Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- DEDICATION
- CHAPTER I THE EARLY NARRATIVE POETRY OF THE TEUTONIC PEOPLES
- CHAPTER II THE HEROIC AGE OF THE TEUTONIC PEOPLES
- CHAPTER III SCENE AND NATIONALITY IN THE HEROIC STORIES
- CHAPTER IV THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER V THE POETRY AND MINSTRELSY OF EARLY TIMES
- CHAPTER VI SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC STORIES
- CHAPTER VII MYTHICAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER VIII THE USE OF FICTION IN THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER IX THE HEROIC AGE OF GREECE
- CHAPTER X THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XI EARLY GREEK POETRY AND MINSTRELSY
- CHAPTER XII SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XIII MYTH IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XIV FICTION IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XV THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF TEUTONIC AND GREEK HEROIC POETRY
- CHAPTER XVI SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XVII GOVERNMENT IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XVIII RELIGION IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XIX THE CAUSES AND ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS OF THE HEROIC AGE
- ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAPTER VII - MYTHICAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC POEMS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- DEDICATION
- CHAPTER I THE EARLY NARRATIVE POETRY OF THE TEUTONIC PEOPLES
- CHAPTER II THE HEROIC AGE OF THE TEUTONIC PEOPLES
- CHAPTER III SCENE AND NATIONALITY IN THE HEROIC STORIES
- CHAPTER IV THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER V THE POETRY AND MINSTRELSY OF EARLY TIMES
- CHAPTER VI SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC STORIES
- CHAPTER VII MYTHICAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER VIII THE USE OF FICTION IN THE HEROIC POEMS
- CHAPTER IX THE HEROIC AGE OF GREECE
- CHAPTER X THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XI EARLY GREEK POETRY AND MINSTRELSY
- CHAPTER XII SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XIII MYTH IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XIV FICTION IN THE HOMERIC POEMS
- CHAPTER XV THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF TEUTONIC AND GREEK HEROIC POETRY
- CHAPTER XVI SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XVII GOVERNMENT IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XVIII RELIGION IN THE HEROIC AGE
- CHAPTER XIX THE CAUSES AND ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS OF THE HEROIC AGE
- ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
We have now to consider the question whether myth is a necessary element in the formation of heroic poetry. It has been noticed that historical persons figure in many stories of the Heroic Age, while others do not contain a single character whose historical existence can be authenticated. These latter stories are believed to be wholly mythical in origin, though they may not show any supernatural features in their final form. But even in stories of the former type it is held that some of the characters are almost always of mythical origin, and that their association with historical characters is a secondary development–due to confusion or to poetic imagination.
In the last chapter we put forward the view that Beowulf, the hero of the poem, has been confused with a mythical character of the same name, and that the adventure with the dragon originally belonged to the latter. It can scarcely be doubted that Scyld Scefing, the father of this earlier Beowulf, was also a mythical character. The only element in his story common to English and Scandinavian tradition is that he is regarded as the ancestor of the Scyldungas or Skiöldungar, the Danish royal family, and all analogies suggest that he came into existence as their eponymus. The brief account of him given in the poem might, except in two particulars, be applied to almost any successful king of the Heroic Age.
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- The Heroic Age , pp. 131 - 150Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1912