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Beowulf - College Essays

Beowulf

Though it is often viewed both as the archetypal Anglo-Saxon literary work and as a cornerstone of modern literature, Beowulf has a peculiar history that complicates both its historical and its canonical position in English literature. By the time the story of Beowulf was composed by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet around 700 a.d., much of its material had been in circulation in oral narrative for many years. The Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian peoples had invaded the island of Britain and settled there several hundred years earlier, bringing with them several closely related Germanic languages that would evolve into Old English. Elements of the Beowulf story—including its setting and ...

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to attribute Christian thoughts and motives to his characters, who frequently behave in distinctly un-Christian ways. The Beowulf that we read today is therefore probably quite unlike the Beowulf with which the first Anglo-Saxon audiences were familiar. The element of religious tension is quite common in Christian Anglo-Saxon writings (The Dream of the Rood, for example), but the combination of a pagan story with a Christian narrator is fairly unusual. The plot of the poem concerns Scandinavian culture, but much of the poem’s narrative intervention reveals that the poet’s culture was somewhat different from that of his ancestors, and that of his characters as ...

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Beowulf. (2011, March 1). Retrieved February 18, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Beowulf/95379

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"Beowulf." Essayworld.com. March 1, 2011. Accessed February 18, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Beowulf/95379.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/1/2011 11:59:12 AM
Submitted By: darkmiguel
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 300
Pages: 2

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