VIKING
ATTACK! Write a DUAL NARRATIVE ACTION SCENE
First, watch
the Time Tunnellers
video about the
Viking Attack on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
Background: On the 6th of June 793 AD, Vikings
attacked the Christian monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria – the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers to the attackers by the name 'Northmen'. The
monastery was on a small island off the coast called Holy Island, easy to reach
by Viking longship.
Writing
task: Describe the
moment of the raid from the dual perspective of both a monk at the
monastery and a Viking raider in the ship. To plan your piece of
writing, list what each character may see, feel, hear, taste, smell.
|
Monk |
Viking Raider |
|
|
|
Now create a
short piece of writing for each, describing the attack. Build the
tension slowly: seeing the threat in the distance, the approach, landing, the
confrontation itself.
Make the voices
of the two characters vivid and distinctive. And feel free to be
imaginative to create atmosphere – later Anglo-Saxon writers didn’t hold back when
describing the raid. According to them, there were ‘immense whirlwinds,
flashes of lightning and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air’.
You can read
more about the attack at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/lindisfarne-priory/History/viking-raid/
