The Style of Beowulf
Ursula Schaefer in “Rhetoric and Style” gives an overview of the history of criticism of style:
Examination of the poem’s rhetoric and style started out with investigating common Germanic features. On the other end of the scale, attention was given to a possible Latin influence on the poem’s style. Recently, there have been reconsiderations of authochthonous traditions linked mainly with 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 and actions of the characters, about the thoughts of the characters. This is one of the many preferences of the author which contribute to the style or “how” writers say what they say (Abrams 303).
Joan Blomfield in “The Style and Structure of Beowulf” takes note of two important features of the poem’s style – the irony and the tendency to antithesis:
This tendency to antithesis, frequently verging on paradox, and the constant play of irony are but stylistic manifestations of those movements of the poet’s thought which shape the very stuff of the poem (Blomfield 58).
Antithesis abounds: The poem has a reference to the burning of Heorot included in the description of its first glories, and the prediction of family strife with Ingeld while yet all is well in ...
... middle of paper ...
...oks, 1977.
Donaldson, E. Talbot. “Old English Prosody and Caedmon’s Hymn.” Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co.: 1975.
Magoun, Frances P. “Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-Saxon Narrative Poetry.” In TheBeowulf Poet, edited by Donald K. Fry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Schaefer, Ursula. “Rhetoric and Style.” In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Shippey, T.A.. “The World of the Poem.” In Beowulf – Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.
Tharaud, Barry. “Anglo-Saxon Language and Traditions in Beowulf.” In Readings on
Beowulf, edited by Stephen P. Thompson. San Diego: Greenhaven Press,1998.
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
In the length of the poem, Beowulf goes from abandoned child to gallant warrior to King. This transformation, expressed in the tone and content of the poem, shows the importance of the relationship between lord and thane and expresses the ultimate value of that connection. From the difference in battle scenes to Beowulf’s speeches, it is clear that he has gone from a somewhat self-loving hero to a selfless king. Within this change he also goes from serving a lord to becoming a lord, and in that way the poem shows us the importance of both sides of the relationship.
What soon came to be known as the Spanish influenza came also to be known as the "worst epidemic the United States has ever known." More soldiers from the war died from this influenza than from combat on the field. One of the earliest victims of the flu came from sailors who resided on the Receiving Ship at Commonwealth Pier in Boston (August 1918) in which the situation gave the flu the advantage of eventually spreading throughout the civilian population. But of course, people were first advised that there was nothing to worry about. According to "Dr. William Hassler, Chief of San Francisco's Board of Health had gone so far as to predict that the flu would not even reach the city."3 But within such urban, crowded cities such as Boston and Philadelphia, it was inevitable that this illness would turn into an epidemic. In Philadelphia of September 1918, new cases of influenza were recorded from the civilian population days after a parade. As a result, Philadelphia was forced to admit that the city has fallen under the Spanish influenza epidemic.4 The severity of this epidemic began to become apparent and so precautions were made--any public places in which crowds of people were able to accumulate were considered "off limits.
individual to himself to live isolation land than living with the civilization. He interacts of the world of
While influenza, or the "flu", is not commonly recognized as an extremely lethal disease, the pathology of influenza, and especially of the kind found at Fort Dix, does suggest that an immunization program was a reasonable course to take in 1976. In the public's mind, influenza is often not seen as a specific disease, using interchangeable names for it like "flu", "gripe", and "virus". (Silverstein: 1) However, influenza is very different from an everyday low fever or "stomach flu". It is a respiratory infection, connected with a fever, coughing, and muscle aches, which often la...
Rebsamen, Frederick R.. in “Beowulf – A Personal Elegy.” Beowulf: The Donaldson Translation, edited by Joseph F. Tuso. New York, W.W.Norton and Co.: 1975
The influenza, also known as the Spanish Flu, is affecting roughly all of northern California economically and socially whether San Franciscans notice it or not. Several schools, churches, and buildings are closed due to preventive orders by authorities. Insurance companies and the Government are spiraling downwards financially as they become responsible for the victims of this deadly influenza. Moreover, ordinances mandated the wearing of gauze masks in public places.
Also called intraductal carcinoma, is breast cancer in the lining of the milk ducts that has not yet invaded the surrounding tissues. It may advance to invasive cancer form if remain untreated.
Between the months of August and November of 1918, Spanish influenza spread quickly across the United States and around the world in epidemic proportions. The disease was thought to have been brought from country to country by sea-faring vessels passing through major port cities around the world, with illness striking men of French troops, the British Royal Navy, civilians in America, and more. The Public Health Service sanitation officer and member of the First Navy District, Dr. William M. Bryan, was aware of the conditions in Boston and was worried by them, where hot, dusty, and dry conditions exacerbated the problem, forcing sailors and soldiers into crowded conditions in Boston, where the close conditions and poor housing aided in the quick spread of influenza from person to person (23). Although influenza itself did not cause the deaths, but caused the pneumonia which did cause deaths, the number of deaths were still striking and rising. The deaths of three men in one afternoon in Quincy, Massachusetts caused the public to take notice. Bostonís church closed on September 22 to keep the public separated from each other (33). The disease proceeded to cause death in large numbers throughout the country. At one point, Philadelphia was stricken with 289 deaths within 24 hours(71).
