Essay Review: Archaeology and Beowulf by Leslie Webster

Webster, Leslie. “Archaeology and Beowulf.” Beowulf: A Verse Translation Ed. Daniel Donoghue. New York: w.w. Norton and Co., 2002. 212-23. print.
Annotated Bibliography In Leslie Webster’s essay “Archaeology and Beowulf,” Webster starts the paper off by talking about how the Old English translation of Beowulf has actually caused a lot of misunderstanding because of everyone’s contemporary perceptions of the way it was in the past. She then goes on to talk about the warrior culture, which she refers it to being the things or traditions warriors would do such as ceremonies and burials. Webster then transitions to describing the different things about Heorot in the book Beowulf and it’s structure. After that, Webster covers the importance of weapons and how rare having armor was. In the next section Webster basically talks about the different types of helmets and their significance in history. Webster continues her discussion of armor when she begins to talk about the mail-coats and how only certain people wore them. Next, Webster talks about the use of shields and how common they actually were when comparing them to the special mail-coats. Staying on the topic of weapons, Webster talks about swords and the connotation people have of them in different stories and poems. Webster went on to talk about transportation and said that ships were the main transportation and other ways of transportations land-wise were by horse or foot. Finally in the last section, Webster describes the importance of burials in Beowulf and other narratives and how they usually tie together a theme of everything.

Bibliography: In Leslie Webster’s essay “Archaeology and Beowulf,” Webster starts the paper off by talking about how the Old English translation of Beowulf has actually caused a lot of misunderstanding because of everyone’s contemporary perceptions of the way it was in the past. She then goes on to talk about the warrior culture, which she refers it to being the things or traditions warriors would do such as ceremonies and burials. Webster then transitions to describing the different things about Heorot in the book Beowulf and it’s structure. After that, Webster covers the importance of weapons and how rare having armor was. In the next section Webster basically talks about the different types of helmets and their significance in history. Webster continues her discussion of armor when she begins to talk about the mail-coats and how only certain people wore them. Next, Webster talks about the use of shields and how common they actually were when comparing them to the special mail-coats. Staying on the topic of weapons, Webster talks about swords and the connotation people have of them in different stories and poems. Webster went on to talk about transportation and said that ships were the main transportation and other ways of transportations land-wise were by horse or foot. Finally in the last section, Webster describes the importance of burials in Beowulf and other narratives and how they usually tie together a theme of everything.