Your Sunday blog posts (instructions are on the syllabus) should go as comments to this post.
Note: for anyone who is interested and has a few minutes to spare, there are some great resources for Anglo-Saxon / Old English, the language in which Beowulf is written, on the web.
Old English
There's some good audio on this page.
While reading Beowulf, I had constant flashbacks to when in high school heroic stories like Odyssey and The Iliad were shoved down our throats. There are a lot of similarities between epics. You of course have your good vs. evil, light vs. dark, creation and heaven vs. damnation and hell, Herot and Beowulf vs. Grendel. You have forshadowing of grave times and turbulation between Unferth and Beowulf and what seems like a struggle for power between "brothers" much like mentioned in the story itself of Cain and Abel. And of the course the big theme in all epics is fate vs. self-determinism. Is Beowulf fated to be the hero or is he in control of his own destiny and chooses to be heroic? Can't wait to finish the second half of the story, but I have a feeling like in all the epics that I have read before, that God is going to triumph over the Devil.
ReplyDeleteI have never read Beowulf or any of the other epics that most students read in high school. As this was my first experience with Beowulf, I have to say that the storyline a bit confusing and it seemed hasty. Before the poem was half done, both of the villains, Grendel and his mother, were dead. I felt like this could have been the end of the story. Obviously, there is another plot line but it just felt as though the poem should have been concluded at that point. The biggest question I had throughout the reading was why? Why did Beowulf decide he needed to venture to another country to fight their monster? Why also did Grendel decide to attack that kingdom? Was it something that the ruler did? Though the story was interesting and kept me focused, I felt that there wasn’t enough explanation throughout the poem. I initially thought that the fight with Grendel was supposed to be the main plot of the story. Instead it seems to be setting the stage for something bigger. I’ll be interested to know what this might be.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very beginning, it seems that this epic poem is unsurprisingly focused extremely on the theme of patriarchal lineage: Exemplifying the ancestry of King Hrothgar. I foresee that only with fame and success to ones name - can one be consoled in any way when faced with imminent death. That being said, it seems that so far boasting oneself is a great part of boosting ones fame/ego: For example, how he won in a swimming match against Breca. Later on, I found myself asking, is Beowulf indeed a Hero or perhaps "Godly" and not just a Boastful Geat? I ask this because there is no weapon on earth that can indeed harm the beast Grendel - yet Beowulf is able to grab hold of Grendel and make him shriek and squeal in pain. Being treated as something more than human, has Beowulf actually been sent to Denmark to defeat the Danish's own sin: Grendel?
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time I have read Beowulf. My high school english class went over this poem very briefly, and we didn't go into much depth about anything in the poem. I find it an interesting poem that is more my type of a read. I feel that the poem goes a little to quickly and doesn't emphasize the key battles that Beowulf takes on with Grendel and his mother. The narrator seems to jump around from the past and future, which makes it hard to follow at times. And what is this main reason that draws Beowulf across borders to fight off all the Dane's offenders? Beowulf stands out as protector of something much deeper than the mere expectations of his bravery and character. It appears that he may be more than a human and more Godlike with some of the characteristics he possesses.
ReplyDeleteThis is my second time reading Beowulf, as I read it my junior year of high school.I definitely see an advantage in having read the poem before because it allows me to read through it more fluidly. This version of the poem is much easier to follow than the copy I had to read before, making it much easier to follow the storyline and understand where the plot was going. Having read it before, I was able to focus on details of the story that I had previously overlooked such as the details with which Heorot was described, and also the familial lineage that is presented with each character. I was, as before, intrigued with how the people in this poem react to boastfulness, which in today's society we would classify as either "cocky" or "full of themself". It's interesting to see how different cultures throughout history define certain aspects of society such as this.
ReplyDeleteI initially went into this Epic Poem with the expectation to be completely bored out of my mind. The exact opposite occurred. The imagery in this Epic was detailed to the point that a scene could be easily imagined without the overbearing feeling I have experienced with other novels/poems. I liked the inclusion of the story of Cain & Abel. It is easy to infer that Beowulf represents Abel (Good) and Grendel, who is a descendant of Cain, represents all that is evil in the Epic. However, Unferth is also representative of Cain since he is guilty of killing his own brothers. Though it has not been mentioned why or how. I guess it we will see later in the Epic if he is cursed as well. The reference to the biblical story of Cain & Abel also raised many questions in my mind. In the poem it stated:
ReplyDelete"Cain got no good from committing that murder because the Almighty made him anathema
and out of the curse of his exile there sprang
ogres and elves and evil phantoms
and the giants too who strove with God
time and again until he gave them their reward"
(Page 9)
I was not sure what was meant by the last line. Who is giving them a reward? Cain or God?
