What happened to the pagan religion? It was one of the first religions to take root but now it is almost nonexistent. What caused it to disappear? The poems “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost and “Beowulf” address why the pagan religion is lost within a Christian perspective. The loss of pagan heroic tradition was inevitable because pagans placed more emphasis on worldly pleasures than spiritual fulfillment to achieve immortality. There are two aspects of the pagan heroic tradition that “Beowulf” states led to immortality: glory and strength. The pagans believed in the idea of an afterlife, but it differs with Christian tradition in the way one achieves it. In the poem “Beowulf”, Hrothgar, King of the Danes, told Beowulf, “But you have …show more content…
Pagan’s belief in immortality based on the two values of the tradition, glory and strength, was dependent on time, and a person’s time on earth is very limited. Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” emphasizes how fleeting time is. It states, “Nature’s first green is gold / Her hardest hue to hold /Her early leaf’s a flower / But only for an hour” (1-4). Gold represents wealth, power, and fame. The pagans placed a lot of value on the material wealth and glory; however, wealth and glory fade away. Flower, on the other hand, represents life and vitality. The heroes showed their vitality through their physical capabilities; however, even vitality fades due to age and illness. Once all this fades away, what is left? Time eventually takes back everything that the pagan heroes work for. Pagan belief in immortality is subject to time and does not correspond to the Christian belief of the afterlife, which is outside of time. Their version of the afterlife involves an eternal life with their Creator, or God, and depends solely on the state of one’s soul, rather than the minds of others. Christians believe that to achieve this everlasting life, one must prepare the soul by building character and living a virtuous life. Hrothgar voiced this same belief when he warns Beowulf “ Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part / eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride / For a brief while your strength is in bloom / but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow / illness or the sword to lay you low” (Beowulf 1759 – 1763). Fame and vitality are earthly indulgences and overindulgence can blind people from what really matters. Beowulf became a victim of this. Beowulf was king and he should’ve stayed to rule his kingdom but when a new quest came along, he pursued it. His desire for more glory robbed his kingdom of a