life lessons from beowulf essay

ELA Brave and True by Marilyn Yung

Life Lessons from Beowulf

Building Book Love’s real-world writing assignment is a winner!

This semester, I’m all about making Beowulf relevant for my high school seniors. I’ve done a couple of things to accomplish that:

• I’ve assigned readings of contemporary articles to show them how Beowulf is in the minds of professional writers and bloggers.
• I’ve extended the Beowulf unit to one on the Hero’s Journey .

In my research to find ways to infuse Beowulf with relevance, I came upon this awesome essay activity on Ashley Bible’s Building Book Love website .

It’s an assignment called “Life Lessons of Beowulf.”

Check it out here on Bible’s website . She conveniently includes links to four articles that directly cite Beowulf in modern day life. These articles are from publications such as Forbes and websites such as The Art of Manliness .

These real-world articles apply events from Beowulf to create lessons — words of wisdom, if you will — regarding leadership and content marketing, among other business-related topics.

Bible cites Kelly Gallagher’s ideas from his book Write Like This , where he advises that teachers actively seek out articles “in the wild” for students to emulate.

So in that spirit, I asked my high school seniors to write an article (or personal narrative essay… whichever you prefer) that explains the top five lessons they learned from Beowulf that they can directly apply to a personal passion, interest, or a current or future job.

Students were to write an introduction and a conclusion, and between those would be five sections, each a separate life lesson. They were to put the lesson in boldface followed by an explanation with examples under it. They would also need to cite Beowulf (with a direct quote) at least twice with in-text citations.

This was an effective assignment!

Students made real-life connections between contemporary life and ancient Anglo-Saxon literature. They created interesting essays that have encouraged me to keep it in the mix for next year.

Of course, not all students were so successful.

Some chose to skip the direct quotes, and some did even less.

And true, I created and assigned this project while I was home early in my bout with Covid-19 and wasn’t able to preface it or demo it in class. We weren’t able to do any close-readings of the articles, annotate them for structure, or really pick them apart. Of course, all students had access to the articles, and some chose to close-read them on their own, but many didn’t. It wasn’t the best situation. Maybe next year, right?

Despite all that, I still rate Building Book Love’s product as an awesome assignment. Whenever I can pull in relevant real-world mentor texts to pair with Beowulf — or any literary text — we all win!

Feel free to leave a comment in the replies below or via my Contact Page to let me know how you connect Beowulf to contemporary life.

Have a great week!

A New Poem Activity for The Wanderer

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• Literature Notes
• Major Themes in Beowulf
• Poem Summary
• About Beowulf
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Lines 1-193
• Lines 194-606
• Lines 607-836
• Lines 837-1062
• Lines 1063-1250
• Lines 1251-1491
• Lines 1492-1650
• Lines 1651-1887
• Lines 1888-2199
• Lines 2200-2400
• Lines 2401-2630
• Lines 2631-2820
• Lines 2821-3182
• Character Analysis
• Grendel's Mother
• Character Map
• The Beowulf Poet
• The Beowulf Manuscript
• Critical Essays
• Major Symbols in Beowulf
• Famous Quotes from Beowulf
• Film Versions of Beowulf
• Full Glossary for Beowulf
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Critical Essays Major Themes in Beowulf

A theme in a literary work is a recurring, unifying subject or idea, a motif that allows us to understand more deeply the character and their world. In Beowulf, the major themes reflect the values and the motivations of the characters.

One of the central themes of Beowulf, embodied by its title character, is loyalty. At every step of his career, loyalty is Beowulf's guiding virtue.

Beowulf comes to the assistance of the Danes (Scyldings) for complicated reasons. Certainly he is interested in increasing his reputation and gaining honor and payment for his own king back in Geatland. However, we soon learn that a major motivation is a family debt that Beowulf owes to Hrothgar. The young Geat is devoted to the old king because Hrothgar came to the assistance of Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, years before. Now deceased, Ecgtheow had killed a leader of another tribe in a blood feud. When the tribe sought vengeance, Hrothgar, then a young king, sheltered Beowulf's father and settled the feud by paying tribute (wergild) in the form of "fine old treasures" (472) to Ecgtheow's enemies. Hrothgar even remembers Beowulf as a child. The tie between the families goes back many years, and Beowulf is proud to be able to lend his loyal services to Hrothgar.

