The largest influence on Anglo-Saxons culture is undoubtedly the shift from a pagan system of belief to a monotheistic, Christian culture. The remnants of Greek influence appear in every facet of Anglo-Saxon art, music, science, and literature, often clashing with newer ideals of Christianity. Old English poem “The Finnesburg Fragment” is an example of this. The epic story was written as adapted from an epic tale, and a similar story appears in Beowulf. The story-line essentially follows a Danish king and his followers as they are attacked at Finnesburg, but the plot is not the indicator of a cultural conflict between Greek ideals and newly formed Old English ideals. While this is an adapted epic from Greek/Roman times, the Finnesburg Fragment avoids paganism entirely in its account, and only lightly touches on Christianity. This story as seen in Beowulf is heavily influenced by Christian ideals, and particularly must compromise both beliefs when telling a story of a time before Christian ideals existed while still adding their moral importance and allusions to God into the text. The Finnesburg Fragment’s straightforward account and glorifying language hints at the worshipful aspect of a Greek epic, for example it says, “They fought for five days… none of them fell”. This inhuman immortality of the heroes in stories is derived from Greek and polytheistic origins, because in many Greek epics the heroes were godlike in a way themselves. This was all changing due to Christianity, and men were viewed more as mortals in Anglo-Saxon culture. This clash is seen in the Finnesburg Fragment, as it’s Greek influence remains even though it is supposed to be a purely historical account, and the version of the story in Beowulf proves that a Christian influence came to light in that period. It was developing and growing stronger as the Anglo-Saxon period wore on.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
ash.p3.t6 Anglo-Saxon Synthesis Question Response
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Although you begin well with a straightforward and factual basis on the subject of the Finnesburg Fragment and the Greek-Roman influence upon Anglo-Saxon society, the cohesive nature of this synthesis breaks down into near-circular reasoning and ambiguity in the end. The effect of Paganism, Greece, Rome, and Christianity can be difficult to find in any piece of history, but the source material of both this piece, and Beowulf, should have provided more than an ample supply of material. The synthesis becomes a tad ambiguous from the view of mortality in the two distinct group's literature, the Greek seemingly immortal and the Anglo-Saxon's idea of mortality, is just a much to rash oversimplification of the issue. This view of death does not even come back to reason the idea of the opposing fates, one uncontrollable while another controllable to an extent. The Greek Gods were immortal, but there men were to know a certain fate, while both the Pagan and Christian God(s) were also immortal, but there men, the Anglo-Saxons, had some control over there fate to the point of rerouting it entirely. If anything, the Anglo-Saxon heroes were more immortal than those of the Greeks. However, your background information does remain true, relevant, and succinct, making for an overall good synthesis.
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