Fantasy Literature and Cultural Traditions - Essay Example

Fantasy Literature and Cultural Traditions Whosoever defined literature as life is absolutely right. There are ample examples that prove the all-encompassing capabilities of literature. As there are different types of human societies, literature manifest itself in diverse ways. Poetry, prose and drama are the commonest ways through which literature expresses itself. Another means through which literature expresses itself is fantasy. In fact, some writers are mainly known as creators of fantasy. Although, they are categorized differently, fantasy literature shares certain features with poetry. However, in the analysis of both genres of literature, one must recognize the fact that they are produced by various societal contexts. These contexts should never be pushed aside. The poems that will be analyzed in this write-up are “Beowulf”, and “The Odyssey” (both epic poems), and The Hobbit, a novel by Tolkien would also come under the eyes of scrutiny. All the works that have been mentioned so far are from different cultural tradition. As asserted earlier, poetry and fantasy literature belong to totally different genres but they have a number of attributes in common. One of the features they have in common is that the settings in both are usually more than what the normal minds of mortal can comprehend. (This description is rather general because poems which are often described as contemporary have settings that are encountered on a daily basis). Using Beowulf as a case study, the settings mostly encountered in the poem are in no way similar to those that the average person encounters on a regular basis. One must recall that the poem itself has roots in oral literature. Oral literature is not averse to modifications of the truth. The truth itself is relative. So, the story told in the poem must have undergone a lot of modifications. The point, however, is that, in its written form, the poem has a number of settings that may not be feasible in real life. One of such settings is where Beowulf fight’s Grendel’s mother. In “The Odyssey”, many examples would suffice; the place where Odysseus is detained by Calypso is one. Poetry gives room to this height of imagination particularly because the imaginative space is limitless. Same applies to fantasy stories like The Hobbit in which the reader also gets to encounter settings that people who are unimaginative would find to be totally unrealistic. The hobbit, Bilbo, is the creation of Tolkien’s imagination as they do not exist in real life. “The Odyssey” is a product of the Ancient Greek society while “Beowulf” is a product of the Anglo-Saxon societies. From the content of the two poems, even though the poems belong to two different ages they have certain features in common, one of the features they have in common is that, the societies that produced them believed that a man’s worth is mainly dependent on his valor. Beowulf got ready, donned his war-gear, indifferent to death;  his mighty, hand-forged, fine-webbed mail would soon meet with the menace underwater. It would keep the bone-cage of his body safe Alexandra (1995) The people’s hero is one who is able to fight for their people. In fighting for their people, they are able to go to the limits which other humans cannot go. In cases like that of Odyssey, if the occasion calls for it, they may even have to fight against the gods. This is because as a result of the grandeur, they have become gods to themselves. On the other hand, the society that produced Tolkien’s The Hobbit is of the twentieth century. One must mention that the period when Tolkien wrote the book in the 1930s was marked by a number of other highly imaginative works like his. Another ensign of the period was the satires where common. One of such other works that satirize in highly imaginative was Gulliver’s Travels. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is itself a satire. Using “Beowulf” as the example, there are poetic techniques that mark the literature of the Anglo-Saxon out. They are caesura, alliteration and the influence of Latin. The caesura is represented by a gap in the line. This gap indicates the pause that is expected to be observed. Also, as a result of the fact that Anglo-Saxon poetry, “Beowulf” in particular, as its source in oral literature, it is embedded in alliteration. The use of alliteration is so that it can help the person that performs it to flow better than if he it is not alliterative at all. Also, the use of alliteration helps the performer’s ability to remember the line. “Lade ne letton. Leoht eastan com” (Alexandra 1995). Similarly, as a result of the fact that the English language has close links with Latin, one encounters a number of instances where Latin is adopted. Diction is also another attribute that marks out these different works and the different periods that produced them. While it is well known that the diction of poetry is elevated, one must not fail to mention the fact that the diction employed in both “The Odyssey” and “Beowulf” seems to be more elevated than the average poem. One must state clearly that poetry is recognized as the language of the nobility. Prose is recognized as the language of commoners. In both poems, the dominant language is the poetic. Although the diction of the entire poem is elevated, it seems that it gets more elevated when the statements are uttered by the mighty and the nobility or when they are mentioned. “Your piercing eye will dim and darken; /and death will arrive, dear warrior,/ to sweep you away” (Alexandra 1995). “He must, against his will, and steel his heart” (Homer 1975). In fact, the epic form that the poems take is as a result of the fact that both societies believe in heroism. Maybe as a result of the partial verity of the belief that all can be written has been written by the classic and that the best writers of contemporary times can do is to imitate; the diction in Tolkien’s The Hobbit, like most fantasy novel, is olden days English. Most writers of fantasy literature believe that if they use archaic diction, it would lend credence to the fact that their works do not exist within the scope of normal times and places. While the literature of the Anglo-Saxon and that of the ancient Greek is indeed old, fantasy literature may be described as a parody of what the ancients had already done. However, the difference is that in spite of the fact that it seems to be the case that behind the imaginative cloak that the writers of fantasy literature presents to readers, what writers like Tolkien seems to be doing is that they are creating the real world in disguise. The most that can be said for the dwarves is this: they intended to pay Bilbo really handsomely for his services; they had brought him to do a nasty job for them, and they did not mind the poor little fellow doing it if he would; but they would all have done their best to get him out of trouble, if he got into it. . . . There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don’t expect too much Tolkien (1937). Through the captivating power of imagination, he is able to present to us representatives of different races, gender, classes, colors, ethnic groups, and so on. He is also able to impact lessons on the readers. For example, the fact that a hobbit is the protagonist of the entire story is a lesson in itself for all and sundry. This is clearly a satire against the human race. The depiction of the different kinds of living beings, with different attributes shows that there are actually more people in the world than one may ever know. Just as Bilbo is able to look beyond the world of his Back End, everyone is acknowledged to look beyond what their immediate world has to offer them. We seem to be urged to recognize the fact that there are other colors, races, ethnicity, etc, other than ours. We are also urged not to underestimate the capabilities of any group of people. As far as poetry is concerned, the only rule may just be that there is no rule. This is why poets are said to possess poetic license. The manner in which a poet uses this license definitely influences the sense that readers make out of it. As far as the poems that have been examined so far are concerned, the poets (although the writer of “Odyssey” is anonymous) did not really deviate from what the norm during their periods was. However, compared with the language used in prose, one can rightly state that the poems are pointblank deviant in structure and content. Same may as well be said of fantasy literature; yet the fact that the language adopted is not conventional must not be overlooked. It is important to mention that Tolkien’s choice of archaic English point attention not, only to the language, but also to other attributes of the novel like the non-conventionality of the setting and the characters. Literary works are not complete in themselves without the societies that gave vent to them. For any literary work to be complete, it has to be studied within the scope of the period in which it was written and within the scope of the dominant literary forms and dictates of its period. This is exactly what was realized in this essay. There is no literary work that is not influenced in the least way by the culture of the society of the author or the age of its production. References Alexandra, M. (1995). Ed. Beowulf. London: Penguin. Homer. (1975). The Odyssey. Trans. Richmond Latimore. New York: Harper & Row Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). The Hobbit. Harcourt : Houghton Mifflin. Read More