Tammy’s Reviews > Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics > Status Update

Footnote 36. Tolkien quotes a bunch of Old English about a grim pagan and Tammy versteht nicht. The next note reminds me of The Screwtape Letters when the patient gets a glimpse of Wormtongue as he ascends to heaven. The little gods are the devil giving us what we want to see. I think he has done that throughout history.

I finished!!!

Beowulf’s victory was not a war to end all wars and it ended feeling like that battle would continue. We do not know what the original northern conception of Hell without Christian coloring was like. Christian poets used fate and luck (as in Boethius) because the mind of God is inscrutable. In Old English it had more of a feeling of doom or death because sometimes it feels hostile.

Some think that the poem’s faults are due to multiple authors. Tolkien does not. He uses faults in The Aeneid as an example. To solve this problem, some professors only teach the first half of the poem and Tolkien does not agree. The death of Beowulf does not take care of all dragons, only this one. That leaves a note of hopelessness. Great heroes deal with ordinary life but we don’t write about it.

Some note similarities between the Cyclops and Grendel as well as Prometheus and Loki. In the latter, the destruction of the world is caused by the enemy within (Loki). Loki is allowed to live in Asgard, even though he is evil. Tolkien believes that the Genesis part of Beowulf is older than the rest of it. Back to lines 175-188, Tolkien thinks it is more about Old Testament Jews and that makes total sense.

During this time of transition, there were individuals with deep understanding and individuals who were blank and ignorant. The only one who speaks about Christian ideas is the narrator. Grendel’s origin story would not have been known to Hrothgar and Beowulf. He gave the local stories a Biblical finish. Beowulf and The Aeneid are alike in their stern nobility. They have a more somber tone than Homer.

Tolkien’s ear picks up subtle differences and he explains why he is finding false notes.

Notes - Tolkien turns to a short history of literature just to see how the words of experts of Beowulf describe it. As stated in the essay, he trashes Ker’s opinion of Beowulf. When summarized, Beowulf comes across as thin. Beowulf reflects a Christian reimagining an earlier time.

Appendix C - Lines 175-188 were difficult. Tolkien states that they draw a distinction between Hrothgar who turns to the Almighty and certain Danes who turn to pagan idols. Is this the time before they knew God? Are they all condemned? Is it losing the knowledge of Creation and the Almighty that condemned them? He thinks that 181-188 were altered because it seems out of place to him. I, OTH, am clueless.

Tolkien cannot prove this and wants to leave that in other hands. Hrothgar is like the monotheistic patriarch and king who thanks him for his mercies. Beowulf does not talk much about God, other than being linked to fate. Sometimes he attritutes winning to luck but he does refer to hell and judgement. Tolkien believes that rather than adding Christianity as an afterthought, the poet repaganizes the story for effect.

He does not see himself as a just pagan. Tolkien believes that the poet is not confused about the distinction. The characters are pagan and it is the author that adds Christian thought to the poem. The distintions between his voice, Hrothgar’s voice, and Beowulf’s voice shows that he is not confused.

I think Tolkien is talking about a different poem because he says that Beowulf preserves the old pagan sense of the words. Okay, my ignorance is showing. LOL The praise is from living men and descendents, not heavenly choirs. The characters did not have a Christian understanding, but little asides show that the poet does understand. Beowulf receives his dom but it is not a Christian funeral.