Name: ______________________________Mr. LinCollege English IIIDate: October 3, 2012

The Blending of Christian and Pagan Elements in Anglo-Saxon Literature

Paganism in Anglo-Saxon Literature

In Beowulf, the reader is able to see the importance of civic duty, which is a key element to Anglo-Saxon paganism. In Beowulf, the chief inspiration is helping out one’s fellow man and protecting their Lord (King), which demonstrates the importance of a community to Anglo-Saxons. It is important to note that each man is not trying to devote his life to a God but rather to a community. Essentially, society is not each man for himself trying to save his soul, but it is about community and civic duty. When a member of the community dies, their family and spirit is taken care of by the community through wergild. The community supports the decease’s family and sends the deceased to the afterlife with riches and treasures. It is not God but the community that determines survival in the mortal world and peace and happiness in the afterlife. For this reason, Anglo-Saxon values and morality centers around glory, bravery, loyalty, generosity, and kinship (comitatus).

Paganism can be interpreted in the Wanderer as well. When reading this poem, one can interpret the religion as paganism because of the tone and the content. Loss is the central theme of this poem and the loss is from community. The wanderer is forced to roam by himself and because of the tone we as the reader know being exiled is the worst possible outcome because they are no longer part of anything. The wanderer finds comfort in ubi sunt because that is what has brought him the most joy is being in a community serving a Lord. If this had Christian influence, he wouldn’t be as upset because he is working and living for God. The Wanderer exemplifies the sorrow one feels with the loss of a lord and his community.

Christianity in Anglo-Saxon Literature

Even though Beowulf has pagan influences, Christianity can also be interpreted in this piece of literature. Both Grendel and Grendel’s mother in Beowulf are descendants of Cain, which comes from Christianity. There are several epithets that describe God in an “almighty” capacity. Hrothgar is a God-fearing and God-protected king.

DIRECTIONS: In pairs and in complete sentences, answer the following three questions using specific textual evidence from Beowulf. Only one paper per pair must be submitted

1. Discuss the role of wyrd (“fate”).

2. Discuss the Christian sin of pride vs. the warrior’s desire for heroism and glory (bravery and treasure), and camaraderie (comitatus/kinship/generosity/loyalty).

3. How does the poem’s end serve to signal the end of pagan religion and culture?

Name: ______________________________Mr. LinCollege English III Date: October 2, 2012

Pagan and Christian Elements in Beowulf and Judith

Directions: Compare Beowulf, a pagan storyline infused with Judeo-Christian elements, to Judith, an Old Testament text infused with pagan elements.

Homework: Read the Wikipedia excerpt about the “Plot, structure and themes” of Judith We will begin reading certain excerpts of Judith in class on Thursday and Friday and we will

create a chart to keep track of which elements of the poem are Pagan and which are Christian.

Plot, structure and themes

Similar to Beowulf, Judith conveys a moral tale of heroic triumph over monstrous beings. Both moral and

political, the poem tells of a brave woman’s efforts to save and protect her people. Judith is depicted as

an exemplar woman, grounded by ideal morale, probity, courage, and religious conviction. Judith's

character is rendered blameless and virtuous, and her beauty is praised persistently throughout the

poem. In line 109, Judith is referred to as an ides ellenrof, which translates as brave woman. The author

also gives her the entitlement of a 'halige meowle' (line 56), which translates as holy woman, a 'snoteran

idese' (line 55), which translates as wise woman, whilst her appearance is described as 'aelfscinu' (line

13), which translates as 'elf-shining'. Although Judith commits murder in the poem, she is constantly

doused with a saintly light. Holofernes adopts the archetypal monstrous image, further pulling any

convictions of wrongdoing away from Judith. In the Book of Judith, Holofernes is depicted as a babbling

drunkard. However, the poet renders him a representation of evil. And thus, in carrying out her plan to kill

him, Judith becomes a hero. Portraying the epitome of Germanic heroism, Judith was likely composed

during a time of war as a model for the Anglo-Saxon people. The Abbot Ælfric similarly created his own

homiletic interpretation of the Book of Judith. At the time of his creation, Vikings were ransacking