When the hero returns to Geatland, he continues his loyalty to his uncle and king, Hygelac, risking his life even when the tactics of the ruler are not the best. After Hygelac is killed in an ill-advised raid on Frisia, Beowulf makes a heroic escape (2359 ff.) back to Geatland. Beowulf could become king then but is more loyal than ambitious. Queen Hygd offers Beowulf the throne after her husband dies, thinking that her young son (Heardred) is unable to protect the kingdom; Beowulf refuses and serves the young king faithfully. After Heardred is killed, Beowulf does become king and rules with honor and fidelity to his office and his people for 50 years. In his final test, the burden of loyalty will rest on other, younger shoulders.

Preparing for his last battle, with the fiery dragon, Beowulf puts his trust in 11 of his finest men, retainers who have vowed to fight to the death for him. Although the now elderly king insists on taking on the dragon alone, he brings along the 11 in case he needs them. When it is apparent that Beowulf is losing the battle to the dragon, however, all but one of his men run and hide in the woods. Only Wiglaf, an inexperienced thane who has great respect for his king, remains loyal. Wiglaf calls to the others in vain. Realizing that they will be no help and that his king is about to be killed, he stands beside the old man to fight to the death — theirs or the dragon's. For Beowulf, sadly, it is the end. Although he and Wiglaf kill the dragon, the king dies. As he dies, Beowulf passes the kingdom on to the brave and loyal Wiglaf.

Another motivating factor for Beowulf — and a central theme in the epic — is reputation. From the beginning, Beowulf is rightly concerned about how the rest of the world will see him. He introduces himself to the Scyldings by citing achievements that gained honor for him and his king. When a drunken Unferth verbally assaults Beowulf at the first banquet, at issue is the hero's reputation. Unferth's slur is the worst kind of insult for Beowulf because his reputation is his most valuable possession. Reputation is also the single quality that endures after death, his one key to immortality. That's why Beowulf later leaves the gold in the cave beneath the mere, after defeating the mother, preferring to return with Grendel's head and the magic sword's hilt rather than treasure. He has and continues to amass treasures; his intent now is in building his fame.

Unferth's slur accuses Beowulf of foolishly engaging in a seven-day swimming contest on the open sea, as a youth, and losing. If Beowulf can't win a match like that, Unferth asserts, he surely can't defeat Grendel. Beowulf defends his reputation with such grace and persuasion that he wins the confidence of King Hrothgar and the rest of the Danes. He points out that he swam with Breca for five nights, not wanting to abandon the weaker boy. Rough seas then drove them apart, and Beowulf had to kill nine sea monsters before going ashore in the morning. His reputation intact, Beowulf prepares to meet Grendel and further enhance his fame.

As he discusses Beowulf's later years, the poet lists the virtues (2177 ff.) leading to the great man's fine reputation. Beowulf is courageous and famous for his performance in battle but equally well known for his good deeds. Although aggressive in war, Beowulf has "no savage mind" (2180) and never kills his comrades when drinking, an important quality in the heroic world of the mead-hall. Beowulf respects the gifts of strength and leadership that he possesses.

As he prepares to meet the dragon, near the end of the poem, now King Beowulf again considers his reputation. He insists on facing the dragon alone despite the fact that his death will leave his people in jeopardy. Hrothgar's Sermon warned Beowulf of the dangers of pride, and some critics have accused the great warrior of excessive pride (hubris) in the defense of his reputation. A more considerate judgment might be that Beowulf is an old man with little time left and deserves the right to die as a warrior. The final words of the poem, stating that Beowulf was "most eager for fame' (3182), might be best understood by a modern audience by remembering that, in Beowulf's world, fame is synonymous with reputation.

Generosity and Hospitality

The Scyldings' King Hrothgar and Queen Wealhtheow embody the themes of generosity and hospitality. The code of the comitatus is at the heart of the Beowulf epic. In this system, the king or feudal lord provides land, weapons, and a share of treasure to his warriors (called thanes or retainers) in return for their support of the leader in battle. The leader's generosity is one of his highest qualities. There are more than 30 different terms for "king" in the poem, and many of them have to do with this role as provider. He is the "ring-giver' (35) or the "treasure-giver" (607); his seat of power is the "gift-throne" (168).

