Literature оf the Germanic Tribes
The Germanic tribes had literature, but it was not written down. The stories and poems they made up were repeated and remembered. The Germanic tribes were fond of poetry. Their poems did not remain unchanged. Poets improved them in form and sometimes they changed them to make them more interesting.
One of the old English words you will meet in English literature is "folk" which means "people". Folk-dances, folk-songs and folklore are the dances, songs and tales that people made up when at work or at war, or for amusement. There were also professional singers called "bards". They composed songs about events they wanted to be remembered. These songs were handed down to children and grandchildren and finally reached the times when certain people who had learned to write, decided to put them down. Most of those early poems were based on historic facts but historic elements were obscured by poetic and mythical additions.
At first all the Germanic tribes were pagans, but then in the 7-th century the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity by missionaries who came from the continent. So in the 7-th century the Anglo-Saxons became Christians and began composing religious works.
After Christianity was officially adopted by the ruling classes monastic schools were established where Latin was taught. The most learned people of that time were monks. Some of them began to put in writing poems and songs that reached them. Such people were called “scribes”. The written Anglo-Saxon language developed on the basis of the Latin alphabet.
The Story of Beowulf
Beowulf is the most important poem of the Anglo-Saxon period. Though the Angles brought Beowulf with them to England, it has nothing to do with it. The epic is not even about the Anglo-Saxons, but about the Scandinavians when they lived on the continent in the 3rd or 4th century.
The story of Beowulf was written down in the 10th century by an unknown author, and the manuscript is now kept in the British Museum. Its social interest lies in the vivid description of the life of that period, of the manners and customs of the people at that time, of the relations among the members of the society and in the portrayal of their towns, ships and feasts.
The scene takes place among the Jutes, who lived on the Scandinavian peninsula at the time. Their neighbours were the Danes. The Jutes and the Danes were good sailors. Their ships sailed round the coast of the peninsula and to far-off lands.
The poem describes the warriors in battle and at peace, during their feasts and amusements. The main hero, Beowulf, is a strong, courageous, unselfish, proud and honest man. He defends his people against the unfriendly forces of nature and becomes the most beloved and kindest king on the earth as the theme of the poem is the .struggle of good against evil.
Beowulf fights not for his glory, he fights for the benefit of his people.
Although Beowulf was a Jute and his home was Jutland we say that The Story of Beowulf is an English poem. The social conditions it depicted are English. Both the form and the spirit of the poem are English.
The poem is a true piece of English literature. The poem is composed with great skill. The author used many vivid words and descriptive phrases. It is not only the subject of the poem that interests us but also its style.
Beowulf is one of the early master pieces of the Anglo-Saxon or Old English language.
The poem is famous for its metaphors.
The poet calls the sea “the swan’s road”,
the body – “the bone-house”,
a warrior – “ a hero-in battle”.