What are your initial thoughts with regard to Beowulf being a “Christian” or “Pagan” poem? What does the monster Grendel represent? Your blog should not include all of your textual evidence, but it should discuss your opinions. All of you need to respond to each other! Sorry for the delay, but it just gives you more time!
10 Comments
Jenny Smith
10/3/2016 10:33:00 am
Beowulf contains both Christian and Pagan elements. The first give away is in the background it states, “Beowulf reflects both Pagan and Christian traditions.” The subjects and Beowulf refer to God multiple times, but they also rely on fate, which is more of a paganistic idea. When Beowulf sets off to defeat Grendel, he says in lines 269-270, “God must decide who will be given to death’s cold grip.” This tells the reader that Beowulf relies on God with his life. He trust that when fate unfolds, it will be because God has decided it.
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Kenya Jones
10/3/2016 10:35:53 am
I agree with you, Jenny! In Burton Raffel’s analysis of Beowulf, he says that “Anglo Saxon England had long since been Christianized when Beowulf was written.” There are obvious Christian elements in the poem, as God is referred to a plethora of times. However, the story exemplifies Pagan elements as well. Beowulf himself talks about fate in the poem when he makes his speech before his battle with Grendel. In line 284, he says, “Fate will unwind as it must!” Other instances of Pagan elements can be found in lines 25-29 when the poem talks of how the demons split into many different evils - including goblins and monsters. I feel that throughout the poem, there is no consistent mentioning of a certain religion; instead, Christianity and Paganism is somewhat alternated. In Tolkien’s “Beowulf: The Monsters and Critics,” the author says these keywords on page 3: “At this point, new Scripture and old tradition touched and ignited… In Beowulf, we have...a historical poem about the pagan past, or an attempt at one...It is a poem by a learned man writing of old times… So far from being a confused semi-pagan…” This explains the mixed elements of the two religions and why Dr. J. Michael Stitt believes there can be a compromise between the two interpretations.
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Jordan Zeigler
10/4/2016 07:05:23 pm
I like how you noticed that Anglo-Saxon values began to vanish throughout the story! The idea of kinship and loyalty to your lord is extremely crucial in Anglo-Saxon society, and those values were nearly completely gone by the end of Beowulf's era. Unfortunately, I think this theory loses some ground since Wiglaf retained his loyalty and was even appointed as the new lord in Beowulf's stead (Line 823). Lords and Anglo-Saxon clans continue to live even after most of Beowulf's men desert him, but I think the image is still crucial and symbolic of the decline of Anglo-Saxon culture. Even if Wiglaf stayed with Beowulf, Beowulf and Wiglaf were the last two "true" Anglo-Saxons to keep their kinship strong.
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Kenya Jones
10/3/2016 10:37:34 am
I think that’s great insight, Jenny! I think, according to Cohen’s Monster Theory, that Grendel represents the police who borders the realm of the possible. At the beginning of Beowulf, lines 1-19 suggest that Grendel’s anger and terror derived from the rejoicing of the Lord by the men in the mead-hall. Lines 1-7 says, “A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain, impatient as day after day the music rang loud in the hall, the harp’s rejoicing call and the poet’s clear songs, sung of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling the Almighty making the earth…” Grendel serves as the “police” who continually attacks these men for venturing into the realm of Christianity, wandering from their Pagan origins. So, to go “hand-in-hand” with your proposal, I would say the defeat of Grendel and the other monsters represents the decline of Pagan influences and Anglo-Saxon culture as well. Grendel himself, however, represents the guardian of Paganism.
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Jordan Zeigler
10/4/2016 06:59:25 pm
I would definitely agree that Grendel represents the "guardian of Paganism" as monsters are inherently Pagan icons. If Beowulf is symbolic of The Good Christian as I believe, then slaying the "guardian of Paganism" must definitely symbolize the righteousness and Christian pride of killing any trace of Paganism in Anglo-Saxon society. Killing Pagan monsters symbolizes the end of Paganism in Anglo-Saxon society, and to the emerging Christian world that is absolutely the just and holy thing to do.
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Holmes
10/5/2016 05:35:48 am
Curiosity thought... if Beowulf is a Good Christian, where did the dragon come from?
Jenny Smith
10/3/2016 10:38:49 am
The closest relationship between the song "Brandy" by Looking Glass and "The Seafarer" is the line in "Brandy" that says, "But my life, my love and my lady is the sea." The Seafarer only feels happy while he is at sea. Even if he has lost all of his comrades, the sea still makes him feel at home.
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Kenya Jones
10/4/2016 06:48:06 pm
"Brandy" by Looking Glass has strong similarity to "The Seafarer." In the poem, the sailor tells of how he is only satisfied by the waves of the ocean. Nothing ashore pleases him as much as what he experiences and feels when he is at sea. In comparison, the bartender Brandy's lover feels the same way. The song says "But he made it clear he couldn't stay, no harbor was his home." Also, as you said, he tells Brandy the sea is his one and only true love.
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Jordan Zeigler
10/4/2016 06:55:43 pm
While there are clearly both pagan and Christian elements in Beowulf, I personally think that the poem is almost exclusively Christian. It is my opinion that most Pagan influence is not intentional, and is only present due to Pagan traditions being so crucial to Anglo-Saxon culture. It is almost impossible to separate Pagan influences from an Anglo-Saxon story, and that must account for Pagan elements. Tolkien says that the scop who must have originally created Beowulf probably took elements from both Christianity and Paganism as it was what the culture revolved around, and I couldn't agree more. In the context of the poem itself, however, I think the poem is exclusively Christian in its themes.
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Holmes
10/5/2016 05:45:42 am
How good of you to see Grendel as a representation of sin and Beowulf as a Christ-like figure. There is a great deal going on in the poem once you begin to break down the elements. Once discussed and read a second and third and fourth time, you see different angles and perspectives.
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