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Literary Value of Beowulf in terms of Anglo – Saxon`s culture

By Calvin Fulgar BSE-3A ENG

Beowulf is the most important works of literature in the old English it is the oldest existing old
English poem it is composed between 700-750c.e.the author is an unknown poet the sory
take place in scandinavia between the end of the century 5th century and the beginning of 8th
century the mixture of Christianism and paganism values is sorted into single time-framed in
2013 archeologist said that they discovered the exact location of Heorot which is dated in 6th
century and it is located Denmark Beowulf is written by a two monks in 11th century the
manuscript is being kept in the British museum and Beowulf is said to be the most translated
text in the history, The original audience is sat in the middle of a bonfire and listen to a orator or
a story teller and gave them the epic tale of Beowulf.
The plot of Beowulf started when a monster name Grendel the spawn of Cain the first person
who commits murder and violence which terrorize and murder innocent people in the land of
the king of the Danes Hrothgar a geat warrior come to his aide who want to repay his kindness
by saving his father Beowulf fights Grendel without weapon while in the heat of battle Beowulf
gets the upper hand and ripped of the arm of Grendel the monster is injured severely by
Beowulf and fled back to his cave in the verge of death.
Then king Hrothgar gives the warrior gifts of gratitude for defeating the monster and after a day
a monster killed one of Hrothgar’s men and take a way the arm of Grendel and that monster is
the mother of Grendel then Beowulf follows it in her lair and battle against the monster but
weapon of mortals do not affect the mother of Grendel but he found a magical sword inside the
cave and use it to slay the mother of Grendel and there he found the body of Grendel and sliced
his head off and then blade of the sword melted and Beowulf gives the head of Grendel and the
hilt of the magical sword and the king Hrothgar our him with a lots of gifts.
Beowulf returns to his kingdom after two succeeding throne beowulf becomes the king of geats
for fifty years his land lives in harmony with other kingdoms but one a day a dragon a fire
breathing monster it wreck havoc because a slave steals from it Beowulf battles the dragon but
his men abandon him only Wiglaf a trusted companion of the king of the geats they fought the
dragon Beowulf and defeated and slay it but Beowulf has been poison by the dragon and oh his
last breath he gave his shield to his companion Wiglaf and the story ends in the death of
Beowulf and having a elaborative funeral.

There are literery devices used in the poem Beowulf let me show you two example of lierary
devices used in writing Beowulf
Consonance is a literary device use in the poem Beowulf is the repetition of the consonant
sound anywhere in the following words of the poem.
“No counselor could ever expect fair reparation from those rabid hands”as you can see the
consonant that being repeated is the ‘’R’’ sound in every word in the lines
Kenning is also a device use in the poem it is a metonomy that uses figurative language to
replace a common noun it is common in anglo-saxon poetry example are hellish fiend another
term to describe Grendel spear-bearers which also means the warriors heart of the people
which pertain to the king himself.
Beowulf belong to the period of anglo-saxon in these period plundering conquering and making
the weak to submit to the strong is common just like in Beowulf there is a hierarchy in the
society that king is the highest and the slave is the lowest in the ladder of hierarchy.
Glory is a values that the culture of anglo-saxon can be correlated in Beowulf as warrior you will
only bring glory to the king buy giving him the credits of your achievement of your battle and
also glory to ones self by winning a battle as a warrior you will give pride to yourself by
conquering your opponent the name you have will be known by others they will respect you and
Sung praises for you.
Beowulf bravery also reflect the courageous value of a anglo-saxon warrior to be a warrior
cowardice is not tolerated because as warrior just like Beowulf fight Grendel without using any
weapon only his strength and bare hands he defeat the hellish fiend Grendel a anglo-saxon
warrior do not run from any battle but they will choose to die in battle than to be called a coward
for running away in a battle.
Loyalty is also part of the culture of the anglo-saxon the loyalty pertains to the loyalty of warrior
to the throne that they all submit to their king just like Wiglaf when Beowulf fight against the
dragon he never abandon his king but he fight along side with Beowulf that is also a trait of a
warrior they are willing to sacrifice their life for their king because they swear allegiance to the
throne.
The heroic code was the collective values of the anglo-saxon period and Beowulf is an a epic
poem the oldest literary work in English literature that depict it.

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