What do you realize after reading a book? You might as well sit down and write down your thoughts after reading it. But what is the appropriate way to write your thoughts after reading? Below is a sample essay of my review of The Song of Roland that I compiled for you. You are welcome to learn from it and refer to it. I hope it will be helpful to you.

"Shaving makes men farther away from apes." Although many people do not agree with this sentence, shaving has indeed become a daily necessity for many men. A beard, as it were, could not be more ordinary, but not in the oath of the epic "Song of Roland".

There are a lot of vows in "The Song of Roland". When making an oath, whether it is a monarch to a subordinate, a subordinate to a monarch, or between peers, they often say: Let the beard be your witness... For example:

King Charles replied, "You are a wise man.

I declare and use my beard as proof,

You can’t drive me away now,

You sit here without anyone calling you.

The Duke of Nemon recommended himself to Saraguso to meet with King Masili, the king of Spain, the defeated country. King Charles thought that the Duke of Nemon was inappropriate and worried about his safety, so he resolutely refused to let him convey his will. The above oath was taken. Look at another example:

Olivier said, "I swear by my beard,

If I meet my good sister Alde again,

　I shall not sleep between her arms."

After the battle between the brave knights of France and the Spanish infidels, King Charles's rearguard was reduced to only sixty men. Olivier, the best friend of the hero Roland, swore the above oath. "I will not be able to sleep between her arms" that is, I will not be able to let my sister collect the body for me. Through this oath, Olivier expressed his desire to defeat the pagans and return alive to his beloved French hometown.

Why do these heroes in the epic say "witness their beards" when they swear? Let’s take a look at the Chinese oath first. In our sentence structure of "what is the evidence", there are only two types of evidence: one is what people fear, and the other is what people worship. Through these "evidences", the swearer can better show that his vow is sincere and lasting, and let others believe in him.

In our country's folklore, some areas still have the form of "swearing on lamps". Traditional Chinese folk culture has the concept of the lantern god, who is responsible for good and evil, yin and yang. If a person swears by the lamp, if he tells a lie, God will curse the person and cause him to lose his life and die. Don't be careless about life. It can be seen that "swearing on the lamp", that is, using the lamp as evidence, is because people fear the god of lamps and fire.

In life, we see that many of the evidences in oaths are "heaven and earth", "sun and moon", etc. The Book of Changes, the first of the hundred classics, says, "Qian means heaven, so it is called father. Kun means earth, so it is called mother." "There is heaven and earth, and then all things come into being." Due to the lofty status of "Zhouyi", people Knowing little about nature established the sacred status of heaven and earth (including the essence of heaven and earth - the sun and moon), and thus gave rise to the worship of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are sacred and cannot be blasphemed, and they are eternal and unchangeable, so there is an oath with "heaven and earth" as evidence.

Similar to taking heaven and earth as evidence, the "beard as evidence" in "Song of Roland" reflects the worship of "beards" at that time.

"The Song of Roland" is a narrative poem that praises the martial arts of emperors, generals and ministers. Among them, the wise monarch is King Charles. When he appeared on stage, Epic often praised his beard. For example:

The throne of pure gold is brilliant and brilliant,

There sits the emperor of France,

with a long white beard and a majestic appearance,

This is the proud look of King Charles after he "captured Cowdery and breached the wall." Epic alone lifts his beard out of his features in praise.

Look at another example:

I used you (the sword) to conquer many large lands,

and handed them over to King Charles with a white beard to rule,

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He is a noble and powerful emperor.

After a bloody battle with the heathen army, Roland was dying and said the above.

Even at the last moment of his life, Roland still did not forget King Charles' "snow-white beard". In his words, Roland was full of support, respect and praise for his monarch. The above two situations more directly express the characters' admiration for beards in "The Song of Roland".

Why do you worship beards? This is a phenomenon common to almost every nation. It was prominent in the European Middle Ages. As a literary work, "Song of Roland" fully reflects it. A beard is a sign that a boy grows up and becomes a man. There is a famous saying in our country related to this - "Women are not allowed to have eyebrows". Men's eyebrows are beards and eyebrows, and beards and eyebrows represent men, more precisely, they represent men. Isn’t this just beard worship? In ancient times, beards were regarded as a symbol of authority, strength and power, especially in Europe, North Africa, West Asia and other places. In Egypt, there was a time when only pharaohs were qualified to grow beards; if ordinary civilians grew beards, it would be a crime to deceive the emperor. King Charles is a symbol of authority, strength and power in "The Song of Roland", so praise of beards often accompanies his appearances.

"The beard cannot be shaved off, but it grows again when the spring breeze blows." Nowadays, shaving off the beard as soon as it comes out is neither sacred nor permanent. If we use it to swear, "By my beard as witness, I..." wouldn't the oath be a bit nonsense, even a bit ridiculous? However, in periods or cultures where beards are worshiped, "using beards as evidence" is a common thing, and it is even difficult to find better evidence than beards. Isn’t this the medieval Europe presented in “Song of Roland”?