Write a short note on Beowulf.
Ans. Of the old English
poetry Beowulf is most remarkable. Like Greek literature, English literature
begins with an epic. It is a poem of historic scope telling of heroes and of
the world, human and non-human. It is the longest and richest of old English
poems. Beowulf showed the English, the world of their ancestors, the heroic
world of the past. The date and provenance of Beowulf are uncertain. Its author
is unknown. The text of the Beowulf is found in a manuscript in a west Saxon
dialect of Wessex which became the literary standard. All the text are about
monster. But the prime concern of Beowulf is not with monsters or even heroes
but with human wisdom and destiny. There are many episodes and digressions in
the story of Beowulf. It is impossible to give a brief synopsis of the
narrative. In outline it can be said that, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow sails to
Denmark with a band of warriors and rids the Danish king Hrothger of a terrible
monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel seeking revenge for the death of
her son, meets the same fate. Beowulf was rewarded and returned to his native land.
He becomes the king of Geatas and after a prosperous reign of some forty years,
he kills a dragon which ravaged his land but in the fight he received a mortal
wound. The poem cöncludes with the funeral ceremony in honour of the dead hero.
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