The Editing of a People’s Story
Throughout Beowulf and “The Seafarer” religious references can be seen, both of Anglo Saxon and Christian origins. The changeover from use of the Anglo Saxon deity, “Wyrd” to the Christian word “God” within the pieces illustrates the influence on literature by the wave of re christianization. Most of the influence is seen in the translation of Beowulf, which was by the Christian monk. The change of the word Wyrd to the word God, in a way stripped the Anglo Saxons of their culture. To fully complete a comparison between the two themes Wyrd and God one must distinguish the definition of each term and also analyze the context in which Wyrd and God appear in both pieces of literature. At the beginning of the Anglo …show more content…
The word God had not appeared in Anglo Saxon literature until the early 800’s when a new Christian wave came through Great Britain. Unlike the pagan god Wyrd, the Christian God deals with the holy trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit none of which are synonymous with nature. The ideas of christianity entered both the Seafarer and Beowulf after the wave of Christian monks came through their translation of these pieces. Until the 800’s Christianity had not been seen since the first wave of the religion, pre 400 AD which is when the Roman Empire left England. The Christian reformation of the Anglo Saxon society was what some may say robbed them of their pagan religion and their …show more content…
THe message is not conveyed in the way it would have been if the original piece had now been translated by Christian monks who only intend to translate the epic poem, which took a pagan story about fate to an ecclesiastic version of the same story now without the original history. Where Hrothgar's mead hall is described in great detail along with the people who are hearing this tale, it says, “as God had prospered him, save the people’s land and the lives of men” this is apparent that the Christian monks had altered the original story by inserting “God” into a sentence where a more nature based deity would show the connection between saving lives and life itself in a more communicating way (2,1,7). This insertion continues throughout part one and also the entire poem of Beowulf. As Beowulf discusses his plan to kill Grendel with the king the word God is said again but in a different context, this time one could see the Christian God being the original noun in the story the reason for this is since in the name itself and in the third part of the holy trinity, the holy spirit both have the same prefix as God does in the story, “Him holy God hath sent us, as I hope, to be a gracious help to the West-Danes against the terror of Grendel” yes you could say that it follows the Christian ideals but since Grendel is a thing of nature the pagan God Wyrd would
Throughout Beowulf and “The Seafarer” religious references can be seen, both of Anglo Saxon and Christian origins. The changeover from use of the Anglo Saxon deity, “Wyrd” to the Christian word “God” within the pieces illustrates the influence on literature by the wave of re christianization. Most of the influence is seen in the translation of Beowulf, which was by the Christian monk. The change of the word Wyrd to the word God, in a way stripped the Anglo Saxons of their culture. To fully complete a comparison between the two themes Wyrd and God one must distinguish the definition of each term and also analyze the context in which Wyrd and God appear in both pieces of literature. At the beginning of the Anglo …show more content…
The word God had not appeared in Anglo Saxon literature until the early 800’s when a new Christian wave came through Great Britain. Unlike the pagan god Wyrd, the Christian God deals with the holy trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit none of which are synonymous with nature. The ideas of christianity entered both the Seafarer and Beowulf after the wave of Christian monks came through their translation of these pieces. Until the 800’s Christianity had not been seen since the first wave of the religion, pre 400 AD which is when the Roman Empire left England. The Christian reformation of the Anglo Saxon society was what some may say robbed them of their pagan religion and their …show more content…
THe message is not conveyed in the way it would have been if the original piece had now been translated by Christian monks who only intend to translate the epic poem, which took a pagan story about fate to an ecclesiastic version of the same story now without the original history. Where Hrothgar's mead hall is described in great detail along with the people who are hearing this tale, it says, “as God had prospered him, save the people’s land and the lives of men” this is apparent that the Christian monks had altered the original story by inserting “God” into a sentence where a more nature based deity would show the connection between saving lives and life itself in a more communicating way (2,1,7). This insertion continues throughout part one and also the entire poem of Beowulf. As Beowulf discusses his plan to kill Grendel with the king the word God is said again but in a different context, this time one could see the Christian God being the original noun in the story the reason for this is since in the name itself and in the third part of the holy trinity, the holy spirit both have the same prefix as God does in the story, “Him holy God hath sent us, as I hope, to be a gracious help to the West-Danes against the terror of Grendel” yes you could say that it follows the Christian ideals but since Grendel is a thing of nature the pagan God Wyrd would