Beowulf compare to The Dream of the Rood

Anglo-Saxon

  

“Anglo-Saxon  civilization  has  taught  the  individual  to  protect  his  own  rights;  American  civilization  will  teach  him  to  respect  the  rights  of  others.”

                                          (William  Jennings  Bryan)

 

The  Anglo-Saxon  period  is  the  oldest  known  period  of  time  that  had  a  complex  culture  with  stable  government,  art,  and  a  fairly  large  amount  of  literature. Many people believe that the culture then was extremely unsophisticated,  but  it  was  actually  extremely  advanced  for  the  time.

 

            Anglo-Saxon  is the  name  collectively  applied  to  the  descendants  of  the  Germanic  people  who  settled  in  Britain  between  the  late  4^th  and  early  7^th  cents.  Their  backgrounds  varied.  Some  came  as  mercenaries,  others  as  invaders. They  included,  besides  Angles  and  Saxons,  Jutes  and  other  groups.  The  eventual  use  of  the  name  ‘English’  and  ‘England’  for  people  and  territory  probably  owes  something  to  Bede ,  whose  History   of  the  English  People  dealt  with  the  whole.

               The  literary  materials  that  have  survived  are of  a  high  moral  tone,  including   the  epic  poem  Beowulf,   various  heroic  lays  or  narrative  poems,  saints’  lives,  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle ,  the  laws  of  some  of  the  Saxon  kings,  charms,  and  gnomic  verses  or  “wisdom  literature.”

Consequently  what  the  Anglo-Saxon  “language  of  the  street”  was  like  is  not known.  However,  there  are  numerous  instances  of  maxims  that  stress  the  importance  of  using  language  in  a  disciplined  and  responsible  way  as,

“A  wise  man  must  be  patient,  not  over-passionate  nor  over-hasty  in  speech”     (Wanderer)

Art  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  period  was  influenced  from  many  places.  The  three  greatest  influences  were  the  Celtic  arts  of  the  Britons,  the  Christian  church  in  Rome,  and  the  Norse  arts  following  the  Viking  invasions.  Their  manuscript  painting, sculpted  crosses  and  ivories,  and  enamel  designs  demonstrate  a  liking  for  intricate  and  interwoven  designs.   In  the  manuscripts  of  southern  England,  one  can  see  how  the  way  of  writing  changed.  Before  the  9th  century,  the  writing  was  fairly  plain.

Beowulf

Beowulf  is  an  epic  poem  composed  somewhere  between  the  middle  of  the  7^th  and  the  end  of  the  10^th  century  A. D.  Before the Norman  Conquest.  Composed  in  Anglo-Saxon/Old English,  yet set  in  Scandinavia,  it  recounts  the  deeds  of  a  Scandinavian  prince  (Beowulf)  and  reflects  the  world  of  6^th-century  Geats,  Danes  and  Swedes,  who  were  rigidly  feudal,  highly  civilized,  violent,  and  also  newly  Christian.

Beowulf's  actual  composition  is  dated  at  around  the  8^th   century,  because  of  its  high  degree  of  Christian  content,  paralleling  the  time  of  England's  conversion  from  paganism  to  Christianity. Consisting  of  3,182  lines  in  verse,  its  author  is  unknown  and  believed  to  have  been  a  medieval  poet  or  scop,  who  wrote   down  the  poem's  events.  The  poem  was  probably  carried  from generation  to  generation  through  a  spoken  retelling,  as  Old  English  verse  was  traditionally  heard  rather  than  read,  its  audience  being  mostly  illiterate.  The  text  of  Beowulf  exists  in  just  one  manuscript  copy,  which  rests  in  the  British  Library  in  London.  This  10^th-century  manuscript  was  probably  copied  by   a late  medieval  monk  and   stored  in monasteries,  until  their  destruction  and  dissolution  by  King  Henry VIII.  The revised  A  Handbook  to  Literature  defines  an    epic  poem  as:

"A  long  [heroic]  narrative  poem  in  elevated  style  presenting  characters  of  high  position  in  a  series  of adventures  which  form  an  organic  whole  through  their  relation  to  a  central  figure  of  heroic  proportions  and  through  their  development  of  episodes  important  in  the  history  of  a  nation  or  race."

"Beowulf  is  the  most  important  poem  in  Old  English  and  it  is  the  first  major  poem in  a  European  vernacular  language,...remarkable  for  its  sustained  grandeur  of  tone  and  for  the  brilliance  of  its  style."              

                                                                         (Margaret Drabble)

