"You have read the assignment I suppose."
"Yes, sir."
"Did anything strike you about the fight?"
"Well, I thought it was kind of bloodthirsty, sir."
"The Anglo-Saxons were a bloodthirsty people," I said. "They didn't have television or movies or synthetic-participation sports to let them drain off some of their violence. Even their literature was more like a battle cry than a civilized catharsis of emotions."
"Yes, sir."
"I'm glad you agree, Mr. Carbo." I felt that I was being rather hard on him, but you were expected to make a goat out of the guilty student who slept or talked or failed to study. It was standard teaching procedure and not without its value in keeping the class on its toes.
I let him off the hook, turning to address the class as a whole. "You know how boxers will waste the first round feeling each other out, testing the other's reactions? Did you notice anything similar in Beowulf's approach to battle?"
"Yeah," a student called from the back of the room. "He lets the dragon gobble up a couple of the other guys."
"Right!" I said with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Miss Hendricks, would you read that passage for us?"