Epic of Beowulf Essay - An Epic Poem - 1656 Words

Beowulf: An Epic Poem To qualify as an epic poem, Beowulf reflects the values of the culture in which it was created. The Anglo-Saxon culture and the poem share many of the same values. They shared a heroic ideal that included loyalty, strength, courage, courtesy, and generosity. Like all epic poems Beowulf is a long narrative work that tells the adventures of a great hero and also reflects the values of the society in which it was written. Both Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons believed in those qualities as an individual. The strongest ties of loyalty in their society were to kin and lord. A kingdom was only as strong as its war-leader king. In order to have loyal men, the King needed to repay them. In other words the men†¦show more content†¦They burnt and destroyed the monuments of Roman occupation and let the roads and cities fall into utter disrepair. As Gildas, a British monks, phrases it, the red tongue of flame licked up the whole land form end to end, till it slaked its horrid thirst in the western ocean (Allen, 47). Those characteristics are also seen in the epic poem of Beowulf. It is a story of savage pirates, clad in shirts of ring-armoire, and greedy of gold and ale. The noblest leader is he who builds a great hall, throws up open for his people to carouse in, and liberally deals out beer, and bracelets, and money at the feast. Much of which they received from the king. When Beowulf first killed Grendel, there was a large feast in Hrothgar’s hall, Herot. There the queen se rved ale, and the king gave Beowulf and his men treasures. Fighting and drinking are the men’s’ two delights. The joy of battle is warm in their hearts. They are fearless and greedy and not ashamed of living by the strong hand alone. These men were always loyal to their king in the time of need because they were rewarded in the end (Allen, 16). Beowulf was a member of the Geat tribe who is described by the poet as greater/And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world (Beowulf,** 195-196).Beowulf is bringing fourteen of his strongest men across the sea to aid Hrothgar. Hrothgar did not ask for help from Beowulf or anyone else, but this warrior takes it upon himself toShow MoreRelated Epic of Beowulf Essay - Armor in the Epic Poem, Beowulf944 Words   |  4 Pagesthe poem Beowulf      Ã‚  Ã‚   Armor mentioned in the poem Beowulf include helmets and chain mail. There are an incredible number of references to these battle-apparel in the poem, making this topic of armor a very relevant one to consider.    â€Å"Helmets are the most dramatic and often quoted item of armor found in Beowulf,† says Catherine M. Hills in â€Å"Beowulf and Archaeology.† Indeed, examining the poem, one finds copious references to helmets in just the first 400 lines of the poem: Read MoreThe Pessimism of Beowulf in the Epic Poem, Beowulf Essay2837 Words   |  12 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚   Anticipation of catastrophe, doom, gloom are present in Beowulf rom beginning to end, even in the better half of the poem, Part I. Perhaps this is part of what makes it an elegy – the repeated injection of sorrow and lamentation into every episode. In his essay, â€Å"The Pessimism of Many Germanic Stories,† A. Kent Hieatt says of the poem Beowulf: The ethical life of the poem, then, depends upon the propositions that evil. . . that is part of this life is too much for the preeminent manRead More The Epic Poem - Beowulf Essay2255 Words   |  10 Pages   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beowulf is an epic poem. Why? 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The most significant of these monsters, Grendel, represents Beowulfs shadow, the Jungian archetype explored in the essay collection, Meeting the Shadow.    The character Grendel portrays the fallen self, which will assert itself violentlyRead More The Theme of the Epic Poem, Beowulf Essay979 Words   |  4 PagesThe Theme of Beowulf      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Interpretations of Beowulf vary. In this essay I hope to state clearly some of the popularly mentioned themes running through the poem.    â€Å"Many critics feel that the speech of Hrothgar between lines 1700 and 1784 encapsulates the moral of the poem†¦.’He does not know the worse – till inside him great arrogance grows and spreads’† (Shippey 38). Hrothgar’s ominous words do come back to haunt the hero more than once. Beowulf is a braggart; he is proud, andRead More The Epic Poem, Beowulf - Vengeance and Revenge in Beowulf Essay1328 Words   |  6 PagesVengeance and Revenge in Beowulf    The oldest of the great lengthy poems written in English and perhaps the lone survivor of a genre of Anglo-Saxon epics, Beowulf, was written by an unknown Christian author at a date that is only estimated.   Even so, it is a remarkable narrative story in which the poet reinvigorates the heroic language, style, and values of Germanic oral poetry.   He intertwines a number of themes including good and evil, youth and old age, paganism and Christianity and theRead MoreEssay on The Perfect Ruler in the Epic Poem, Beowulf2623 Words   |  11 Pages     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The classic poem Beowulf presents the concept of the perfect king/leader/ruler. This is presented in two modes: the ideal Germanic king and the ideal Christian king. Literary scholar Levin L. Schucking in â€Å"Ideal of Kingship† states: â€Å"I have already tried to prove that the author of Beowulf designed it as a kind of Furstenspiegel (â€Å"mirror of a prince†) – perhaps for the young son of a prince, a thought with which Heusler later agreed† (36). So the author of Beowulf had in mind a humanRead MoreBeowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem Essay1356 Words   |  6 Pages The epic poem Beowulf, is a work of fiction and was composed sometime between the middle of the seventh and the end of the tenth century of the first millennium, in the language today called Anglo- Saxon or Old English. This story is a heroic narrative, more than three thousand lines long, concerning the deeds of the Scandinavian prince, also called Beowulf, and it stands as one of the foundation works of poetry in English. Beowulf is obviously a creation of the poet, through partial comparisonsRead More Women in the Epic of Beowulf and in Other Anglo-Saxon Poems Essay1909 Words   |  8 PagesThe Women in Beowulf and in Other Anglo-Saxon Poems      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Are women in these poems active equals of the men? Or are they passive victims of the men? The roles of the women in Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poems are not always stereotyped ones of passive homemaker and childbearer and peaceweaver, but sometimes ones giving freedom of choice, range of activity, and room for personal growth and development. Beowulf makes reference to Ingeld and his wife and the coming Heathobard feud:Read MoreBeowulf : An Epic Poem Derived From Old World Storytelling Traditions1090 Words   |  5 PagesMs. Michelle Boykin EH 203 (Fall 2015) First Essay: Beowulf October 5, 2015 Beowulf: An Epic Poem Derived from Old World Storytelling Traditions The classic poem Beowulf recorded by a monk during eleventh century A.D., and of unknown authorship, is thought to have been passed down over time through oral traditions of storytelling, popular during that period in history. Most likely the listeners and retellers of these types of these stories would have been warriors themselves, much like