Beowulf: A Christian and Pagan Poem Essay -- Epic of Beowulf Essay

Beowulf a Christian-Pagan Poem In Beowulf the pagan aspect is revealed by means of many passages and many heathen rites or customs in which the track of expression or the thought suggests pagan usage or beliefs. The Christian aspect is revealed through 68 passages in which the form of expression or the thought suggests Christian usage or doctrine (Blackburn 3). The Christian element seems to be too deeply imbedded in the text of Beowulf for us to desist that it is due to additions made by scribes at a measure when the verse had come to be written down. The Christian element had to be include by the original poet or by minstrels who recited it in later times. The point to which the Christian element is present varies from about ten percent in the first part to much less than that throughout the rest of the poem. In Christianizing the local culture which produced Beowulf, Catholic missionaries to Britain in the early centuries took many linguistic communication belonging t o heathen beliefs and practices and adopted them into the church (Blackburn 3). For example, Hel was at one time the goddess of the world of the dead Catholic missionaries used Hell to indicate the coiffe of the dead, later of the damned. Likewise with words such as Yule, Easter, God, haelend, nergend, drihten, metod, frea the latter ones make up fallen from usage. We see these words used in Beowulf as thoroughly as other Anglo-Saxon poetry. The theology which appears in the Christian allusions in the poem is very vague and indefinete there is no mention of Christ, the saints, miracles, bloody shame His Mother, specific doctrines of the church, martyrs of the church, the bran-new Testament (there may be one achievable brief exception), rites or ceremonies of the church... ...l Interpretations Beowulf, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Chadwick, H. Munro. The sumptuous Age. In An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism, edited by Lewis E. Nicholson. No tre Dame, IN University of Notre Dame Press, 1963. Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York Anchor Books, 1977. Frank, Roberta. The Beowulf Poets Sense of level. In Beowulf modernistic Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Robinson, Fred C. Apposed Word Meanings and Religious Perspectives. In Beowulf Modern Critical Interpretations, edited by Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York G.P. Putnams Sons, 190721 New York Bartleby.com, 2000