It is a puzzle why a poem would commemorate an Anglo-Saxon defeat at the hands of the Vikings. A defeat which led to the humiliation payment of 10000 pounds of silver to the Danes, the first of many which was raised by an unpopular tax. And therein lies the reason for the poem’s existence. While it can’t be dated exactly, it was written at a time when Viking invasions were common, leading to a Danish king on the throne of England, first Svein then Cnut.
It concerns a deeply devout Christian Earl who was famed as a benefactor of the church. Yet, the old heroic code of pagan ancestors are invoked throughout. Loyalty to one’s lord, avenging his death and shame to the disloyal retainers who turn and flee. Is this mere nostalgia? Attempting to wrest some glory from a bitter defeat? To palliate the loss with a reminder of the heroes of their pagan ancestors?
The battle took place after the benedictine reform of the …show more content…
They are loyal anyway. They fight even though there is no hope of winning. As so and so points out, loyalty is the basis of their civilisation. Disloyalty is what causes the shieldwall the symbol of heroic code and loyalty to one another to fall. The men are a cross section of Englaland. Aelfwine from Mercia, Ashforth a northumbrian hostage, Leofsunu from Stour, Dunnere, a humble free man. They exhort each other to avenge their lord, to fight the viking invader, to remember their allegiance to their lord and king. To stand fast together against the viking horde. The social function of this text is to emphasise the coherence of the english kingdom and to rally the people against the danes. Just as churchill wrote the narrative for the british people after the defeat of Dunkirk by saying “we will fight on the beaches” leaving them no choice but to stand fast against an encroaching enemy or feel shame, so to does The Battle of
It concerns a deeply devout Christian Earl who was famed as a benefactor of the church. Yet, the old heroic code of pagan ancestors are invoked throughout. Loyalty to one’s lord, avenging his death and shame to the disloyal retainers who turn and flee. Is this mere nostalgia? Attempting to wrest some glory from a bitter defeat? To palliate the loss with a reminder of the heroes of their pagan ancestors?
The battle took place after the benedictine reform of the …show more content…
They are loyal anyway. They fight even though there is no hope of winning. As so and so points out, loyalty is the basis of their civilisation. Disloyalty is what causes the shieldwall the symbol of heroic code and loyalty to one another to fall. The men are a cross section of Englaland. Aelfwine from Mercia, Ashforth a northumbrian hostage, Leofsunu from Stour, Dunnere, a humble free man. They exhort each other to avenge their lord, to fight the viking invader, to remember their allegiance to their lord and king. To stand fast together against the viking horde. The social function of this text is to emphasise the coherence of the english kingdom and to rally the people against the danes. Just as churchill wrote the narrative for the british people after the defeat of Dunkirk by saying “we will fight on the beaches” leaving them no choice but to stand fast against an encroaching enemy or feel shame, so to does The Battle of