Quijote de la Moncha”, which was written by Michael Cervantes and published in two separate parts, the first in 1605 and the second in 1615. The genre of this piece is called Symphonic Poem, or Tone Poem. A symphonic poem is a piece of orchestral music that is based on a non-musical source, for example the content of a poem, novel, perhaps a painting or even a landscape. It is believed that Franz Liszt, an Hungarian virtuoso and composer, invented the form and the term. In a lot of his compositions
The Moldau is a beautiful piece of instrumental music with a flair for nationalism from the Romantic period. It is program music that describes the river Moldau. It is a symphonic poem in structure and form. It is an orchestral arrangement that is broken into sections rich in musical concepts. Smetana’s The Moldau is very representative of late 19th century music. Romantic Period – The Moldau demonstrates Smetana’s own personal feelings about his homeland of today’s Czechoslovakia. He is able
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) is a well-known Italian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. His music was influenced by the brighter colors of Rimsky‐Korsakov and Strauss, and his symphonic poems are notable for their brilliant and luscious scoring. During his study in Russia, he learned orchestration from Rimsky-Korsakov, who significantly influenced Respighi’s orchestration. As a twentieth-century composer, Respighi’s tonal compositions seem to be out of fashion compared with other
Social Codes in Beowulf In reading Beowulf, one cannot help noticing the abundance of references to weapons and armor throughout the text. Many passages involving weapons and armor contain important messages that the author is trying to convey. These passages involve the choice to use or refrain from using arms, the practice of disarming oneself upon entering another's home, and the idea of a man's worth being measured by his weapons. First, the theme of choosing to use, or not to use
Beowulf as the Ultimate Hero In the poem Beowulf, translated by Constance B. Hieatt, Beowulf is a hero. A hero is one who places himself or herself at great risk while performing acts of courage. Not only is Beowulf a hero because of his physical strength, but rather than basking in the resulting glory, he gives the glory to God. Beowulf is the ultimate hero who put his life on the line for an entire kingdom. Beowulf's heroism can be seen when he takes 14 of the bravest in his land
gumption/ and a sharp mind will take the measure/ of two things,” states one of the Danish warriors in Beowulf: “what’s said and what’s done” (287-289). Beowulf is, above all, a poem about language, about storytelling: the stories told of the great ones, and the stories the great ones hope will be told about themselves. It is a poem about the importance of boasting and vows, the power of the word made flesh, and the crucial link between worda ond worca, “what’s said and what’s done.” The bulk of the poem's
She was a governess. In that light it makes her poem makes complete sense; she needed to get away from the children she was responsible for. Several of her other poems were also born of this time in her life and reflected her homesickness. Elizabeth Barrett-Browning too wrote about her life but I saw her work as more direct and open than that of Bronte. Without the historical knowledge of Bronte's life at the time of her writing her poems are beautiful but the reader cannot fully appreciate
Sources for Beowulf Many of the characters and episodes and material artifacts mentioned poetically in Beowulf are likewise presented to us from archaeological sources, from literary sources, and from English and Scandinavian records. “I suggested in an earlier paper that the Beowulf poet’s incentive for composing an epic about sixth-century Scyldings may have had something to do with the fact that, by the 890’s at least, Heremod, Scyld, Healfdene, and the rest, were taken to be the common
Popular Imagery in the Old English Poem Beowulf Some popular elements of imagery in Beowulf are the mead-hall, the sea, swords, armor including shields. Let us discuss these items and, where applicable, the archaeological support for them. Remaining true to the Anglo-Saxon culture’s affinity for mead (ale/beer/wine), the characters of Beowulf partake frequently of the strong beverage. And the mead hall was their home away from home, with more entertainments than just fermented beverages:
Alliteration in Beowulf The diction of the Old English poem Beowulf is distinguished primarily by its heavy use of allliteration, or the repetition of the initial sounds of words. In the original manuscript version of the poem, alliteration is employed in almost every line (or two half-lines); in modern translations of the poem this is not so. Beowulf uses alliteration [my italics] and accent to achieve the poetic effect which Modern English poetry achieves through the use of poetic
