Beowulf

   Last week's subject was Beowulf. I've watched the movie but, I had no idea about English Literature at that time. And here is the some information:

 Beawulf is the longest epic poem in old English,the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. More than 3,000 lines long,Beowulf relates the exploits of its eponymous hero , and his successive battles with a monster,named Grendel,with Grendel's revengful mother, and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard of treasure.






 Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil, and divides neatly into three acts. The poem opens in Denmark, where Grendel is terrorising the kingdom. The Geatish prince Beowulf hears of his neighbours’ plight, and sails to their aid with a band of warriors. Beowulf encounters Grendel in unarmed combat, and deals the monster its death-blow by ripping off its arm. 

There is much rejoicing among the Danes; but Grendel’s loathsome mother takes her revenge, and makes a brutal attack upon the king’s hall. Beowulf seeks out the hag in her underwater lair, and slays her after an almighty struggle. Once more there is much rejoicing, and Beowulf is rewarded with many gifts. The poem culminates 50 years later, in Beowulf’s old age. Now king of the Geats, his own realm is faced with a rampaging dragon, which had been guarding a treasure-hoard. Beowulf enters the dragon’s mound and kills his foe, but not before he himself has been fatally wounded.

Beowulf closes with the king’s funeral, and a lament for the dead hero.

Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed. Beowulf is set in the pagan world of sixth-century Scandinavia, but it also contains echoes of Christian tradition. The poem must have been passed down orally over many generations, and modified by each successive bard, until the existing copy was made at an unknown location in Anglo-Saxon England.

Early History of England

  This week the most effective thing I found is the history of England and I collected much more knowledge after the lesson.

Early History of England  

The island was originally inhabited by Celtic tribes from Central Asia prior to the invasion by the Romans c. 50-100CE.  Some of the Celts, a brave, fierce, and what we would call barbaric people, fled west over the mountains to what is now Wales and further over to Ireland.  The rest stayed and intermarried with the invading Romans.  The Romans brought architecture, art, "civilization," Christianity and most important, literacy. They stayed in the land, founding the cities that are today London (then Londinium) and Wincester, but during the fall of the Roman Empire c. 450-500 CE, the Roman soldiers left, leaving the now-softened Celtic people. 

This left the natives open to attacks from the neighboring Picts (from what is today Scotland) and Jutes (a Germanic tribe).  The Celts called for help from the Angles and Saxons, tribes from the area that is the modern Germany - Denmark area.  The Angles and Saxons saved the Celts, but then turned against them and settled in England, becoming the Anglo-Saxons who lived in Angle-Land (-- England). 

These Anglo-Saxons were brave, rude, reckless, adventurous and barbaric.  They did not have much of a written culture, but they brought with them a rich folk-lore tradition, with long epics recited by scops, the poets of the clan.  These recitations, the earliest English Literature, was finally written down by Christian monks in the 10th and 11th centuries. 

Religion: 
 

While the Romans brought Christianity to the land, it was not until around 650 CE that England was fully Christianized.  The native religions were dominated by the earth-based religion Druidism, but there were a number of smaller traditions being practiced.  These were not destroyed, but pushed underground in greatly diminished numbers, only to be resurfacing in the later part of this century.  Pieces of these older religions can be found thoughout English literature.  Right: Ardagh Chalice The acme of Irish Christian metallurgy, 7th-8th century,  (from How the Irish Save Civilization)