Beowulf

Beowulf is a very interesting story, it is purported to be the oldest story in the English language, but because of it's immense age it still must be translated into term that can be understood today. Another funny occurrence because of this age there is a change of priorities, it is very apparent in this story that people held lineage in very high regard, when someone is being introduced the narrator speaks of his father, his father's father, and so on, telling the reader of the entire family's conquests and bravery. A good example of this genocentric idea is in the opening of the story,

"Listen:
You have heard of the Danish Kings
in the old days and how
they were great warriors.
Shield, the son of Sheaf,
took many an enemy's chair,
terrified many a warrior...
Shield had a son...
Grain was his name;
he was famous
throughout the North...
Grain ruled the Danes
a long time after his father's death,
and to him was born
the great Healfdene, fierce in battle,
who ruled until he was old.
Healfdene had four children--
Heorogar, Hrothgar, Halga the Good,
and a daughter who married
Onela, King of the Swedes."

This idea shows itself almost every time a character is introduced, which is fairly often in this story, it almost seems like half of the story is telling you about the relatives of the subjects of the story.

Another Anglo-Saxon idea that is very prevalent in this story is that of a tribal warrior culture, the main way these people get things done is by fighting. because of the very basic infrastructure the societies that could operate smoothly were much smaller, having certain regions acting as the countries of today act. these regions may be even smaller than a state of today but they were still independent from the other tribes. the ideas of pride and honor also play a large part in the story, and it is interesting to see decisions made based on cultural norms that have completely changed today. a person would not sail across a large body of water to fight off their neighbor's tormentors, because we have a very well put together protection system, there aren't many demons more powerful than our government.

the language of beowulf is very interesting mainly because it is a translation from (really) old English, it is supposed to be the first tale ever written in English but because English has evolved so much as a language it is completely indistinguishable from what we now speak. because of this completely different style of writing, and the generally young nature of story writing, the story seems fairly disjointed, the flow is often interrupted by an explanation of an extremely long heritage or story of many generations ago, the time line is sometimes confusing.

I didn't find the story itself very interesting, because of it's age it uses extremely basic literary techniques, it is rather disjointed in the timeline, and does not present any new sorts of ideas. I am used to contemporary writing styles that use modern language and intricate plot devices, making for a seemingly more detailed story. Beowulf does not seem to have a particularly poignant social commentary and does not introduce hardly any new ideas into my idea of literature so it doesn't feel like it really adds anything to my knowledge of literature except for my knowledge of the story of beowulf.

I feel like the way beowulf dies is only fitting for a hero, it reminds me of the 300 spartan soldiers who sacrificed themselves at thermopylae to force a war with persia. the spartans won freedom for their people but had to sacrifice themselves in order to attain it, they did not fear their death because they knew they were dying for a reason, it was the same with Beowulf. he was honored to die in an honorable way.