When booty is seized from an enemy in battle, everything goes to the king. He then allots treasure to each warrior according to the man's achievements as a soldier. When Beowulf defeats Grendel and Grendel's mother, he expects and receives great riches as his reward, including a golden banner, helmet, and mail-shirt, as well as a jeweled sword, magnificent horses with golden trappings that hang to the ground, a gem-studded saddle, and a golden collar. Such generosity is emblematic of Hrothgar's character. In turn, Beowulf will present these treasures to his own king, Hygelac, who will then honor Beowulf with appropriate gifts. Propriety/generosity is, thus, a crucial part of the political, military, social, and economic structure of the culture.

Wealhtheow shares in the gift giving and is the perfect hostess. When she serves mead in Heorot, it is an act of propriety and diplomacy, attending first to her king and then to various guests, paying special attention to Beowulf. An improper queen would be one like Modthrytho (1931 ff.) who was so inhospitable as to have her own warriors executed for the offense of merely looking into her eyes.

Hospitality is such an established part of the culture that the poet feels free to refer to it with casual humor. When Beowulf reports to Hrothgar on his victory over Grendel (957 ff.), he ironically speaks in terms of hospitality. He tried, he says, to "welcome my enemy" (969) with a firm handshake but was disappointed when he received only a "visitor's token" (971), Grendel's giant claw, "that dear [meaning 'precious'] gift" (973), a kind of macabre gratuity for services rendered. Beowulf had, ironically speaking, tried to be the perfect host; but he wanted the entire ogre body as his tip . Grendel left only his claw as a cheap compensation.

Despite Unferth's jealous rant at the first banquet, the most serious embodiment of envy in the poem is Grendel. The ogre who has menaced Hrothgar's people for 12 years is envious of the Danes because he can never share in mankind's hope or joy. The monster's motivation is one of the few undeniably Christian influences in the epic. Grendel is a descendant of Cain, the biblical son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy (Genesis 4). The legend is that the monsters of the earth are Cain's descendants and eternally damned. Grendel resents men because God blesses them but will never bless him. The bright lights and sounds of joy emanating from Hrothgar's magnificent mead-hall, Heorot, especially annoy the ogre.

The scop 's "Song of Creation" angers Grendel because it reminds him of the light and hope of God's creation and the loss he suffers because of Cain's sin. Grendel stomps up from the mere to devour Danes and rule nightly over Heorot as a form of revenge stemming from this envy.

Revenge serves as a motivating factor for several characters throughout the poem, initially stirring Grendel and his mother. Grendel seeks revenge upon mankind for the heritage that he has been dealt. He delights in raiding Heorot because it is the symbol of everything that he detests about men: their success, joy, glory, and favor in the eyes of God. Grendel's mother's revenge is more specific. She attacks Heorot because someone there killed her son. Although she is smaller and less powerful than Grendel, she is motivated by a mother's fury. When Beowulf goes after her in the mere, she has the added advantage of fighting him in her own territory. As she drags him into her cave beneath the lake, her revenge peaks because this is the very man who killed her son. Only Beowulf's amazing abilities as a warrior and the intervention of God or magic can defeat her.

Revenge also motivates the many feuds that the poet refers to and is a way of life — and death — for the Germanic tribes. Old enmities die hard and often disrupt attempts at peace, as the poet recognizes. Upon his return to Geatland, Beowulf (2020 ff.) speculates about a feud between Hrothgar's Scyldings and the Heathobards, a tribe in southern Denmark with whom Hrothgar hopes to make peace through the marriage of his daughter. Beowulf is skeptical, envisioning a renewal of hostilities. In fact, the Heathobards do later burn Heorot in events not covered by the poem but probably familiar to its audience. Another example of revenge overcoming peace occurs in the Finnsburh section (1068-1159).

Beowulf's final battle is the result of vengeance. A dangerous fire-dragon seeks revenge because a fugitive slave has stolen a valuable cup from the monster's treasure-hoard. His raids across the countryside include the burning of Beowulf's home. Beowulf then seeks his own revenge by going after the dragon.

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Beowulf an Epic Poem Analysis

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What Is the Moral Lesson Taught in the Story of "Beowulf"?

"Beowulf" is arguably the most important extant poetic work of Anglo-Saxon literature. Commonly referred to as an Old English epic poem, it consists of more than 3,000 lines, all of which use alliteration. Dating back to between the 8th and 11th centuries and set in Scandinavia, the poem likely was used to teach lessons to young warriors of the day, said Alexander M. Bruce, in the free online journal "The Heroic Age." The "Beowulf" story is laced with moral lessons of forgiveness, camaraderie, and heroism which are still resonating with readers today.

