A new look at Beowulf
"Beowulf is an existential poem. It offers insight into a whole social structure," explains Robert Bjork, director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. "But it also takes you into the existence of the individual. And it’s a poem without real resolution." Bjork thinks the poem should be viewed as a retrospective nostalgic look at a pagan past through a sympathetic, Christian present. --by Sheilah Britton