Friday, February 11, 2011

Beowulf

  1.  In your opinion, what view of youth and old age does Beowulf convey? In answering, consider not only the details in the last part of the poem but also the earlier portrayals of Beowulf and Hrothgar. According to the poem, life was short. Beowulf was young at the beginning of the story and had godlike strength. As he got "old", he became mortal and ended up dying because he had lost all his strength. Most of the people of this time died in their late twenties.
  2. On the basis of your reading Beowulf, what quantities or values do you think the Anglo-Saxons admired? How would you compare those admired quantities or values with those that we admire in present day San Antonio? Anglo-Saxons enjoyed adventure and thrill. They loved stories of courageous men who did amazing things because it drove them to be brave in times of danger and added meaning to their lives. San Antonio is very similar to this belief. We are Texans, therefore we are already followers of the idea of adventure and thrill. It runs in our blood. Many San Antonians follow stories of great people in history that did great things. For instance, the men who fought in the battle of the Alamo. These stories give us a higher sense of purpose in our lives and allow for us to perservere all the more.
  3. In today's society, we have our own kinds of "monsters" who threaten our safety or way of life. Who or what are today's monsters, and what threat do they pose? Todays monsters are those who are mentally unstable. These are people who will kill, steal, pillage, torment, and other related things. These are people who don't care that the decisions affect those around them. People like politicians are monsters in that they only want to pass laws and bills to their benefit. The media is a monster because it is manipulated by the government and is constantly trying to brainwash the minds of americans across the nation. Monsters of today includes terrorism both domestic and international. There are many kinds of monsters that pose great danger to our nation and its citizens. Yet the very monsters that are endangering us are the same monsters who are there to "protect" us from other monsters.
  4. Invent two original kennings and explain what they mean.
  • Mother-heart: the heart of a mother is a heart of love and nurishment for her children. Therefore, a mother-heart is one who loves and cherishes the feelings of those around them.
  • Life-giver: giving a life has more than one meaning in its figurative state than literal. One could be a life-giver if he feeds wisdom to the hearts and minds of those around him. One could be a life-giver by encouraging those around him to perservere. One could be a life giver by giving testimonies and deterring others from the path of evil. In this case, a life- giver is simply one who dedicates their own life to saving the lives of others physically, mentally, and emotionally.

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