A Comparison of the Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer Essay -- compariso

The Sea in Beowulf and The Seafarer The characters in the darkened side poem Beowulf certainly glad in the oceans. This essay seeks to equality their attitude toward the ocean with that expressed in another Old side poem, The Seafarer. In Beowulf there is one reference after another to the sea. When Scyld died, his sight caried him to the sea, which was his last request, where he drifted surface into the beyond on a goal ship. In the Geat land Beowulf, a crafty sailor, and his men shoved the well-braced ship out on the journey theyd dreamed of, to rescue the Danes from Grendel. From far everywhere the seas expanse, the Geats came, brave men who come over the sea swells. In his welcoming speech Hrothgar recalls that the heros father seek us Danes over the rolling waves, and his warrior Unferth remembers that the hero struggled with Brecca youthful companion in the broad sea in a swimming contest risked his life in the fertile water hugged the sea, gliding through th e boiling waves toiled seven nights in the sea. A Dane was tending to every courtesy for Beowulf, for such in those days could a seafarer expect. King Hrothgar and Queen Welhtheow gave rich gifts to those on the mead-bench who made the sea-journey. In the Finnburh Episode, Hengest had to spend the winter months with Finn because he could not steer his ring-prowed ship on the cold sea. Guthlaf and Oslaf spoke of their grief after the sea-journey. The Danes carried Hildeburh, the queen of Danish ancestry, over the sea. The surging waters received Beowulf as he swam in by-line of Grendels mother. During the battle Hrothgar and his retinue stared down at the turbulent water. eventually Beowulf returned, protector... ...A man may bury his brother with the dead and strew his grave with the deluxeen things he would have him take, tresures of all kinds, but gold hoarded when he here lived cannot allay the anger or God towards a soul sin-freighted. The Seafarer concludes with a rather lengthy prose exhortation to his heareres to pay back their hopes on heaven. The characters in the Old English poem Beowulf certainly delighted in the seas. From this essay it can be appreciated that their attitude toward the sea is quite comparable with that expressed in another Old English poem, The Seafarer. BIBLIOGRAPHY Chickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A dual-Language Edition. New York Anchor Books, 1977. TheSeafarer. In The Earliest English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander. New York Penguin Books, 1991.