{"product_id":"9781501766909-art-thought-of-the-beowulf-p","title":"The Art and Thought of the \"Beowulf\" Poet","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e The Art and Thought of the\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Beowulf \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, Leonard Neidorf explores the relationship between\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Beowulf\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e and the legendary tradition that existed prior to its composition\u003c\/b\u003e. The \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e poet inherited an amoral heroic tradition, which focused principally on heroes compelled by circumstances to commit horrendous deeds: fathers kill sons, brothers kill brothers, and wives kill husbands. Medieval Germanic poets relished the depiction of a hero's unyielding response to a cruel fate, but the \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e poet refused to construct an epic around this traditional plot. Focusing instead on a courteous and pious protagonist's fight against monsters, the poet creates a work that is deeply untraditional in both its plot and its values. In \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e, the kin-slayers and oath-breakers of antecedent tradition are confined to the background, while the poet fills the foreground with unconventional characters, who abstain from transgression, display courtly etiquette, and express monotheistic convictions. \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eComparing \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e with its medieval German and Scandinavian analogues, \u003ci\u003eThe Art and Thought of the\u003c\/i\u003e Beowulf \u003ci\u003ePoet\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the poem's uniqueness reflects one poet's coherent plan for the moral renovation of an amoral heroic tradition. In \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e, Neidorf discerns the presence of a singular mind at work in the combination and modification of heroic, folkloric, hagiographical, and historical materials. Rather than perceive \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e as an impersonally generated object, Neidorf argues that it should be read as the considered result of one poet's ambition to produce a morally edifying, theologically palatable, and historically plausible epic out of material that could not independently constitute such a poem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40823314776161,"sku":"9781501766909","price":35.55,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_36297742_b55ee7b1-be95-46af-a860-533b0af233b1.jpg?v=1759383749","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781501766909-art-thought-of-the-beowulf-p","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}