The image of the poet and poetry in Beowulf. Synthesis of cultures in the Old English poetic language
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2025-8-109-122
Abstract
The article сonsiders the transformation of the traditional image of the poet in the poetic consciousness of the Anglo-Saxons in the era of the Christianization of England. An attempt is made to identify ideas about the poet and poetry in the Old English poem “Beowulf” using the method of ‘close reading’ of episodes related to poetic art, including linguostylistic analysis of the ways of representing the figure of the narrator in the text. It analyses the formulaic diction and gnomic passages associated with the theme of the feast, on the one hand, and the frailty of the world, on the other. The dual nature of the image of the epic poet is shown, which reveals different aspects of verbal art, combining the features of a singer of tales (‘scop’) and a poet-skald, as well as a Christian preacher.
About the Author
N. Yu. Gvozdetskaya
Russian State University for the Humanities; Sretensky Theological Academy
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Natalia Yu. Gvozdetskaya, Dr. of Sci. (Philology), professor
6-6, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047;
19/3, Bolshaya Lubyanka St., Moscow, 107031
References
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Review
For citations:
Gvozdetskaya N.Yu. The image of the poet and poetry in Beowulf. Synthesis of cultures in the Old English poetic language. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2025;(8):109-122. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2025-8-109-122
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