As I read Beowulf for the second time, I began to realize that the poem is not only structured sequentially through the battles that Beowulf fights but also by the funerals that occur because of his epic battles. After each of Beowulf's battles there is a funeral that occurs because there was someone that has died during the battle. Throughout the poem it seems that there is more of a focus on the battles which is understandable because the story is meant to focus on the achievements of Beowulf, but there is also the theme of death and remembrance of the people that have not survived the story. Each of these funerals propels the action of the poem and leads us to the next epic battle that Beowulf engages in. Beowulf's funeral occurs last and effectively ends the poem.
ReplyDeleteI thought one of the most noticeable aspects of Beowulf was the extent to which the author goes to emphasize the legacy of each major character's birth. For example, the first seventy lines of the poem go into detailing Hrothgar's lineage and royal heritage. In addition, Beowulf is frequently introduced with the phrase, "Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow", even after he is introduced earlier in the poem. On line 1008, Hrothgar gets called "Halfdane's son", as mopposed to his own name, over nine hundred lines after his background is introduced. In my view, this invocation of familial lineage is one of the major indications of the time this epic was written, when birthright was the most important aspect of a person's life.
ReplyDeleteThis was the second time I had read Beowulf and in this reading I really seemed to notice the theme of masculinity and the boasting culture in old Anglo-Saxon culture. In the beginning there is a long list of father’s and their sons. The reader is already made aware that the society of the story is a patriarchal one. In fact many of the people mentioned were named after their fathers. When Unferth challenges Beowulf’s masculinity he responds with a series of boasts regarding physical feats he had accomplished in the past. One thing in particular, a swimming match between Beowulf and a childhood friend named Breca, is used by Beowulf to highlight his masculine and heroic features. Beowulf points out Unferth’s futility against Grendel and states that his jealously implies pride. We come to understand this as a negative feature. These things combined make Unferth, at first, an unappealing, effeminized character and Beowulf the likable masculine hero.
ReplyDeleteLast semester I had Russian fairytales and we read some epics, this definately reminded me of such poems. I wasn't sure what I was expecting upon beginning Beowulf, but whatever it was, was not what it turned out to be. The language is pretty straightforward, minus the older language differences, but easy to read.
ReplyDeleteIt also seems much like the Bible in a sense with the constant references to the heritages and repeitions of the same backstory when the second grendel comes about (89). I'm interested to see just how connected Beowulf is to the bible, since Cain & Abel are mentioned in connection since I am pretty sure I never heard of such hideous creatures in the bible.
Beowulf was a little confusing at times. The lineage and how Beowulf and the king were related confused me the most. I also was confused as to why Grendel needed to attack the city. Was it because of the big hall they had built? Also, why did Beowulf need to come to the country across seas, so he could show how strong he is? Also, how did he even find out about Grendel? However, an aspect that I enjoyed about the book is the few intermittent lines in the poem that help the reader foresee future events, especially dangerous one. I read two or three lines like "The Shielding nation was not yet familiar with feud and betrayal." (67). It will be intriguing to find out what feud and betrayal is being mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteReading Beowulf reminded me of reading Odyssey in high school and learning about the characteristics of an epic hero. Beowulf is, no doubt, an epic hero, because he fulfills all the major characteristics of an epic hero. He performs heroic deeds by killing Grendel and Grendel’s mother, lives a larger life by travelling around different places for a long period of time, has superhuman qualities, such as strength, power, bravery, and also has a flaw, which I think is him being conceited. Because of his pride, Beowulf is even warned at one point, “Do not give way to pride. For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow illness or the sword to lay you low…” (Heaney 1760-1763). Lastly, his actions portray the values of the Anglo-Saxons, which are strength, bravery, and loyalty. Although reading about another epic hero was quite interesting, I cannot deny the fact that it was hard to relate to the story as a reader that is living in a totally different time period.
ReplyDeleteBeowulf is a widely studied piece of literature and this being the second time I need to read this I tried to better understand its complex use of the Old English language. Everyone knows the character Beowulf as the main hero of the story. Yet, a question I feel need to be answered is the deeper meaning the story has for him as a figure. The importance of roots come to a picture especially early in the poem. When dealing with Old English the complex ideas of the author can be sometimes possibly misinterpreted. Yet throughout this poem it is clear the authors intentions. The reader is seeing the achievements and effects Beowulf has on the battle field. His deadly battles show his bravery and him as a epic hero, someone who serves as a savior. I always have had a question of if Beowulf was more of superior being rather than just an impressive man?
ReplyDelete