Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Beowulf is
the longest complete poem to survive from the Anglo-Saxon period; because of
this, is it often the only poem read or studied from this period.
However, it’s style, ideas, and framework owe a lot to its predecessors, and
betray its lineage in the Anglo-Saxon world. Which poems in class seem to have
influenced the writer of Beowulf—what echoes do we hear in this work?
Q2: Of all the
selections in this book, Beowulf is among the most musical, and truly
captures the Old English dictum of wordum wrixlan (“vary the words”).
Discuss a short passage that is particularly beautiful/effective and discuss
why it strikes you as a great piece of poetry.
Q3: Beowulf celebrates
the heroic career of a pagan warrior (Beowulf), who lived in pre-Christian
times. However, the writer was certainly a Christian, and subtly inserts
Christian ideas and terminology into the narrative. Based on these excerpts,
why do you think such a pagan poem (which even later ages found positively
barbaric) would have appealed to a 9th or 10th century monk? What elements or
ideas in the poem lend themselves to a Christian interpretation?
Q4: One of the
chief exploits of an Anglo-Saxon hero was to win renown and amass treasure. We
see the end result of this in “The Lay of the Last Survivor,” when the last
member of a once-great society buries the remnants of his vast treasure hoard.
How does the survivor—and the poet—reflect on the accumulated riches of his
people? Is the survivor ready to die in glory...or has fame become tarnished
for him?
Q2) "Away she went over a wavy ocean
ReplyDeleteboat like a bird, breaking seas,
wind-whetted, white-throated,
till curved prow had ploughed so far."
For me, the alliteration is simply remarkable. You don't hear a single sound introduced and not followed up with the same sound shortly thereafter. Until I looked for more than a second, I thought that "Away" was the only non alliterate portion of the excerpt, but I'm completely wrong. It's followed up - "a wavy ocean."
I couldn't write that well if I wanted to, and I'm typically confident in my writing. All of this to describe a ship at sea. To me, it just shows how much care went into the writing of "Beaowulf."
Q4) The poet noted the temporary joy that the treasures brought him, but now he laments the treasure he keeps watch of, missing the company of his people and friends. He looked at every item in melancholy, remembering the events it saw and the people who bore the items. He was ready for his weird as well, not giving much thought to his fame.
Good responses: as you suggest, the alliteration is profound and underpins every part of the poem. Old English leant itself to alliteration even more than modern English, so it was much easier to do--which makes a modern English translation quite challenging, at times (and not ever translator attempts to capture it so effectively). It's a way of gilding the great legends with golden rhyme (I worked in a little aliteration of my own there) :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnswer to Q1) I think the reason why “Beowulf” is the only one we really read from this time period is because not many people have access to these poems or riddles. Some may not even know they exist because of the shorter length of them. We see similarities to Beowulf from “The Ruin” and “The Wanderer.” The way in which the poets write are long stanzas and stacked lines; not all the lines match up one right after the other. There is also a lot of talk about death and destruction on the people. There is so much chaos that happens, these people just don’t know what to do. “The Ruin” talks so much about death, and “Beowulf” begins and ends in death. “The Wanderer” talks about the pagan ways, but ultimately know God, the Heavenly Father, is in charge. The author of “Beowulf” draws from these different poems to pull death, the pagan ways, and ultimately wanting God to be in charge. Just like in “The Wanderer,” once their pagan ways fail them, they cry out to God for restoration.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Q2) Found in “Beowulf’s Funeral,” the woman is so distraught over the death of Beowulf. She doesn’t just mourn for his death, she laments. The image I see is the woman on her knees, crying out to God for the death of her king. She isn’t just sad because he’s dead, but she has this sense of fear that reaches out to me. She fears that evil is her Weird because evil days are ahead of her. The woman is so unsure of what’s to come; she believes that bondage and humiliation are upon her. Even though this portion is kind of sad, the way it’s written is beautiful. I picture it being “sung” in a desperate attempt to get answers. The image of Heaven swallowing up the destruction is symbolizing God taking the people’s ugliness and trying to make things better. This piece strikes me as not traditionally beautiful; to me it’s desperately beautiful. The woman is reaching out to God in an almost desperate attempt to receive answers and find safety. Ending in the image of Heaven almost seems as a hopeful restoration for the woman and the people in wake of the death of Beowulf.
"A woman of the Geats in grief sang out/ the lament for his death. Loudly she sang,/ her hair bound up, the burden of her fear/ that evil days were destined her/ -troops cut down, terror of armies, / bondage, humiliation. Heaven swallowed the smoke."
DeleteThe section of poetry for Q2. Lines 3147-3152, on pages 31 and 32.
Ooops didn't know we had a blog post due! Anyways,
ReplyDeleteQ2: Of all the selections in this book, Beowulf is among the most musical, and truly captures the Old English dictum of wordum wrixlan (“vary the words”). Discuss a short passage that is particularly beautiful/effective and discuss why it strikes you as a great piece of poetry.
A: “Boat like a bird, breaking seas,
wind-whetted, white-throated,
till curved prow had ploughed so far.”