addresses the author's own mortality and the friend's love for him. Also, subtly woven into this turning inward is a lament that the creative vitality represented by the poems themselves is fading away, along with Shakespeare's own life. Shakespeare seems to mourn most not his own mortality, but the fact that the creation of his love poems must itself one day cease, and this is a "death" more keenly felt by Shakespeare than mere mortality. As usual, the sonnet breaks into four convenient sections, the
analysis of larger narrative patterns (105). Beowulf ‘s stylistic features will be examined in this essay, along with the perspectives of various literary critics. T. A. Shippey in “The World of the Poem” expresses himself on the subject of a point of style in the Old English poem Beowulf: “The poet reserves the right to say what people are thinking; he does not, however, regard this as ultimately important” (39). It is true that the reader is forced to draw conclusions, from the words
The epic and oral poem Beowulf illustrates a loss of community, cultural values, and tradition. Beowulf, the main character, is an ideal king and archetypal warrior. History is relevant to Beowulf; this Germanic society was being taken over by Christian missionaries who were seeking to convert this culture. The character of Beowulf is a reflection of the Germanic culture's virtues; heroism is emphasized in the text's multiple references and constant focus on heroes and what it is to be a hero. Beowulf
Beowulf and Christianity It was a dark time and the devastating effects of war had taken their toll. Many had given up hope entirely that things would ever get better, that the land of present day England would cease its bloodshed. From the conquests of the Romans, to the Germanic tribes, to the Vikings, the people of the British Isles had been battered. They needed a hero, someone who represented strength, decency, and bravery. So came the story of Beowulf. Beowulf is a fictional hero of
war are skillfully presented in Wilfred Owen's war poem "Strange Meeting." Owen's poem is more powerful thanks to revisions the poet made as he struggled to understand the devastating effects of war, both emotionally and socially. "Strange Meeting" underwent changes during its composition that signify changes in Owen's understanding of warfare and human interactions. As he states in a draft of a preface to a book of poems, "My subject is War and the pity of War. The Poetry
will argue that with each new translation of this Old English epic, a new author of Beowulf is born. The twenty-first century poet Seamus Heaney, who translated the Beowulf on which this paper is based, injects aspects of his world into this ancient poem. Published in the year 2 000, the inconsistency of this most modern text reveals the messy masterpiece Beowulf is today. I believe that throughout the ages, Beowulf has been altered by each generation it touches. I will provide evidence that the
The Mix of Pagan and Christian Ideas in Beowulf Beowulf was written in England around 1000 AD. "This provides us with an idea of a poem that was written during a time when the society had converted from paganism to christianity"(Cohen 138). "We know that paganism did exist alongside Christianity during the approximate era that Beowulf was composed"(Hall 61). "The Christian influences were combined with early folklore and heroic legends of dramatic tribes, early Beowulf scholars began to investigate
Armor in the poem Beowulf Armor mentioned in the poem Beowulf include helmets and chain mail. There are an incredible number of references to these battle-apparel in the poem, making this topic of armor a very relevant one to consider. “Helmets are the most dramatic and often quoted item of armor found in Beowulf,” says Catherine M. Hills in “Beowulf and Archaeology.” Indeed, examining the poem, one finds copious references to helmets in just the first 400 lines of the poem: Boar-figures
Runes and Magic in Beowulf and The Saga of the Volsungs In the Old English poem Beowulf and in the Icelandic The Saga of the Volsungs, a saga representing oral traditions dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries, we see the mention of runes, which were used with connotations of magic or charms. An unknown author wrote the The Saga of the Volsungs in the thirteenth century, basing his story on far older Norse poetry. Iceland was settled by the Vikings about 870-930, who took there
The Character of Mephistopheles in Faust Mephistopheles, from the epic poem Faust, by Goethe, is one of the most interesting characters if examined carefully. Much like today's crude interpretations of the devil, Mephistopheles was a skeptic, a gambler, self- confident, witty, stubborn, smart, creative, tempting and of course, evil. There were very ironic things about him. Though he was evil, he was a force of goodness. The evil in him was portrayed in the negative aspects of Faust's personality