Hill, John M. “Beowulf, Value, and the Frame of Time.” Modern Language Quarterly 40.1 (1979): 3-18. Print.
According to Hill, in Beowulf, the eternal values were not merely contrasted with the valuable objects of the material nature. As Hill emphasizes, the objects in the poem serve either as symbols for a certain phenomenon/issue, despite the fact that the given objects are of great value. As Hill explains, “When the Geats inter Beowulf’s gold with him, they of course act in the past. But the effect of their actions, the rendering useless of the gold, survives them down to our present” (Hill 10).
Hill’s article examines the eternal values that were implied into Beowulf by its creator(s) with the purpose of showing the generations to follow the example of courtesy, bravery, dignity, and masculinity that Beowulf shows. A key argument of the article is built around the concept of lasting moral worth and virtue that early Europeans believed to be so important that they decided to compose a significant piece of poetic art to establish their position regarding their world views for the next generations; hence, the author emphasizes that in Beowulf, any mentioning of valuable objects does not relate to greed in any way.
Odell, David. “Dryden’s EPIGRAM ON MILTON: A New Reading Questioned.” Explicator 68.3 (2010): 159-168. Print.
Odell, on the other hand, offers a completely different interpretation of valuable objects and their meaning for the characters in his Paradise Lost. Since the poem in question can be described as satirical, it conveys a message that is, in fact, quite close to the one of Beowulf. According to Odell, the characters’ attitude towards the objects of value is also rather elevated; quoting the epigraph to the poem: “The first in loftiness of thought surpass’d/The next in Majesty: in both the Last./The force of Nature cou’d no farther goe:/To make a Third she joynd the former two” (Odell 159), the author makes it clear that the focus of Milton’s poem is on the spiritual issues, while valuable items are considered as something secular. Hence, in treating the valuable items, Milton’s Paradise Lost is close to Beowulf. The author states that reflecting on the significance of the themes developed by Milton in “Paradise Lost”, there can be no other conclusion about the value of this work as the conclusion, that it is purposed to reveal eternal truths for the readers of all times including Milton’s contemporaries and the generations of their offspring.
In addition, the argument that Odell is trying to solve in his article deserves mentioning. According to Odell, the famous epigraph can be interpreted in a way other than the traditional one: “Frank uses “distant” equivocally, and never explains the point that to make it a classic, Dryden projects Paradise Lost backward in time ‘somehow’” (Odell 160). Therefore, the fact whether the third poet, the “force of nature,” cannot be considered the match for the remaining two, is left open for discussions, as Odell explains.
McConnell, Kathleen. “Creating People for Popular Consumption: Echoes Of Pope’s “The Rape of The Lock” In Artificial Intelligence: AI.” Journal Of Popular Culture 40.4 (2007): 683-699. Print.
McConnell’s article examines Pope’s “Rape of the Lock” in the light of creating poplar products for mass consumption. In her article, McConnell suggests a number of reasons why Pope’s epic is nothing more than a product created to be consumed by contemporaries, and forgotten in a couple of decades or even earlier. The author addresses particular examples of the language patterns used by Pope, speech figures that appear in this literature piece, and the specific points of Pope’s story plot to explain that all of them are nothing more than successful ways to attract the wide public, and acquire an opportunity to have the best sales of the product that are possible in connection with the current conditions at the market.
Finally, McConnell’s article also addresses the issue of objects and people’s attitude towards these objects. However, one of the key differences between the case in point and the works mentioned above that in The Rape of the Lock, the objects are actually humanoids. Hence, the issue of life value is also raised in a rather subtle manner. As McConnell claims, “Though not an object per se, Arabella Fermor, the historical inspiration for Pope’s satirized heroine ‘‘Belinda,’’ was objectified, in that she was appreciated as an item of exchange value; far from re-humanizing Arabella, Pope’s caricature craftily objectifies her” (McConnell 684).
Preliminary Thesis Statement and Introduction
“Beowulf” is an example of a piece of literature of long-lasting value that can be supported by the fact that this poem aims to reflect on the central cultural and moral values that were especially important in the medieval period. It represents the difference between Christian and pagan views, it shows what is the real meaning behind wealth, and shows the vision of the world spread during the period of heroes and knights. Similar statement can be made regarding Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and Spencer’s “Faerie Queene” because these works are dedicated to important matters that have a special significance for the generations to follow. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost”, the audience may find a strong argument dedicated to establishing contrast between virtue and evil. In Spencer’s “Faerie Queene”, the concept of Christian behavior and virtue is shown as a matter of eternal significance. Therefore, it becomes evident that for all their differences, all of these three works are permeated with a spirit of long-lasting purport. In contrast to these books, Pope’s “Rape of the Lock” is a representation of a book as an economic commodity because it only presents considerable interest for contemporary readers. This is explained by the fact that it is a story of a transient nature as the basic element of its plot is an experience from the author’s life that does not present any aesthetic or exhortative importance. Overall, the evaluation of the four pieces of literature under consideration suggests a conclusion that while some books may present great moral and aesthetic value for numerous generations, the other ones may be of temporary significance and are going to be forgotten in a few decades.
Assessment of Secondary Sources
Hill’s article addresses Beowulf mainly from the historical point of view, which offers his work an opportunity to have a special veracity, and this is, without a doubt, its strongest side. By means of this kind of approach, the author makes it much easier to see the way Beowulf is one of the best pieces of literature of its time with regards to its historical accuracy, and how exactly studying the values interfolded into it may benefit the audience. I agree on what Hill says in his paper as I consider the historical approach, that he is using, the best approach for studying the significance of any piece of literature. Nevertheless, I believe my paper has to feature a wider scope of observation of the representation of valuable or treasured objects in Beowulf. On this reason, I will expand my argument regarding this poem by means of addressing its moral and ethical value (the point that is omitted in Hill’s article).
In his article, Odell addresses Milton’s “Paradise Lost” mainly from the angle of its religious and philosophic implications. As far as I am concerned, this approach seems somewhat unilateral and one-sided. On this reason, in my paper, I aim to expand my argument regarding Milton’s work and its long-lasting value by means of addressing it from the point of view of its ethical and historical significance. Thus, as Odell has ignored the two above-mentioned angles of research, I consider his argument lacking the important details that I need in my paper.
McConnell’s article is exactly what I need for my research on Pope’s epic and its value because it develops the idea of popularization of the epic with the purpose of its commercialization on the example of “Rape of the Lock”. The key points of McConnell’s article are excellent evidences that prove that the phenomenon of commercialization has its full authority in the case of Pope’s epic poem. It is easy to agree with the findings of the author because she resorts to the use of a variety of different facts to prove her position, including the analysis of the choice of language means, figures of speech, and the key points of the poem’s story plot.
After considering the arguments of the three critics, I come to a conclusion that there exists no necessity to change my thesis statement in accordance to the content of the articles as generally they demonstrate the similar vision of the theme of my paper. In particular, the authors derive the main points of the argument of their articles from evaluating the long lasting worth of the piece of literature they research, and I utilize the same approach in the argument of my paper.
References
Hill, John M. “Beowulf, Value, and the Frame of Time.” Modern Language Quarterly 40.1 (1979): 3-18. Print.
McConnell, Kathleen. “Creating People for Popular Consumption: Echoes Of Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock’ in Artificial Intelligence: AI.” Journal Of Popular Culture 40.4 (2007): 683-699. Print.
Odell, David. “Dryden’s EPIGRAM ON MILTON: A New Reading Questioned.” Explicator 68.3 (2010): 159-168. Print.