The alliteration is just beautiful and captivating. I can even hear the annunciation of the words. BOat like a BIrd, BReaking seas, WInd-WHEtted, WHite-thROATed. To me, everything just sort of floats together. This was no accident, the author wanted this for us. For the author to put this alliteration in there is just incredible because you can hear the way for it to be said right in your head!
Q3: Beowulf celebrates the heroic career of a pagan warrior (Beowulf), who lived in pre-Christian times. However, the writer was certainly a Christian, and subtly inserts Christian ideas and terminology into the narrative. Based on these excerpts, why do you think such a pagan poem (which even later ages found positively barbaric) would have appealed to a 9th or 10th century monk? What elements or ideas in the poem lend themselves to a Christian interpretation?
A: I feel maybe the monk wasn’t an honest monk. Maybe he was curious about other religions. Wondering what else is out in the world. I mean the big monster that Beowulf defeats is Grendel, the seed of Cain who was evil in the bible. So one could interpret that Beowulf is like God as he destroys all evils in the world.
Yes, there seems to be a lot of Christian symbolism in the poem, and even Beowulf taking on the great pagan dragon (which guards the treasure-hoard) might be an emblem of good vs. evil, or Christianity vs. the old ways. Of course, the poet is honest enough to let the pagan past of the poem shine through and not totally re-write it or obscure it. And think this alone tells us that the author was transcribing some original story, either words and all, or re-writing it in his own words. But he kept enough to betray its pagan origins, thank Goodness (since makes for a better poem).
DeleteQ2: My favorite part of the selections come from page 29. It is right before Grendel throws himself into the water. “with every step-stagger, strength broken,/ Dragging deathwards his dribbling life.” First, the alliteration is spectacular. It adds to the intensity of the scene, like the drums in a sound track. Second, the imagery is wonderfully dark. In your mind’s-eye, you can see the monster on his way to die. The staggering, death-filled gait is in focus, like it could be in a movie. It is perfect for such a battle filled story.
ReplyDeleteQ4: Whether or not this was the monk’s way of making the story a type of Christian parable, the sadness and despair is there. Even the old battle gear seems lonely and wistful. This is shown in the line, “This mailshirt travelled far,/ hung from a shoulder shouldered warriors;/ it shall not jingle again.” The story the mailshirt could tell would be a glorious one, if only there was someone there to listen. Instead, the culture and the history of the people will die with the survivor. It is a sad fate to be resigned to.
Lauren Tucker
Great responses...yes, a sword is nothing without a man to wield it; armor means nothing without a breast to cover. This old warrior learns this lesson too late, and this becomes a great theme of the poem, much like The Ruin. Glory becomes empty once there's no one left to celebrate it. Or when a king dies for glory and leaves his people defenceless.
DeleteQ1: We definitely hear the echoes of the Greek gods and goddesses in this poem, as well as Roman motivations. Fighting monsters and leading your people to victory are two very common tropes in Roman literature. We can also hear the echoes of the other poems we have read. Perhaps those aren't so much echoes, as the same shout at the same time.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Something profoundly Christian in this poem that would have drawn the monks to it is the triumph of good over evil. That is the premise of Christianity-- Jesus prevailing over sin and over the devil. They adapted some of the passages to more encompass their ideology past the triumph over good. Specifically they talk about how Beowulf and his warriors thanked God. They would not have done that since they were Pagan.
Great point--the poet really tries to hammer home the monsters as litearl descendants of evil--Grendel as related to Cain, etc. However, in other passages of the poem (not in our book) he also humanizes the monsters a bit, which slightly contradicts this reading. If the monsters are so evil, why make them human at all? But it still remains a good vs. evil conflict, and the poet includes enough referneces to God to reinforce this reading.
DeleteQ2) The passage that I think is incredibly impactful is the one that talks about Beowulf's funeral on page 31. "On top of the mound the men then kindled the biggest of funeral-fires. Black wood-smoke arose from the blaze, and the roaring of flames mingled with weeping. The winds lay as the heat at the fire's heart consumed the house of bone. And in heavy mood they uttered their sorrow at the slaughter of their lord." This is so beautiful to me because you can picture every second of it. I felt for these people who lost their leader, protector, and king. I mourned for this warrior, but i also felt anger for him leaving them to fend for themselves. This proud fool put his own glory over the safety of his people.
ReplyDeleteQ4) In the beginning of the poem, the survivor is proud to be the one in charge of his people's gold. It is a huge honor to him because his society was build upon riches. However, now that he is the only one who knows who the wealth belongs to, he becomes sad and almost dejected. Nothing about the gold matters because no one will remember his people. Their honor and glory is completely gone because no one will sing praises after them.
Yes, it's a beautiful passage, and it both celebrates and damns the pagan devotion to glory and Wierd. The woman's lament shows this most clearly, since she knows the grim fate that awaits them...if he had simply had an heir and established him before he died, the kingdom would have been saved. But he was too busy chasing glory and legend. As the poem suggests, he was "the keenest for fame."
Delete