Analyzing Literature

In literature, or at the very least in high school literature, the books to be analyzed are far overanalyzed. Admittedly, there are some novels that should be analyzed heavily and are written to be analyzed heavily. Beowulf is not one of them. An Anglo-Saxon tale of heroism and the supernatural, tinted with whimsical worship by the first chronicler has little applicable meaning in my life. There are no tangible lessons- evident in its original purpose as cheap entertainment. How this tale wormed its way into the heads of literary connoisseurs as some great masterpiece escapes me. Perhaps the first translator, frustrated with the amount of time he spent on the epic and having received no intangible value, forced it upon his colleagues in a mad attempt to redeem the time he wasted. Or perhaps it found its way to fame along a simpler path: by riding the waves of mankind’s fascination with wealth, violence, and ale. I think our disillusioned English teachers should find us some literature that might just teach us something if it captures our attention, and not analyze it so much that we leave its bleeding body pulped on the floor, its face unrecognizable and its voice irretrievable.