Literary Critics Of Beowulf Essay

Literary critics of Beowulf often criticize the poem for its lack of historical accuracy. The lens in which the poem is viewed engenders a view of the poem’s weaknesses and strengths. Many critics fail to think of the poem in a different perspective and thus fail to capture the literary value and strength the author put behind each line and stanza of the poem. J.R.R. Tolkien asserts his view that Beowulf should be criticized as a work of art and not as a historical piece of literature. Furthermore, Tolkien conveys that because of the literary flair the author of Beowulf included in the poem, the work should be considered one of the most successful poems of Old English. Tolkien takes into account the themes of youth and old age and the literary
This theme and parallel structure of the poem carries with it the idea that all that lives must perish. The poem is not meant to be recount of Danish or Swedish history, but instead an archaic legend retold with the addition of the values and scrutiny of the unknown author. As a work of art, the author of Beowulf included the monsters such as Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon as the personification of the darkness and true evil. This detracts from the historical accuracy of the poem, but provides structure for the building of theme and parallelism in the poem according to Tolkien. The use of pagan and Christian references such as the mentioning of Cain and the reciting of verses related to God give insight to the author’s point of view and the conflicting views of the Anglo-Saxons in their transition between a pagan ideal and a Christian ideals, thus indicating that the author added their own style and criticisms into the poem. Tolkien believes that it is that evidence that make criticism from a historical point of view not as effective as a criticism from a solely poetic point of