full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Alan Lupack: Is there any truth to the King Arthur legends?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, sxaon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the aonednbad territory. The inhabitants of Britain fohgut fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any weitrtn records from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving proety from the era gives us some clues. One of the poems, The gddodion, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was sellkid at sinylag his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he rlued anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.
Open Cloze
King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, _____ invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the _________ territory. The inhabitants of Britain ______ fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any _______ records from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving ______ from the era gives us some clues. One of the poems, The ________, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was _______ at _______ his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he _____ anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.
Solution
- skilled
- abandoned
- saxon
- gododdin
- poetry
- slaying
- written
- ruled
- fought
Original Text
King Arthur as we know him is a creation of the later Middle Ages, but his legend actually has its roots in Celtic poetry from an earlier time: the Saxon invasions of Britain. After the Romans left Britain in 410 CE, Saxon invaders from what’s now Germany and Denmark quickly capitalized on the vulnerability of the abandoned territory. The inhabitants of Britain fought fiercely against the invaders through several centuries of turmoil. There are hardly any written records from this time, so it’s difficult to reconstruct an accurate history. However, surviving poetry from the era gives us some clues. One of the poems, The Gododdin, contains the very first reference to Arthur, though Arthur himself doesn’t actually appear in it. It says a different warrior, named Gwawrddur, was skilled at slaying his enemies, but was no Arthur. That’s not much to go on, but whoever this Arthur was, he must’ve been the gold standard of warriors. Whether he ruled anyone, or even lived at all is, unfortunately, less clear.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| king arthur |
4 |
| le morte |
2 |
Important Words
- abandoned
- accurate
- ages
- arthur
- britain
- capitalized
- ce
- celtic
- centuries
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- creation
- denmark
- difficult
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- enemies
- era
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- fought
- germany
- gododdin
- gold
- gwawrddur
- history
- inhabitants
- invaders
- invasions
- king
- left
- legend
- lived
- middle
- named
- poems
- poetry
- quickly
- reconstruct
- records
- reference
- romans
- roots
- ruled
- saxon
- skilled
- slaying
- standard
- surviving
- territory
- time
- turmoil
- vulnerability
- warrior
- warriors
- written