Is Beowulf an Heroic Elegy or an Epic Narrative? Essay

In the poem, Beowulf’s position as a leader reveals a great deal about the values and beliefs of the

To begin, one of the many ways that Beowulf was different than Grendel is that Beowulf was brave. Every night Grendel snuck into Herot Hall to destroy King Hrothgar’s men. He did this while hiding in the shadows, sneaking around in the dead of night, and attacking while the men we asleep and at there most vulnerable. These are not the characteristics the brave, these are the characteristics of a foul, loathsome, cowardly beast. Mean while, Beowulf liked to meet a problem head on, in this case the problem was Grendel himself. Determined Beowulf sailed to Denmark to defeat Grendel, telling Hrothgar that he will take Grendel’s life with his bare hands. As told in the story, “ That mighty protector of men/ Meant to hold the monster till it’s life/ leaped out” (Raffel, 1963, l. 366-368). And when Beowulf got the chance to do just that, Grendel took the cowards road, “Grendel’s one thought

about heroes, the trials they faced, and how they choose to deal with those trails. The characters

“They said that of all the kings upon the earth he was the man most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to the Geats’ tribute to Beowulf after his death.” Beowulf has so many characteristics that only made him a good, loyal, and courageous hero, but also he is a wonderful epic hero. He is a great leader to his men, he is brave no matter what, and he would risk his life for people he didn’t even know and knew, and also for his men. Beowulf shows astonishing characteristics of an epic hero in the poem. Beowulf was significant and glorified by the people and society, he had superior and superhuman strength and intelligence, and he risked his life for glory and the society, and was a strong and responsible leader.

The poem highlights Beowulf’s excellence as the perfect hero. It shows his youthful heroism as a great warrior, predominantly by his feats of strength and courage, his expression of the heroic code, and his transition to a reliable king.

Beowulf is a poem written in manuscript form created in England sometime between the years 700 and 1000AD. The author is unknown to this day. Is Beowulf an epic poem or an elegy?

The poem Beowulf is about a man as many call a hero because he shows characteristics of a hero. In the poem he travels to kill a monster and his mother. Upon his return to his home he comes face-to-face with yet another, this time a dragon, he kills the dragon and does doing so he dies too. Calibers claims that he didn’t structure the poem correctly as if though it wasn’t steady throughout that's what made it interesting. Well token believes that it didn’t have a steadier and steady advance as though we didn’t have any, and if it did it wouldn’t have been as great as it is.

Throughout the entire passage of Beowulf there has been an overarching theme of Beowulf’s fate of life which in this passage is shown through the strong imagery of gain and loss and with the diction of sadness.

The epic poem Beowulf is considered the oldest long poem of Old English which survived through many years, but also one of the major works of English literature. However, the author of this great work remains unknown since it was written a long time ago, sometime between the eighth and the early eleventh century. It was first written to be told orally, and that is one of the main reasons why this poem is still known by today’s society; people in those times told the story to their tribe and it went on from generations to generations. What is interesting in this poem is that the society is idealized, which influences the people to act like those in the epic poems. Indeed, epic poems are really influential texts that reinforce certain values

Beowulf was motivated to fight Grendel because he wanted to give Hrothgar his rightful kingdom back. The difference between this fight from the other two was the way that Beowulf fought his opponent. He used hand to hand combat to rip the arm off of Grendel. He did not use any weapons because Grendel did not use weapons. It demonstrates Beowulf’s superhuman strength.

When analyzing any piece of literature, it is important to reflect on the time period in which it was written in order to gain better insight into what the work says about the society from which it came. In the case of Beowulf, this epic poem was

“His soul/Left his flesh, flew to glory,” (l. 827-28). Beowulf, a poem written in 700 A.D. by an anonymous Christian monk, has done just that. This poem has flown to glory and has remained there for almost 1,300 years. Beowulf will forever be remembered as the “mother poem” of England because of its representation of the Anglo-Saxon era. This era was a time of cultural uniqueness, including its distinctive writing styles. Beowulf is a perfect example of Anglo-Saxon literature. It tells of the tale of an epic hero as he battles his way to fame and glory, all the while struggling between two religions, Christianity and Paganism. Beowulf allows the Anglo-Saxon era to live on through its use of dramatic imagery, conflicting tones, and unique use of diction and style.

The Anglo-Saxon poem “Beowulf” takes the reader back into a time long past; one of family, fate, and fealty. Beowulf offers a glimpse of a society struggling between two different paths, one path being the assimilation into the new Christian traditions and the other is the fast fading past of glorified warriors and family ties. In the poem, the reader can see the attempts of the poet to convey the values and stories of Judeo-Christianity in a society of Anglo-Saxon paganism. The poet illustrates the infiltration of the Christian teachings and how they might have appeared within the lives of the people through the literary devices of symbolism, allegory, and allusion.

  The dialogue, action and motivation revolve about the characters in the poem (Abrams 32-33). It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate the types of characters present in the anonymously written Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf - whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through showing or telling.

The epic poem Beowulf, is an Angelo Saxon tale that represents heroism and strength. This poem was written be an unknown poet between around 1000 A.D and showcases the heroic character named Beowulf who comes to save the land of Danes from the beast Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel and then faces his mother the evil monster who is killed as well and is viewed by all the people of Dane as a hero who can never be beaten. An evil Dragon comes and Beowulf is able to kill the Dragon but sacrifices his own life as he is killed by the Dragon’s poison. Beowulf is about more than heroism this epic poem shows true English narration, represents Angelo-Saxon religion, and depicts women’s roles in Anglo-Saxon society