What do you know about the beowulf saga?
One of the oldest, beautiful and important examples of Old English, beowulf is a 3,000-line poem. It is considered one of the most important documents in English, English literature and history. Although originally in Old English, its protagonists are not the English, but their northern European ancestors. Therefore, it is obvious that the poem is not only one of the oldest and rarest examples of old English epic poetry, but also a surviving example of one of the greatest epics created by the people of northern Europe.
Neither the creator nor the author of the poem, which was written in the West Saxon dialect, in the oral tradition is known. The work was born in the eighth century, in the tradition of oral literature, lived in the oral tradition until the tenth century, was written in the middle of the tenth century, probably by a friar, meanwhile, it underwent many changes and Christian elements entered into it. There is no exact information about the place and time of its writing.
In 1878, g.j. It was translated into modern English by Thorkelin, and all extant translations have been made using copies of Thorkelin.
The story takes place in the 6th century, but it also contains elements from earlier periods. In short, it tells the life and heroism of a warrior named Danish Beowulf.
It starts with a preface, in which the history of the danish and the tree of life are briefly explained, then it goes on to a king living in the country of Jute and what happened to his country. hrothgar is a generous, just, and good king, but he is getting old now. There is a monster haunting his country, and our old king has difficulty in fighting against this monster named Grendel, he is helpless. Meanwhile, the young warrior Beowulf comes from across the seas with his ship and men. heroism, adventure and fame; that is, he seeks immortality. no, he is not looking for trouble, because in pagan belief there is no life after death and what you do in this world is everything you could become. Beowulf arrives at hrothgar's castle and announces that he wants to fight the beast. The proud king and the brave warrior meet, after a short stretch, the noble spirits agree, and Beowulf and his men are given permission to fight the beast. A great feast is held that night. After everyone is asleep, the monster Grendel appears, enters the king's castle and attacks the sleeping men. But Beowulf did not sleep, waiting for the beast, he drew his sword and cut off one arm, the wounded Grendel escaped and returned to his lair to die. Great celebrations are held in the castle, gifts* are distributed. The next night, while everyone else is asleep, it's time for revenge: Grendel's mother shows up, coming to avenge her son. He breaks into the king's castle and attacks his sleeping men, snatching one of his most beloved men. As King hrothgar mourns his friend, Beowulf vows vengeance. The next day he gets ready and sets out to find Grendel's mother. Grendel's mother kidnaps him and takes him to his lair at the bottom of the lake, preparing to kill him. But Beowulf slays the beast with a sword he found in the cave. Celebrations are held again at hrothgar's castle, the king gives Beowulf leadership advice, overwhelms him with gifts and sends him home. from this moment begins the less popular part of the story. When he returns to his country, Beowulf, whose reputation precedes him, is given land, castle and throne for his heroism; Beowulf also becomes a king. He has successfully ruled his country for fifty years and made his people live in prosperity. When he is getting old, a dragon appears in his country. The beast is slaughtering and wreaking havoc, just as it did in the land of hrothgar years ago - at this point you realize that the beast can be a symbol of many different things. Unlike hrothgar, beowulf, choosing not to grieve or writhe in despair, decides to emerge and fight the beast, and sets out with his men to prepare and attack the beast in its lair.
when he comes to the beast's lair, all his men are frightened and flee, beowulf will face the beast alone; Only a brave and loyal warrior named Wiglaf remained with him. Beowulf manages to slay the beast, but he himself dies. Wiglaf returns and scolds the men for their cowardice, with hints that he will become the next king. Beowulf is then given a grand funeral.
The purpose of the story is to praise the earthly life and the glory, honor and success a man can achieve in this world through his courage. Courage and fame are the two keywords in this story. There is no life after death, the important thing is to do your best in this world, to make your name immortal.
Beowulf is an epic tragedy, even in the hero's bravest, most successful moments, the narrative is filled with the certainty of death.
The story consists of northern European mythology and legends, but it also contains Christian elements. All biblical references are to events in the Old Testament. Since there are no references to life after death, the poem is not a classical Christian literature product, but it was written by a Christian, and there are sections that will be meaningful to Christian listeners. Although it is a work full of Christian elements, it actually tells more about the warrior society, their way of life, traditions and social relations. In this respect, it is both historically instructive for the modern reader, and full of the beauty of a hazy world and other lives in the ancient world, revealing the function of prehistoric myths in northern European literature.
The author of the poem and his audience are obviously aristocratic and educated people. it is a work of oral tradition, but it has an official, traditional language, double meaning lines, it tells a moving and sometimes scary story. obviously the poet's vocabulary is very wide; The work is beautified with many different words with the same meaning, many compound noun and adjective phrases are used. Also, the rhetoric called “kenning” is used a lot.
Sound richness is very important in this poem; It is a poem written to be read aloud, coming from the tradition of oral literature, so translating it is a very difficult task, it will be.
It has been translated into modern English in both poetry and prose forms. Since there is no rhyme at the end of the lines and the rhythm is captured by the harmony of the sounds in the words, it can be considered to be translated in prose form.
The Place & Importance of Beowulf in English Literature
This epic, which contains many fantastic characters (dragon, monster, etc.) in its content, is thought to be a critical reference as it parallels the behavior and appearance of the Scandinavian rulers. It also provides important information about the period by contributing to our little knowledge about Scandinavia much earlier than 1000 AD.
Many descriptions in the epic describe Denmark, resembling Scandinavian and Germanic mythological characters, and describe the first migration to Britain in the folktale category. Although writings on religious terms and spiritual forces are quite common among Anglo-Saxons, Beowulf is actually a Pagan work with all the symbols it contains.
However, with the modernization of English, Nordic Paganism was replaced by Christianity and images such as monsters or demons were replaced in the epic.
Features
This epic poem or epic is the longest work in Old English, containing 3182 lines. It is one of the first examples of the fantasy genre due to its themes such as war, mythology, adventure and heroism. It is considered the only example of its kind in terms of literature with its very simple but allusive language.
It is estimated that the fear of frequent invasion of Scandinavian society is related to the feudal order in the epic, with the strong king and his loyal people who obeyed him resisting the war in tribes.
Before it was written, Anglo-Saxon poetry was common in the oral tradition and often contained verse forms that poets or scholars had to memorize. As a result, they developed techniques of alliteration (repetition of the same sound or syllable) to facilitate their recall.
In addition, as can be seen in Beowulf, instead of expressing the name of something or someone directly, a rhetorical technique was used by describing it with a metaphor. This rhetorical device is especially important in old English poetry.
Beowulf's Inspiration
The only manuscript of Beowulf, which is of great literary and historical importance, is preserved in the British Library today. As a result of a fire in the 1700s, it was saved at the last moment and was forgotten.
Until it was rediscovered by philologists in the early 19th century and its role in the development of English was recognized. Re-acclaimed by an Oxford scholar in 1936, Beowulf is widely believed to be the source of inspiration for the fantastical series The Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, and The Chronicles of Narnia.
In addition, although this lately discovered work is considered the only one of its kind and unique in terms of language, history and literature, although it is about 1000 years old, great writers such as Chaucer, Shakespeare and Shelley after him were news of this epic epic. It shows its influence in a good way only in the early twentieth century by novelists and poets such as Geoffrey Hill, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney.
