Essay for Week 11: Beowulf

This week I read the epic Beowulf in in the British Isle section of the un-textbook. The reason I chose this story was because I remember having to read the whole poem in high school.  I am most familiar with this story, and reading it again was great. Beowulf is one of the better epics that exist today. What makes the story so good is that you get a powerful story in only about 15,000 words or so.

Beowulf reminds me of Odysseus in some ways. Both of them are heroes and kings of their land. People depended on them to lead, and overcome the obstacles in the say. There are some key differences in the two that I believe. Odysseus is more of a genuine leader, I believe, and Beowulf was appointed leader because of his natural skills. Beowulf was more known for his brute strength and ability to fight, and Odysseus mostly used his wit to defeat monsters. One could argue that Odysseus was better of the two because he didn’t die, but I don’t even want to go there. I think both heroes at O are great.

In Beowulf, I was excited to see him defeat Grendel and his mother. He literally saved a lot of people from the horrible monster. It was an extreme disappointment when he died by the dragon. I was not even expecting it, and it was a very tragic death. I think that Beowulf should have not went to slay the dragon. He already proved himself enough and killing the dragon was overkill in my opinion.  Overall I really enjoyed the story of Beowulf, and I can add it in my collection of hero stories, I wonder if there are any other stories that feature Beowulf on some other adventures I would love to read them if they did.

 



Grendel by J. R. Skelton

More info: Wikipedia

 

Storytelling for Week 11: Beowulf in Heaven

Beowulf in Heaven

“You may have heard about my story in the books, But I assure you that there is a big whole in it that you may not have known,” Beowulf said to the many other people that were in heaven. “There was two very important phases in my life that I feel were skipped in the book. The first one is the time period when I was training as a mere child and up to a young man. The second one is the time period after I defeated the wretched Grendel. Listen to all that took place in my like during these periods if you want to fully know my story.”

After my parents send me away to my live with my uncle I had to underdo serious training from day one. At 5 years of age, everyday, I would have to get up and do 500 pushups throughout the day.  Now at first it was challenging for me, but it wasn’t so hard because of how strong I already was. After each year the number per day increased 100, so you can imagine that when I was 20 had to do 2000 push-ups a day. I was pushed to the absolute maximum of my abilities. An important thing that I worked on during my training as a boy was my balance. Yes, I was strong and fast, but I was very clumsy. I needed to work on my hand eye coordination and my balance. My uncle came up with an idea to help. He would Make my run around in a circle and then try to climb up this small cliff. It was very hard at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. After awhile I mastered all of my weakness, and in my twenties I couldn’t have felt any better.

When Grendel was slain, the whole world knew who did it, and everyone wanted t praise me. I made sure to keep a level head and he humble toward everyone else. I soon became King and we lived many years in peace from any monster. There were some other battles amongst our people and the neighboring cities, but I swiftly took care of them. For the next 40 years or so, I had now seen any action at all. I was definitely not in my prime anymore, but I still felt good. One day a slave approached me and told me of a dragon that guards a great treasure. I couldn’t resist but to take the opportunity and go slay this dragon myself. Many of you think that I died because of my foolish men that ran away and hid while I was attacking the dragon. What really happened was that due to my old age, I was having a hard time not becoming fatigues. I also had major joint pain in my knees, so whenever the dragon swooped its tail, I didn’t have a fast enough reaction time and it stuck me to my death.

“So this is really the reason why I died, Beowulf said. “I have done many great things in my lifetime, but I must admit that the fight with the dragon might have been the most foolish thing. I knew from before that I wasn’t in my prime. It had just been so long since I fought in a real battle. I just wanted to try. Looks like it didn’t go my way.

Author’s Note

Beowulf: by Just Jared

This Week I read the Story of Beowulf in the un-textbook. For this story I wanted to fill in the reader on the details in between some time periods. If you read the story It is easy to see which parts I am talking about. The reason why I chose to write my story like this was because while I was reading it, I thought to myself. “I wonder what Beowulf did for all of those years while he was training, or how did he spend his time when he became king.” I added my own scenarios to fill in the gaps. I hope you enjoy the story..

Reading Diary for Week 11: Beowulf

Part 1

Beowulf was always a strong individual since birth it was noted that he was strong. His parents took him away to live with his uncle so he could train. As a young boy he was often made fun of for his clumsiness.

This part reminds me of Spiderman or Peter Parker. Everyone used to make fun of him, but he turned out to he really strong and a hero.

Beowulf had to go to the land of Daneland to slay the monster Grendel.

We come to find out that Grendel haunted the Land and killed innocent people. It especially liked to kill young soldiers and eat then whole. Only the king, and the elderly were left. The King threw a feast in the hall of Heorot. It was the first time Beowulf and his crew had a chance to rest in over twelve years!

Part 2

After the feast all of the men went to sleep. While they were sleeping a mist appeared and swept the room. It was Grendel! (This part reminded me of the movie called The Mist. It is about monsters that live and only kill people within the mist.) Grendel used a magic spell to further keep the men asleep as he came through the door. The spell did not work on Beowulf because he wasn’t fully asleep yet. He ate one of Beowulf’s men in his sleep. Beowulf then woke up and the two started to fight.

Eventually, Beowulf slayed Grendel in battle; leaving his arm for souvenir. Everyone rejoiced, but that came to a end quickly because they found out that someone else has been killed. It was Grendel’s mother. Beowulf went to go find her. When he found her he killed her and again sliced the head of Grendel, and took it back to the king. Once h Beowulf returned home he eventually became king and many years passed of peace and happiness. One day a slave told him of a dragon guarding a treasure. Beowulf now an old king went to go slay the dragon, but he was killed.

I have read this story before and high school and I liked it. The only thing that sucks is that Beowulf dies. That is just how most Epics are.