Annotated bibliography of Beowulf scholarship and critical sources

Humanities Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Beowulf: A dual-language edition. (1977). NY: Doubleday. One of the most striking examples of literature to come out of the Dark Ages was Beowulf, created by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet and considered by many scholars to be the most important work of its time. There is no official date to the work, but it has been traced to somewhere between the 8th and the early 11th Century. The work is important because of its length and quality, but also because of the tale it tells and how it brought a strong focus to literature and art both in the Dark Ages and after the country emerged from that time period. It focuses on Beowulf's defeat of Grendel, a monster that is terrorizing the King of the Danes. As the main character, Beowulf travels a great distance to prove himself as a hero by slaying Grendel. As he goes up against supernatural beasts and impossible odds, Beowulf becomes an excellent metaphor for the rising spirit of mankind that came about as the Dark Ages started to come to an end. Throughout the Dark Ages, people needed something to cling to and something to hope for. They received messages of hope through epic poetry such as Beowulf, and that kept their interest in literature, as well. As an art form, Beowulf is looked upon with interest by scholars still today. Because it is all alliterative, it is both art and literature. The quality of the writing and phrasing is as important as the quality of the actual storytelling. Beowulf's triumph over the monster, as well as the monster's mother the following night, serves as a reminder that good people do come around to do good works, and that good can triumph over evil in many cases. With serious fear and doubt in the minds of the people throughout the Dark Ages, literary works such as Beowulf served as a reminder of the value of good people, which is something that was in short supply in real life during that time period.

Caesar, M. (1995). Dante: The Critical Heritage, NY: Routledge. Most people are very familiar with Dante's Inferno, but they do not all realize that it is only one part of a three-part work called The Divine Comedy. This work was written as an allegorical tale, written to convey the morals and beliefs that the author had at the time the work was created. Dante Alighieri created the epic poem, often considered to be a preeminent work in Italian literature during that time period. It is also seen as a great work of literature on a world level. The view of the afterlife presented in the poem is a mixture of the Western Church and the medieval worldview. During the Dark Ages, there were many questions about, and fears of, the afterlife. People were taught by the Church, and one of the things they were taught was to be fearful of God and His wrath. In the poem, the tale Dante tells throughout the three sections of the work is meant to address the experience people have as they move through their spiritual journey and get closer to God. Of course, that experience is based on what was believed by the Church at that time. Because there was a great deal of pain during the Dark Ages, those who lived during that period in time often struggled to find meaning in their lives. By helping them understand their soul's journey, Dante was able to provide an interesting tale as well as a measure of comfort. Dante also provided an important starting point for more Italian literature that focused on the value of the soul and the growth of the human spirit. Additionally, art was deeply affected by Dante because many artists painted and sculpted beautiful works based on the inferno Dante portrayed in his work. His beliefs of what the soul's journey was like, and the way he used metaphors and an allegorical tale to portray those beliefs, broadened the Italian and world horizons of both art and literature. His works are still widely read today, and have a timeless quality about them.