Style Analysis Essay: Beowulf and the Seafarer
Burton Raffel uses two different tones in each of his epics. In the epic Beowulf, Raffel uses several tones throughout the story. There’s mourning, bravery, hatefulness, and wrathfulness. The tone of the Seafarer includes depression, fear, and sadness. In “Beowulf and the Seafarer”, Burton Raffel uses imagery and different tones to explore the purposes of an epic hero.
Beowulf has several uses of imagery throughout the epic poem. For example, in the Monster Grendel there are a few biblical allusions. “Conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death. The almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter.” This allusion comes from the book of Genesis in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain had become very jealous of his brother Abel because God accepted Abel’s offering, but didn’t accept Cain’s offering. Cain had become very angry and killed his brother Abel and hid his body. Another biblical allusion is the creation of the heavens and earth. “As the day the music rang loud in that hall, the harp’s rejoicing call the poet’s clear songs, sung of
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the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling the almighty making of the earth, shaping these beautiful plains marked off by oceans, then proudly setting the sun and the moon to glow across the land and light it.” This allusion, also in the book of Genesis talks about how god created the heavens and the earth in only seven days. Just like in Beowulf, the Seafarer uses several types of imagery as well. “My feet were cast in icy bands bound with frost, with frozen chains and hardship groaned around my heart.” This quote is an example of a hyperbole. It exaggerates the coldness of the speaker’s feet. As he sailed the sea in the cold winter he felt lonely and depressed along his journey. “Sweated in the cold” is another example of a hyperbole. This quote describes a sickness the speaker may have or feel. Maybe the speaker is having some type of cold sweats, how would he be sweating in the cold? The speaker might be freighted by something he sees out in the sea, it’s hard to tell. In Beowulf the narrator is retelling the story from his point of view.
Because the story is told on the third person the speaker can which from character to character telling how each character may feel. Throughout the story he goes back and forth in time as the story goes on. He does this to explain why things are turning out the way they are. For example, the battle with Grendel, Beowulf chooses not to fight Grendel with a weapon because it was useless. Every warrior who has faced Grendel with a weapon has failed because his skin was so scaly it couldn’t be penetrated. The speaker continued this concept throughout the story of Beowulf, going into the minds of the characters and the flashbacks of certain
events. In the Seafarer the narrator is telling the story as if he was there to experience the events. He describes his pain and fears as he is on his journey through the sea. He describes the pains of the cold winter days and the loneness he feels being on the sea all alone. When spring comes he still feels depressed because spring reminds him of another journey on the sea. As the story goes on he begin to speak about going to heaven and leaving the earth to be in heaven with god. He says that people should try to fight hard against the devil so that they can live forever with the angels in heaven. The speaker tells the readers to fear God and only fools refuse to do so. He also says that a man should live humbly, control his passions, keep his word, and be fair to both friends and enemies. Beowulf and the Seafarer are more different when it comes to the tone of each poem. The theme of Beowulf is loyalty, in the poem Beowulf is loyal to his people and his promises to them. This theme is important because it shows his commitment to his people and his kingdom. The theme of the Seafarer is spirituality, towards the end of the poem the speaker has a turn toward his spiritual side. This theme is important because it shows how his suffering on his journey turned him over to God. All of the pain and fear led him to the path of God and wanting to better himself and his life.
When deciphering between what it considered to be heroic or monstrous, it is important to keep in mind the angle in which a story is being told. While reading Beowulf, the protagonist of the epic poem could be considered either heroic or monstrous through the eyes of different characters. Beowulf can be classified as a hero according to The Hero’s Journey through the eyes of Hrothgar and Hygelac. On the other hand, Beowulf could be viewed as being monstrous according to Monster Theory through the eyes of Unferth and Grendel’s Mother.
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...
Clark, Gorge. “The Hero and the Theme.” In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Beowulf and The 13th Warrior: Exposing true Anglo-Saxon warriors battle. When thinking about epic heroes people mostly have different type of images. Some might think of achieving small tasks is being a hero. Others might think of heroes that are powerful. Similar to what some people think today the Anglo-Saxon also beloved in heroes that are strong, famous and successful.
