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An Analysis Of British Literature Essay Research

An Analysis Of British Literature Essay, Research Paper


An Analysis of British Literature


Death is inevitable and what happens after death will always be a


mystery to the living. For this reason, the afterlife has always been a topic


which artists have chosen to explore in their works. Throughout the chronology


of British literature, artists have used society’s views as a basis to examine


the afterlife, and look at it in new ways. The afterlife has been a theme in


British Literature from the Anglo-Saxon period of Beowulf to the twentieth


century writings of Dylan Thomas. The mysteriousness of the afterlife makes it


a topic which artists will always be eager to analyze.


During the Anglo-Saxon Period which lasted from 449 AD to 1066 AD, the


popular belief of the times was that a person’s life was predetermined by Wyrd,


the Old English word for fate, and there was nothing which the individual could


do to change his destiny. The most famous writing from this epoch is the epic


poem Beowulf. Beowulf, the main character, had no fear of the evil monster


Grendel because he believed “Grendel and I are called/ Together,” by fate. He


also displayed his faith in the beliefs of society when he told Hrogthgar “Fate


will unwind as it must.” When Grendel died, the soldiers “had no semse of


sorrow, felt no regret for his sufferings,” because they believed Grendel was


destined to die, and there was no way to defy destiny. They also did not pity


Grendel because they considered him to be entirely evil because it was his fate.


The Anglo-Saxon’s strong belief in fate led to them not fearing death as much as


during other times periods in British Literature. Beowulf’s strong belief in


fate was a reflection in the society’s pagan belief in fate. Due to the fact


that the society at the time of Beowulf was pagan, they did not believe in the


afterlife.


The Christian revision to Beowulf illustrated a different outlook on


death and the afterlife. When monks were copying the story, they realized it


dealt with pagan ideals, and they incorporated Christian ideals into the text.


The monks included the concept God was the ultimate one who controls fate. This


was shown when Beowulf told Hrogthgar “God must decide/ Who will be given to


death’s cold grip.” The monks also inserted the idea that there is an afterlife.


When Grendel died, “hell opened up to receive him.” They thought the pagan


beliefs about death and the afterlife in Beowulf were unacceptable, so they


included their Christian views of death and the afterlife into the poem. The


society’s values greatly influenced the monks revision of the poems.


“The Seafarer” is another Anglo-Saxon poem which deals with the


afterlife. The poem was written by Bede, who was a monk, so it contains the


Christian views of the afterlife which are very similar to the one’s included in


the Christian revision to Beowulf. The speaker believed “Death leaps at the


fools who forgot their God./ He who lives humbly has angles from Heaven/ To


carry him courage and strength and belief.” This showed the belief that God


must be worshipped to get to Heaven, and if you do not follow God, like Grendel


in Beowulf, you will not go to Heaven. In the poem, the persona expressed that


riches can not buy entrance into heaven in the afterlife because, “nothing/


Golden shakes the wrath of God/ For a soul overflowing with sin, and nothing/


Hidden on earth rises to Heaven.” This poem reflected an Anglo-Saxon monk’s


views of the afterlife, which were centered around his strong faith in


Christianity.


During the Medieval Period, the Catholic church played a dominant role


in society. In England, the church’s abbeys and monasteries were the main


centers of learning and the arts before the founding of Oxford and Cambridge


universities during the thirteenth century. The church preached that following


their faith would led a person to the afterlife. A piece of literature which


displayed the belief in the afterlife was Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The


story starts at a Christmas party at Camelot when the Green Knight enters and


offers to let a knight hit him with an ax if he can return the blow a year and a


day later. Sir Gawain, the most brave knight of the round table, accepted the


challenge, and he chopped off the knight’s head. The Green Kngiht then picked


up his head, and rode away. A year and a day later, Gawain went to the Green


Knight. He kneeled before the Green Knight, ready to take the blow. However as


the Green Knight is about to lower his ax, Gawain “pulled his shoulders back,


just a bit.” The Green Knight noticed this and was shocked. He said, “Gawaina?


