by Patalasi

Created on: December 21, 2006   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

How often does the average reader of literary classics question whether a great piece of literature is sophisticated or crude? In asking such a question does one look at the context in which the work was written, i.e. the time period, subject matter, author's education level and intent. The obvious answer is yes, but what about literature, such as Beowulf, written during a period and for an audience presumably less sophisticated than our own. Is Beowulf a rudimentary rendering of epic events and characters? Moreover, is it unfair to consider its level sophistication without first considering the context in which it existed?

The answer to whether Beowulf is sophisticated or crude lies in establishing its historical origins. Therefore, it is important to examine the author, perhaps more so than the text. However, an examination of both reveals that author and text are anything but crude.
Beowulf, the oldest surviving English epic, dates between the eighth and tenth centuries. Despite the 200-year span when the work could have been written, its subject matter relates to events that took place centuries before. In fact, the epic poem artistically captures the events of England's Germanic origins. According to Norton Anthology editors, the poet, not only documented some historical facts but also succeeded in "reviving the heroic language style, and pagan world of ancient Germanic oral poetry, a world that was already remote to his contemporaries" (Norton Anthology Vol.1, 29). The author, conjectured to be a Christian, manages to describe a pagan world, outside his everyday experience, through Christian allusions. Moreover, he does so by transcending language barriers. His text was composed in a dialect known as Marcia, while his references must have taken any number of while his references must have taken any number of lingual identities/backgrounds. In terms of its relative meaning Norton's Anthology editors allege the text to be "a remarkable and difficult work even in its own day" (Norton Anthology Vol. 1, 29), more so now given the limited information on Germanic oral epics.
Secondly, as evidence of its sophistication, Beowulf is prolific with recognizable epic conventions, examples of Christian-pagan sympathy, and even creative linguistic ability. It is episodic and with only a brief history of the problems confronting the Danes, arguably begins in medias res. In fact, "the poem turns on Beowulf's three great fights against preternatural evil, which inhabits

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