Beowulf poem review

Beowulf poem review

Beowulf is an ancient poem done by Prof. Charles Sawyer and Katherine Sawyer.  Chauncey Tinker translated it and its revised version published in 1912. The poem is based on a legendary warrior who sets on a journey to Denmark with his solders and best friend. At their destination, they meet a king in need of aid to slay Grendel, a creature that possesses appalling strength. The translation of the original poem aims at making it readable and straightforward.   Overall, Beowulf has brought out the critical themes like kingship and heroism, and tension between paganism and Christianity in England history.

The plot of the poem is logical. Beowulf questions the nature of human existence. It seems transfixed by certain common concepts that include practical nature, life, and death. The Anglo-Saxon structure of the poem is overlapping and ambiguous. It seems natural that major binaries like humans and monsters, and Christianity and paganism, would show strange hybridity. It is because the author conjoined two concepts with opposing ideas to attain poetic effects. However, it is not easy to notice the unique poetic interplay between nature and artifice.

The poem Beowulf uses a range of techniques in the composition of its verses. Alliteration and opposition dimensions used in the poem lead to prominent images. They are woven together into some sought of ring-like structures. A single word in the poem has the capability of showing the culmination of accurately plotted order of imagery, which can tie into character traits or significant themes. If such words fall out of order or altered, then resonance is lost. A good example is when conveying the confusion and chaos of the battle. The helmet at the beginning is represented by an image of a boar or a swin before later on being revealed as a helmet.

In addition to the poetic techniques discussed above, Beowulf uses a pattern of mixed nature and life. The combination of the two reconstructs into a deeper meaning than what it represents in reality. Blood does not merely mean blood, and it is described as ‘swate’  that has close ties to the phrase  “swin offer helmet”. If swin had immediately been followed by the verb ‘scired’, it would have resolved into a word soaked with boar’s blood.

By making creatures difficult to conceive and perceive, the poet gives a challenge to the limitation of the society and their thought process.  Their thoughts contribute to the origin of the monsters. We see a picture where there is a need for a growing awareness of cultural responsibility rather than individual blame. It is beyond the capability of one person to physically achieve what can be performed by Grendel, Beowulf, or even his mother. The human monster can commit atrocities much higher than any dragon only through collective force.

There is also a structure of unity in the poem. Grendel’s mother is a representation of a transition sharing a likeliness with both the dragon and Grendel. She is central, both structurally and thematically in the manuscript, to the continuation of the poem. There is very little evidence supporting Grendel’s mother’s characterization as a monster in comparison to the dragon or Grendel. She is a personified riddle, self-conscious challenge, and a perfect example of the notions of Danish society. She challenges the concept of excluding her from the same considerations given to the dragon and her son.

The documented complexity shown on Grendel’s mother disguises a simple truth regarding her identity, which is her motherhood. In comparison to any of Beowulf’s opponents, she appears to have a proper motivation to act violently. She is not upset by human happiness, nor is she provoked to hatred as a result of the theft of treasure. Grendel suffered a slow, humiliating, and painful death caused by one man, which is a bad experience for her. It is not hard to relate to her rage, especially for an audience that might have also lost a child in battle. She is equipped with physical tools that enable her to show her sorrow in a vengeful and visible way. It represents injustice where she is cut off from human society because of an ancient crime that was committed by another person.

In conclusion, Beowulf is an ancient poem done by Prof. Charles Sawyer and Katherine Sawyer. Chauncey Tinker translated it and its revised version published in 1912. The poem is based on a legendary warrior that sets on a journey to Denmark with his soldiers. The plot of the poem is logical. Beowulf questions the nature of human existence. It seems transfixed by certain common concepts that include practical nature, life, and death. The Anglo-Saxon kind of poem is overlapping and ambiguous. The poem Beowulf uses a range of techniques in the composition of its verses. Alliteration and opposition dimensions used in the poem lead to prominent images. They are woven together into some sought of ring-like structures. They are woven together into some sought of ring-like structures. In addition to the poetic techniques discussed above, Beowulf uses a mixture of nature and life. The combination of the two reconstructs into a deeper meaning than what it represents in reality.