Which interpretation of beowulf does the passage best support? when studying beowulf, the reader experiences the gift-giving and hospitality prominent in anglo-saxon culture. one of the interesting things about beowulf is the way it portrays the feasts and warrior tribes in anglo-saxon culture. one thing the reader should note when studying anglo-saxon culture in beowulf is the way lords and thanes interact. while reading beowulf, the reader encounters aspects of anglo-saxon culture such as christian and pagan traditions.

Explanation:

The Old English epic ballad Beowulf recounts to the tale of a youthful Geatish warrior who goes to the guide of Hrothgar, the King of the Danes, whose kingdom is being threatened by a beast named Grendel. Beowulf utilizes his epic quality and valiance to kill Grendel in Hrothgar's mead lobby, Heorot, and afterward to kill Grendel's vindictive mother in her submerged sanctuary. Beowulf's popularity spreads, and he returns home to Geatland loaded down with fortune for his lord, Hygelac.

Beowulf later turns into the lord of the Geats and standards for a tranquil fifty years. At the point when a winged serpent starts to represent a risk to Geatland, Beowulf and his hireling Wiglaf set off to crush it. Beowulf prevails with regards to killing the winged serpent yet bites the dust all the while.

the first proposition is to question economic materialism and victorian christianity. the lines are:

“it moves us not.—great god! i'd rather be

a pagan suckled in a creed outworn; ”

wordsworth is stating that nature no longer interests mankind, that the latter is not “moved” by it and explains that ancient western paganism had a more positive attitude concerning nature since it lacked the perv erted judaeo-christian interpretation of having received the world and all its animals and elements from god to use as we , instead of humans actually being not only part of nature but its wardens, meant to appreciate it and protect it.

the next lines are:

“so might i, standing on this pleasant lea,

have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

have sight of proteus coming from the sea;

or hear old triton blow his wreathed horn.”

wordsworth here make it very clear that by actually looking and contemplating nature, human beings would reconnect with happiness, serenity and purpose. the use of mythological figures is quite evocative as well, proteus is a greek mythological god of the changing sea. he personifies the sea that changes, which symbolizes the way nature changes and inevitably can change to be destructive not only due to natural causes but to human pollution. furthermore, the sea is even more symbolic since all life originated in the sea so it is not only our past but our future since no life form in our planet can survive without water and if all water is destroyed in earth all life will be gone as well.

he then uses triton which is symbolic of the synthesis of both nature and mankind. triton is a mythological greek god that has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish (a merman). this human fish duality evokes the fact that humans are not only human but also part of nature, the fish tail representing nature. the main attribute of this god was that he used a conch shell as a horn to calm the roaring seas. in other words, triton uses nature through science for the benefit of human sailors who risk death during tempests. with the use of such metaphor, wordworth is conveying the message that human technology   is supposed to use nature to preserve nature and thereby humanity as well.

the sentence does not violate the phrase structure second rule (introduced by noam chomsky) because noun phrases consist of a determiner such as a, the or every, and a noun. in the sentence, the noun phrase the cake includes a determiner (the) and a noun (cake).

on the other hand, the first rule indicates that a sentence encloses a noun phrase, followed by a verb phrase. the example sentence can be analysed as follows:

john (n) + ate (v) + the (det) + cake (n).