Beowulf 9
Beowulf is a well-known Anglo-Saxon poem that has been in English classes around the United States for almost as long as there have been schools around. Beowulf is not an actual picture of historic Denmark, Geatland, or Sweden around 500 A.D., yet it is on a general view, a self-consistent picture, a construction bearing clearly the marks of design and thought. Beowulf to us can only truly be enjoyed if one reads it in the old English version. The effects of the poem are not the same, although the sense of the heroic beast is very true. The story of Beowulf is still relevant to today's society and relates to problems faced in current everyday life. In our society we face simple problems and difficult problems and all problems have a good and bad about them. It all depends on the person's outlook for the course of action that they will take. Beowulf strikes peculiar reactions among scholars, historians, and professors. The increase in the amount of confusion is caused by new twists to old theories and by new theories. Beowulf was composed for an audience that would take into account the struggles that the main character took, and the audience would see the poem in its own way. Though few can clearly understand the v
The challenges that we face every day are much like the ones that Beowulf had to deal with over 1000 years ago. The poem Beowulf is a wonderful piece of work that teaches us that we must strive for what is right and take charge in our dealings with the decisions that we make in our lives each day. The evidence is open both to question and to interpretation, in addition, it seems to have been successfully manipulated by the poet for artistic purposes. It is solid enough to suggest a degree of historicity behind a fair portion of the materials in Beowulf. This enables the reader to locate the actions of a sixth century poem. Somewhere in the land of Geats, a powerful young man identified as a retainer of King Higlac, whose name is later known to be Beowulf, hears of the horrible destruction and disregard of life. Beowulf with fourteen companions sets sail and goes to the Danes to attempt to slay the evil meat eating machine. By helping the Danes, Beowulf shows courage and loyalty. Beowulf illustrates some important aspects of time and history. There are three major principals of organization in the poem. From the point of view of emotional intensity, Beowulf divides into three sections centering and turning upon each of the hero's mortal fights with Grendal, Grendal's mother and the fire-breathing dragon. From the point of view of chronology, it divides into two sections centering and turning upon the hero's daring adventures as a young man and his exemplary deeds as an old king. From the point of view of narrative sequence, it again divides into three parts centering upon the hero's adventures in Denmark, his own accounts of those adventures, his great deed and indirect reference by various characters such as Hrothgar and Unferth. With the exception of a few reminiscences and indirect reference by various characters, the setting concluding Beowulf's return from Denmark to his homeland handles time in a basically linear manner, leaving no question on the chronology of events that unravel in the poem. (Tolkien 4-19) Beowulf in reality is just a fictional story that someone's grandfather sung to warriors before going into battle. This f
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1465
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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