Give an account of old English Heroic poetry.

Give an account of old English Heroic poetry.

The Anglo Saxons and the Jutes, of Germany bring among them their language, paganism and their district warrior traditions as they invades the Roman colony of Britain in the fifth and sixth century. The Anglo Saxons are fierce and adventurous people with the fondness of war and love for the blue sea. Their manliness, heroism and hard toil are exhibited in Anglo Saxon heroic poetry. Here we come across a generally elevated elevating, and male centered literature, one which lays stress on the virtues of a tribal community, on the ties of loyalty between lord and liegeman, on the significance of individual heroism, and on the powerful sway of ‘wyrd’ or fate.


 Beowulf is an epic narrative celebrating the achievements of a hero. The poet narrator is anonymous and knows that his story is of a pagan type where the characters reflect pagan virtues and pre-Christian attitude to the outside world. The storyline of Beowulf in built around great fights with monsters who come in between the narrative by intruding themselves into accounts of human celebration and community. Hrothgar, the king of Danes, builds a wonderful court at Heorot where at every night there is feast and merry making. But there is a sinister and grotesque order of creatures bent on finishing off both king and court. Monster Grendel under the cover of the dark night intrudes into the court and kils the warriors. These things continues for long fifteen years. Then it is Beowulf the hero who accosts the abominable predator Grendel, challenges him, inflicts the fatal blow to the intruder and drives him back to his lair in the wilderness and kills him.  There is euphoria and jubilation over the triumph of Beowulf over Grendel, the malevolent monster. But soon Grendel’s mother wants to average her son’s death and mounts a new attack on Heorot. Beowulf chases her into her watery retreat along with his followers. Running through uninhabitable deserts, empty fons, and black sea cliff, he ultimately kills the she monster. After taming the unsafe, cold wild world of beasts, the inheritance of the out cast, the exile and the outsider, Beowulf gets honours and rewards in his homeland. He later becomes the king of Gates and rules for many years. In his old age, Beowulf once again wages a fight for great cause but his ‘wyrd’ (fate) plays a grand and tragic irony. Beowulf is betrayed by his own followers except one to whom ‘Death is better for Warrior than a woeful life shame’. Beowulf is fatally wounded and dies a death of an epical hero.

Beowulf is a saga of primitive race-their values, morals, loyalty, sacrifice, fearlessness, courtesy, tolerance and heroism. It is an experience of primitive people marching towards a civilized people..................................................................................................................................................

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