Excerpt from The Haunted Mere in Beowulf Romance, so modern criticism proclaims, is in no wise incompatible with the temper of the heroic epic. As in tragedy moments of poignant emotion are at once height ened and relieved by the introduction of comedy, so in epic a classic clearness of outline and tranquillity of mood are rendered doubly effective when contrasted with the mystery and magic of romance. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the second adventure of the anglo-saxon epic Beowulf, in which the hero ...
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Excerpt from The Haunted Mere in Beowulf Romance, so modern criticism proclaims, is in no wise incompatible with the temper of the heroic epic. As in tragedy moments of poignant emotion are at once height ened and relieved by the introduction of comedy, so in epic a classic clearness of outline and tranquillity of mood are rendered doubly effective when contrasted with the mystery and magic of romance. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the second adventure of the anglo-saxon epic Beowulf, in which the hero does battle with a supernatural monster far away from the haunts of men. The scene shifts suddenly from the realistic setting at the Danish court, and the very air grows heavy with baleful suggestion, - just as when the lights and feasting of the Wartburg are left behind and the mountain in which Venus holds her revels looms up at twilight. That says the anglo-saxon poet, is an uncanny place. The situation grows tense with a new horror, not felt even in the earlier scene when the demon Grendel, creeping through the mists of evening, invades once too often the hall of the Danes. The element of strangeness is added to beauty, with marvellous effect. The picture of this wild abode of demons is set before us in some twenty lines, which are hardly to be matched and certainly not to be surpassed in anglo-saxon for sheer poetic beauty. It would be superfluous to quote these lines, indeed, were it not that they must presently receive a more critical inspection than has sometimes been accorded to them. Their power has been universally recognized, but their significance has not, I believe, been fully understood. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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