Beowulf.
Now that's how I like my literature.
The epic poem, best translated by Irish translator Seamus Heaney, narrates the life and glory of the Geat warrior, Beowulf, and his many battles among the ancient Danes, the Swedes, and his own homeland. Considered as the first written novel, Beowulf brings to life an array of mythological creatures, demons and dragons that lurk in the night, as well as a vivid recollection of the medieval kingdoms of early Scandinavia. Overall, I enjoyed the relatively short poem, easy to comprehend, straightforward, and full of nail-biting, descriptive action. It had mythological influence, the perfect hero, and a great reconstruction of ancient Scandinavian culture and, on the whole, life. I really had no problem with any of the poem's mechanics, its plot, or characters. Heaney's translation was fantastic, creating a world that I could fully immerse myself into, and putting forward the words of characters like the great king Hrothgar and Beowulf himself into comprehensible statements.
Despite my adoration of the poem, I would like to bring to the surface one aspect that I believe to be important. Firstly, I noticed while reading that while Beowulf is set in an archaic and medieval Scandinavia, there are countless references to the Christian God throughout the poem. Whether the characters pray to their "Almighty Lord" or they refer to him as the only one who can decide both Beowulf and the Geat people's fate. As the poem was actually written during the Middle Ages, and the influence of Christianity would have dominated many people's lives, I can understand how the poet would allude to God and Christ. However, I believe that since the narrative is set in a time in which pagan gods commanded the religious scene and not Christianity, that it serves almost as an anachronism, the wrong religion in the wrong period of history. This "anachronism" broke the flow of the poem, I found myself stopping to consider the actual possibility of this religious philosophy in archaic Scandinavia, and it just didn't fit. By placing these allusions and mixing the faiths of these Scandinavian peoples (the Danes even declared the pagan gods as "heathen gods"), the poet creates a slightly confusing dent in an otherwise excellent piece of early Anglo-Saxon literature.
Very insightful post: you hit the nail on the head, pinpointing the dichotomy of Beowulf. It's a story about pagans being retold by Christians with their own agenda. Because the story was written down by a Christian scribe or scribes, that's the only version we have. The frustration that you felt toward the "poet" is actually really more about too many cooks in the kitchen: the original storytellers' work is layered over with a patina of Christianity.
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