What is the importance of genre within poetry? I think through working with genre and some of its symbols, interpreting a piece of literature has a deeper meaning. Comparing and contrasting a piece to each other also brings up similar ideas and reoccurring themes that lead to drawing conclusions about human nature. While working with the poems Beowulf, Lanval, and Sir Gawain within their genres, I find that conditions within societies form a need of a hero figure but that hero varies with values of society and within different times in one’s life as seen with Northrop Frye’s idea of seasons connecting with genre.
Beowulf is the quintessence of an epic poem. Typically in an Epic, it has characteristics of hero-lust or the lust for glory regardless if the price for said glory is death as bold actions are necessary to be a mortal hero. The character of Beowulf seems to be motivated by ideas of glory and fame. This idea would correlate with the impetus for an Epic: to strive for immortality, not just in body, but in name. The Aristocratic Warrior Code is also a great way to understand …show more content…
The chivalric romance has a plethora of characteristics that corresponds with both following pieces of literature: Lanval by Marie De France and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by an unknown author. One such characteristic is the idea that the romance genre idealizes chivalry. Chivalry is honor, respect, loyalty, courtesy, gentlemanly behavior, and self-less acts. Lanval depicts the idea of chivalry in several instances one being “For is valor, for his generosity, his beauty and his bravery, most men envied him (Lanval, 154).” In the same manner, Sir Gawain has the same qualities “you’re by the far the most faultless fellow on earth. As a pearl is more prized than a pea which is white, in good faith, so I Gawain, amongst gallant knights (Gawain,
Beowulf is the quintessence of an epic poem. Typically in an Epic, it has characteristics of hero-lust or the lust for glory regardless if the price for said glory is death as bold actions are necessary to be a mortal hero. The character of Beowulf seems to be motivated by ideas of glory and fame. This idea would correlate with the impetus for an Epic: to strive for immortality, not just in body, but in name. The Aristocratic Warrior Code is also a great way to understand …show more content…
The chivalric romance has a plethora of characteristics that corresponds with both following pieces of literature: Lanval by Marie De France and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by an unknown author. One such characteristic is the idea that the romance genre idealizes chivalry. Chivalry is honor, respect, loyalty, courtesy, gentlemanly behavior, and self-less acts. Lanval depicts the idea of chivalry in several instances one being “For is valor, for his generosity, his beauty and his bravery, most men envied him (Lanval, 154).” In the same manner, Sir Gawain has the same qualities “you’re by the far the most faultless fellow on earth. As a pearl is more prized than a pea which is white, in good faith, so I Gawain, amongst gallant knights (Gawain,