Beowulf Commentary

Actually I was familiar with the context of Beowulf because I had taken English Literature subject once before. Though I have realized that I did not pay attention as much as necessary at the last time when I heard the poem first. But this time I learned more about it on the ground that I had been in Denmark at this time last year which is the place the story takes place on Hrothgar's side -the king of the Danes-. While listening to my teacher, I felt like I came back to Denmark and witnessed the legend when it occurred.

On this post, I would like to make some comments about the inconspicuous parts of the epic story. In epic stories, the striking character is always a hero and there is nobody stronger than him and nothing more significant than the things he made. So, Beowulf is the hero in this epic. From beginning to the end of the poem, Beowulf joined three important battles. The first one was against Grendel -the monster harming inhabitants because they were having too much fun bu lavishing and wasting too much food & money in their great hall with a heavy extravagance-,  the second one was against Grendel's mother -suffering from her son's murder by Beowulf and seeking vengeance for this-, the third and the last one was against the dragon -revenging ravages because his treasure was stolen during his sleep-.

Nobody sees the story from the antagonists' perspective. Not only Beowulf but also they have excuses to fight with his/their enemy/enemies!

URL for the previous picture I have used :  http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/2012/09/beowulf-will-blow-your-mind.html

Literature from "Old English" to "Modern English"

The literary map of Europe

While searching some reference to write some something here, I found a video giving very little introduction to English literature. It's actually a speech like a preface for an book about English literature but it has been mentioned almost the same facts as we had mentioned in the classroom. You can easily get a main idea of what we did this week by watching this:  http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199569267.do

And, I put this image because I found it very helpful too see these times' Europe the map. Here is the URL where I have got it: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10609/10609-h/10609-h.htm

The Significance of English and American Literature

First of all I would like to start with the importance of literature on understanding how people convey their feelings, thoughts, ideas and messages in their written language. That's why, we -as prospective English language teachers- need to pay a great attention to read as much as we can on this field.

Secondly, one can make assumptions about a culture just reading the works on its literature without being aware of what actually this culture is. What I have meant here, literature could help to understand a culture deeply. Considering that we should focus on this way of literature in order to enhance intercultural awareness.

Additionally, literature can called as a the study of imagination of human-beings. It allows people not only to develop new ideas but also to agree or disagree to something which has been written previously. So, concerning all the facts I have meant here, we should put an emphasis on literature.

Lastly, I want to point out that this is not my first time that I have taken English Literature as a subject. So I am familiar with what we are going to learn on the following weeks: William Shakespeare, Joseph Conrad, Earnst Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe and the others. Anyway I think that it is not a bad idea to take this course secondly and revise what I have learnt before.

URL of the previous image I have used : http://histlit.fas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/slider2_0.jpg