England. Ælfric professed that Judith was to serve as an example to the people. In a letter, Ælfric wrote:

“þeo is eac on English on ure wisan iset eow mannum to bisne, þet ge eower eard mid wæpnum

beweriæn wið onwinnende here.” Translated into modern English, the phrase reads: “It is also set as an

example for you in English according to our style, so that you will defend your land with weapons against

an attacking force” (Nelson, pg. 47). Ælfric’s Judith is quite similar to that of the poem; and furthermore,

the characters seem to have served the same purpose—to stand as an example to the people in a time of

war. Judith’s city of Bethulia was being plundered by Assyrians. Holofernes was an Assyrian general and

king, often drunk and constantly monstrous. Judith hatched a plan to save the Israelites and Bethulia. As

Holofernes was often drunk, Judith anticipated that he would attempt to seduce her. She pretended to be

charmed by Holofernes, allowing herself to be taken to his bedroom. When the unsuspecting Holofernes

fell into a drunken slumber, Judith severed his head with a sword. Thereafter, she proudly displayed his

head to her Hebrew army and led them into a victorious battle against the Assyrians. In the Book of

Judith, though, the Assyrians simply fled Bethulia after discovering the deceased body of Holofernes

(Marsden, pg. 148).

Wikipedia contributors. "Judith (poem)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 May. 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2012.

From “Judith, An Old English Epic Fragment, Eidted, with Introduction, Facsimile, Translation, Complete Glossary, and Various Indexes, with English Translation, Introduction by Albert S. Cook; D. C. Heath & Co., Boston; 1904; pp. 3-27 [odd numbered pages only].

JUDITH._______

                                She doubted not His giftsIn this spacious realm; readily then she foundFavor from the famed Prince, when she felt the most needOf grace from the greatest Judge,—that God the CreatorMight free her from fear. To her the Father in Heaven,Glorious one, granted this boon, because of her great faithAye in the Highest. Holofernes (so heard I)A wine-bidding wrought well, with wonders uncountedMade ready a banquet; to this the bold captainSummoned all his chief servants; with speed they obeyed,The bearers of bucklers; came to the brave lordThe fighting folk-leaders. That was the fourth daySince that Judith, in judgment wise,The elf-bright damsel, erst had sought him.

[X.]

Then they to that supper went to sit,The overweening to the wine-feast, all his comrades in woe,Bold byrnie-warriors. There were bumpers deepBorne oft to the benches, with bowls and beakers5Full to the feasters, and fey they received it,The spirited shield-warriors, though their sovereign weened it not,Fierce ruler of heroes. Then Holofernes,The gold-friend of men, was in glee o’er his cups;Laughed he and shouted, he bawled and he called,That men far off the mirth might hear,How the stout-hearted cheered and stormed,How, rampant and raving, he roused with his urgingThe bench-sitting barons to clamor blithely.So the hateful one through the whole dayDeluged with wine all of the drinkers,The strong-souled wealth-lord, till in stupor they lay,So drenched all his dukes as if death had them slainGlutted with good things. The prince gave order To fill for the feasters until the day faded,The darksome night neared them. Then the pernicious oneBade the blest maid be brought in haste,The ring-adorned, to his resting-place,The bracelet-laden. Forthwith obeyed they,The servitors, what their sovereign bade,The mailed warriors’ master: marched they quickly

