# of Words: 513

It's composed in Old English, the language spoken in Britain before the Norman Conquest in 1066--which is, before the extensive influence of French on the English we speak today. Still, Beowulf has come to be known as the foundational epic of English and British culture, in much the same way in which the Iliad is a foundational epic for historical Greece.

Beowulf is a tough mixture of Big crucial Ideas that, like Old English language, might be unknown to you initially.

The idea is that your fate is predetermined and you can not really alter it. It is such a powerful force that sometimes in this poetry, it seems to be a stand-in for God.
The passing price. Violence was a part of lifestyle, but it wasn't a free-for-all. If you killed somebody, their relatives may need reparation (i.e.(revival) in the form of wealth--or your lifetime.
Christian and Pagan values, all mixed up. The Anglo-Saxon poetry we have today was initially written orally (spoken) during a time when the Anglo-Saxons were still pagan. But it was written down as soon as they became Christian. That means you'll see things like magic runic inscriptions sitting side-by-side with prayers to the Christian God--or that not-quite-but-sorta-godlike wyrd we mentioned earlier.
But it is not all of philosophizing about God along with the amount of passing. Beowulf is a epic poem. Meaning it has the stuff that makes epic such a rollicking good time--heroes and monsters! swords! dragons! --while proudly displaying and strengthening each one of the values that were important in Anglo-Saxon culture--like keeping your promises, picking your words wisely, and being loyal to your lord.

But it would not be a classic work of literature if it followed all of the principles. And that's why, while being an epic, it also questions a whole lot of the epic values: Why is the passing cost a good system of justice? What are its drawbacks? What makes a fantastic king? A hero? A monster?

Although it was composed and recited in Britain, Beowulf is about figures in Scandinavia: Danish and Swedish warriors that struggle incredible monsters as well as each other. Why? Because the early Anglo-Saxons were the descendants of Germanic and Scandinavian tribes that invaded Britain beginning in the 5th Century. As a result, there was lots of shared cultural heritage between the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians, and the Anglo-Saxons looked back to their relatives throughout the sea when they wanted to tell stories about their own past.

And that trend continues even today. Much like the Anglo-Saxons utilized Beowulf to look back in their forefather's history, people today use Beowulf to look back in Anglo-Saxon history.

Beowulf has caught the attention of scholars and audiences alike, becoming a keystone of English literary studies as well as the basis of several popular movie and TV adaptations. J.R.R. Tolkien utilized many components from Beowulf as inspiration for his famous

And, whether it's interpreted by critics or appreciated as an adventure story, Beowulf has become one of the most important pieces of literature in English.

Related Papers

Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury

Picture it: A future in which books are banned and critical thinking is contrary to the law. If you're one of those men and women who simply can not stand college and all of its pesky reading and thinking, this may sound like a pretty sweet deal. Not too fast, Goofus. You only have to get a few pages into Fahrenheit 451 to realize this bookless future is not all sunshine and rainbows. Sure, the dreaded book report may be something of the past, but life seems much cruddier withoutDickens,......Read More

Bartleby The Scrivener Herman Melville

Released in 1853, "Bartleby the Scrivener" is one of American author Herman Melville's most often-read and studied works (that is really saying a whole lot, considering that the man also penned several classics, such as Moby-Dick and Billy Budd). "Bartleby" is really a departure from the sea-faring adventures that Melville frequently presented to readers; in reality, this can be a story where the most fascinating thing that happens is in fact the simple fact that nothing really happens. The......Read More

2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke

Crystal summons of one or the other, and they are, regardless of himself, doing anew motion: the naughty palms knot the initial node on the Earth, the leaderpicks up a stone and attempts to hit the target. His mission is achieved - on the Earth appears a monster endowed withreason. Urgently predicted on the Moon the chairman of the National Council ofAstronautics learns that magnetic intellect seen a strong distortion of themagnetic field in the Tycho crater region, and excavations from the......Read More

Related Topics