I wanted to dissect Beowulf, as I didn’t get to grasp the entire context of it the first week. After doing a third pass reading it struck me that I have read a story in high school that reminded me of Beowulf. The book was J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. After doing some research, an interesting fact that I found was that the epic poem Beowulf was indeed a huge influence for Tolkien. He said, “Beowulf is in fact so interesting as poetry, in places poetry so powerful, that any historical value it may possess must always be of secondary importance.” (http://www.sfsu.edu/~medieval/Volume5/Beowulf.html)
It is evident that Tolkien based many of his characters off of the characters and objects in Beowulf. For example, Beorn in Lord of the Rings is compared to Beowulf in Beowulf. Immediately one would notice that they share half of their names (“Beo”). Beorn is a shape changer throughout the book as he can transform into a bear. Beowulf translates as “bee-wolf” which means bear as well. Along with their similar names both men have extraordinary strength and can tear their enemies apart with their strong clench. (http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/papers/Ancalagon/TolkienandBeowulf.htm)
In both the epic poem and the story, there are struggles within their great journeys, and the battles that they fought. Tolkien took the imagery from Herot and used it to create the halls of Beorn and Théoden. Another thing that amazed me was that Tolkien thought of the title of his book from a line in Beowulf. Line 2345 reads, "Oferhogaode ða hringa fengel," usually translated, "Yet the prince of the rings was too proud..." This advocates Beowulf's characteristic of sharing gold rings and other rewards from battle with his men, and therefore, earning their loyalty. It seems that there is strong evidence that Tolkien translated this title into "Lord of the Rings”. (http://moongadget.com/origins/lotr.html)
I believe Tolkien changed the way people viewed Beowulf. In the past, believing in a fantasy world and mythical creatures would be looked down upon. He made it okay to believe in these ideas- to think there is evil even in good men and there is more to life then what is before us. After finding out all this information, I wonder how the author of Beowulf would feel that Tolkien borrowed so many of Beowulf’s characters, weapons, great halls and battles against good and evil. I believe that is okay, as in literature and art, as well as science and math, when something new is formed and put forth to others, it always is based from a previous discovery. More importantly, many people have enjoyed reading both pieces, which is a huge success for both authors as a main part of writing is attracting an audience.
There are very appealing comparisons to be found between the two pieces. Since I am not of avid knowledge of Lord of the Rings, the links that I have focused throughout this rumination will describe in detail the many similarities to Beowulf if any one is interested in looking further into this discovery!
I've read throug Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trillogy at least three times now and every time I get somethiing more out of it. Reading Beowulf really helped me to delve deeper into Tolkien's primary influences. In one of his letters to a friend he even admitted: “Beowulf is among my most valued sources; though it was not consciously present to the mind in the process of writing..."
ReplyDeleteI think it's amazing how he carried on the story in the same tradition in which Beowulf was created. The parallels between the two are seemingly endless. Here are a couple more for your consideration:
- Gollum is a very Grendel-like character. Grendel was a "descendant of Cain" just as Gollum used to be a Hobbit-like creature. Gollum is Frodo's nemesis just as Grendel is Beowulf's. Also, both are twisted, corrupt beings that have more than average physical strength.
- The kingdoms of Hrothgar (Beowulf) and Theoden (LOTR) are very much the same. Theoden's hall, Meduseld (which translates to "mead hall" from Anglo-Saxon), very closely resembles Hrothgar's golden hall. Also, both kings have the same basic troubles: both are past their prime and dealing with an invading foe (Grendel/Sauruman) and both loose their most trusted advisors (Aeschere/Grima Wormtongue) to their enemy.
I thought about "Lord of the Rings" as well, when I read this. LOTR is one of my favorite stories so you can imagine my thrill when I was reading Beowulf. The incredibly close resemblance to the good vs. evil, and the very similar lines were enticing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you made a connection with this because I would never have thought to have researched if Tolkien was influenced by "Beowulf". I also like how you backed everything up, and I'm glad you did. Just one question, though, did people actually not enjoy reading fantasy back in the day? If there's evidence for that I'd be really excited to read about it. Whole knew topic! haha.
I think its very fair to say that Tolkien was influenced by Beowulf. He was obviously interested in the text. Before he wrote his own famous novels, he published a piece of literary criticism called, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." It was an incredibly influential essay and not only affected how we read Beowulf but perhaps that we read it at all.
ReplyDeleteKristen in response to your question I feel in Beowulf's time, people had the willingness to read and enjoy an epic poem filled with fantasy. But as centuries went by people and life become more complex with advanced communication and technology people began to frown upon an epic poem filled with fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this rumination. I never knew about this connection! I've read the Lord of the Rings, but I was so young when I did that I feel a lot of it went over my head. I want to read the trilogy again to keep an eye out for connections like these. I feel like not only did Tolkein borrow names and characters from Beowulf, but the overreaching theme has a lot in common with Beowulf too: the struggle between good and evil, and the ultimate struggle of good over evil. Lord of the Rings, like Beowulf, also has a David and Goliath aspect to it, where Beowulf almost stands no chance fighting Grendel and Grendel's mother, the hobbits seem to have no chance against Sauron. Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteGreat Rumination, Jamie! If you love Tolkien you HAVE to take ENGL372 (? could be 382, I forget) -- it's a class taught by Bernard McKenna on Tolkien. It's awesome. McKenna is awesome. Take it over Winter Session. Anyway, as you noted Tolkien was a big fan of Beowfulf, and as Steve noted, Tolkien's essay "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" is excellent. It argues that Beowulf is not just a masterpiece in the sense of linguistic or historical achievement, but that is has literary value as one of the greatest poems every written. Obviously, as students of 2011, this is something that is has pretty much been agreed upon by the academic world (thus, why every student of British Lit must read Beowulf), but in 1936, when Tolkien wrote the essay, it was a somewhat of a reach to make such claims. I am actually in the process of writing an independent essay on how Tolkien was influenced by another group of British authors - the great Romantic poets, so if you want to see some really cool parallels let me know! You wouldn't believe how many lines in the LOTR Trilogy are almost identical to those written by Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Blake and Byron!
ReplyDeleteI always felt the similarities between Beowulf and Tolkien, though I had never really delved into them. It always felt like the stories had grown up down the street from each other. The feel of them was always so familiar. It is no surprise to me then that Tolkien borrowed much from Beowulf, although I never thought of Beorn and Beowulf as being the same person. I'm a huge Lord of the Rings nerd (they are what help inspired me to want to write fantasy) and seeing them used in this context was great.
ReplyDeleteAs for what you said about people borrowing from other works, "there are no new ideas, only old ones with new drapes."
Great Rumination!