To the guest-hall, where Judith they foundPrudent in mind, and promptly thenThe buckler-bearers began to bringThe virgin bright to the vaulted tent,Where Holofernes, hateful to God,Rich in power, always rested,Nightly reposed. There was of pure goldA finely-wrought fly-net round the folk-leader’s Royal bed hung, that the baleful one,7Leader of legions, through it might lookOn every one that entered therein,The children of heroes, but none on himOf human kind, unless the haught onePerchance invited some valiant soldierTo come to council. To the couch they broughtWith speed the seeress; then went the stout-souledTheir prince to apprise that the holy maidWas brought to his bower-tent. Then was the burg-lord,The brave in heart, blithe; the bright virgin meant heWith foulness and filth to pollute; the Dispenser of fame would        not,Guardian of splendor, suffer that, but stayed him from it,Wise Wielder of hosts. The wicked one passed thence;The wanton caitiff, begirt with warriors.The baleful his bed to seek, where life he should loseIn a single night; shocking the endHe awaited on earth, though this he had wrought out,The dread king of men, while here he yet dweltIn this world under welkin. So wine-drunken fell The regal to rest, that no rede now remainedIn the cell of his sense: the soldiers paced forthOut of the hall with mickle haste,The wine-sated warriors, who the word-breaker,The terrible tyrant, to bed had attendedFor the last time. Then the Lord’s servant9The matchless maiden, was wholly mindfulHow most lightly to rob of lifeThat wicked one before he awoke,The carnal caitiff. The curly-lockedSeized a sword of might, the Master’s maiden,Sharp from scouring, and drew from the sheathWith her right hand. The Ruler of HeavenBy name she besought, the Saviour of allWho dwell in the world, and spake these words:‘O God of beginnings, and Giver of comfort,The Almighty’s Son, I seek for thy mercy;

Be now benignant to me in need,O Power of the Trinity. Terribly nowMy heart is heated, and heavy my soul.Sore troubled with sorrows; vouchsafe, Lord of Heaven,True faith and full triumph, that I may o’erthrowWith this steel the destroyer; bestow on me weal.O masterful Monarch, for ne’er of thy mercyMy need was more vast: revenge, mighty Lord,Splendid glory-dispenser, the rage of my spirit,In my bosom the burning.’ The highest and best JudgeStraight dowered her with daring, as each one he dothOf those dwelling here who seek for his helpWith reason and right faith. Her spirit dilated,To the holy new hope came; she seized then the heathenHard by the hair; with her hands she there haled himDisdainfully toward her, the treacherous man,And laid him along, the bulk unlovely,11As she most meetly the wretch could manage,The woful one wield. Then did the wavy-hairedSmite the foeman with flashing sword,The hostile-minded, so that his headWas half-way sundered, and he lay swooning,Dire-wounded and drunken. Not yet was he dead,Bereft of his soul; again she smote,The valiant virgin, with nerve and vigor,The heathen hound, so that his head rolledForth on the floor; the body so foulLay lifeless behind, but the soul sped away,Sank beneath the abyss, and there was abased,Ever thereafter pinioned with pangs,Bewound by serpents and bound by torments,Fastened firm in the flaming of hell,Since hence he removed. Nor may he hope everThat he shall evade from that vault of vipers,But, drowned in darkness, there shall dwell,Ever for ages without end,In that black abode, bereft of bliss.

[XI.]

By fight there gained she glory renowned,By stoutness in strife, as God vouchsafed her,Guardian of Heaven, granting her speed.Then the prudent damsel promptly carriedThe bold war-chieftain’s head so bloody,Shut in that scrip in which her servant,The fair-cheeked woman proficient in virtue,13Thither had brought the bread of them both.

