1) Who wrote Beowulf? How does the poet create a distance between the characters and himself? Why does he do this? Do they share the same world?
2. Compare and Contrast Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with Marie de France's Lanval in terms of representations of gender.
3. Do you think courtly love in any way elevated the status of women in the works (3) of Marie de France?
4. Discuss Chaucer's Life and Times. Was he a man of his time -- or more progressive?

 

Answering Question 1: Analyzing Beowulf and its Poet’s Composition

Beowulf is known to be one of the oldest English poems surviving today. Yet, it is impossible to trace out both the name of the author and the date of its composition. Although literature experts have articulated that Beowulf was written between the 8th and the 11th centuries in England. Even still, the poem comprises of events that unfolded in the earlier 6th century. These events are discussed by its author through the use of the past tense. This creates a sense of distance between the poet and the events that unfolded in Beowulf. Perhaps the poet wanted to make a well-articulated poem about events of the past. Nonetheless, just the name of its author, the name of the poem was not known when it was found. Some scholarly poets decided the name of this poem as Beowulf due to the theme of the poem. Although there is no evidence of the existence of historical Beowulf, some of the events are rightly stated in the poem; therefore, the excavators who found the poem named it Beowulf.

 Beowulf is considered to be a heroic poem and the highest achievement of Old English literature. The poet has created a difference between himself and the characters through the use of the past tense but they share the same world.

Until 1815, the poem was not present in the printed form as it was preserved in the form of a single manuscript. This singular yet historical manuscript was known as the Beowulf manuscript (Alama). The manuscript of Beowulf was located at Nowell Codex in a British library. As mentioned before, the poem did not have any title in its original form and was referred to as “Beowulf” by literature experts just because of the name of its protagonist. Nonetheless, the story of Beowulf has been through a lot over the years. One particular event was the fire at Ashburnham House in London where the manuscript allegedly caught fire. The Ashburnham House in London was the place for the old and classical manuscripts. It included the medieval manuscripts that were collected and assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton. Regardless of the damages caused by the fire, Beowulf still remains one of the oldest and the most often translated poem of the Old English Literature. Many authors from different countries have translated the poem into different languages in order to preserve old English literature and the story of past events (Magennis).

The story of this epic poem revolves around Beowulf, a much-accomplished hero of the Geats. The Beowulf hero came to the rescue of Hrothgar, who was the King of Danes. The mead hall of Hrothgar located in Heorot was in danger and under attack by a monster named Grendel. Beowulf successfully slew and defeated Grendel, and in return, the mother of Grendel also attacked Beowulf, but she was also defeated by the hero Beowulf. The mother of Grendel tried to attack all the people located in the hall, but she was not successful in her plan. Beowulf became the King of the Geats. After the passing of 50 years, Beowulf defeated the dragon, and he got fatally wounded in that fight. After the death of Beowulf, the attendants cremate the body, and then they built a tower in his memory (Alexander).

Considering the mystical life of Beowulf, scholars heavily debate over his existence. In addition to this, many of the scholar that do believe in the existence of Beowulf are divided when it comes to the medium of the story’s transmission. Some researchers believe that Beowulf was transmitted orally yet some argue that it was transmitted in a written form. This debate has heavily affected the interpretation of the poem. Some authors argue that if this poem was composed at pagan times, then paganism was the central element of the poem. All of the other elements, including Christian elements, were added later by different Christian scholars. It means that the poem's composition was changed, and new elements were added to the original form of the poem. In contrast, some authors argue that both paganism and Christian elements were used in the poem for increasing the decorative archaizing. There were different forms of dialectal forms of English that were seen in the poem, mainly the West-Saxon dialect of the Old English language was seen as present in the poem. There were different transitions seen in the poem due to the complex transmission throughout the dialect areas of England (Pascual).

The scholars argue that Anglo-Saxon poetry is a complex form of poetry. Anglo-Saxon poetry varies a lot from the modern types of poems. There was little use of rhyming in the poem; it means that the nature of the poem was complex. The poem does not include a fixed number of beats and syllables. The presence of stressed syllables was found in the poem Beowulf. The structure of the poem is considered to be tight, organized, formal, and very complex (Getty).

Beowulf was written by a poet who has directly indicated that the world he depicts is not real and epic for him. He has articulated that he does not have any direct experience of this world. Consequently, the poet has successfully developed a sense of distance between himself and the world of Beowulf. For the accomplishment of this purpose, the poet used the past tense to show that there is a clear difference between himself and the characters of the story but all of the characters existed in the same world. Beowulf is considered to be a story narrated by a Christian; it is considered to be the story of pagan times. The story was written in the third person, and the narrator has explained the actions in detail. The narrator had explained the characters using depth analysis (Brodeur). Yet the author of the poem indicates that he was not a part of this particular timeline.

In conclusion, Beowulf is considered one of the important poems of English literature, and it includes the essential elements of old literature. The story that was narrated in the poem shows that how the poet has maintained a distance between himself and the characters by using the past tense, but they shared the same world. The climax of the poem is considered when Beowulf was in a fight with the mother of Grendel; it was considered the time of extreme tension where the good and bad evil was in greatest tension. The poem has also highlighted the difference between the good warrior and the King. The poem is considered as the record of heroic deeds, and it also relies heavily on the concept of good and evil.

Analyzing Beowulf and its Poet’s Composition

Thesis statement: This paper analyzes the much-accomplished story of Beowulf and how it fits in our current reality. The paper extensively debates on the poet’s use of the past tense and articulates why he must have utilized such a tone. Furthermore, this paper also briefly discusses the poem.

1. Introduction
2. How did the poet distance himself from the poem?
3. Origin of the Beowulf Poem
4. Ashburnham House Fire
5. Brief analysis of the events of the poem
6. Debate over modifications
7. Analysis of Anglo-Saxon poetry
8. Analyzing the poet’s ideology
9. Conclusion