Publisher's Synopsis
This collection of essays aims at freeing "Beowulf" from the burden of its critical past - and future. It begins with a balanced yet unsparing review of the uses and abuses of contemporary criticism, and continues with answers for questions familiar to students of the poem: the Christian/Pagan dilemma, the connection with the Grettis Saga, the value of treasure, the role of drinking, the identity of the messenger, the poet on poetry, the poet's rhetoric, the events in Heorot, the notorious gifstol crux, the importance of wordplay, and the poet's understanding of fate. Other essays also engage a wide range of general topics: the poet's lively sense of humour, use of the Liber Monstrorum, the poet's scatology and canonical parody, sartorial anticipation of Carlyle, and more.