The poem's hero, Beowulf, represents a tribe called the Geats. He travels to help the king of the Danes, another tribe. This king, Hrothgar, has been terrorized by a monster that attacks Heorot, his mead hall (the place where his subjects gather to eat and drink), nightly, usually devouring one or two of his men. Grendel, the monster, is represented as being larger than a man and stronger than a dozen men. Beowulf lays in wait and attacks Grendel, ripping off his arm in a fight. This kills Grendel, and the monster's mother attacks the hall in revenge; she is also killed by Beowulf in her lair beneath the marsh.

A Hero's Welcome

Most students know that much of the poem, but it continues: Beowulf returns to Geatland and eventually becomes king. Decades later, he is fatally wounded killing a dragon. "Beowulf" is an epic poem because it traces the heroic deeds of its main character over the course of his adult life. Though only a man, Beowulf pits his strength against giants, demons and mythological beasts. The poem includes many histories of various warriors: their ancestry, deeds of valor and debts they owe or have paid. On one level, the poem teaches about heroism and the importance of honoring one's lineage (one's parents and ancestors), but it also offers lessons about civic duty, camaraderie, friendship and respect.

Lessons: First Section

Most scholars read Beowulf as a multi-sectional poem, with the first being the story of Heorot, where the Danish warriors celebrate their heroic deeds in song until the attacks by Grendel begin. Beowulf shows a sense of honor by first getting permission from his king to travel to Heorot to help. In this section of the poem. Beowulf is challenged by Unferth, one of Hrothgar's warriors who doubts him. It is Unferth, however, who gives Beowulf a sword with which to fight Grendel's mother, in order to make amends. Beowulf responds by naming Unferth his estate's benefactor if he were to die. After killing Grendel's mother, Beowulf is given many gifts by Hrothgar, including an heirloom sword. ​ Here, the poem stresses honor, forgiveness, camaraderie, indebtedness and loyalty. ​

Lessons: Second Section

In the second section of the poem, Beowulf is made king of the Geats, which teaches the moral lesson of fairness and merit. Because he is the bravest and strongest of the warriors, Beowulf deserves to be made king, and he is. The incident with the dragon occurs because a Geat slave steals a golden cup from its lair, which teaches the evils of greed. The dragon, angered, attacks Beowulf's kingdom. Because of his civic duty to his people, Beowulf must fight the dragon and, to protect his men, he insists he do it alone. Only one of his warriors, named Wiglaf, stays behind to help, a scene that stresses loyalty and friendship. ​ The poem offers a nod to the power of cooperation as the two together defeat the dragon, although Beowulf is fatally wounded. ​

An Honorable Death

The poem ends with Beowulf's burial in Geatland. Given a hero's funeral, he's placed in a tumulus on a cliff overlooking the sea, and the dragon's treasure is buried with him. As with other funerals in the poem, the burial is the measure of the stature of the man. ​ The poem, therefore, ends on a lesson of heroism and rewards -- that one who leads a heroic life is remembered well in death. ​

Maddie Maloy is a junior at Indiana University (IU) studying journalism and minoring in marketing and public and environmental affairs. She is passionate about advancing social justice globally through communication and storytelling. At IU, she works as a reporter for the Arnolt Center of Investigative Journalism. She also serve as the vice president and philanthropy chair for Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Inc.

Beowulf Essay Example: Lessons We Can Learn

“Better to die with Honor than to live with shame” is a quote said in the book The Sage of Jomsviking. It is a quote that many people use, but not many people fully understand this does not mean just a battle for soldiers, but for friends and kinsmen- but as well as fighting for honor to your name when a challenge appears. In the story Beowulf  it presents this throughout the story of him fighting the paranormal creatures who would normally easily overcome a mortal. As you can tell from that sentence, it is known that Beowulf is not a normal person, he is said to have obscene amounts of strength and able to hold his breath for hours at a time while fighting; Anyone would like to see you try that. However the story isn’t just about a man able to overcome challenges, but it’s about life lessons and stories that we can all learn from when reading it.

Paragraph Two (Body 1/Lesson 1:Be Loyal, to your superiors and inferiors)

The number one life lesson that Beowulf teaches would be that loyalty to your friends and kinsmanship is important. At the end of the story this is represented by Wyke charging to aid Beowulf when he was losing while everyone else was faltering. After the battle, for Wyke’s Kinsmanship Beowulf, in his dying breath, granted him a new title-King. This quote that fits this would be from a book The Sage of Jomsviking where it states “Better to die with Honor than to live with Shame.” Wyke was willing to die while all the others ran because if he too would have ran away then he’d have to live with it for the rest of his life. A quote in Beowulf that supports this sentence would be “That I, alone and with the help of my men./ May purge all evil from this hall. I have heard.” The great ordeal that Beowulf goes through to secure his people from getting hurt again from Grendel is an example of Beowulf being loyal to his men, as his men are loyal to him. 

