Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Lindy Brady

Second Advisor

Steven Justice

Third Advisor

Gregory Heyworth

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

This thesis argues for the Beowulf poet's more accommodating perspective on pre-Christian Germanic culture, when examined in comparison to other, later Germanic authors of works such as Icelandic sagas and Danish pseudo-history. The primary components of Beowulf I address to argue for this point are the poet's incorporation of pagan Germanic cosmology, and his rendering of Beowulf according to two different heroic types in Germanic literature, those being the model thane and the model king.

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