Zachary Drexler: Most people when they encounter this idea of no zix will say no I would never get it. And yet we do it at least part time. He says that if you find yourself on Instagram or whatever just three hours a day you are in the experience machine. "You can feel like you're president of the United States and cure cancer your rock star"
Tolkien read it as a tale about mortality. The poet David Whyte said it was a metaphor for the psychological demons deep in our minds. And that, insists the cartoonist and writer Zach Weinersmith, is precisely Beowulf's appeal: Its richness opens the door to endless interpretation. Listen as the author of Bea Wolf, a graphic novel for children based on the Old English poem, speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about poetry in general, Beowulf in particular, whether we should require students to memorize poems, and the value of stories for children even without a moral lesson.