Beowulf Essay

Paine understanding how the cause of patriotism would need” a dose This is a book review of Sacred Scripture, Sacred War, written by James P. Byrd. In his book Byrd of scripture, in order to help the patriots, during the times that try men’s souls,”1. Biblical patriotism being very unique perspective was based on the use of scriptures, to inspire and justify the revolution. Ministers would use these scriptures for the purpose of instruction, and inspiration, for colonial solders not well prepared and outnumbered by the English

In Beowulf, a tension arises between the natural construction of the poem and the Christian ideals added. Before the advent of Christianity, paganism placed an emphasis on wyrd. According to Christianity, God instills within mankind a sense of free will, which directly contrasts with the pagan idea of fate. Throughout Beowulf, these characteristics of paganism and Christianity transmute together. Beowulf instills the principle of fate within his speeches, as when he talks about how “fate saves an undoomed man when his courage is good” (11).

Early leaders of this movement, like Alister Crowley, with whom Yeats was associated with considered themselves Satanists in this right since Christians equate the spirit of the world with the devil. Yeats was certainly a Christian at some point in his life and makes allusions to Christian faith in “The Second Coming”, which would indicate that he lends some credence to it, so we can assume that he took the Satanist point of view. As the world turned towards paganism so did Yeats. The poem, while on one level is an earnest description of the change that is occurring to mankind, it is also an earnest illustration of his change to paganism. The opening eight lines illustrate the strife Yeats had seen in his lifetime from a Christian point of view.

Many flaws originate from this change, however. According to Kl‘ber, "heathen practices are mentioned in several places, such as the vowing of sacrifices at idol fanes, the observing of omens and the burning of the dead, whic... ... middle of paper ... ...s in Beowulf do not hold the same sentiments about Christianity that the poet holds. If Beowulf truly possessed the Christian ideals that the poet often insinuates, he would not find it necessary to be cremated, nor have his tomb adorned with riches. These elements reveal to us the difficulty of infusing a Christian dogma into a heathen society. The Beowulf poet is successful with this task in some respects, but in the case of cremation he is somewhat remiss.

In the late sixth century, Augustine came to England at the request of Pope Gregory. Gregory advised his monks not to disrupt England’s pagan customs, but to proceed with conversion gradually. Consequently, the question arises concerning whether Beowulf resulted from the traditions handed down by the scops, or whether the poem was a product of the monasteries. Some critics claim that it is an amalgam of both elements. Since the poet gives us a valuable portrait of the scop in all, they reason, the scop had a storehouse of old folktales, legenyou do not want to receive this notification, click the Options link on the top horizontal menu bar.

The questions that arise because of the togetherness of Christian and Pagan ideas are simply a reflection of the time it was written. A time where a society struggled with the change in a belief system. Where they wanted to believe in their ‘heroic code’ and the idea of fate, but also wanted to believe that they had God fighting on their side, and that good would prevail. Grendel and Beowulf exemplify the struggle between good and evil forces seamlessly. Grendel fits every description of an evil force, and Beowulf is the epitome of what was considered good.

The mead-hall, Heorot, functions as a synecdoche throughout the story Beowulf, representing the warrior culture of the Scandinavians. It is used as a tool by the authors to criticize the flaws of the Nordic culture while emphasizing the superiority of Christianity. In the poem, the main character, the warrior Beowulf, is tasked with liberating the great mead-hall, Heorot, from the mighty demon known as Grendel—a task in which he is successful. However, the way the mead-hall portrays the Anglo-Saxon’s warrior culture, presents it in a light which glorifies battle as well as loyalty and kinship, but alternatively condemns many other aspects of the Anglo-Saxon way of life such as personal pride. Beowulf is an epic poem dated by experts between the eighth and eleventh century AD.

As a result the poet resolved his new Christian beliefs with the un-Christian behavior of the characters. This epic poem tells of herioc deeds and events related to pre Anglo-Saxon culture. The story was set in Scandanavia and told orally as part of Germanic tradition. Beowulf was probably carried from generation

Paganism and Christianity clash and merge in this poem. Furthermore Beowulf viewed as explicitly Christian or pagan literature, the text represents some of both religions throughout this poem. It is hard to ignore the Christian and pagan elements in Beowulf. Pagan and Christian fusing is a strong element of the early Anglo-Saxon poem. Paganism highly regards the concepts of fame, fate, and vengeance, and these are highly evident in Beowulf, but within these are woven the Christian qualities of loyalty, humility, sacrifice for the good of others and sympathy for those less fortunate, which Beowulf also shows.

Throughout this paper the dictional similarities of the purposes of the authors of the Dream of the Rood and Beowulf will be compared and discussed. Both authors present their goals by using characteristics of the Norse Mythological Gods, to describe the heroes in both poems to lead their readers, the Anglo- Saxons, to convert to Christianity. There is a lot of historical context that is involved with this topic which describes the struggles in Britain in converting the people into Christianity. Anglo-Saxons that came into Britain were originally pagan which consisted of them worshipping gods of nature and trees and rocks. They would pray to these gods for materialistic things such as a good harvest or to win an upcoming battle.