What is hero? A hero, under the Merriam-Webster definition, is a person who is admired for brave/great acts or fine qualities. This is a very broad definition that combines both ancient and modern belief of what --or who-- a hero should be. Beowulf is an epic poem that focuses on an Anglo-Saxon hero. As such he embodies the traits that his culture valued most. Deadpool, on the other hand, portrays the most recent ideas of what traits a hero should embody. With these examples from contrasting periods, we are still able to see similarities and differences that shows how modern and Anglo-Saxon idea of heroism reflects its culture.
Beowulf is a poem about strength and courage. This is illustrated in the eighth section of the story called “Beowulf and the Dragon.” A slave, a hero and a dragon play a big role in this section. The characters are well developed, as is the setup for the conclusion of the poem.
This essay is the comparison between Beowulf and a modern day hero. I consider any American soldier to be my modern day hero. In this essay I will explain in three paragraphs of how my modern day hero is like Beowulf. With in these three paragraphs I will go over how they are both fighting for a good cause, how they are both rewarded for what they do, and how they are both treated with much respect.
In this epic poem, Beowulf, the epic is portrayed to show many events throughout the novel itself. Such as when Beowulf encounters three separate and increasingly difficult conflicts with powerful monsters filled with terror and fear, which depicts the transformation of his heroism. He is manifested as a hero with extraordinary strength and much confidence in himself as a fearless warrior.
There are numerous similitudes and contrasts between Beowulf the motion picture which was made in the year 2007, and the poem by an obscure Angelo Saxon poet. A large portion of the likenesses and contrasts are clear. The poem was changed into a motion picture and was more advanced and simpler to see then the epic poem itself. The movie happens to be more modern and gives the audience a better understanding of Beowulf and what happened during his life. It also helps the audience visualize it rather than having to picture the occurences while reading the poem.
It is common opinion that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet. This was probably true because at the time when it was written, most of the few people who knew how to read and write were in the clergy. There are various references within the poem to elements of the Christian religion. However, the story is about Pagan people and certain aspects of their culture are even glorified. The ambiguity of Beowulf’s religious content has caused confusion as to what significance religion had in inspiring the author and in what manner the author meant to inspire or influence his audience. I do not think that Beowulf is a Christian allegory because Beowulf had very little in common with the Biblical figure of Jesus Christ. I think that religion was not the primary thematic concern of the writer. Although there are discrepancies between the two styles of thinking, Beowulf seems to praise values which were considered moral and good among all humanity, both Christian and Pagan.
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.
When being compared to the opening funeral of King Shield’s death, Beowulf’s funeral can be further interpreted as an elegy for warrior values. To begin with, the main similarity behind both funerals was the mood. The Danes respected their king, and the poet of Beowulf depicts this idea by stating, Shield “had courage and greatness. /… as his powers waxed and his worth was proved” (lines 2 and 8). King Shield provided a sense of security to the Danish nation, which established a specific image of what a proper authority figure looked like to the people. Since Shield “was one good king”, his death left the Danes with the devastated realization there may never be that form of heroic leadership ruling their country again (11). Using similar word choice, Beowulf’s poet describes a similar connection between
Throughout the story, Beowulf fights three battles against frightening monsters. Beowulf, the prince of the Geats, was a well known warrior with extreme strength who makes a promise to protect his people under any circumstance. In the poem, his strength is tested, but he uses it to save many people in battles against: Grendel, Grendel 's mother, and a dragon. Before, during, and after each of these battles Beowulf shows many similarities and differences in his actions.
Beowulf has multiple references to God and how God chooses what happens in his life. For example on the very first page of the story (Beowulf, 27) we see that God saw the need for a king so he sent a king to the Danes. This shows us that God is able to see his people and in a fair and just way he sends them a much needed king. Later on, we see how God punishes those who go against his will. On page 29 we read that Grendel is from Cain.
Beowulf symbolizes the Anglo Saxons and their culture and social values. Beowulf through out the poem was closely related to what the Anglo Saxons had believe and what they valued. The creature Beowulf battled was creatures from the myths of the Anglo Saxons. Beowulf represents the greatness of the Anglo Saxons era from their time of glory to the end where they fall to their enemies.