Beowulf

Beowulf Beowulf dates back to around the eighth century, during which Christianity was not a prevalent religion. As Magill states, whether the Christian elements are intrinsic or are interpolations by a tenth century monastic scribe is controversial. However, it remains obvious that the poem along with the society is full of Christian sentiments. The reader does not have to read far before he comes across the first reference made to God. It is in the prologue in which the story of Shild and the beginnings of Beo are presented. “Now the Lord of all life, Ruler of Glory blessed them with a prince…” (23, ll. 16-17). As the narrative continues it relays information of Shild becoming old and “When his time was come the old king died, still strong but called to the Lord’s hands” (24, ll. 26-27). In this particular passage, although the words such as Lord and blessing provide for a Christian element, the actions of the people do not. Shild’s comrades do not bury him after his death; there is no funeral as present in Christian society. Instead they put his corpse on a harbored ship along with numerous treasures including beowulf, god, ll, christian, men, along, after, society, ship, over, lord, whether, upon, thought, thank, shild’s, shild, remains, religious, religion, reader, present, poem, permission, people, old, must, however, holy, hands, god’s, fate, christianity, century, case