Characteristics Of Anglo Saxon Poetry

The Anglo-Saxons’ cultures and traditions are rooted in their beliefs of the perfect hero. Their ideal hero has many key characteristics influenced by their culture including courage, strength, bravery, thick skin, loyalty, humbleness, and the ability to create strong trustworthy friendships. Beowulf is an epic poem that exhibits the ideal Anglo-Saxon hero. The Anglo-Saxon traditions illustrated in Beowulf accurately represent the Anglo-Saxon traditions of the time period. This is accomplished through the distinct correlation of heroic characteristics between Beowulf and the culture’s traditional depiction of an Anglo-Saxon hero.

One of the first pieces of British literature recorded is the epic poem Beowulf. The poem concentrates on the life of the adventurous Geat warrior, Beowulf. Beowulf faces several challenges throughout the poem that depict him as a man who would go to extreme lengths to accumulate fame. While creating a legend for himself, Beowulf and other characters within the poem reveal several values of the Anglo-Saxons. These values include their belief in boasting, revenge, and loyalty.

Anglo-Saxon literature often expressed concepts of survival, battle, exile, male dominance in society, and loyalty to the lord. These aspects are strongly represented in both “The Wanderer” and “The Wife’s Lament”. Both elegies deliver themes of self-exile and the mourning of lost companions. Ideas of longing and alienation are present in these two Anglo-Saxon poems through use of figurative language, structure, point of view, comparison, and various other literary techniques.

“No better king had ever lived, no prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise.” This is an ultimate description of the heroic events of Beowulf, an old Anglo-Saxon poem about a warrior who battles and destroys three horrifying monsters. Although written long ago, the emotions expressed within this work, emotions of bravery, valor, and ethics still speak to us centuries later. The anonymous author of the poem convinces us through the masterful use of various literary elements that emphasize its meaning and message. Conflict, imagery and setting are three literary elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the poem.

Women have had many different roles in the history of European literature but have generally been restricted to the roles assigned to them in a largely patriarchal society. As a result of this society, these roles have often been powerless ones. This calls into question the constitution of a powerful woman in literature: in Beowulf, being a powerful woman means becoming the bond between families and alliances; in Lanval, power comes from assertion and control-- a powerful woman is a woman in charge. The primary difference between the representation of women in Beowulf and Lanval is that the latter transcends overarching patriarchal boundaries, and the former does not; the reason for their respective representations lies in the literary time periods in which the stories were written. From this, one can see that the introduction of romance as a central theme gave way to new representations and roles of women in predominantly heteropatriarchal English literature and gives new meaning to the analysis of stories like these.

When isolated from society, loneliness becomes a part of you. In the poems, The Wife’s Lament translated by Ann Stanford and The Seafarer translated by Burton Raffel, are two similar and different poems. The characters in these poems handle their exiles in different ways. The way the two characters reflect from their exile is based off Anglo-Saxon values and beliefs. These poems compare and contrast the exile between men and women.

Loyalty has always been seen as a commendable trait, not only in human beings but in any creature, all through history. Soldiers have admired their enemies for their loyalty to fallen comrades, thousands of stories have been written about the intense loyalty animals portray for their owners, and even companies in the workforce look for loyalty in potential employees. Loyalty has been seen as something that distinguishes the trustworthy from the untrustworthy, and something that sets the great apart from the good. The archetypal hero commonly has a cause, whether it be another person or personal beliefs, that they are loyal to, and this unwavering loyalty is what makes them appear so highly in the eyes of the reader. Loyalty can be found in practically any work of literature, but within The Torah, The Odyssey, and Inanna is the idea that true loyalty, although a rare attribute, is the key to a successful relationship.

Loyalty is a theme found in many classics. The three classics that are discussed in this paper are _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, written by an unknown author, _The Odyssey_ by Homer, and _Don Quixote_, written by Miguel de Cervantes. In all three of the masterpieces loyalty can be traced through the characters action and words. Loyalty is evident in the characters behaviors to one another or maybe through a test they endure. In _The Odyssey_, _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, and _Don Quixote_ loyalty is apparent throughout the story.

