Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Anglo-Saxon Assignment #1

Write a 4-5 paragraph response to Beowulf. What did you think of the story? What parts stuck out to you the most. You may also want to include some of your thoughts on the Anglo-Saxon culture.

I thought the story was a pretty good one. A normal hero story. Beowulf really was well respected. He did tons of amazing things. I think that it kind of sucks that he dies in the end. But, at least he still killed the dragon. I was really disappointed that only one of his warriors actually came to help him fight. He was a really good king and did a lot for them. They all should have been running to save him, but instead, they all hid. That really ticked me off.
It was a really good story though. I think that the original was a lot more gruesome. I don't remember it exactly, but I'm sure there was more gore. Also, I kind of think some of the information they gave us was unnecessary. Like in Episode Four it started talking about some random guy named Sigemund (weird). I didn't understand the importance of that character or Kind Heremond. They didn't really have too much to do with the story, and we could have done just fine without mentioning them.
I hate that this is a poem. I also hated the long speeches and how complicated it was too. I think it would have made a lot more sense as a regular story. But, like most literature, if it were just a story, no one would pay it any attention. Overall this was a pretty good story though.
I can kind of see where this ties
in with the Anglo-Saxons. I think that this is an example of one of the poems with tons of violence that the bards told. With the Anglo-Saxons, I expected that there would be more human conflict rather than just a bunch of conflict with mythical creatures in the book. You got a Hercules story rather than one about an awesome king with great war strategies. But either way, we got their specialty: violence.

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