Wherein Beowulf is Typical of the Anglo-Saxon Race.--_Beowulf_ is by far the most important Anglo-Saxon poem, because it presents in the rough the persistent characteristics of the race. This epic shows the ideals of our ancestors, what they held most dear, the way they lived and died. I. We note the love of liberty and law, the readiness to fight any dragon that threatened these. The English _Magna Charta_ and _Petition of Right_ and the American _Declaration of Independence_ are an extension of the application of the same principles embodied in _Beowulf_. The old-time spirit of war still prevails in all branches of the race; but the contest is to-day directed against dragons of a different type from Grendel,--against myriad forms of industrial and social injustice and against those forces which have been securing special privileges for some and denying equal opportunity for all. II. _Beowulf_ is a recognition in general of the great moral forces of the universe. The poem upholds the ideals of personal manliness, bravery, loyalty, devotion to duty. The hero has the ever-present consciousness that death is preferable to dishonor. He taught his thane to sing:-- "Far better stainless death Than life's dishonored breath." III. In this poem, the action outweighs the words. The keynote to _Beowulf_ is deeds. In New England, more than a thousand years later, Thoreau wrote, "Be not simply good; be good for something." In reading other literatures, for instance the Celtic, we often find that the words overbalance the action. The Celt tells us that when two bulls fought, the "sky was darkened by the turf thrown up by their feet and by the foam from their mouths. The province rang with their roar and the inhabitants hid in caves or climbed the hills." Again, more attention is paid to the worth of the subject matter and to sincerity of utterance than to mere form or polish. The literature of this race has usually been more distinguished for the value of the thought than for artistic presentation. Prejudice is felt to-day against matter that relies mainly on art to secure effects. IV. Repression of sentiment is a marked characteristic of _Beowulf_ and it still remains a peculiarity of the Anglo-Saxon race. Some people say vastly more than they feel. This race has been inclined to feel more than it expresses. When it was transplanted to New England, the same characteristic was prominent, the same apparent contradiction between sentiment and stern, unrelenting devotion to duty. In _Snow Bound_, the New England poet, Whittier, paints this portrait of a New England maiden, still Anglo-Saxon to the core:-- "A full, rich nature, free to trust, Truthful and almost sternly just, Impulsive, earnest, prompt to act, And make her generous thought a fact, Keeping with many a light disguise The secret of self-sacrifice."