The comitatus “stressed the loyalty of a thane to his chieftain and treated exile and outlawry as the most tragic lots that could befall one. This secular sense of loss is keen in The Wanderer.”6 Not only is the loss of a lord evident in “The Wanderer,” but in “The Seafarer” and “The Wife’s Lament” as well.

The Anglo Saxons were an interesting people that were loyal to their lord. Each group had a leader that commanded and directed the warriors. Loyalty was an important part of the Anglo Saxons culture. In Beowulf, the Anglo Saxons were expected to remain loyal to their leader as he was responsible for protecting them in battle. The leaders of the Anglo Saxons were admired for their courage and determination as they guided the group of warriors in their endeavors. In “The Wife’s Lament”, the wife remains loyal to her lord even though she is treated harshly by him. She chased after him when he left, and continued to love him after he ostracized her. As evident in Beowulf and “The Wife’s Lament”, the Anglo Saxons greatly relied on a noble leader to protect them from danger and direct them towards success; as a result, the followers were loyal to their lord by showing reverence and admiration as well as honouring their legacy, even if the lord neglected to fulfill his duties.

The oldest of the great lengthy poems written in English and perhaps the lone survivor of a genre of Anglo-Saxon epics, Beowulf, was written by an unknown Christian author at a date that is only estimated.  Even so, it is a remarkable narrative story in which the poet reinvigorates the heroic language, style, and values of Germanic oral poetry.  He intertwines a number of themes including good and evil, youth and old age, paganism and Christianity and the heroic ideal code, into his principal narrative and numerous digressions and episodes; all of which were extremely important to his audience at the time.  Vengeance, part of the heroic code, was regarded differently by the two distinct religions.

Since humans first emerged into the intellectual sphere of literature, extravagant tales of mystical lands, bloody wars, and gallant heroes spread far and wide. All treasured tales transpire time, From trespassing viking warlords, to poetic french vineyards, and indian tribes across the sea, each culture remains coated in these tales. In the twenty first century there is no need for memorizing stories, however in times gone by stories were circulated by tune or voice until christianity began to spread worldwide. Beowulf, written by an anonymous christian monk, possesses a timeless approach of a classic fight for love and glory; a case of do or die to audiences across the span of a lifetime with intricate tones,

One of the Anglo- Saxon values still holding true today will have to be loyalty. One might wonder, what exactly is loyalty? Loyalty is being faithful to something or someone, or in shorter words, always sticking to a person or thing no matter what the situation is. Beowulf shows his loyalty when he states he “will not shift a foot” (2524) because he cannot break his word. Wiglaf understands this loyalty to one’s reputation and how it is linked to being a warrior. (2890-1) “A warrior will sooner die than live a life of shame” Beowulf hands Wiglaf his collar of gold, his war shirt, and his helmet and tells him to use them well” showing an act of loyalty.

Exile, is defined as a state of being barred from one’s native country. How could that even be possible; Being kicked out of a place of inhabitance. Many say that you’d have to do something unthinkable to have a punishment as grim as exile. During the lawless time of monsters and unruly Kings, the Anglo-Saxon era of poems make that all very practical. The creators of each poem discuss the personal endeavors of each exile and how they each come to their own acceptance, or not. “The seafarer”, “Wanderer”, and the “Wife’s Lament” use various literary devices to express the emotional toil, sorrow, and each theme of their exile.

Throughout centuries human beings have evolved, but various traits of human nature remain the same. An epic poem named “The Canterbury Tales” written by Geoffrey Chaucer provides examples that demonstrate traits of human nature that are still relevant in our world today even if this piece of literature was written hundreds of years ago.The Canterbury Tales is framed by having multiple people from different social lives and statuses share stories which demonstrates how these pilgrims think and act, in other words their human nature, on their way to the martyr St. Thomas in a pilgrimage. These characters portray different traits of human nature such as having religious aspirations, falling in love, and thinking in an evil way in their stories which are all still lively relevant in today's society.