Comparing Beowulf And The Book Of Margery Kempe

It is easy to consider literature as the general medium of storytelling. But if one is to consider the endless forms a story can take, it is clear that not only is the genre of stories important, but it determines the overall artistic impact. This is extremely evident in books such as Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and The Book of Margery Kempe, which are all dependent on their mode of storytelling in order for the book to have it’s full intended impact. Beowulf is historically a story made to be told aloud. Beowulf is a larger-than-life character and the book follows his many adventures against various evils. It is rare to find a contemporary spoken word story, so it is necessary to imagine the implications of a spoken story of Beowulf’s

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories told by a group of travellers on a pilgrimage. It becomes a competition to see who can tell the story that makes them laugh and learn. The whole book is a long poem with rhyming couplets, or two lines of verse that rhyme. This creates for a fun upbeat aura to the stories as they are being told. It reminds the reader of game-like quality the book has because all of these people are trying to tell the best story. It comes across as playful, which adds to the entertainment side of the storytellers’ missions. Were The Canterbury Tales to be a play it would eliminate the elements of learning from the stories. There would be far too many characters to consider and many important lessons would be lost in shear chaos. Were The Canterbury Tales to be an allegory it would make the book far less entertaining. If the book takes itself too seriously it could completely alter the implications of the game the travellers have, and the audience would be less engaged with the

Paradoxical by nature, faith relies on a foundationalist belief of said faith. This is also the case with Margery Kempe’s book. The reader must accept her stories as truth, and then personally interpret them. Only then are they able to learn from the stories and to try to apply Margery’s wisdom to their own faith. If this story was told as a poem, a play, or any other form of literature that is typically associated with fiction the book would immediately lose some of its impact. Our implicit beliefs about genres of literature would be too strong to look past and people would be less likely to try to apply Margery’s experiences to