Beowulf contains a myriad of different heroic ethical and social
values. Most of these values are ingeniously rooted within, or made evident
by the opposing forces of the poem. The initial opposing force arrives in
the form of Grendel, a vile creature who's rampages mirror that of a modern
serial killer. As the poem draws toward the conclusion, it focuses on the
dragon, a creature developed by the poet to solidify the rise and fall of
the archetypal hero.
After Adolf Hitler failed in his artistic studies at Vienna, he
began to develop what would become a reign of terror on those who were not
like him. His backlash towards a society that rejected him as an artist
spawned his anti-Semitic and political beliefs. The same anti-societal
anger has found its way into the minds of countless other killers, both
past and present. Take for example Theodore (Ted) Bundy, who in 1978, after
watching students drink and dance in a college bar, witnessed "a healthy
ritual of joy from which we know he forever felt exiled". Shortly
thereafter, Bundy left the bar and traveled to the Chi Omega sorority
house where he watched from outside, entered, and then killed two girls and
wounded two others.
Just as Bundy had done, Grendel watched and surveyed from the
distance. He waited outside the great hall, listening to the mirth and
celebration from within. He hated them. The revelers inside felt no "misery
of men." They were not uninvited, outcast, and below the social class of
Hrothgar's company. These feelings of inadequacy propel Grendel to
slaughter those who oppress him. For "twelve winters" he smashes bodies
and eats his victims, creating a bloody rampage and a dire need for a
savior.
The question of Grendel's origin is difficult to trace. The author
remains ambiguous throughout the poem, referring to Grendel as biblical,
but also suggesting that he is human. The original manuscript often refers
to Grendel as "man", but man" with a long vowel meant evil, whereas "man"
with a short vowel literally meant a man. It cannot be certain which
pronunciation the author intended, what has been butchered in the
translation, or whether this was meant ...
The poets of the nineteenth century wrote on a variety of topics. One often used topic is that of death. The theme of death has been approached in many different ways. Emily Dickinson is one of the numerous poets who uses death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," death is portrayed as a gent...
A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young," also known as Lyric XIX in A Shropshire Lad, holds as its main theme the premature death of a young athlete as told from the point of view of a friend serving as pall bearer. The poem reveals the concept that those dying at the peak of their glory or youth are really quite lucky. The first few readings...
In the poem 'Home Burial', Robert Frost talks about a couple in the verge of breaking up. I believe that the main issue in this poem is the death of a child that has not been addressed by the parents. A staircase, where the action of the poem occurs, symbolizes both the ability of husband and wife to come together and the distance between them. I...
I've been through so much in my life, words can't express; the only feeling I have inside is plain loneliness. When you, finally, came around, you said you'd never leave, but I've never felt so alone; I find it hard to breath. When I asked you if you had been drinking, you sat there and told me 'no''. You didn't know how I felt; I didn't let it s...
Romanticism came just after Classicism. The romantic poets intentionally escaped from the world of composed manners.they tried a new genre and thus a new literature called romantic literature began. the first publication of the Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge announced the new era of romantic poetry. Shelley, Keats, Byron Blake also at...
Embracing the past to see the future of American Education. . Mike Rose's 'I Just Wanna Be Average' essay sheds light on troubled youth within the public school system. It makes you long for the days of American pride and service. Students placed in 'tracks' to utilize overcrowded and faulty test systems. Identity lost due to poor instruction an...
Both Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde, in their respective poems entitled Power, convey the idea that ones identity and sense of worth is defined by what they are willing to give up. This message is energized by the emotion the authors evoke through their ability to communicate a sense of experience. It is this experience as mothers and highly intel...
Many poems are written about death. The two poets William Cullen Bryant and Emily Dickinson were very influential trancendental writers. Bryant writing Thanatopsis And Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" are basically more alike then than they are similar for the fact that there views on Death are the same, but what happens to yo...
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke). In order to stop evil and malicious acts from occurring, the people whose responsibility it is to enforce the laws must step up and stop these terrible acts. By ignoring the evil and not attempting to stop the evil, the good can harm themselves or o...
McAvley's purpose in "Merry-Go-Round" is to show the innocent beliefs of children viewed by a cynical adult. It portrays children caught up in the magical, surreal world of childhood before thrown into reality and the discordant life of adulthood. He employs specific stylistic devices such as imagery and diction, structure and tone to reveal this t...
A) Read '' by Maria Miranda-Maloney. B) The character in '' is a Hispanic male that crossed the border into the United States. Miranda-Maloney uses many factors to develop her character. We know the character in her poem is Hispanic, as she uses racial aspects within her poem when her character refers to himself as a 'watermelon-eating Mexican...
When you go to bed you see that it is dark outside, but when you wake you see light. The light and dark of the day is very dissent, but they are very closely related. Dark and light are the fares things from each other, while you can't have light without dark meeting. In the "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and "Sailing to Byzantium" we see these difference...
In Adrienne Rich's poem, "Living in Sin," a woman, entering a life full of hope and promises with her lover, assumes that "no dust" will fall upon her home, nor her perfect relationship. Her life, however, does not fit this ideal. Both a deteriorating home and relationship afflict her life; these unexpected results of her efforts in addition to t...
Crying myself to sleep tonight I'm so worthless it's unreal Night everyone. + You know those nights.. when nothing makes sense You break down crying Freaking out because you don't know what to do Kick and scream because you don't understand Or even put a pillow over your head to hide yourself from the world You start panicking and breathing gets h...