Tolkien and Beowulf: Superficiality of the Critics

             Many people may not associate one of the most remarkable storytellers of the twentieth century, J.R.R. Tolkien, with Beowulf, the first great heroic poem in English literature. But as a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, he probably taught it every year of his working life, culminating with his supporting and now-famous paper, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."1 Through this landmark essay, Tolkien expressed his very adamant view that Beowulf is a poem and not, as other commentators had often suggested, merely a jumble of confused literary traditions, or a text for academic examination. This unique individual, in contrast with the majority of his colleagues, initiated a new era as he began the daunting task of transforming how the poem was valued and appreciated by taking it from merely a text to be studied to a grand work of art, literary genius, and prime example for archetypal sites of fear.
             Beowulf was written in Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) sometime between the middle of the seventh and end of the tenth century. The poem takes place in an ancient pagan Germanic society governed by a heroic code of honor and valor-a world where a name for warrior skills among living overwhelms any concern about where the soul ends up in the afterlife. This heroic narrative and foundation of English poetry track the honorable and vivacious life of a powerful Scandinavian prince called Beowulf, nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats, a people in southeastern Sweden. He hears of the havoc a monster called Grendel wreaks, who has been attacking Heorot, the dwelling of the Danish king Hrothgar. Beowulf journeys over the sea, where he is received by the king. When Grendel comes again to the hall, he is slain, his arm wrenched from his body by Beowulf, who is praised by the king for the deed. The next night, however, Grendel's mother returns to the hall to avenge her son, devouring Hrothgar's favorite counselor. Beowulf is begge...

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Tolkien and Beowulf: Superficiality of the Critics. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 17:01, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/24456.html