BEOWULF

Hareshwar Roy,

 BEOWULF

Beowulf is considered to be the first Old English epic. The Angles brought the story to England in the form of short songs about the hero. It was re-written in its present form probably by a monk in the eight century. It was he who imparted a few Christian applications to a pagan story. The extant text is written in the West Saxon dialect. At the close of the eighteenth century, this poem was found in a manuscript written about A.D. 1000.

It has been pointed out that the poem is in its basis a Scandinavian saga. The poem is Scandinavian in its setting. But no Scandinavian words and phrases have been found here. The presented picture of social life in Beowulf is essentially primitive. The scenes and people are Scandinavian, but the one great vital figure is that of Beowulf. He stands before us as the early English ideal of virile courage and nobility.What Achilles is to the Greek, Romulus to the Roman, Charlemagne to the French, Beowulf is to the Englishman. Beowulf’s goodness of heart and unselfish devotion to others are important characteristics of his character.

Beowulf recounts the great deeds and death of Beowulf. Its story is full of episodes and digressions. It narrates the heroic adventures and exploits of the protagonist, Beowulf.
Beowulf is a mighty warrior of royal Swedish blood. He has not only fought with man but has defied the fiercest storms that have swept over the seas, and grappled with the awful sea monsters that inhabit their depths.

The story tells us that Beowulf comes to help the venerable Danish king Hrothgar. In fact, the kingdom of king Hrothgar has been ravaged by a dreadful monster. The name of that monster was Grendel. Beowulf meets this monster face to face. After a terrible fight Beowulf wounds him to death. The monster’s mother was more fearsome than he. She inhabits the floods. Beowulf searched and killed her.

After killing monster’s mother, Beowulf feasted with Hrothgar and returned to his native land. He became the king of Geatas. He was a great and successful ruler. After a prosperous reign of about fifty years, he slew a firedrake that robbed and ravaged his country. In the fight Beowulf died of the dragon’s fiery breath. The poem closes with the description of his burial.
Location: B-37, City Homes Colony, Jawahar Nagar Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

JOHN DONNE AS A METAPHYSICAL POET

Hareshwar Roy,
INTRODUCTION: John Donne is the leader and founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry. His poetry is a revolt against the popular current. First of all Dryden used the term ' Metaphysical' for Donne's poetry. He said,' Donne affects the metaphysics'. Later on Dr. Johnson called Donne and his followers 'the metaphysical poets'. Since then the word metaphysical has been used for Donne and his followers. WHAT IS METAPHYSICAL POETRY: The term metaphysics means something supernatural and transcendental. Its sense is 'what is beyond physical'. It is concerned with fundamental problems of life and death and soul even after death. The term metaphysical poetry means poetry dealing with metaphysical subjects. These subjects are - nature of universe, movements of stars and planets and the whole relationship of man to God. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS: We should cast a glance at the main characteristics of metaphysical poetry before we proceed to examine Donne a
Read more

Waiting for Godot: An Absurd Play by Beckett

Hareshwar Roy,
Image
↑ Grab this Headline Animator Samuel Beckett is a revolutionary playwright. He is an iconoclast and an image breaker. He has shattered conventions and pioneered a new kind of drama. His drama is above categories of tragedy and comedy. It is called absurd drama. His plays show the situation in which we are. They expose us in our existential predicament. Waiting for Godot  is an absurd drama. In fact, absurd drama presents human life and human situation as absurd. This type of drama is free from traditional plot, story or division into acts and scenes. Here we get few characters. They have symbolic significance. Dialogues are very short and crisp. Nothing significant happens on the stage. It prefers existential themes. Things are not explained but they are merely hinted at. One can find all these features in  Waiting for Godot . Lack of action is one of the major characteristics of an absurd play. There is nothing significant in the play. So is the case with  Waiting for G
Read more

The Cherry Tree (Text) - Ruskin Bond

Hareshwar Roy,
One day, when Rakesh was six, he walked from the Mussoorie bazaar eating cherries. They were a little sweet, a little sour; small, bright red cherries, which had come all the way from the Kashmir valley.Here in the Himalayan foothills where Rakesh lived, there were not many fruit trees. The soil was stony, and the dry cold winds stunted the growth of most plants. But on the more sheltered slopes there were forests of oak and deodar. Rakesh lived with his grandfather on the outskirts of Mussoorie, just where the forest began. Grandfather was a retired forest ranger. He had a little cottage outside the town. Rakesh was on his way home from school when he bought the cherries. He paid fifty paisa for the bunch. It took him about half an hour to walk home, and by the time he reached the cottage there were only three cherries left. ‘Have a cherry, grandfather,’ he said, as soon as he saw grandfather in the garden. Grand father took one cherry and Rakesh promptly ate the other two. He kept
Read more

The Axe - R.K.Narayan

Hareshwar Roy,
An astrologer passing through the village foretold that Velan would live in a three-storeyed house surrounded by many acres of garden. At this everybody gathered round young Velan and made fun of him. For Koppal did not have a more ragged and godforsaken family than Velan’s. His father had mortgaged every bit of property he had, and worked, with his whole family, on other people’s lands in return for a few annas a week . . . A three-storeyed house for Velan indeed! . . . But the scoffers would have congratulated the astrologer if they had seen Velan about thirty or forty years later. He became the sole occupant of Kumar Baugh—that palatial house on the outskirts of Malgudi town.   When he was eighteen Velan left home. His father slapped his face one day for coming late with the midday-meal, and he did that in the presence of others in the field. Velan put down the basket, glared at his father and left the place. He just walked out of the village, and walked on and on till h
Read more

