You are on page 1of 2

PAGAN SOCIETY AND OLD ENGLISH POETRY

Of Old English heroic poetry,it is difficult to form any definite


or final estimate as the extent or worth of what has been lost
is not fully known. Different political events and social
upheavals destroyed distinctly a good deal of old .AngloSaxon poetry with Germanic traditions.As a matter of fact
Beowulf has completely survived, and seems much luckier
than its fellow works in this respect Waldhere,Finnsburgh and
others are found preserved only in fragments.
What is , however , significantly marked in all these old
heroic -Beowulf , Finnsburgh , Waldhere -as also early pagan
works , Deor and Widsith - is that they all belong to a muck
earlier time and contain as such much of the picture of the
time to which they belong . Actually , those works are
supposed to belong to the heroic age an they well reflect the
tradition as well as spirit of past time there is a good deal to
be learned from them about the conditions of life in the
heroic age just as this can be seen in the Iliad of the Odyssey
about the heroic age of ancient Greece . The way of living ,
Picture in these English poems , is not without the touches of
nobility and the impression they live testifies sufficiently to
brief historical annals of the time .
To a modern reader , the importance of Beowulf lies not in its
epic grandeur , nor in its technical superiority . The epic
quality or technical perfection of Beowulf is not beyond all
disputes . In fact Beowulf is seldom taken as a finished work
of epic poetry and it artistic excellence is not seldom
dismissed by characterizing it as a nursery tale .
Yet , above all such controversies , Beowulf stands out for
one specific quality , and this is a social picture that it
presents . Indeed , its significance to a modern reader
mainly lies in the social account that it contains and
represents . As a social document of primitive life , its
excellence is undeniable . Truly speaking , Beowulf stands
out as an illuminating evidence of the mode of living of

primitive Teutonic rather Germanic people , with all their


ideals , rituals and customs .
Beowulf belongs to primitive Teutonic life and the exact
period of its composition on not known . It is a characteristic
heroic poem of a primitive community and celebrates the
glory of primitive hero . Beowulf , who is the hero of the
poem , stands out brilliantly with his gallantry , nobleness
and unhesitating self -sacrifice . He goes to fight
indominately against evil forces to protect his friend and his
comrades and demonstrates the noble zeal for fighting to
save the weak against the wicked. He even lays down his
own life heroically to save his people from a tyrannical
dragon , and thereby to ensure his subjects ' safety against
demonic external aggression .
The social aspect of Old English heroic poetry is distinctly
discernible. Though the authentically of these earliest
works is justifiably disputable,the social account that they
give is no myth.No matter whether the works are original or
created or edited by subsequent authors they expose a keen
of allegiance to the social order or practices of the time to
which the belong.

You might also like