Anglo Saxon Influence On Beowulf

For centuries, people have loved listening to epics for their intriguing and supernatural structure. There are heroes and lots of fighting in the epic, which are the elements mostly loved by people. Because of the fact that epics emerged before the written tradition, there are not many epics that have survived until today. Although many of these epics were lost because of the oral tradition, epics which were written down later, are still read. Many stories were written under the influence of the epic tradition. The most famous of these is Beowulf. It is the oldest poem that has survived from the Old English period, and it is often cited as the most important work of the Anglo-Saxon period. With its unique structure, it has influenced so many

He is well known with his literary works about fantastic and epic-like stories. The epic characters and the society he forms in his texts are similar to those of epic works. This similarity gives us the idea that he might be influenced by the epic tradition and its literature. Although J.R.R Tolkien is considered as the father of fantastic literature, we believe that Tolkien was influenced by Beowulf, and in this paper we will try to prove our point by analysing his works and comparing them to Beowulf touching upon three main points which are the Anglo-Saxon influence, supernatural creatures, and character similiarites of both

Another example would be the similarity of Sam in Lord of the Rings to Wiglaf in Beowulf. Sam is the companion of Frodo in Lord of the Rings, and he stays with Frodo throughout the story and he helps Frodo even in his hardest times just like Wiglaf in Beowulf. They are both extremely loyal, which is their main feature. When Shelob, a giant spider, attacks and stuns Frodo, Sam comes to help Frodo and kills Shelob to save his life. Wiglaf on the other hand, helps Beowulf to defeat the dragon while every other companion of Beowulf forsakes him when they realize that the dragon is too strong for them to defeat. It is possible that Tolkien created Sam because he liked Wiglaf very much. ‘’For Tolkien, Wiglaf was a truer hero than his master’’(Birzer