A light appeared and the place brightened the way the sky does when heaven’s candle is shining clearly

 Cue the Linkin Park music… Let’s begin.

First off, this poem, translated by the wonderful Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, is nothing short of epic. After reading the depressing “Wuthering Heights” (No offense, Ms. Howard), I was very relieved to have some real action in a story. I loved having a character that was completely and utterly a badass. He didn’t take no for an answer and even though he knew he could die by fighting a terrorizing, man-eating monster, he still pulled a #YOLO (Haha, get it? Because they’re Christian?) Anyway, what I have found from researching this poem is that back when it was written and when it took place, men were proud to fight to their death. They would have rather died a fighting death than a regular one by slipping on an ice cube or stabbing themselves with a spork.

Beowulf was a prime example of that type of man. He knew that fighting to the death would make him a nobler hero than one who didn’t fight in fear of defeat. “Beowulf cut the corpse’s head off” (Heaney, 109). It’s lines like those that made me say to myself, “God! I love this book.” There was no remorse. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who loves violence and gore, but unlike many other novels I’ve read, for once, the main character doesn’t have to atone for any sins they’ve made, and they certainly don’t have to apologize for killing a man-eating swamp monster or dragon.

The only thing I didn’t admire about this book was the continuous use of alliteration. It confused me at times only because when the sentences had alliteration, they became more complex. It seemed as if the sentence would have been just fine on its own without the alliteration. But besides that, I really have no other complaints. One thing that really stood out to me was the contradictory scenarios between the beliefs of Christianity and Paganism.  I interpreted “Beowulf” as being written by a Christian writer during Pagan times and in a very Pagan-like world. The continuous contradictions between the two intrigued me. For example, Characters continuously state that God Almighty is their savior and that they should do everything they can to pay him back for being their savior, but characters like Beowulf contradict these beliefs by taking matters into his own hands (Pagan belief).

The final element of the poem that I really admired was the fact that the writer brought the reader into a world that was and wasn’t historically accurate. I’m pretty sure that in 700 A.D. men didn’t go off fighting dragons, but the idea of their honor code and that fighting to the death was a noble thing to do was real back then. Or at least I like to think that’s true. Throughout the epic poem of “Beowulf” the writer takes us into a story of fighting swamp monsters and dragons and still makes it morally correct. Religion plays a huge part in the poem and can dictate the events that occur. But it doesn’t dictate what Beowulf believes to be morally correct. He pretty much just goes around doing whatever will make him king, but with the thought in mind that he’s saving his town. I salute you, Beowulf.