You can’t be Gawain, his name/ Is too noble, he’s never afraid, nowhere/ On


earth – and you, you flinch in advance!” The Green Knight then swung again, but


he only nicked Gawain. Later, the Green Knight and Gawain talked about what


happened. The Green Knight told Gawain he was testing him, and that Gawain was


very great, ” ?but you failed a little, lost good faith/ -Not a beautiful belt,


or in lust,/ But for love of your life.’ ” Gawain was completely ashamed


because he had flinched, and he declared, ” ?A curse on cowardice and a curse on


greed!/ They shatter chivalry, their vice destroys/ Virtue.’ ” Gawain


considered his fear of death to be a “sin.” This was because the society


believed knights should not be afraid of death because they will be rewarded in


the afterlife for having chivalry. The society’s view of the afterlife affected


the standards of conduct, and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is an excellent


example of this.


In the Elizabethan Age, the character of Macbeth, in the play Macbeth,


denied the Christian belief in the afterlife, and he reverted to the pagan idea


of there being no afterlife. After Macbeth discovered the witches had deceived


him, he realized he did not defeat the fate which the witches had predicted,


and now he was trapped with no way to return to the good man which he once was.


This led to him developing a morbid view of life and death. At the end of the


play, when reflecting upon the death of his wife, he stated, “Life’s but a


walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,/


And then is heard no more; it is a tale/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and


fury,/ Signifying nothing.” Macbeth thought life had no purpose and there was


no afterlife. He compared life to being on “the banks and shoal of time,”


because he life as an insignificant sand bank which would be covered over by the


vast sea of time and eternity. Shakespeare used the character of Macbeth to


show that if a person sacrifices his integrity and morals, religion is


meaningless and the person’s life has no purpose. Macbeth’s lack of belief in


the afterlife was a sign of just how far he had fallen from the pious man he


once was.


The Jacobean Age of the Renaissance was a time of great religious


turmoil in England. The first group of English Protestants who desired to


“purify” the Church of England, came to America to practice their religion.


Scientists like Galileo and Copernicus disputed that the center of the universe


was the sun, not the earth, and there may be multiple world. This research was a


challenge to the basis of the divine ordered, hierarchical universe which the


church stated was truth. This caused some people to start to question many


parts of the church, including the church’s view of the afterlife. Andrew


Marvell was one artist who challenged the church’s view of the afterlife. In


“To His Coy Mistress,” he told his lover if they had time be would love her “ten


years before the flood,/ And you should, if you please, refuse/ Ti

ll the


conversion of the Jews.” However, they were not able to do this because they


did not have “world enough, and time.” Marvell saw life as a battle against


time and death. He also stated, “The grave’s a fine and private place,/ But


none, I think, do there embrace.” In order to defeat time and death, he offered


the idea of Carpe Diem, and living life to the fullest. This concept was shown


in the poem when he told his lover, “We cannot make our sun/ Stand still, yet we


will make him run.” Marvell did not believe in the afterlife, so he advocating


a Carpe Diem philosophy because he thought life was all a person has.


John Donne’s writings during the Jacobean Age expressed a very different


view than that of Marvell. He strongly supported the church’s view of the


afterlife. In “Holy Sonnet 16″ Donne belittled death. He told death it should


“be not proud,” because it is not a terrible thing. Donne challenged the belief


that death was powerful in the line, “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and


desperate men.” The sonnet also challenged the mystique of death because it


stated that death is not unique because it is like sleep and, “poppy or charms


can make us sleep as well/ And better than thy stroke.” Donne even suggested


death may bring pleasure because sleep and rest bring pleasure, and they are


images of death. “Holly Sonnet 16″ also stated that death should not be feared


because it is only a short phase which leads into the afterlife, and one we are


in the afterlife death is no longer a concern. This idea was expressed in line


13, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally and death shall be no more.”This


concept was also in “Corinthians I” which this sonnet was based on. Paul wrote


to the Corinthians, “Listen to this secret: we shall not all die, but in an


instant we shall be changed as quickly as the blinking of an eye.” Another


parallel between the two writings was Donne told Death, “thou shalt die,” and in


“Corinthians I,” Paul wrote “Christ must rule until God defeats all enemies and


puts them under his feet. The last enemy to be defeated shall be death.” Both


writings expressed that death is not to be feared because in the afterlife we go


to a better place where death will not be a concern.


