Beowulf Literary Analysis Project

Logan Weber
Period 3 College Prep English

The Author and His/Her Times
There are many different interpretations of who the author of Beowulf could possibly be. The theory that I will mainly focus on is that the tale was originally passed down through oral tradition but was later interpreted by a monk in England between 800 and 1100 AD. Many of the themes of Beowulf reflect parts of a Germanic Pagan society; these are left over bits of culture from the original oration of Beowulf by the Pagan bards. However, the poem also has colorful inserts of Christianity that I will interpret as being added following the oral tradition.
When focusing upon the scop who originally sang of Beowulf’s glory in the pagan halls there is one main cultural trend of that society which effected the tone and theme of the poem most significantly: that of the warrior culture in the ancient Baltic region. Anglo-Saxon culture in the first millennium was based upon the warrior. The warrior society, however, had many characteristics; wyrd (or fate), wergild (blood money), and honor are three main parts of the warrior culture. Honor was very important to all warriors. They could only make it to Valhalla (heaven) by doing honorable deeds in battle or by showing great loyalty (Garcia). These honorable deeds would be sung at in the giant mead halls of kings by scops. The scop that had sung of Beowulf originally portrayed the main character of his poem as the epitome of a great warrior so that the warriors of the hall would be inspired.










Garcia, Christopher. The Anglo-Saxon Hero Ed. Natasha Boehm. Pace University, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2009 .