I'll be honest. I've never read Beowulf before, and I never had a desire to do so. All I ever heard about was how boring it was and how it took forever to read. I was not exactly looking forward to tackling this piece of literature. When I sat down to read, I imagined it would be like hiking up a mountain. In the rain. With a backpack full of bricks. But I digress.
I found instead the writing style made the poem much more fun to read aloud. Please note that I wrote read aloud. I knew that the only way I would be able to focus on this poem and keep my brain involved was if I engaged my ears as well. Sure enough, it worked. I could visualize the action going on around me. I began to have fun with the poem. I changed my voice, tone, and facial expressions to match the characters and scenes that I was reading. Suddenly, I wasn't just reading the poem. I was in it.
One of my favorite parts of this poem so far is when Beowulf and his troop march up to the hall and are met by a soldier who says, "'From whence do you carry those covered shields,/gray coats of mail and grim helmets,/this troop of spears? I am herald and servant/to Hrothgar; never have I seen/ so many foreign men so fearless and bold./ For pride, I expect, and not for exile,/and for greatness of heart you have sought for Hrothgar'" (333-339).
It would have taken him a lot less time to say, "Who the heck are you?"
Of course, if everybody got straight to the point in this poem, it would be a lot shorter. It would be way easier. However, I don't think that's the point of this poem, because it's not meant to be read quietly to yourself. It's meant to be performed. The audience or reader is supposed to be actively participating in the poem. Reading it is just plain boring.
Some of the action sequences or dialogue of this story remind me of a kid telling me a story. They tell it in such a way that makes me want to scream, "Get to the point!" They make sure I get every detail whether I want it or not. The action sequences feel like a slow motion movie shot where I see every single miniscule detail.
The person reading this poem only has their voice to help the audience visualize exactly what happens in every single scene. These sequences are described in a way that makes sure you know what happens at every precise second. This can't have been easy to pull off.
In the last few lines of our assigned portion of Beowulf, Grendel is supposedly defeated. I highly doubt this. There's a lot more of the poem we get to read. Maybe I'll tire of the slow motion stories. For right now, I'll enjoy my hike up the mountain.
Grendel is a monster who kills people for fun. Grendel’s mother knowingly created this monster. She knows that it is hard for anyone to show her sympathy. This mother has a responsibility to the Scandinavians for the action of her son. Her son was a murderer and she stood by and watched him murder. To make things worse, she wanted revenge killing in cold blood, which was considered a strict death penalty under Scandinavian law. She received the same murder charge based on an ancient social and cultural custom of revenge for an accomplice. In ancient society, a murder charge was treason. Anyone who had a hand in committing murder was punished. If the accomplice was older and wiser and gave instruction for murder, they were more likely to receive a gruesome death such as the swiftness of Beowulf carrying out his command of finding the mother and ending her life without sympathy. There is something about the ancient murder charge which explains everything in life and death. You know everything about a person’s history based on the deaths in their family and life changing events such as death. You really know all of it. It all works. It is alright. Murder violates family. Murder violates law. They violate family law and have grave consequences for social relationships. It seems like we know a lot about people who violate law and social relationships.
ReplyDelete