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Friday, November 7, 2008

A Review of a Beowulf Review

Beowulf is a book written sometime in the seventh century and the tenth century A.D. The original poem was written in old English , or Anglo-Saxon. I think Beowulf is an A-list book for two reasons. First the book is about 1,000 years old. It has been described as being the beginning of English poetry.

Second Beowulf is the 'epic poem of England.' Two man eating monsters are killed, as well as a dragon, all by the hero of the story.
I think in a way that the hero of the story, Beowulf, is a little bit of a 'superhero' type. The land of the Southern Danes has been under threat from a man eating monster named Grendel. For many years, the king, Hrothgar, has been under torment from this monster, and nobody seems to be able to kill I, though the book never mentions anyone trying. Then from over the sea, from the land of Geats ( modern day Southern Sweden,) comes a mighty warrior.

He single
handedly kills Grendel (without the use of weapons), and even Grendel's mother....


Student "X" does a good job telling us about the story, but I feel like I am hearing a summary of the book. I don't know what they liked about it that is not plot other than the reasons that they gave to justify it being an A-list book. But other than that this was a great review and I do admit that this is not the whole review. I also acknowledge that it is easier to be cynical than it is to like something, as Mr. Scot has stated.

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