Beowulf
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The Old English poem Beowulf offers a number of contrasts in telling the story of the hero Beowulf and his fight to save a community not his own from the monster Grendel. One of the contrasts is between youth and old age, and this contrast is not presented in a very explicit fashion but is inherent in the role of the young man, Beowulf, who is expected to achieve a certain heroic stature before he becomes older, like the leader of the Danes, a man much older now but one who would have been more like the youthful and vigorous Beowulf when he was in his prime. Now, he needs the help of the younger man to protect his kingdom and so to maintain his household. Through his actions, Beowulf is able to create his own legend and secure his own riches and his own kingdom, and later in the poem he is placed in much the same position as Hrothgar early in the poem except that he is still the mighty warrior and can lead his own men into battle anew. The story of Beowulf is an interesting case of a literary work that had no influence on subsequent works until modern times because the work was lost, and though a handful of learned antiquaries could study the text in Shakespeare's time, they could not comprehend Beowulf, the most important text preserved in Anglo-Saxon prose. The work did not begin to reach a wide audience until after World War I, and after World War II it would become an influence on modern literature (Clark 1). There remains some question about the origin of this h
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g. Many of the members of this inner circle are related to the king by blood. These warriors lived by a code of honor and loyalty that defined their place in their society and also created an ideal for others to emulate. The king is older and has achieved his position through heroic deeds in his youth, and Beowulf is thus a rival of sorts.
There is a second aspect of the poem in which youth and old age can be compared, and this derives from the fact that the poem actually covers such a long period of time so that the reader experiences Beowulf first as a young man and then as an older man some 50 years later. The young Geat travels far upon hearing the story of Grendel to offer his services and to defeat the monster. It should not be assumed that because Hrothgar is old, he takes a non-active position, for this would be completely false. He may not be as vigorous as Beowulf, but he leads his Danes into battle with the monster again and again. He is thus not unlike the older Beowulf who some 50 years later will not hesitate to fight the dragon laying waste to his own kingdom.
Age places great responsibility on the leader in the kingdoms of this era. The leader is a man who has amassed great wealth and who has shown
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2070
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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