There was a huge influence of both paganism and christianity that can be noticed in Old English Poetry. To better understand these two values, let us explain what paganism and christianity mean. Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. As presented in New Thestament, Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in The Old Testament. Christianity began in the 1st century AD as a Jewish sect, and shares many religious texts with Judaism, specifically the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament. The name Christian means belonging to Christ or partisan of Christ. As far as Paganism is concerned, the word comes from latin paganus and means a country dweller, rustic. It is a term which has come to connote a broad set of spiritual or cultic practises or beliefs of any folk religion a nd of historical and contemprorary polytheism religious in particular. (...) Characteristic of pagan traditions in the anscence of proselytisation and presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice. The term Pagan is a Christian adaptation of the goy of Judaism.
There are many books and works that presents the influence of these two big religions on the culture. Let us focus on three examples of Old English Literature works in which this influence is the most visible for a reader.
The poem The Seafarer which belongs to the sea elegies found in the Exter Book and, can be read as an allegorial voyage poem, such allegories of journeys were richly explored in later religious poems. [L. Sikorska: 2005, p. 25] This work is divided into two parts. In the first one we can notice the story of seafarer who describes hardships of life on the sea, whereas in the second one we can find some christian elements. He approves of honest living and higher values as friendship and love.
Lonely and friendless and far from home
In my ears no sound but the roar of the sea
In all my wretchedness, weary and lone
I had no comfort of comrade or kin (24-25)
The Seafarer highlites the transience of wordly joys which are so little important and the fact thet we have no power in comparison to God.
Some of the most intriguing stories of today are about people’s adventures at sea and the thrill and treachery of living through its perilous storms and disasters. Two very popular selections about the sea and its terrors are The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Longfellow. Comparison between the two works determines that “The Wreck of the Hesperus” tells a more powerful sea-disaster story for several different reasons. The poem is more descriptive and suspenseful than The Perfect Storm, and it also plays on a very powerful tool to captivate the reader’s emotion. These key aspects combine to give the reader something tangible that allows them to relate to the story being told and affects them strongly.
The Seafarer, The Wanderer, and The Wife’s Lament all contains faith verses fate. The three poems are very similar and very different. The three poems ranging from a lonely man, to a lost soldier, to a wife’s bedrail. The medieval poems show hurt, confusion, and loneliness.
ideas and perceptions of one will inevitably affect the other. These cultures had 600 years to interact with each other until the Normans came A.D. 1066, and the mix of the Celts’ Christianity and the Anglo-Saxon’s pagan belief system intermingled to create many interesting literary works. Perhaps most notable of these is Beowulf. With its blended Christian/pagan mythos and epic fight scenes, it has been a topic of discussion for centuries. Beowulf’s most impressive feat, however, is its ability to incorporate two very distinct ideologies without distorting either too heavily. From its gripping start to its morose ending, Beowulf maintains a consistent tone that balances Christianity with the Germanic heroic code.
As the welcoming celebration for Beowulf goes on, Unferth begins to ridicule Beowulf about his swimming competition with Breca. Unferth is jealous and feels threatened by Beowulf " for he would not allow that any other man of middle-earth should ever achieve more glory under the heavens than himself." (Norton p. 33) Unferth is a very peculiar character. Although he has committed the horrific crime of killing his brother(s), he is privileged enough to sit at the feet of the king, a very respected position. His sin,an enormous violation of the comitatus, suggests that there is something wrong in Hrothgar's kingdom and perhaps helps to foreshadow its destruction. Ultimately, it will be destroyed, as the text says, by a fire after " sword-hate between son-in-law and father-in-law to awaken after murderous rage." (Norton p. 28).
In the epic poem Beowulf, the character Beowulf is seen to have three battles. The first battle is against Grendel, the second is against Grendel’s mum, and the final battle is against the dragon. In each of these battles Beowulf is portrayed as a great hero (well he should be since it’s a characteristic of an epic poem to glorify the hero) and is always seen to be brave and fearless.
"In a world without hope, a brave soul has nothing to lose." In the epic Beowulf, some might perceive Beowulf as having traits such as being arrogant. Although he is raised in a Pagan society, Beowulf concurs many tasks that an ordinary man could never do. He portrays man in general struggling against outward foes and inward doubts. Beowulf displays his characteristics; courage and strength, fame, perserverence, and compassion; which affords him the opportunity to be looked upon as an epic hero.