THE WAY OF THE WORLD AS A COMEDY OF MANNERS

Hareshwar Roy,
William Congreve is the best and finest writer of the comedy of manners. We may say that he has invented a new art of comedy. His ' The Way of the World' is considered as a work of art and as a pure comedy of manners. It is the apotheosis of the comedy of manners. It is a remarkable demonstration of Congreve's technical skill as a playwright. Here we find an ironic commentary on the ways of society of the time.The comedy of manners is a genuine reflection of the temper of the upper classes of the nation. It deals the external details of life, the fashion of the time, its manners, its speech and its interest. The dramatists confine themselves to the drawing rooms, the coffee houses, the clubs, the gambling centers, the streets and gardens of London. The characters represent the people of fashion. The plots of comedy of manners are mainly love intrigues. They are remarkable for neat, precise, witty, balanced and lucid prose style. 'The Way of the World' has all the
Read more

BACON AS AN ESSAYIST

Hareshwar Roy,
INTRODUCTION: Bacon, the father of English essay, is the first great English essayist who enjoys a glorious reputation. He remains for the sheer mass and weight of genius. His essays introduce a new form of composition into English literature. THREE EDIIONS OF BACON'S ESSAYS: Bacon sponsored this new literary form in English with the publication of his ten essays in 1597. It grew to thirty-eight in the edition of 1612. The number reached fifty-eight in the final issue of 1625. These essays are the results of his direct observations of men and matters. DISPERSED MEDITATIONS: Bacon charged his essays with the serious spirit and stately manners of Seneca. For him his essays were dispersed meditations and receptacle for detached thoughts. He is practical under the influence of Machiavelli. Utilitarianism is obvious in his essays. He shrewdly instructs how to lead a successful life. That's why his essays are called counsels civil and moral. BACON AND MONTAIGNE: Bacon borrowed
Read more

Paradise Lost: An Epic

Hareshwar Roy,
John Milton is one of the greatest poets of England. His Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epics in English language. Here the poet has maintained the classical tradition of epic writing. In fact, an epic is a long narrative poem that contains great action, great hero and great style. In Milton’s Paradise Lost one can find all these three things. According to Aristotle there are some important characteristics of an epic. Among them fable, theme, characters, machinery, episodes, integrity, sentiment and grand style are significant. Addison has also described three qualifications of an epic. These are – the fable, the entirety of action and the greatness of action. When we analyze and evaluate the Paradise Lost, we find all these characteristics in it. The fable is one of the most important elements of an epic. It is considered to be the backbone of an epic. The most important duty of an epic poet is to select a moral to illustrate and establish. In the Paradise Lost Milton has
Read more

Sir Roger at Home: A Critical Appreciation

Hareshwar Roy,
Joseph Addison is one of the greatest essayists in English Literature. He is memorable for his contribution. He is known as the consummate painter of life and manners. The 18 th century prose has been enriched to a great degree by him. He earned wide acclaim due to his contribution to the two periodicals named The Tatler and The Spectator . The essay Sir Roger at Home is taken from The Spectator . This essay is remarkable for the fine character portrayals of Sir Roger and Chaplain. Here Sir Roger is the central figure. He has been depicted as a country gentleman. Here the art of characterisation is significant. It has enhanced the prestige of Joseph Addison. The subtle remarks about the English rural society bring additional interest to the essay. The ease and grace of Addison’s style is consistently reflected in the essay. In this essay we find some glimpses of a country gentleman named Sir Roger. Here his personality and household affairs have been described. He h
Read more

LAMB AS AN ESSAYIST

Hareshwar Roy,
Charles Lamb is a shining star in the sky of English essay. He is called the prince among English essayists. His essays are the finest in English prose. He brought to prose the finest qualities of Romanticism. Lamb's readers appreciate him for his wisdom, for his humanity, for his genial humour, for his profound pathos, for his sweet temperament and for his style. BEGINNING: Born in a lower class family, Lamb came in contact with Cole ridge. He started his career as a poet but could not succeed. He acquired immortal recognition as an essayist. From 1820 to 1833, essay writing was his main occupation. He wrote under the pseudonym of Elia. His first essay appeared in the London Magazine in 1820. The first volume of his essays was published in 1823 as Essays Of Elia and the second as the Last Essays Of Elia in 1833. Each essay of Lamb is a little wonder. Here we find a fine combination of wit, fancy, anecdote and reflection. According to Cazamian, he is above all an artist. PERS
Read more

Tom Jones as a Comic Epic in Prose

Hareshwar Roy,
 In English literature, there are four novelists who are popularly known as the four wheels of the novel. Henry fielding is one of them. Tom Jones is his best novel. Fielding himself calls it a comic epic in prose.   When Henry Fielding started writing, novel was not a  acceptable  genre of literature. To make it acceptable he propounded a new theory of the novel. He says that the novel is a comic epic in prose. In the preface to Joseph Andrews , Fielding is of the opinion that the epic is divisible like drama as comic epic and tragic epic. Homer's Marquites is a comic epic and his Iliad is a tragic epic. As an epic may be comic or tragic, so it may also be either in prose or in verse. A work might be styled as a prose epic if it had all the parts of an epic poem - fable, action, character, sentiment, diction. Only meter will be absent. Combining these ideas of the comic epic and the prose epic, Fielding evolves a new genre - comic epic in prose. Thus comic epic in prose
Read more