Just Readin'

So, today, I finished reading Beowulf for one of my English classes. In case you've never heard of it, Beowulf is an old English, epic-poem about a Scandinavian warrior named Beowulf. Most people think it's one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. Apparently, it's been quite a week for Anglo-Saxon poetry. Anyway, as you know, I like Anglo-Saxon poetry, so I've tried to read it before, but I could never get through it. Which is weird, because it's not like it's a boring story or anything. It's actually a very good story. I tried to read it on my own before, and I've had to read parts of it for classes before, but it's very slow going. Anyway, when it was assigned for my English class, I decided that this time I was going to read it completely, no matter what. Anyway, I started reading it and I found myself getting lost in the complicated prose, unpronounceable names, and references to obscure events.  I realized that, normally,...

So, today I read J.R.R. Tolkien's latest posthumous book, The Fall of Arthur . I like Tolkien as much as anybody (although, admittedly, I never could get through It was simply beautiful . It's an epic poem written in Old English alliterative meter about, obviously, the fall of King Arthur. The meter reads so smoothly, so naturally, that you almost forget that you are reading structured poetry. It's odd to think that perhaps one of the best examples of ancient, alliterative meter was written in modern times. Usually, I would say that it's impossible to accurately replicate a writing style from a bygone time, but, in this case, Tolkien did a masterful job. Here's one of my favorite passages: ...Queen and lady.   But cold silver or glowing gold  greedy-hearted in her fingers taken   fairer thought she, more lovely deeming  what she alone treasured darkly hoarded.  Dear she loved him with love unyielding,...