Let’s start with one of the earliest examples read, in class, and written, as a manuscript, “Beowulf”. Beowulf, the character, is praised constantly for his strength and overall greatness. He is unrelenting on his pursuit of his personal goals. Beowulf is a prince who has the power to slay monsters and rip the arms off of his enemies. He has an almost unbounded sense of strength and his pursuits match it. In Beowulf, there are many examples of Christianity and Pagan ideals “battling it out” to be more prominent in the story. This is because over the hundreds of years of revisions and manuscripts, there is only one left and, for all we know, this is the hundredth one written. The story in this Beowulf manuscript is thought to span changes in religious influence and because of this, Beowulf as a hero is an interesting concept.
Seafarer” is a monologue from an old man at sea, alone. The main theme in The Seafarer is
...He is still anchored to his past and transmits the message that one makes their own choices and should be satisfied with their lives. Moreover, the story shows that one should not be extremely rigid and refuse to change their beliefs and that people should be willing to adapt to new customs in order to prevent isolation. Lastly, reader is able to understand that sacrifice is an important part of life and that nothing can be achieved without it. Boats are often used as symbols to represent a journey through life, and like a captain of a boat which is setting sail, the narrator feels that his journey is only just beginning and realizes that everyone is in charge of their own life. Despite the wind that can sometimes blow feverishly and the waves that may slow the journey, the boat should not change its course and is ultimately responsible for completing its voyage.
When exiled from society, loneliness becomes apparent within a person. The poems The Seafarer translated by S.A.J. Bradley and The Wife?s Lament translated by Ann Stanford have a mournful and forlorn mood. Throughout each poem exists immense passion and emotion. In the two elegiac poems there is hardship, loneliness and uncertainty for each character to live with.
Beowulf highlights descriptions of pagan religious rituals and the warrior culture the epic poem Beowulf reveals different accounts of paganism, a tradition of the Anglo-Saxon English. When Grendel is attacking Herot, the people and warriors think that they are in danger, so they call to “old stone gods” (175-178). This showed that the people still sacrificed and worshiped the gods of pagan traditions, even though they might have been converted to Christianity. In Beowulf, the author refers to Grendel as a monster, who represents the ultimate evil in this culture because he's the product and sin, of a man who killed his brother. The recurring theme of good vs. evil was a part of paganism because it’s common for a hero (the good) to battle a monster (the evil) in pagan views. Beowulf expresses this but showing the battle between Grendel and the hero Beowulf. The epic poem clearly highlights the beliefs and traditions of paganism, a tradition in which the Anglo Saxons believed in. In the nonfictional text of A History of the English Church and its People, by Bede, no reference is made about paganism
The epic poem, Beowulf, is one of the oldest European epics in existence. When Beowulf was written, the writer incorporated many of the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons. Some of these ideals included loyalty, bravery, selflessness, and justice and were demonstrated in the hero. Both the characters Beowulf and Grendel represent aspects of both good and evil, Christianity and Paganism, and what occurs when they collide with one another. A characteristic of an epic poem is the concern over struggles that humans face, which is presented in a serious manner. The hero often embodies the religious, national, and cultural values of his homeland and abroad. The premise of the story is quite simple: the Danes were in distress because of the great monster Grendel, so Beowulf, a native of the Geats, sails to engage in battle with Grendel and become victorious in saving the seemingly faithless Danes. Throughout the epic, there are many instances where examples of the thirteen epic conventions are used in the writing of Beowulf and in describing both the ideals of the Anglo-Saxons and the underlying challenges with mortal problems, such as good versus evil.
... Religious Concept, with Special Reference to Medieval English Literature. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State College P, 1952.
The Old Man and the Sea is a heroic tale of man’s strength pitted against forces he cannot control. It is a tale about an old Cuban fisherman and his three-day battle with a giant Marlin. Through the use of three prominent themes; friendship, bravery, and Christianity; the “Old Man and the Sea” strives to teach important life lessons to the reader.
England’s main religion was Pagan from 449 A.D. until 597 A.D. However, in 597 A.D., St. Augustine and his followers converted the Englanders to Christianity, or they tried to. Pagan beliefs and Christianity beliefs were exceedingly different. Pagan beliefs revolved around the idea that people’s lives were controlled by Fate. The Anglo-Saxons believed that people were weak when they would walk away from a fight or felt cowardly. “Heroes and heroines often could not leave a situation with honor because they could only choose between two evils. This usually meant that they could either succumb to their fate and show no valor, or try to resist it with violence, which probably ended in one’s death” (Klees). However, Christians believed in