other sea monsters join them, biting on needed help.
Beowulf. d) He had a magical sword that could pierce
c) Beowulf is able to find and use a giant’s dragon scales.
sword against the monster.
26. What does Beowulf ask Wiglaf to do for him b) They exhibit traits or qualities that the
before he dies? society looks up to.
a) He wants him to bring him back some of c) They perform courageous, fantastic feats
that reflect values of their society.
the treasure kept by the dragon.
d) Their actions affect large groups of
b) He wants Wiglaf to be sure the dragon is people.
dead. 33. The story of Beowulf reflects which of the
c) He asks Wiglaf to take over as king and following traits of an epic story?
lecture the cowardly men. a. The plot and conflict involves courageous,
d) He wants Wiglaf to remember this story sometimes superhuman beings.
to tell to others so they won’t forget. b. The theme reflects timeless values and
universal ideas.
27. What caused Beowulf’s death?
c. The story must include magic spells of
a) Grendel’s mother stabs him in the heart. some sort.
b) He is betrayed by Unferth. d. Both A and B
c) He doesn’t die; he is taken up to the e. All of the above
heavens to live forever. 34. Which of following is the best theme of this
d) The dragon wounded him in the neck. story?
28. Why does Wiglaf berate the other warriors a) Great strength makes things right.
saying they are “branded with disgrace”? b) Intelligence is greater than strength.
a) They were trying to strike at the Dragon c) Valor will triumph over evil.
when Beowulf said not to. d) A king must be wealthy.
35. How was Beowulf honored by his men after
b) He was proud of their actions and how
his death?
they waited in the woods as told. a) They had a feast in his honor.
c) He was disgusted that they did not come b) They forgave those who were responsible.
to the aid of their king when he was c) They divided his newest treasure among
suffering. themselves.
d) He will most likely be their king so he d) They rode around his tower praising his
heroism.
needed to begin to lecture them.
29. What does every warrior know is inevitable?
Part III: TRUE or FALSE
a) death
b) bravery
1. Alfred The Great was the author of Beowulf.
2. Beowulf’s helmet protects him from
c) marriage
Grendel’s mother.
d) treasure
3. A jeweled cup is stolen from the dragon,
30. Kennings were used in Beowulf partly
which makes him angry.
because of the poem’s______.
4. The dragon’s treasure is given to the people
a) oral storytelling origins
at the end of the poem.
b) slow-moving storyline
5. Grendel is said to have been “conceived by a
c) use as an educational tool
pair of monster born of Adam.”
d) requirement to rhyme
6. Grendel is afraid to enter Herot.
31. The following passage from Beowulf is an
7. After eating the first victim, Grendel tries to
example of the poem’s heavy use of_______.
kill Beowulf.
In secret sessions, talking of terror
8. Beowulf is king for forty years before he
And wondering what the bravest warriors
fights the dragon.
would do
9. A good king in Beowulf’s time gave generous
And sometimes they sacrificed to the old
rewards and treasures to the warriors.
stone gods
10. When Beowulf fights the dragon, his warriors
And made heathen vows, hoping for hells
loyalty aid him.
Support…
11. Of Beowulf’s warriors, Wiglaf is the only
a) Alliteration
coward in the bunch.
b) Metaphor
12. The story of Beowulf takes place in England.
c) Simile
13. Grendel can never touch Hrothgar’s throne
d) Rhyme
because it is protected by God.
32. Which of the following is NOT one of the
14. Beowulf is descended from an angel.
traits of an epic hero?
15. Grendel’s mother mortality wounds Beowulf.
a) They are of ordinary birth.
16. The story Beowulf dates from the Middle
Ages period.
17. Beowulf hangs Grendel’s leg from the top of
the mead hall.

Part IV: Matching Type

Builder of Herot Great warrior

1. Wiglaf
2. Hrothgar
3. Beowulf
4. Grendel
5. Herot
6. Poem with battles, heroes, serious subject
matter
7. Pause within a line of poetry
8. Drink made from honey
9. Phrase which refers to a person, place or
thing
10. Repeating sounds at the beginning of words

_____________________________________
Parent’s Signature Over Printed Name

____________________
Date