Eastern and Western literature dates far back in time. Many of the key characteristics of both styles of writing are what make them what they are today.
Eastern literature was represented by many of the pieces we read during class, one of the most prominent ones being The Red Lotus of Chastity. This piece originated during the eleventh century in India. Many key characteristics can be found in this piece identifying it as eastern literature such as the use of Hinduism throughout the piece. The religion of Hinduism originates in the eastern area and is currently practiced there. This religion is supported and used in The Red Lotus of Chastity as seen in the quote “Thereupon he went to a temple and took a vow of fasting. “Let God in this temple show me a way out,” he thought. Devasmita came along, and she took the same vow. God Siva appeared to both of them in a dream.” (Pg. 947) Siva is a Hindu deity and is considered as one of the three most influential denominations in Hinduism. The mention of this deity in this piece forms a strong connection between it and the eastern community. Another characteristic that The Red Lotus of Chastity posses is it’s mention of reincarnation. This is a very strong belief in the eastern culture. This is seen in the quote “Oh, my daughter, go and look outside at your dog; she is crying. Just now she recognized me from a former life when we knew each other, and she burst out in tears. Pity moved me to weep with her” (Pg. 949) Another piece that originates from the eastern side is The Koran. This piece, written during 633 A.D. in the city of Medina, shows many links to eastern literature. One of these links is that it highly promotes the reign of good over evil. Eastern literature tends to revolve aro...
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.... Another characteristic of western literature is portrayed in the piece Beowulf, written between the year 850 and year 1000. This piece shows characteristics of western literature in that it talks about and uses Christianity, an uprising religion in the western region at the time. While many other western pieces use Greek gods, which is another characteristic of western literature, this piece is unique in that is uses a Christian god, linking it to the western side. This religion is used throughout the story, as Beowulf mentions God as his protector in multiple accounts.
Characteristics define a feature or a quality belonging to a certain being or object. Eastern and western literature both hold many key characteristics that make their writing so unique. Without these characteristics, they would not be the high standard writings that they are considered to be today.
In Chapter 2 of Children’s Books in Children’s Hands: A Brief Introduction to their Literature, the authors talk about the 12 main elements of a literary work: genre, plot, setting, characterization, theme, point of view, intersexuality, tone, mood, style, voice, and the stance of the implied reader (Temple, Martinez, and Yokota 24). All of these literary elements capture the reader’s imagination and creates a successful piece of literature. However, the authors stress the importance of genre in Chapter 2, so I will briefly go over the different types of genres there are in literature and how it affects the readers greatly.
The theology which appears in the Christian allusions in Beowulf is very vague and indefinete: there is no mention of Christ, the saints, miracles, Mary His Mother, specific doctrines of the church, martyrs of the church, the New Tes...
Scholars have argued about the religious stance of the epic poem Beowulf for centuries. Although the man who put the poem down on paper, known as the Beowulf poet, was a devout Christian, the actual poem itself is pagan. There are many clues in the epic that lead us to this conclusion such as the numerous references to pagan symbols, namely the symbol of fate. Also, the central idea of revenge in the poem opposes the ideas of Christianity. The poem also contains many breaches of the Ten Commandments, which prove that the story is not Christian. However, the biggest clue to the paganism of Beowulf is the scene that contains the burial of Beowulf and the building and idolization of the tower, all of which go directly against the Christian religion.
Lots of works often presents insight into the time period in which it was written. Beowulf goes back many years ago when Christianity was just starting to become the more prominent religion instead of the old pagan ways. As Rich Lawson said, “Beowulf is a reflection of many Anglo-Saxon ideals and concepts.” This explains a lot of the contradictions between Paganism and Christianity throughout the epic poem. When you open the pages of Beowulf to begin to read, it states in the first page of the introduction that “The Poem called Beowulf was composed sometime between the middle of the seventh and the end of the tenth century of the first millennium…” it goes on to say “It’s narrative elements may belong to a previous age but as a work of art it li...
Christianity had recently took hold in England at the time of the writing of Beowulf. Many people believe that Beowulf is a Christian story, when in fact it is not. Instead, the poem reflects a society that has a deep pagan background and has brought with it stories from its pagan past. Beowulf is a Germanic tale that was likely first composed in the first half of the eighth century, but it was not until the late tenth century that it was committed to parchment. At the time of its writing, the Germanic tribes were clearly pagan, as seen by such evidence in the text as Beowulf’s cremation at the end of the epic and the direct reference to swearing oaths at “pagan shrines” (line 175). As Christianity’s teachings and values began to take root in these pagan societies over the decades and eventual centuries, the stories of the Bible began to be worked into the tale as it was told, retold, and retold even again. When it came time to be written—probably by a Christian monk (or monks) whose beliefs, it is fair to say, flavored the work—the bards and storytellers had crafted an epic with the Christian permutations already in it. However, that is not to say that the writer was ignorant when it came to what message he desired to relate to the reader.