Paragraph Three (Body 2/Lesson 2: Choose Your Battles)

The second most important lesson learned from  Beowulf would be that you should choose your battles. This is the second most important because it can mean a variety of things: Perhaps broken legs makes you unable to run a race; Perhaps you're not fit to win a swimming race if you don’t know how to swim; or Perhaps you're too old to fight your dragons. Sun Tzu once said in his most famous book The Art Of War “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.” What this means is that as long as you choose the battles you know you can win, you will always be victorious. Another quote i’d like to add is from a person called Winston Churchill who said, “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” This means that there will be plenty of battles that you will fight, however you don’t have to fight them all.

Paragraph Four (Body 3/Lesson 3:Some Men, Just Want to Watch the World Burn)

The Third most important life lesson that we can learn from reading Beowulf would be to beware the Grendals- what this means is that there will be people who are just irritated at people and are willing to hurt them because that’s what they do. Grendal at the beginning of the story had been angered by the joyous party that the warriors have thrown and decided that enough is enough, and so he hurt them. A quote that best fits this lesson would be from a man named Lemony Snicket, who once said, “Oftentimes, when people are miserable, they will want to make others miserable, too. But it never helps.” There will always be grief or misery and evil and those people will always try to spread it. Another quote refers not to other people, but to your own self, fighting your inner Grendel. This is a quote by Aleksanor Solzhenitsyn, who said, “The battleline between Good and Evil runs through the heart of every man.” There will always have an inner fight with our own selves, and those that do fight these battles have to be prepared.

Paragraph Five (Closure)

Despite the cover of the book being a legend of an epic hero fighting these large battles with strength known by the gods, there is more to meet the eye than just that. Throughout the book there have been many different types of lessons that can be learned, however the ones above are the top three that were chosen to be the top three. Just reading the story of Beowulf would open the eyes of the reader at the lessons that there are evil people in the world and some people that you consider to have your back in the battle against your dragons may run while only one may stay- the book can teach you more than just a story.

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A Life Lesson from Shakespeare’s Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem Essay

The human condition has been explored in literature for centuries, often through stories of tragedy and triumph. Two classic works studied for their representation of the human condition are William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the Old English epic Beowulf. Through these two works, one can learn much about ambition, happiness, anger, revenge, jealousy, and more—all aspects of the human condition. Both stories have goal-oriented main characters demonstrating that ambition must be balanced with caution and that unrestrained ambition can result in destruction.

While Macbeth and Beowulf are vastly different works, they explore the consequences of ambition and how ambition can lead to ruin. Macbeth and Beowulf both feature ambitious protagonists who are ultimately undone by their ambitions. The main character in Macbeth, motivated by his desire to rule Scotland after being inspired by the prophecies of the three witches, is the title character (Shakespeare). Macbeth is willing to do anything to achieve his goal, and he murders King Duncan in a bid for the throne. His ambition is ultimately his downfall, as he is haunted by guilt and paranoia and is eventually slain. In Beowulf, the protagonist is a hero driven by his ambition to be a great warrior and protect his people and homeland (Heaney). Beowulf is willing to fight any monster to prove himself, and his ambition leads him to battle the dragon (Heaney). He eventually defeats the dragon but dies, proving the ultimate cost of ambition.

The consequences of each character’s ambition are severe in this case. In Macbeth, the consequences of ambition are seen through the pain and suffering of Macbeth, his wife, and the people of Scotland. Macbeth is tormented by guilt, and his wife is driven to suicide (Shakespeare). The people of Scotland are driven into war and chaos. The consequences of ambition are seen in Beowulf’s death and the destruction of his homeland. Beowulf dies a noble death, but his people are left without a leader, and their homeland is in ruins (Heaney). The outcomes of ambition in both works demonstrate the ultimate lesson of the human condition—that ambition must be tempered with caution and can lead to ruin if left unchecked. Macbeth and Beowulf feature ambitious protagonists who ultimately pay the ultimate price for their ambition, and this serves as a cautionary tale to readers. Ambition can be a powerful motivator, but it is important to remember that it can lead to ruin if not kept in check.

