Darkness by Summer Vaden

Grendel- Image

SummerVaden — 2015-10-19 22:45:43 UTC

To me, Grendel looks like the generic man. I imagine him being quite tall, skinny with slight muscles (enough to carry away bodies), dark hair and eyes, and large feet and hands. I chose this picture to illustrate my idea of Hrendel because of the demonic smile the man has on his face. One of my favorite, and most metaphorically demonic lines from Grendel is, "I smile like exploding spring." This sentence takes something so beautiful and twists it into something terrifying. I feel as if he takes anything and everything beautiful and turns it hideous, including changing his body, something meant to be beautiful, into the horrific figure I picture.

Grendel- Music

SummerVaden — 2015-11-03 02:45:46 UTC

Grendel has a destructive facade with a dark, emotional personality. I feel as if he would listen to music that connects with his anger, which would be a type of punk-rock style. A band he would connect with would be Asking Alexandria, connecting particularly to their song "Dear Insanity." This song is full of anger and warning using their screaming-type style to exemplify said anger. Lyrics such as "If I'm going down I won't go down alone," relate to Grendel. He wants the kingdom to feel his wrath, to feel the pain he is feeling. He continues to go back to Herot because the people continue to show joy, the joy he is trying to steal, after each of his visits. Another line from the song, "and though you try, you can't escape me," connects with Grendel. I picture Grendel watching people run away from him, trying to hide. The fear Grendel has instilled in these people can be shown through the old Shaper. "The old Shaper, a man I cannot help but admire, goes out the back window with his harp at a single bound, though blind as a bat." He would rather kill himself than be killed by Grendel, and I feel as if Grendel will still try to hunt the old Shaper down eventually, even though he "admires" him.

Classmate's View

SummerVaden — 2015-11-04 22:35:41 UTC

I chose Kayla Pless' post connecting Darkness to the song "Control" by Halsey. Kayla is in 2nd period, and I liked the way she connected the song to the overall theme. I have listened to this song millions of times, and the lyrics she used for examples really illustrated Darkness. The song talks about monsters and demons inside ourselves that we cant stop from coming out. She uses the lyrics "I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head/ they beg me to write them/so I'll never die when I'm dead" these lyrics clearly demonstrate the idea of darkness and its power.

News Article

SummerVaden — 2015-11-05 06:04:13 UTC

Scholarly Article

SummerVaden — 2015-11-06 04:52:37 UTC

Beowulf is an epic narrative poem that represents a society that is heavily influenced with the heroic actions of heir ancestors. Many times in this work, you see the past come forward and play an important role in decision making. Knowledge of the past not only leads Beowulf to become one of the greatest heroes this society has ever seen, but it allows him to take the lessons he has learned and share them. The past guides, instructs, and gives Beowulf a source of strength. For example, Hrothgar gives Beowulf an old sword hilt that he had recovered and warns him about the events of one who used to possess it. Hrothgar gives him this advice from his own experience, advising him to stay humble throughout his heroic journeys. Though this view society has of heroism, it is a type of "one-upping" system. Each hero in the current era wants to be more heroic than the one in eras before. Beowulf takes lessons from the past and applies them to his life, using their methods of battle, taking their ideal values of what it means to be a true hero. Beowulf wanted his name to be remembered long after he died, and he tried his hardest to put everything together to have a long-lasting name.