The Haunted Mere in Beowulf (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

William Witherle Lawrence

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1333802889 ISBN 13: 9781333802882

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from The Haunted Mere in Beowulf

Romance, so modern criticism proclaims, is in no wise incompatible with the temper of the heroic epic. As in tragedy moments of poignant emotion are at once height ened and relieved by the introduction of comedy, so in epic a classic clearness of outline and tranquillity of mood are rendered doubly effective when contrasted with the mystery and magic of romance. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the second adventure of the anglo-saxon epic Beowulf, in which the hero does battle with a supernatural monster far away from the haunts of men. The scene shifts suddenly from the realistic setting at the Danish court, and the very air grows heavy with baleful suggestion, - just as when the lights and feasting of the Wartburg are left behind and the mountain in which Venus holds her revels looms up at twilight. That says the anglo-saxon poet, is an uncanny place. The situation grows tense with a new horror, not felt even in the earlier scene when the demon Grendel, creeping through the mists of evening, invades once too often the hall of the Danes. The element of strangeness is added to beauty, with marvellous effect.

The picture of this wild abode of demons is set before us in some twenty lines, which are hardly to be matched and certainly not to be surpassed in anglo-saxon for sheer poetic beauty. It would be superfluous to quote these lines, indeed, were it not that they must presently receive a more critical inspection than has sometimes been accorded to them. Their power has been universally recognized, but their significance has not, I believe, been fully understood.

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About this edition

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1333802889
• ISBN 13: 9781333802882
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 43