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 occurred during the midst of World War I, and it would claim more lives than the war itself. The disease erupted suddenly without a forewarning and spread rapidly across the globe. It seemed as though all of humanity had fallen under the mercy of this deadly illness. Influenza had very clear symptoms as described by William Collier in his letter to The Lancet. After a patient seizes their temperature can run up to 105° or more while their pulse averages at about 90 beats per minute. The high temperature and low pulse are frequently combined with epistaxis (nosebleed) and cyanosis (blueness of the skin). The epistaxis is caused by the high temperature and the cyanosis is caused by a lack of oxygen due to the decreased pulse (Kent 34). The author of Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919, Susan Kinglsey Kent, provides a brief history of the pandemic and documents from the time period. Many of the included documents show how unprepared and unorganized governments attempted to contain and control a disease they had never experienced, and how the expectations of the governments changed as a result of their successes and failures.
Although it’s still unknown exactly where the specific strain of influenza that caused the pandemic came from, the 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the U.S., and parts of Asia before spreading around the world in a matter of months. Spain was one of the earliest countries to be hit by the disease, giving it the name the Spanish Flu, despite the fact that it wasn’t isolated in one place. An estimated 20 million to 50 million victims were killed by the flu, though other estimates run as high as 100 million. It’s impossible to know exact numbers due to the lack of medical records kept at the time. Surprisingly, many of these victims were previously healthy, young adults that were normally resistant to that type of contagious disease. Like many other illnesses during this time, doctors had no idea what caused the flu or how to treat it because there were no effective vaccines or drugs to treat the flu. Making matters worse, World War l had left most of America with a shortage of physicians, and many of those available came down with the flu themselves. Schools and homes had to be used as makeshift hospitals run by medical students because hospitals in some areas were so crammed with patients. The public health departments imposed quarantines and ordinances in an attempt to confine the spread of the disease. Citizens were ordered to wear
After careful observation by medical specialists around the country, it is established that the present form of influenza is no different from any other form of influenza in English history. Influenza in the epidemic form has visited England previously in 1709, 1732 as well as in 1890.1
This week alone there have been reportedly 3369 new cases of influenza resulting in 60 deaths. This is a staggering jump from last week's amount of 1200 cases. This week's newest count has prompted city officials to call a special session in order to decide on how to deal with the outbreak in monetary terms. The State of California has already given Irvine all that it can until more Federal Aid can be released. In an overwhelming 5-0 vote the city council decided to divert the money set aside for construction of the new civic center and allocate those funds toward medical equipment and vaccines to help fight the deadly disease.
A few years before 1918, in the height of the First World War, a calamity occurred that stripped the globe of at least 50 million lives. (Taubenberger, 1918) This calamity was not the death toll of the war; albeit, some individuals may argue the globalization associated with the First World War perpetuated the persistence of this calamity. This calamity was referred to the Spanish Flu of 1918, but calling this devastating pestilence the “Spanish Flu” may be a historical inaccuracy, as research and historians suggest that the likelihood of this disease originating in Spain seams greatly improbable. Despite it’s misnomer, the Spanish Flu, or its virus name H1N1, still swept across the globe passing from human to human by exhaled drops of water that contained a deadly strand of RNA wrapped with a protein casing. Individuals who were unfortunate enough to come in contact with the contents of the protein casing generally developed severe respiratory inflammation, as the Immune system’s own response towards the infected lung cells would destroy much of the lungs, thus causing the lungs to flood with fluids. Due to this flooding, pneumonia was a common cause of death for those infected with Spanish Flu. Due its genetic similarity with Avian Flu, the Spanish Flu is thought to be descended from Avian Flu which is commonly known as “Bird Flu.” (Billings,1997) The Spanish Flu of 1918 has had a larger impact in terms of global significance than any other disease has had because it was the most deadly, easily transmitted across the entire globe, and occurred in an ideal time period for a disease to happen.
At the time, the Influenza of 1918 was called the Spanish Flu. Spain was not involved in the expanding great war (i.e., World War I) and therefore was not censoring it's press. However, Germany, Britain, and America were censoring their newspapers for anything that would lower morale. Therefore, Spain was the first country to publish accounts of the pandemic (Barry 171 and Furman 326), even though the pandemic most likely started in either France or the United States. It was also unique in it's deadliness; it “killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century” (Barry 5). In the United States, the experience during the pandemic varied from location to location. Some areas were better off whereas some were hit horribly by the disease, such as Philadelphia. It also came as a shock to many, though some predicted it's coming; few thought it would strike with the speed and lethality that it did. Though the inherent qualities of the flu enabled its devastation of the country, the response to the flu was in part responsible as well. The response to the pandemic was reasonable, given the dire situation, but not sufficient enough to prevent unnecessary death and hardship, especially in Philadelphia.