In conclusion, Macbeth and Beowulf are two works that explore the human condition in vastly different ways. Both works feature ambitious protagonists who suffer the consequences of their ambition, and this serves as a lesson to readers about the power—and danger—of ambition. The ultimate lesson from these works is that ambition must be tempered with caution and that unchecked ambition can lead to ruin. William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the old English epic Beowulf are two famous pieces analyzed for their depictions of the human condition. These pieces examine the effects of ambition and how it can bring about devastation. The primary character of Macbeth is motivated by his desire to become King of Scotland, which finally brings him to his doom after the prophecies of the three witches push him to do so. The protagonist in Beowulf learns the ultimate lesson about ambition when his ambition results in his death and the devastation of his homeland. Both books warn readers that while ambition can be a strong motivator if it is not kept in check, it can also result in devastation.

Works Cited

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. Faber & Faber, 2000.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Wordsworth Classics, 1992.

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IvyPanda. (2024, March 3). A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-life-lesson-from-shakespeares-macbeth-play-vs-beowulf-poem/

"A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem." IvyPanda , 3 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/a-life-lesson-from-shakespeares-macbeth-play-vs-beowulf-poem/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem'. 3 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem." March 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-life-lesson-from-shakespeares-macbeth-play-vs-beowulf-poem/.

1. IvyPanda . "A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem." March 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-life-lesson-from-shakespeares-macbeth-play-vs-beowulf-poem/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "A Life Lesson from Shakespeare's Macbeth Play vs. Beowulf Poem." March 3, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-life-lesson-from-shakespeares-macbeth-play-vs-beowulf-poem/.

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How to make Michael Twitty’s matzoh ball gumbo, a soup of Black and Jewish cuisines

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With a rainbow knitted kippah affixed to the crown of his head, Michael Twitty is paced and intentional as he moves through the test kitchen at the L.A. Times. He’s here to make one of his classic Passover dishes, matzoh ball gumbo, which combines two recipes from his food memoir “ Koshersoul .”

The crimson stew adds buoyant, scallion-studded matzoh balls to a heartening okra gumbo, joining two staple dishes from Jewish and Black Southern cuisines. Chicken broth and diced tomatoes lend the finished gumbo their umami, with a Creole spice blend that imparts a gentle, humming heat.

Twitty, who hails from the Washington, D.C., area, says he’s always wanted to winter in Los Angeles. He’s been living at the junction of Beverly Hills, Pico-Robertson and West Hollywood since November and, following a short trip back to the East Coast in March, plans to stay through June.

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After hosting a conversation at chef Martin Draluck’s Black Pot Supper Club series in February, Twitty will take over the kitchen at Baldwin Hills’ Post & Beam restaurant with his “Koshersoul” dinner pop-up on Wednesday, May 15. The evening will include back-to-back dinners with recipes from the book. The first service will lean into Twitty’s Jewish background with West African brisket and peach rice kugel, as well as matzoh ball gumbo. The second will embrace a cookout vibe with the same brisket plus barbecue chicken and lamb (all of the meat will be kosher), baked beans and collard green lox wraps.

“Koshersoul,” the follow up to his James Beard Award-winning “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History,” details Twitty’s journey as a Black, gay and Jewish man and draws meaningful links between Afro-Atlantic and global Jewish culinary practices, including the contributions of Jews of color. It was named the 2023 book of the year at the National Jewish Book Awards, making Twitty the first Black author to win the distinction. Currently, Twitty is working on a cookbook with essential recipes from the American South and has plans to write another food memoir and history that will serve as a queer journey through the culinary world.

Michael Twitty became the first African American author to win the National Jewish Book Award in 2023 for his book “Koshersoul.”

Chef and author Michael Twitty adds matzoh balls to okra gumbo in a Passover recipe from his “Koshersoul” book.

He credits food historian Marcie Cohen Ferris for inspiring the matzoh ball gumbo recipe. Published in 2010, Ferris’ book “ Matzoh Ball Gumbo ” explores the historic foodways of Southern Jews, including the influence of Black Southerners and Black women in particular.

“When I make this dish, I’m thinking how can we connect to that past and history, and recount the people who were often nameless?” says Twitty. He says that for European Jews assimilating in the Deep South in the early and mid 20th century, food, often prepared by Black domestic workers, was a conduit for belonging.

