Beowulf is a well-known Anglo-Saxon poem that has been in English classes around the United States for almost as long as there have been schools around. Beowulf is not an actual picture of historic Denmark, Geatland, or Sweden around 500 A.D., yet it is on a general view, a self-consistent picture, a construction bearing clearly the marks of design and thought. Beowulf to us can only truly be enjoyed if one reads it in the old English version. The effects of the poem are not the same, although the sense of the heroic beast is very true. The story of Beowulf is still relevant to today’s society and relates to problems faced in current everyday life. In our society we face simple problems and difficult problems and all problems have a good and bad about them. It all depends on the person’s outlook for the course of action that they will take.
Beowulf strikes peculiar reactions among scholars, historians, and professors. The increase in the amount of confusion is caused by new twists to old theories and by new theories. Beowulf was composed for an audience that would take into account the struggles that the main character took, and the audience would see the poem in its own way. Though few can clearly understand the value of the poem, we must realize that judging the poem from a twentieth century point of view would be unjust to the author or authors of Beowulf.
One of the most pleasing trends in recent old English studies has been the increasing awareness of the truth and importance of this simple observation. It is one which often has been overlooked by scholars and the ever growing critics. These people prefer to regard Beowulf as a source book for historians. Some people tend to overlook the meanings of Beowulf and perceive them in a wrong manner. In a profound lecture given by J.R.R.Tolkien in 1963, he tried to do what many people were trying to do, make sense of Beowulf. He gave an amusing and persuasive summary of the variety of theories of Beowulf’s poet’s ideas and aims.
Tolkien said, “Beowulf is a half baked native epic which was killed by Latin learning, it is feeble and incompetent as a narrative.”(Crossley.9-17). Tolkien also said much more on behalf of Beowulf’s poet. It is not the fault of the poet but the result of our ignorance of the conventions in which Anglo-Saxon poems were written.
In Bartow Elmore’s book, “Citizen Coke: The Making of Coka-Cola Capitalism” Elmore postulates on the harm that the Coca-Cola empire has caused through their shifty rise to the dominant power they are today. Pioneered by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola has established itself into one of the most popular positively branded names across the globe. Due to lobbying as well as strong marketing ploys the Coke business has developed into a ruling presence on a foundation which has been subsidized by exploitation and disregard for natural resource. Elmore employs various explanations regarding the rise of Coke and puts together pieces of the Coca-Cola empire’s fame through a side that is often not shown. Citizen Coke provides the reader with a viewpoint behind
There were many events that led up to Japan making the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. It all started with Japan wanting to expand their power. Japan was an island nation, it was isolated from many other nations, and Japan chose to be that way. But by the beginning of the 1900’s Japan was starting to fall apart as it was starting to become short of raw materials. Japan figured if it wanted to survive it would have to expand to get more materials. (O'NEAL 410-413). Japan started trying to take over Asia; they landed in the east coast of China in Manchuria and stationed troops there in order to try to take over northeastern China. ("Japan Launches A Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941"). In reaction to Japan’s landing and hostility towards China the United States, who wanted to keep the open-door policy with China, placed economic sanctions of Japan to slow down Japan’s advances in China. (Higgs). President Roosevelt hoped that these sanctions that the United States put on Japan would lead them to making the mistake of declaring war on the United States (which would also bring Italy and Germany into the attack too since they were all allied) the reason why Rooseve...
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” In TheBeowulf Poet, edited byDonald K. fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
He speaks of how a sunny day sets the tone for a happy story, and how rain can set up for times for confrontation, or anger. However, in The Kite Runner, there is not a lot of rain, and with it being in Afghanistan, it is assumed to be sunny, even when it is not mentioned. However, the weather is specifically mentioned when it snows. Amir speaks of snow and says, “Snow is clean, stark, severe, warm (and insulating blanket, paradoxically), inhospitable, inviting, playful, suffocating, filthy” (Foster 80). Hosseini plays off societies preconceived notions and attitudes towards weather and the tone associated with it in his book. In his naivety, Amir thinks of the snow like most children, with excitement and happiness. It’s “inviting” and playful”, as Foster said before. Amir describes his love for the winter, “I loved wintertime in Kabul. I loved it for the soft pattering of snow against my window at night, for the way fresh snow crunched under my back rubber book” (Hosseini 49). The snow was fresh and clean, just like is conscious at the time. This is when he’s naive, before the rape, before he feels all of the pressure from his father. Later, when he feels the pressure from his father, the snow feels more “suffocating”. “Snow blanketed every rooftop and weighed on the branched of the stunted mulberry trees that lined our streets” (Hosseini 60). Then, immediately after the rape,
Frank, Roberta. “The Beowulf Poet’s Sense of History.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
Frank, Roberta. “The Beowulf Poet’s Sense of History.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Beowulf is an epic poem telling the story of Beowulf, a legendary Geatish hero who later becomes king in the aforementioned epic poem. While the story in and of itself is quite interesting, for the purpose of this paper it is important to look at the character more so then his deeds, or rather why he did what he did.
The epic poem ‘Beowulf’ is a classic tale from the Anglo-Saxon period; the story of a hero’s journey that portrays what the people of that time valued most. The poem tells of great battles against evil, which display heroic traits such as courage, strength and honor. In contrast, the film ‘Beowulf’ (2007) focuses more on the dramatic storytelling with less of a heroic tone. Both the film and the poem share a common plot, yet have plentiful differences. The movie deviated greatly from the text due to the introduction of new characters, and complex storyline.
Beowulf. Elements of Literature, Sixth Course: Literature of Britain. Ed. Kristine E. Marshall, 1997. 21-46. Print.
Tolkien, J.R.R.. “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Wright coupled tradition with words that have negative connotations. These include, ‘song’ and ‘gone’, ‘ritual’ and ‘useless’ and ‘spear’ and ‘splintered’. This may be a simple technique but is very powerful by illustrating to the reader of how Aboriginal tools and rituals are no longer practiced. (click) Phrases such as (click) ‘apple-gums’, ‘corroboree’ and ‘painted bodies’ are directly related to Aborigines and the words following them show the loss of these cultural ideas. The clever use of the metaphor of Cain, son of Adam and Eve, is effective as in the same way he killed his brother Abel, white man killed their fellow brothers: Aboriginal man. It is even more so powerful that it is the last word of the poem because it leaves readers to ponder on this thought. Wright uses an accusatory yet guilty tone in Bora Ring. This tone focuses on what the settlers did in the first place, while also showing, how we can still reincarnate the ways of the indigenous Australians. The significant last verse is different to the other three. It speaks a different message of man being forgotten to allow for the spirit to return. These last lines point out to the reader that unity of man needs to be accomplished and to do this many lessons need to be learnt, mainly by the current settlers of Australia but also the Aboriginal
Christ, Carol T., Catherine Robson, Stephen Greenblatt, and M. H. Abrams. "Beowulf." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York, NY: W.W. Norton &, 2006. Web.
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.