1. What is Modernism in English Literature and enumerate modernist techniques.

2. The epic Anglo-Saxon poem “The Song of Beowulf” (200 words)
This is the greatest monument of Anglo-Saxon poetry. There is only one manuscript of it found at the beginning of the 18^th century. It consists of 2 parts and interpolation between two parts. The whole epic consists of 3,182 lines. The scholars say that only two parts are of importance, are of scientific value. The whole song is completely pagan (heathen) in spirit while the interpolation must have been added by the Latin scribes. The story of the song opens with a description of the Danish king Hrothgar. This king waged many wars against his neighbors, had won many victories in battles and then he decided to build a large hall for himself and his warriors to have feasts in. The hall was built, its walls were decorated. But very soon the hall was deserted because one night while they were having a feast a sea-monster who lived in a near-by swamp broke the door open and appeared in the doorway. His name was Grendel. He was like a human in appearance but twice as tall and covered with such thick hair that no sword, spear or arrow could pierce. There wasn’t a single man who could dare to confront the monster and fight with him.
The news of the disaster which had been fallen the Danes reached the ears of Beowulf - a nephew of king Higelac of Jutes. Hearing the news he took a small band of his warriors and sailed off to the shores of Denmark. When they reached her coast the Danes were at first afraid but when they saw that the Jutes meant no harm they welcomed them and took them to Hrothgar. A great feast was given in honor of Beowulf and when night fell down Beowulf told everybody to go to bed and he himself kept watch. They told him that Grendel always appeared unarmed and he also decided to meet him without any weapons.
In the dead of night the door was broken open and Grendel again appeared. Again he seized the nearest man to him but at the same time Beowulf attacked him. Beowulf grip was so mighty that Grendel could not free himself. And when Beowulf did let him go it turned out that the monster had lost one of his arms. Mourning and screaming with pain he went away to die. The Danes were happy to hear about the victory and another feast was given in honor of Beowulf. But next night when everyone was asleep and did not expect any harm, monster’s mother came to take revenge for her son. She attacked Beowulf and managed to drag him away to her swamp. It was an ugly swamp with stagnant water which was teeming of snakes. Together with the sea-witch Beowulf sank into the water of the swamp. His warriors remained on the bank to wait for him. Many hours had passed before Beowulf appeared. Everybody but his friends had given him up as dead.