The article "Life in 999: A Grim Struggle" shows life as
it was during the Anglo-Saxon period. The article, from Time
magazine, depicts the setting of the lands as a "collection of untamed forests,
countless mile upon mile of trees and brush and brier, dark and inhospitable." Readers
of Beowulf can see how this picks up on the setting of the epic
tale. The setting of the Anglo-Saxon was vast. The use of the phrase "mile upon
countless mile" deepens this understanding.
On top of the
description of the physical environment, the article looks at the life of the
serf:
Wood
kindled forges and kept alive the hearths of the mud-and-thatch huts of the serfs.
Peasants fattened their hogs on forest acorns (pork was crucial to basic subsistence in
the cold of winter), and wild berries helped supplement the meager diet. In a world
without sugar, honey from forest swarms provided the only sweetness for food or drink.
The pleasures of the serfs were few and simple: earthy lovemaking and occasional dances
and fests.
While serfs are
not specifically mentioned in Beowulf, one can see the importance
of dancing and fests as described by the reasoning behind Hrothgar's building of
Heorot:
It
came to his mind to order his men to build a hall, a master mead-house far mightier than
any seen by the sons of earth, and therein would he bestow to young and old all that the
Lord should give him, save people's land and the lives of
men.
Another aspect of the
Anglo-Saxon life which is seen in the article is the fear of "marauding ships." The
sentinel in Beowulf states why his position of watching the shores
is needed.
I
have been set as a sentinel over this seacoast that no foe of the Danish folk should
harm the land with marauding
ships.
This idea is paired in
the article through the following:
It was in the lord's castle too that peasants and
their flocks sought refuge from wolf packs and barbarian
invaders.
The people during
this period simply feared loss of their lands.
One part of
the article which does not show the true fear of the people of this period, as depicted
in Beowulf, is:
Thus there was little panic, not even much
interest, as the millennium approached in the final months of 999. For what terrors
could the apocalypse hold for a continent that was already shrouded in
darkness?
Instead, a very
different aspect is provided in Beowulf. Hrothgar, fearing more
murders at the hands of Grendel, closes the doors of his precious Heorot. Darkness is
viewed as the ultimate "thing" to panic.
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