Beowulf Essay - James Kawakami Asher P1

James Kawakami

Period 1

Beowulf Essay

The epic poem, Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, exemplifies Anglo-Saxon literature in every way. The poem contains aspects of strong violence, honor, pride, dignified writing style, and many musical devices which are all used in common Anglo-Saxon writing. Other poems, such as “The Ruin,” and Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf also support the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon writers.
First of all, the quintessential Anglo-Saxon poem is filled with violence. Anglo-Saxons believed that through brute force and power, one could change their fate, or moira. Beowulf represents a violent person, in his vicious fights against Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Seamus Heaney and Burton Raffel go into gruesome detail when describing the battles with Grendel, where the monster “mauled a man… bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood, and gorged on him in lumps(51).” There are no simple details which passively describe the situation, but the poem is instead filled with great detail and violence. This violence in Beowulf allows it to fit into the mold of Anglo-Saxon writing.
Anglo-Saxon poems also contain a great amount of pride and honor, which must always be kept high. For example, Beowulf is excessively prideful at the beginning for the story, because there is no man that he cannot defeat, and uses it to boast about himself. Since Beowulf believes he is the greatest warrior, this leads to his belief of entitlement, that he should deserve anything or any position that he wants. Also, honor is exemplified in Heaney’s writing as well as “The Ruin.” In Beowulf, after Beowulf slays Grendel and shows his hand for all to see, Grendel’s mother comes after it in order to preserve Grendel’s honor, and let him rest in peace. In another way, the people who saw “The Ruin” and wrote about it must have wanted to preserve the builder’s work and honor it. Anglo-Saxons were a dignified people, and kept honor where it was rightfully due.
Another main aspect of AngloSaxon writing in which Beowulf exemplifies, is a very dignified writing style. Both Heaney and Raffel use descriptive and profound words to add to their tone of the epic poem. When introducing Grendel, Heaney calls him “a powerful demon, a prowler in the dark… ruled in defiance of right,” (9) and Raffel describes his attacks that “he slipped through the door, snatched up thirty men, smashed them unknowing in their beds, and ran out with their bodies.” These examples give a vivid picture of the monster Grendel, and his terrible actions. They describe every detail, while keeping the poem serious at the same time, exemplifying common Anglo-Saxon literature.
Finally, musical devices, kennings, and epithets are often found in Anglo-Saxon pieces, which allow the author to put more emphasis on certain passages. Heaney uses alliteration in his writing very often to draw the reader’s attention to this specific point. Describing Beowulf and his men in the fight, they are “stalwart in action, they kept striking out on every side, seeking to cut straight to the soul (53).” This passage lets the reader know that his men tried fiercely to hurt Grendel but could not, while emphasizing its importance to the story. If other words without the “s” sound were used, the passage would have been read much less effectively, and not be recognized as anything important. Epithets and kennings are also often used, to give a different and usually more descriptive name to the object or person. Grendel is named “the shadow-stalker,” (47) and Beowulf is called “Halfdane’s son,” (67) instead of their real manes for more effect for the reader. These musical devices used in Beowulf allow the poem to be read with more emphasis on certain parts, an integral part of Anglo-Saxon writing.
Beowulf is the quintessential example of Anglo-Saxon writing because of its many examples of violence, honor, pride, writing style, and musical devices. Anglo-Saxon writing is a very distinct type of literature which has been viewed countless time as Beowulf as perfection. These examples allow the reader to understand how Beowulf exemplifies Anglo-Saxon writing.