Rather than a blending or “fusion” of culinary styles, Twitty sees his matzoh ball gumbo as an act of preservation. It’s a continuation of Southern food stories, highlighting the traditions that extend across the African and Jewish diasporas.

“You can compare it to soup and dumplings from Jamaica, or omo tuo from Ghana,” he says. “In West and Central Africa, the main meal is often a soup, sauce or stew with a starch — sauce and fufu, sauce and banku, sauce and millet or rice balls. There are so many parallels there.”

He continues, saying that, “Jewish tradition is extremely fluid and flexible. We eat foods that have their roots in very ancient ideas, but bear very little resemblance to their original concept.”

Twitty begins by methodically chopping the herbs and vegetables for his gumbo and matzoh balls: parsley, green onions, garlic and the “holy trinity” of onion, celery and bell pepper.

Next, he makes the dough for the matzoh balls. Cooking alongside Twitty reminds me of sharing kitchen space with my late great-grandmother Madea, a born-and-raised Mississippian. Like her, he measures in pinches, makes last-minute adjustments (such as substituting salt for baking powder in the matzoh ball dough) and gives a deep, satisfied grunt when his taste-testing yields the desired results.

Once the matzoh ball dough is finished, Twitty seals the bowl with plastic wrap and puts it in the refrigerator to rest.

As he slices the okra into razon-thin rounds, our conversation winds from the Yiddish words for matzoh ball and Passover (kneidlach and Pesach, respectively) to his experiences traveling to Italy and various countries in West Africa.

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We’re weeks away from Passover, but the atmosphere feels similar to a Seder Twitty might host. The conversation is peppered with laughter, and topics that are usually avoided at the dinner table — namely, religion and politics — are met with curiosity and understanding. Such discussions, Twitty says, are integral to the spirit of Passover. He describes a long history of Seders that supported early labor movements, women’s rights and Black and Jewish liberation.

“It’s exactly what Pesach is supposed to do, which is open those gates of liberation and lack of constraints to the rest of humanity,” he says. “It can be both an origin story moment for the Jewish people, and a human liberation story for all of mankind. It was always meant to be that way.”

Twitty pauses to give the roux his full attention. He stirs slowly, peeking into the deep-bottomed pot to gauge its progress. The potato starch that he uses instead of flour takes longer to brown, about 15 minutes. Twitty dips a spoon in to taste; his throaty purr tells us that it’s ready for more broth.

Green and red onion, ginger and garlic add aromatic, peppery notes to chef Michael Twitty’s matzoh ball gumbo.

Sliced okra is added into a pot of simmering gumbo.

After adding the cooked vegetables, tomatoes, okra, thyme and Creole seasoning, we let the concoction simmer and turn our attention back to the matzoh balls. We fill a large pot with salted water and wait for it to reach a rolling boil. Twitty shapes the dough into walnut-sized spheres.

One by one, the matzoh balls get dropped into the pot with boiling water. In a departure from the recipe in his book, Twitty takes them out early and transfers them to the gumbo, where he lets them simmer under a lid for an additional 15 minutes.

Finally, we ladle the gumbo into bowls, at least two or three matzoh balls per serving. The okra retains a pleasant crunch and the matzoh balls are savory, a persuasive replacement for rice or even chicken. Someone notes the rare silence that has befallen the kitchen — this gumbo is good.

There are several of us in the kitchen, and Twitty’s gumbo speaks to different parts of each of our heritages. For me, the okra and tomato-rich broth recalls my maternal Mississippi roots, while the matzoh balls take someone else back to childhood experiences making them alongside their Bubbe.

“We have to remember that we co-created the Southern culture with Indigenous people, with white people, with immigrants from all over the world,” Twitty says. “And all of those stories have to be told for it to be a true, full and honest recounting of how we got here, and what mistakes we should refuse to make going forward.”

Find Michael Twitty at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Sunday, April 21, at Booth 410, where he’ll have signed copies of “Koshersoul” available to purchase, 2-3 p.m. Tickets are available for Twitty’s “Koshersoul” dinner pop-up at Post & Beam on Wednesday, May 15, and can be purchased via Eventbrite .

The Recipes

Matzoh Balls

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Danielle Dorsey is the assistant editor and writer of guides for the Food section. Previously, she was the senior West Coast editor at Thrillist, where she covered food, drink and travel across the California region. She grew up across San Diego and Riverside and has happily called Los Angeles home for more than 15 years.

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