Donne also mentioned that the afterlife is a better place in his


“Meditation 17.” He believed “When one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of


the book, but translated into a better language, and every chapter must be so


translated.” Donne also described the afterlife as a “library where every book


shall lie open to one another.” In this meditation, Donne not only created a


metaphor for the afterlife, but he also expressed that “tribulation” and


“affliction” are what make people ready to go to Heaven in the afterlife. He


stated, “Tribulation is treasure in that nature of it, but it is not current


money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer to our home, heaven, by


it.” Donne’s great faith in the Catholic religion was what shaped his view of


the afterlife.


During the Romantic Age, Percy Bysshe Shelley offered another


perspective of the afterlife. In “Ozymandias,” he described a monument which


was built to Ozymandias during the 13th century BC. The monument was broken


apart, and only its head and legs remained alone in the barren desert. On the


base of the statue, was inscribed the words, “My name is Ozymandias, king of


kings:/ look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” This statue which was once a


symbol of the power of Rameses II is now in complete ruin. The poem shows how


pride and glory are only temporary earthly things. It also mentions that we are


all equal in death. “Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare


the lone and level sands of time stretch far away.” This line means we area all


on “level sands,” when we enter the afterlife and it is time to be judged.


According to the poem, glory during life does not mean the person will have the


same glory in the afterlife. It doesn’t matter how many monuments a person


built


to attest to his glory, he must face the same judge as the slave sculptor which


created the monument.


Alfred, Lord Tennyson expressed the idea held by Marvell that death is


an enemy which a person should fight. In “Ulysses,” a Victorian Age poem,


Ulysses was past his prime yet he still struggled to the most of his life, and


did not wait for death to come for him. He felt “‘Tis not too late to seek a


newer world,” and he believed “Death closes on us all; but something ere the


end,/ Some work of noble note, may yet be done.” Ulysses believed a person


should take advantage of the life they are given, and live life to the fullest.


He thought when death was approaching, a person should continue “to strive, to


seek, to find, and not to yield.” The poem expresses the need to look ahead,


and continue on with life, even though death may be approaching. “Ulysses” and


“To His Coy Mistress” both advocated a Carpe Diem philosophy, but in “Ulysses,”


the persona had a belief in the afterlife. He believed that he may reach the


“Happy Isles” which is the place heroes went after death. It is interesting how


both encourage Carpe Diem, yet they have contrasting views of the afterlife.


The Victorian age poetry of A.E. Housman, brought forth another idea


about afterlife. In “To An Athlete Dying Young,” the poet contradicted the idea


in “Ozymandias” that having glory during life does not mean a person will have


glory in the afterlife. Instead, he suggested a person is immortalized the way


he is when he dies, and in the afterlife he has the honor and prestige he had


during life. Housman told the athlete, “silence sounds no worse than cheers/


After earth has stopped the ears:/ Now you will not swell the rout/ Of lads that


wore their honors out.” The athlete will live his afterlife in glory which he


had on earth, and according to this thought, Ozymandias will live in the


afterlife as “king of kings.”


In the 20th century, Dylan Thomas offered advice about how to live the


time before the afterlife. In “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” he


advised people to “rage against the dying of the light.” He is telling people


to continue to make life meaningful and live it to the fullest before they go


“into that good night,” which symbolized the afterlife. This concept is very


similar to the ideas in “Ulysses.” Both poems suggested that people should


struggle to make the most of their lives, and they each expressed a belief in


the afterlife.


Throughout the chronology of British literature, artists have presented


many different perspectives on the afterlife. There are views which I agree


with, and there are views which I don’t agree with. One of the ones which I


support is John Donne’s idea of death not being a terrible thing because it


leads to the afterlife which is a better place. I support this idea because I


have been raised in a rather religious family, and it has been instilled in me


that death is not bad, and there is an afterlife to go to. I also agree with


the ideas in “Ulysses” and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” that one


should struggle to make the most out of his life and to make it meaningful.


This idea is very appealing to me because I believe a person should always


attempt to make the most out of what he/she is given, and it is important to


never give up. While I don’t agree with the poems which state that there isn’t


an afterlife, analyzing and thinking about them has been valuable for me because


it has forced me to consider my views, and to build up a stronger support of my


views to counter the ideas presented in these poems.


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