Poems and poets have been with us for a very long time. The stories and myths of epic poems may have begun as oral traditions that were finally put to pen and paper.
Reading Beowulf, reputedly one of the first poems in the Anglo-Saxon language, you uncover the timeless formula for the perfect story. There are good kings who work to uphold the freedom of their people and not so good kings; loyal earls and jealous earls, and the larger than life hero with a fighting heart, dauntless will and great strength, who matches up against the larger than life bad guy, the ultimate evil doer who is heartless, vicious and unbeatable until the hero arrives. There is even a mythic sword that appears at the last moment to save the day.
It’s all very familiar to anyone who has seen an action film in the last 30 years!
When were you a hero for some one or in some situation? There was a time that you were, if you look back a bit!
After all it is our birthright to be heros at least once in a lifetime!
And poets too!
This week on Laine’s Blog we celebrate Poetry!
Beowulf was written around 725 A. D.
The Iliad and The Odyssey around 850 B.C.!
Some of the ideas on this post were garnered from the book, "Medieval Myths," by Norma Lorre Goodrich.