When a culture constantly evolves and changes it truly is a healthy culture indeed. Since the beginnings of the Pagan warriors to the skilled and accomplished craftsmen of the Renaissance, the European world was drastically transformed. The literature of every epoch indicates the profound cultural innovations. The Anglo-Saxon's inarguably most important piece of literature, Beowulf, is the story of a courageous, epic hero who fights Grendel, "A powerful monster, living down In the darkness..." (Heaney, lines 1-2). The battle between Beowulf and the gruesome Grendel exhibits the everlasting conflict of good versus evil. This struggle between the brave and the malevolent is sustained in the medieval predicament for a model of ideal chivalry. "There was a Knight, a most distinguished man, Who from the day on which he first began To ride abroad had followed chivalry," (Chaucer, lines 43-45). Knights were treated with extreme admiration and sincerity as "The General Prologue" from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales mentions. Even though the clash of good versus evil is constant throughout all literature of any time, the moral code in each confrontation is of much more importance and is always held above pure strength. Rather than focusing on acts of bravery and action-packed battles, the Renaissance period was more focused on ideals of intelligence and the arts. "And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant posies" (Marlowe, lines 9-10). Stories like The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, by Christopher Marlowe, express an ideal of romance and nature. Sonnets and rhyming verses were especially popular during this period. The stories, tails, and poems of these three time periods prove they are each quite unique. The Anglo-Saxon, Medieval and Renaissance eras each hold characteristics of leadership, warfare, and religion that interlace and reticulate among themselves.
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