- After being the preserve of specialists for the first 150 years after its rediscovery, Beowulf began to catch the attention of general readers after the second world war. This is partially the result of the popularity of J. R. R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. Partially it is the result of a shift in attitudes concerning the bizarre and the marvellous. For whatever reasons, late twentieth-century audiences are willing to take seriously stories which pivot on human responses to monsters. Beowulf's monsters may be...
Source: Epics for Students, ©2013 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
(The entire page is 378 words.)
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