Oxtoby, Willard G. World Religions: Eastern Traditions. Oxford University Press; 4 edition. March 11, 2014
Pagan concepts are intertwined in this work, as is the nature of the time period. Fame was very important. Receiving status allowed one to prosper in this time and receive the best out of their life. Beowulf is enthralled with the idea of fame as he fights Grendel, but it is balanced out and reconciled with Christianity by his desire to protect his people. Vengeance was brought out when Beowulf tells Hrothgar to not grieve and that “It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning” (72 Simpson & David). Honor is disregarded when Beowulf’s men leave him to fight with the dragon. Wilgaf shames them and it can be inferred that they will be disregarded as warriors and nobles for their behavior. Protecting one’s master was essential during that time to receive food and shelter, in addition to having the Gods’ favor (Lawson). Christianity makes an appearance when it references the antagonist, Grendel, “a fiend out of hell” (43 Simpson & David) and the protagonist, Beowulf, whom the “Holy God, in His goodness, guided…to the West-Danes, to defend [Hrothgar and his subjects] from Grendel” (49 Simpson & David). Christianity was a prominent influence for authors of the Anglo-Saxon time period. The Christians had faith in God’s ability to determine their fate. If they lost a contest then God has decided they are not worthy of winning. Every day they will try to prove they are holy enough to have God’s grace and be saved from eternal damnation. The literature written was a reminder to the people to always do what is right and to avoid sinning. Because the only people who could write were priests, religion was added into stories when they were written and when previous works were transcribed. The presence of the church was ever present to ensure the obedience of the people. If all they were exposed to was religion that
Beowulf is one of those stories that make the reader think. Although the unknown author of Beowulf develops the main protagonist to represent both paganism and Christianity, the ideals conflict and create a unique epic poem. Throughout the story, the reader sees a mix of Christian and pagan ideals telling a story of an epic hero. Because the reader cannot decipher whether he is pagan or Christian, it is only logical to assume he represents both. The author develops Beowulf to speak as if the two religions work together to create one. Although it is hard for the reader to understand, Beowulf seems to understand exactly what he believes in. The author clearly knew what he was doing when he wrote Beowulf into life. Beowulf's beliefs made him into the great epic hero that he is.
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.
One of the first literary work studied by our class was “Beowulf,” the longest and greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem. The poem is packed full of Christian and Pagan elements that are constantly fighting for the dominant position. In order to understand these thematic elements portrayed throughout “Beowulf,” we must first discover
Writers throughout history have always influenced or have been influenced by the era that which they live in. Many famous authors arose during The Age of Discovery and The Romantic Period all of whom had very distinctive writing styles that held true to their era. To find the differences between the two eras, it is important to understand the era at which time the literature was wrote, the writing style, and the subject matter.
In the literary world, it has been said that no one has been able to really define good writing, the quality of the literary world has been based on of privileges such as race, class, gender, physical and mental abilities, sexuality and other factors. Like the latest trend was that a white man by the
Christian symbolism in Beowulf is extremely obvious and prominent throughout the entirety of the poem. The author utilizes the Christian religion to symbolize the elements of good and evil and Heaven and Hell to help the spread of understanding of the religion throughout time.
To what extent can literature have an affect on the way we judge society? Humans are naturally able to make a first impression on countries, religions, and people based upon their own beliefs. Writers are grown up in different societies and express their own beliefs on countries, religion and people through their own life experiences. Writers have enough power to change the reader’s preconceived ideas by the writers sharing of their own perspective on their beliefs. Through analyzing different forms of literature such as White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Joseph Brodsky’s “A commencement Address,” and watching Chimamanda Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” I have realized that reading literature has the ability to change our thinking which in return affects the we judge different society. There have been controversies that media is a huge factor in altering the mind of humans. Literature can be also viewed as a type of media because literature helps the readers understand the conditions of certain societies.
Beowulf has been estimated to have been written over twelve hundred years ago. According to The Norton Anthology Of English Literature, “It is now widely believed that Beowulf is the work of a single poet who was a Christian and that his poem reflects a well-established Christian tradition,” (37). This conclusion was likely drawn by accounting for the time at which Beowulf was written and factoring in most people in the area of where it was believed to be written had already been converted to Christianity. In a way, this provides the best explanation for why Beowulf contains a high level of Christian influences for the story to have taken place when it did. Dr. J. Michael Stitt of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says that, “Much of this epic poem is dedicated to conveying and exemplifying the heroic code which values such attributes as strength, courage and honor. Conflicting with this ideology are other factors such as Christianity, and these tensions affect the lives and decisions of the narrative's characters.” If the one of the main focuses in Beowulf is the heroic code and the heroic code convicts with the authors beliefs than why did he write it? This is not to say that authors do not write about things that they ...