{"product_id":"the-art-and-thought-of-the-beowulf-poet-9781501766909","title":"The Art and Thought of the Beowulf Poet","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e The Art and Thought of the\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Beowulf \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e, Leonard Neidorf explores the relationship between\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Beowulf\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e and the legendary tradition that existed prior to its composition\u003c\/b\u003e. The \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e poet inherited an amoral heroic tradition, which focused principally on heroes compelled by circumstances to commit horrendous deeds: fathers kill sons, brothers kill brothers, and wives kill husbands. Medieval Germanic poets relished the depiction of a hero's unyielding response to a cruel fate, but the \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e poet refused to construct an epic around this traditional plot. Focusing instead on a courteous and pious protagonist's fight against monsters, the poet creates a work that is deeply untraditional in both its plot and its values. In \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e, the kin-slayers and oath-breakers of antecedent tradition are confined to the background, while the poet fills the foreground with unconventional characters, who abstain from transgression, display courtly etiquette, and express monotheistic convictions. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eComparing \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e with its medieval German and Scandinavian analogues, \u003ci\u003eThe Art and Thought of the\u003c\/i\u003e Beowulf \u003ci\u003ePoet\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the poem's uniqueness reflects one poet's coherent plan for the moral renovation of an amoral heroic tradition. In \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e, Neidorf discerns the presence of a singular mind at work in the combination and modification of heroic, folkloric, hagiographical, and historical materials. Rather than perceive \u003ci\u003eBeowulf\u003c\/i\u003e as an impersonally generated object, Neidorf argues that it should be read as the considered result of one poet's ambition to produce a morally edifying, theologically palatable, and historically plausible epic out of material that could not independently constitute such a poem.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeonard Neidorf is Professor of English at Nanjing University and the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Transmission of Beowulf\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50508256477458,"sku":"9781501766909","price":47.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0f6eac83-306e-4972-8cde-de4b08f2b715.jpg?v=1730874872","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-art-and-thought-of-the-beowulf-poet-9781501766909","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}