To her aid she gave it, the gory head,To the hand of the helpful to bear it home,To her junior, Judith. Then went they joyful,Brave women both, and bold of spirit,Till the proud-souled and prosperous maids Trode forth in triumph out from the troops,And saw unveiled before their visionThe gleaming walls of the glorious city,Bethulia. Then the bracelet-decked onesHasted forthright upon the footway,Until the glad-minded at length had goneUnto the wall-gate. There sat the warriors,The heroes watching, holding their wardWithin the fortress, as erst to the folk,The rueful-souled, Judith rightly bade,The wily maid, when she went her way,The daring damsel. She, dear to her people,Had now returned, the tireless of thought,And straight way commanded one of the menTo come from the mighty burg and meet her,Then in great haste to hurry them inThrough the gate of the wall. These words then spakeTo the triumphing people: ‘Now can I tell youA mindworthy thing, that mournful of moodYe no longer may be: the Lord is blithe toward you,The Splendor of kings; it is now spread abroad,Far and wide through the world, that victory wondrous15And radiant awaits you; renown shall be wroughtFor dole and distress which long ye endured.’Then were blithe the dwellers in burgWhen they had heard how the holy one spakeOver the high wall. The host was joyful;To the fortress-gate hastened the folkMen and women in multitudes many,In throngs and bands, thousands in number.They swarmed and surged towards the servant of God,.Elders and youths: of every manIn the mead-city the mind was cheered,As soon as they heard that to her homeJudith was come; full quickly thenIn lowly wise they let her in.Then the adroit one, adorned with gold,Called to her servant, clever in mind,The head to unhide of the leader of hosts,Blood-stained as it was, and bear as a signHow in battle she fared, to the dwellers in burg.

Then the noble one spake to the people unnumbered:‘Here can ye clearly, conquering heroes,Leaders of legions, gaze on the loathsomeHead of the heathen Holofernus,Lacking life, and alarming no longer.He, most of all men, wrought us murders and crimes,Harrowing hardships, and higher had heaped them,These galling griefs, but God vouchsafed himNo longer life, that he might vex us17With thrilling throes: I thrust him to deathThrough the succor of God. Now will I beseechEach buckler-bearer, each burgess among you,To busk and bown him without delay,Go forth to the fight; when the Maker of first things,The King transcendent, hath sent from the EastThe lustrous light, bring your linden-shields,Breast-shielding bucklers and byrnie-coats,Helmets aflame to the phalanx of foemen,There to fell the folk-leaders with flashing swords,The death-fated captains. Doomed are your haters,Destined to die, while to you will redoundThe boast of battle, as he has boded,The Master of might, by this my hand.’Then the host of the swift ones was speedily harnessed,The dauntless to conflict; the daring ones stepped forth,Brave soldiers and comrades, bore banners emblazoned,Fared to the fight forth by the straight road,Heroes with helms from that holy city,At the day-dawning; shields loudly dinned,Rang and resounded. Then reeled the lank one,The wolf in the wood, with the wan bird, the raven,Greedy of prey: well they both guessedThat to them the fighters meant to furnishA feast on the fated; then flew the eagleHunger-driven, with hornèd beak,Dewy-pinioned and dusk of apparel.Sang the war-slogan. The soldiers marched forward,The barons to battle, warded with bucklers,19Linden-shields curved, who a little beforeHad suffered the scoff and the scorn of the stranger,The hiss of the heathen; hard was the guerdonPaid the Assyrians with play of the ash-spears,After the host of the Hebrew people,Gonfalon-guided, onward had goneAgainst the camp. Then they with courageSharply let fly the showers of shafts,

Battle-adders from bows of horn,Stoutest of arrows; loudly they stormed,The warriors wrathful, winging their spearsAt the horde of the hardy; the heroes were ireful,The dwellers in land, ’gainst the direful race;Marched the stern-souled ones, the stout of heartFiercely o’erwhelmed their long-standing foemen,Drowsy with mead; then drew they with handForth from their sheaths their finely-decked swords,Trusty of edge; tirelessly slew they The Assyrian chosen, champions all,Nerved with malice; none did they spareAmong the myrmidons, mean nor mighty,Of living men whom they might master.

[XII.]

So the retainers at morning-tideHarassed the strangers through the whole season,Till at length they felt, the furious foemen,The chiefest champions of the army,That sturdy were the sword-strokes dealt themBy Hebrew heroes. They hurried offThe princeliest vassals to apprise,21Inform with words; they woke the chieftains,And timidly told them the tidings of fear,To the wearied by mead the woes of the morning,The direful sword-play. Straightway I learnedThat the slaughter-doomèd roused them from sleep,The men with heart-throes hastened in throngsTo the pavilion of him the revengeful,Holofernes; they hoped forthwithThe battle to bode to the baleful prince,Ere upon him fell the force of the Hebrews,The dread of their down-rush. For so they all deemed,That the lord of men and the lovely maidIn the gorgeous tent together were,Judith the worthy and he, the wanton,Frightful and fierce; found was no manWho dared the warrior to awake,Or seek to know how they had sped,The martial of mood and the holy virgin,The maid of God. In their might they drew nigh,The Hebrew folk, and fiercely they foughtWith hard-tempered weapons; they hotly repaidTheir former feuds with hostile falchions,Their grudges deep-grounded; Assyria’s gloryWas weakened and wasted by that day’s work,

