History of Children’s Literature - EDU12HCL Week 7 Lecture 1: History of Children’s Literature - EDU12HCL Week 7 Lecture 1 Beowulf and the Epic Hero
© La Trobe University, David Beagley, 2005
References: References Tolkien, JRR. (1953)The monsters and the critics, in The monsters and the critics : and other essays by J. R. R. Tolkien. Various editions
Jokinen, A. (1996) Heroes of the Middle Ages. [online] Available: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medheroes.htm
Polner, N. (2003) Beowulf vs Disney. Practically Primary. 8(3): 39-41
Anglo-Saxon society: 6th-11th centuries: Anglo-Saxon society: 6th-11th centuries Similarity to Arthurian, Charlemagne, Celtic, Viking societies and literatures:
Warrior–based society
Literacy – runic then monastic scribing
Religion – Nordic/animist then Christian
Travel and trade
Architecture and settlement
Art and culture – e.g. Sutton Hoo http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass
Social attitudes: Social attitudes Warrior–based society
Focus on the hero, and trial of personal worth
Security and threat – survival in harsh world
Wyrd
Fate – acceptance of the inevitable
Comitatus
Loyalty and responsibility to group
Old English language and literature: Old English language and literature Germanic language, basis of common English
Format (writing, spelling, structure) affected by the physical nature of recording
Rich variety of styles of writing and literature
Poetic techniques - very refined grasp of poetics both for oral delivery and contextual/literary emphasis:
Alliterative verse, and stressed half lines - very rhythmic. No syllabic rhyming in OE
Formulaic repeated lines - oral technique to keep flow and alliteration going for hours
Litotes (ironic understatement), kenning (combined nouns for description), synecdoche (part used for whole), metynomy (name substitution) - more than just simile/metaphor, control
Discursions/digressions (tangential references and stories) - examples of issue at hand
Old English language and literature: Old English language and literature The Wanderer:
Ðonne onwæcneð eft wineleas guma, gesihð him biforan fealwe wegas, baþian brimfuglas brædan feþra, hreosan hrim ond snaw hagle gemenged. Þonne beoð þy hefigran heortan benne, sare æfter swæsne Sorg bið geniwad
Then the friendless man awakes again, He sees before him fallow waves, Sea birds bathing, preening their feathers, Frost and snow fall, mixed with hail. Then are the heavier the wounds of the heart, Grievous with longing for the lord. Sorrow is renewed
Beowulf – the poem: Beowulf – the poem Key point lies in how we have received the story of Beowulf - largely original/intact
Not reinterpreted, rewritten, refined through ages
Thousand year old manuscript written 950-1000 CE by 2 scribes, probably composed 700-800,West Saxon dialect, collected into Cotton Vitellius A.XV, now in British Library
Longest extant OE poem - 3182 lines
Beowulf – the original poem: Beowulf – the original poem Structure - Introduction and 3 distinct episodes
1000 lines each on Grendel, Grendel's mother, Dragon
Continuity break between parts 2 and 3:
Cobbling together of 2 stories (are there lots of other Beowulf stories out there?)
Or deliberate juxtaposition (rise and fall of hero)?
Emphasis on appropriate displays of nobility of character (and bonds of comitatus)
Hrothgar- king - rewards service
Beowulf - warrior - carries out dangerous forays
Wiglaf - loyal retainer - sticks by leader
Grendel's mother - family - seeks revenge for attack on son
Beowulf – the poem: Beowulf – the poem Typical saga-epic format and story:
Hero faces great monsters/threat/trial and achieves personally
Threat is usually externalized (and demonized) as a Monster - Grendel, dragon, giants, demons, knights
The individual in the social environment - the social hero or the individual hero
Achieve benefits for self or for others?
Internal or external challenge - safety or nobility
Tolkien and Beowulf: Tolkien and Beowulf Saw his work on Beowulf as his major achievement
Key problems of interpretation -
Monsters – are they symbols and allegories in our own psychologies, or just monsters?
Literature or History? - Tolkien's point: treat it as a poem, not an archeological dig - Trouble is, it contains so much social detail not available elsewhere - But, would Gladiator be Roman History, Home & Away Australian?
Can we understand a poem so far out of its social context? - We are not A-S society with the assumed understandings of values, references to other stories, visual images etc. - That is the challenge of literature - can it tell a/its story to many audiences?
Influences on epic fantasy: Influences on epic fantasy Lord of the Rings:
Various groups – Riders of Rohan (AS society), orcs (Grendel), elves, dwarves, wizards (druids)
Languages and poetry
Demonized, externalized threat to society
Duty-bound heroes doing what is needed
Genre:
Medievalism – swords’n’sorcery, wizards’n’warriors
Lonely hero on epic quest to save the world
Languages and literate emphases – runes, inscriptions
Objects of power – rings, swords, magic
Whole worlds and cosmologies
The epic hero: The epic hero Undertakes role as duty to others, not as a personal achievement
Strong sense of social morality, including code of behaviour to enemies
Only becomes hero when needed, may be unwilling
Does not necessarily have social status prior to heroics, but may achieve it. Considers it a consequence, not an aim, in heroics.
Wyrd and comitatus.