The  story  of  Beowulf  opens  by  recounting  the  career  of  Scyld  Scefing,  a  king  sent  by  God  to  the  Danes.  After  Scyld's  death  the  Danes  prosper  under  his  descendants.  One  of  those  descendants, H rothgar,  builds  the  Danes  a  great  hall  called  Heorot.  Heorot  is  soon invaded  by  Grendel,  a  half-human  monster  who  is  hated  by  God. The  Danes  are  helpless  against  these  attacks  until  the  hero  Beowulf  arrives  to  aid  them.  He  battles  Grendel  in  hand  to  hand  combat  in Heorot  and  kills  the  monster  by  tearing  off  its  arm.  Grendel's  mother  then  comes  to  avenge  her  son.  Beowulf  and  Hrothgar  follow  her  to  her  lair  in  a  disgusting  lake,  where  Beowulf  fights  Grendel's  mother  in  her  hall  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  Beowulf  almost  loses,  but  with  the  aid  of  God  is  eventually  victorious.  He  is  lavishly  rewarded  and returns  to  his  own  land  where  he  tells  his  adventures  to  his  uncle, King  Hygelac.  The  poem  then  jumps  fifty  years  into  the  future  when Beowulf  is  in  old  age  and  king of the Geats. He then fights his last battle agains a dragon that is guardian of a cursed treasure. He tries to fight the dragon alone, but can only defeat it with the aid of a younger relative, Wiglaf. The dragon is killed, but mortally wounds Beowulf in the battle, and the old king passes away while gazing on the cursed treasure. The death of Beowulf marks the decline of the Geats, who are now surrounded by enemies made in previous campaigns. Consequently, the poem ends in mourning for both Beowulf and his nation.

The Dream of the Rood 

The Dream of the Rood is the earliest dream-vision poem in the English language and one of the central documents of Old English Literature. Although no definite date can be assigned to the poem, many scholars agree that the most probable date of composition was during the 8^th century. The influence of the poem in Pre-Conquest England is attested to by the fact that a passage from it appears carved on the Ruthwell Cross, a stone monument probably dating from the early 9^thcentury, but the poem may also have influenced many later works in both Old and Middle English. Today, the poem exists in its most complete form in the Vercelli Book, a manuscript of Old English prose and poetry unanimously assigned to the second half of the tenth century.

The monologues and subsequent dialogue of two speakers, the Dreamer and the Rood (the cross of the Crucifixion) establish the framework of the elegiac poem. The poet of The Dream of the Rood was able to use fresh words and phrases to describe the attributes of Christ, God and the Cross, because the descriptions were not so conventional as to be weakened in meaning. The Dream of the Rood stands apart from other elegiac monologues in Old English not simply because one of the central speakers in the poem is an inanimate object, but because endowing the Rood with personality and the power of speech was "to use a device of unexampled effectiveness in making vivid an event about which [for Christians] the entire history of the world revolved" (Schlauch 228).

The Dream of the Rood has three parts: the Dreamer’s account of his vision of the Cross, the Rood’s monologue describing the Crucifixion, and the Dreamer’s resolution to seek the salvation of the Cross. The poem opens with the vision of the Dreamer who sees the Rood raised up and adorned with jewels and gold. After the Dreamer notices a stain of blood on the Cross’ side, the Rood begins to recount its experience as an instrument in the Crucifixion of Christ. The Cross recalls how it was initially cut down in the forest and chosen as the "tree" on which Christ was to be crucified. In a portrayal of the Passion, the Rood parallels Christ, as both are pierced with nails, mocked, tortured, killed and buried. In the same likeness to Christ, the Rood is resurrected soon thereafter and eventually adorned with gold and silver. Announcing its ultimate triumph through its suffering and obedience to God’s will, the Cross declares that it is honoured above all other trees, and commands the Dreamer to tell others what he has seen and heard as an instrument in explaining the salvation message. In the end, the Dreamer is renewed with hope and vows to seek again the glorious Rood.

Beowulf Compared to the Dream of the Rood

If you look closely at the literature created during the Old English period, you will be able to notice a few common parallels. The writings that evolved from this time period usually involved many heroic and warrior like bases with some kind of underlying religious theme. The works were mostly narrated by an unknown source and eloquently worded. The main characters were courageous and strong, loyal and trustworthy, and always accomplished their goals in the end, whether it is by victory or death. In the poems Beowulf and The Dream of the Rood, you can see how these attributes were portrayed by Beowulf, the Cross, and in some cases Jesus, all in a similar way. In these poems, Beowulf and the Cross are portrayed as loyal and heroic, and Jesus and Beowulf as a warrior and a savior.

Loyalty is a necessary quality to get through life. True loyalty is synonymous with being, and remaining faithful to a way of life, special cause, government, religion and so on. To act loyal means to be honest, truthful, and respectful. It means you stand by what you believe in and always stay true to those beliefs. A loyal person will remain true to whoever or whatever they follow or pr actice. Having true loyalty will help you stick to and achieve your goal, no matter how high they can be. Loyalty brings out the goodness that we are born with.

In The Dream of the Rood, the Cross displays an abundance of loyalty to Christ throughout the entire crucifixion. The Cross states 

This powerful scene shows Jesus stripping himself and climbing onto the cross. It says he does this with much courage. Courage is a trait that no warrior can be without it. The Cross refers to Jesus as a warrior in the text to signify that he was not about to give up his fight. Jesus did not fight like Beowulf, he fought using personal strength. It takes much strength to die for your beliefs and that’s exactly what Jesus and Beowulf do.

In The Dream of the Rood Jesus can be viewed as and is even referred to as a warrior. Jesus battled his foes for his faith, with the Cross for support. The Cross states,

In Beowulf you can clearly see what the people of the Old English period thought to be a hero. To them, men who were fantastic warriors were considered to be heroes. Throughout the poem Beowulf is depicted many times as being “The strongest of all men to have ever seem the light of life on earth”(778-779). In the poem Beowulf describes his strong heroism by retelling one of his battles at sea to the people at the mead-hall after a verbal conflict with a warrior named Unferth.