by Honi A.

Created on: October 13, 2009

Older than "Le Chanson de Roland", "Poema del Cid" and "Das Niebelungen Lied", "Beowulf" is artistically inferior to the three of them but superior to all of them in what concerns the psyche and the morale of a forming nation. Society, on the whole, is healthy: there is no selfishness and no bondage; people, the women included, are not things but persons in full possession of every juridical right; the Kings are never tyrants, their main preoccupation is the welfare of their subjects. When dying Beowulf demands that his successor to the crown should "care for the people's needs".Freedom is the emblem of the young state, the principal refrains are loyalty, bravery and strength.

A tale of adventure in a world of all possibilities. The change, through ordeal into perfection, of a strong-armed fighter into a perfect king. There is a huge distance, in moral terms between Beowulf the young warrior and Beowulf the old king. For a better understanding we should take a bird's eye view of the adventures the hero passed through.

Beowulf hears that a monster comes night after night to the hall of the King of Danes and devours one of the King's thanes. The hero sets sail for Denmark, sits up for the ogre and kills it. This is considered to be one of the worst fights of English poetry. But the fight is not over; after receiving some praises and gifts, the monster's mother comes to revenge her son and Beowulf has to fight her too. The essence we should catch is that battle is a way of life, the task of the worthiest members of a male-centred society in which swords have a name and a personality of their own, while women hardly have as much as a name and definitely no personality at all. In such a universe people rarely live to be ancient. Beowulf is no exception - he won't die of old age.

This poem should not be seen as an artistic piece of work but more as documentary poem. From here we get valuable information about an age we know little about from other sources. We have the unique opportunity to become accustomed with the manners and customs of the Englishmen's forefathers. We see their daily work in times of war and peace. We also see their towns and harbours; their king's hall and the etiquette at the court; their feasts and entertainments. We find references and allusions to great events, to the fortune of kings and nations. The record is of a paramount importance in point of historical data.

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