Its haughtiness humbled. The heroes stoodRound their ruler’s tent mightily roused,Woful in mind. Then one and all,By God forsaken, began to storm,23Loudly to noise, and eke to gnash,With their teeth enduring wrath; here ended their triumph,Their prosperous prowess. The heroes proposed Their ruler to rouse; success was not wrought them.At length one ventured, though late his valor, A battle-man, to enter the bower-tent,Nerved for the peril, since prompted by need;There found he his gold-lord lorn of his ghost,Stretched on his pallet, pallid of hue,Relinquished by life. Then fell he beliveAgrised to the ground, ungoverned of mood,Gan tearing at once his hair and attire,And spake this word unto the warriors,Who, sombre of spirit, were waiting outside:‘Here is predicted our own perdition,Tokens are toward that near is the timeFull of afflictions, and now pressing forward,When we shall lose our lives together,Sink in the strife: hewn with the sword hereLies headless your chief.’ Cheerless they thenHurled down their weapons, and, weary at heart,Hurried to flight. Behind them were fightingThe mighty people, until the most part Of the pagan legion lay low in the battleOn the conquest-plain, carved by the sword,At the will of the wolves, and none the less welcome25To ravening ravens. Away fled the remnantOf hostile shield-soldiers. Behind them pursuedThe troops of the Hebrews, enhanced by their triumph,And graced with new glory; their God gave them help,Became their ally, the Lord Almighty.Gallantly then with gleaming bladesThe high-souled heroes hewed out a war-pathThrough forces of foemen, shore down the phalanx,Shivered the shields; the shooters wereEmbittered by battle, the Hebrew barons;The thanes at that time were mightily thirstingFor death-play with darts. There fell in the dustThe principal part of all their poll,The high in rank of the hostile race,Assyrian soldiers: to their own soilCame back few survivors. The valiant ones wheeled,

The conquerors returned through the midst of the carnage,Through blood-reeking bodies; away they could bear,The dwellers in land from those unloving,Their ole-time foes, baleful and odious,Bloody booty and trappings brilliant,Bucklers and broadswords and brown-hued helmets,Treasures of price. Powerfully had theyOn that folkstead their foes overcome,The home-defenders their hates of oldHad slain with the sword: in their footsteps they stayed,Those who in life were to them most malignOf living races. The whole array,27The most noted of nations, for fully a month,The lordly and curly-locked carried and ledTo Bethulia, the brightest of burgs,Helmets and hip-swords and hoary corselets,The deckings of fighters, adorned with gold,Costlier treasures than could be recountedBy any man of those who are mindful;All that the doughty by daring won,Brave under banners amid the battle,Through the wise judgment of Judith their guide,The mettlesome maid. They bought as her meed,From the foray afar to the virgin fair,The spear-stanch men, Holofernes’ sword,His blood-stained helmet and broad-spreading hauberks,Graced with red gold, and all that the great prince,The haughty of mood, had of treasure or hoard,Of bracelets or bright gems, this to the bright damselThey gave, to the prudent. Judith praised for all thisHim, Sabaoth’s Lord, who bestowed on her honor,On earth highest worship, reward eke in Heaven,Meed of triumph in glory, because she had true faithAy in the Almighty; at the end no doubt made sheOf the long-desired guerdon. For this to the loved LordBe world-during glory, who wind and air wrought,Rolling skies, roomy plains, with raging streams,And Heaven’s mirth, through his own mild mercy!