Beowulf, an epic poem, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica Beowulf, an epic poem e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Letteratura Inglese Beowulf What’s? Beowulf is epic poem contained in a manuscript currently kept by the British Library. It was probably written down by two scribes in around the year 1000 CE, but probably it was composed between 700 CE and 1000 CE. Style The epic poem it’s centred on the actions of an unrivalled hero. The writing is full of highly poetic words and the stories are told by an omniscient and unobtrusive narrator. The author The author is anonymous, who presumably was a cultured Christian man because in the poem there are the celebration of Christian values that don’t belong to the original story, but was no doubt insert by the Christian author. The plot This poem narrates the actions of a Scandinavian prince, named actually Beowulf. It is divided into 2 parts: in the first Beowulf go to help to free the land of Danes from Grendel, a monster; in the second, instead, we are 50 years after the first part, and Beowulf has become king and he reigned in prosperity and peace until a dragon threatens him and his people; in the last part Beowulf fight the dragon and he kill it but he is mortally wounded, so the poem ends with the description of Beowulf’s funeral. Beowulf’s funeral The passage describes the ritual funeral of Beowulf after his death in the battle with the dragon. The Geat people build a pyre to burn his body and decorate the pyre with his armour, helmet and shield. As the body burns, the warriors lament his death. A Geat woman expresses her grief and fear of invasion and slavery now that the Geat’s greatest warrior is dead. Next the Geat people build a mound on a promontory so that it can be seen from far away. This is the hero’s memorial, which takes them 10 days to build. Inside the mound they place Beowulf’s remains. Close to his remains they bury his treasure to protect it from being stolen. Finally, 12 of the best warriors ride around the tomb, singing funeral songs and mourning the loss of the hero.