Beowulf

The first page of Beowulf

Beowulf (c. 700-1000 C.E.) is a heroic epic poem. At 3,182 lines, it is notable for its length in comparison to other Old English poems. It represents about 10% of the extant corpus of Old English poetry. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century.

Background and origins

Beowulf is one of the oldest surviving epic poems in what is identifiable as an early form of the English language. In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Germanic tribe of Geatland, from southern Sweden, travels to Denmark to help defeat a monster named Grendel. This poem, about Danish and Swedish kings and heroes, was preserved in England because the English people are descendants of Germanic tribes: the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Jutes and northern Saxon tribes came from what is now southern Denmark and northern Germany. Thus, Beowulf tells a story about the old days of the Anglo-Saxon people in their native land. At the proposed time of the poem's composition (roughly 700 C.E.) the Anglo-Saxons had only migrated to England a few hundred years before; the connection between the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes, and the Geats was still quite strong, and the poem is in some senses an attempt to reconcile the cultures of these different Germanic peoples.

The poem is a work of fiction, but it mentions an historic event, the raid by king Hygelac into Frisia, ca 516. Several of the personalities of Beowulf (e.g., Hrothgar, Hrothulf and Ohthere) and some of the events also appear in early Scandinavian sources, such as the Prose Edda, Gesta Danorum, the fornaldarsagas, etc. In these sources, especially the Hrólf Kraki tales deal with the same set of people in Denmark and Sweden.

Consequently, many people and events depicted in the epic were probably real, dating from between 450 and 600 in Denmark and southern Sweden (Geats and Swedes). As far as Sweden is concerned, this dating has been confirmed by archaeological excavations of the barrows indicated by Snorri Sturluson and by Swedish oral tradition as the graves of Eadgils and Ohthere, minor characters who figure in the poem. Like several other shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian and Germanic history.

The traditions behind the poem would have arrived in England at a time when the Anglo-Saxons were still in close dynastic and personal contacts with their Germanic kinsmen in Scandinavia and northern Germany. Whilst it could be said that Beowulf is the only substantial extant Old English poem that addresses pagan rather than Christian matters, there are nonetheless Christian viewpoints expressed within the poem, although the overall judgement on both Christian and heroic society is ambiguous.

A turning point in Beowulf scholarship came in 1936 with J.R.R. Tolkien's article Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics when, for the first time, the poem was seriously examined for its literary merits—not just scholarship about the origins of the English language as was popular in the 19th century. Perhaps no other single academic article has been so instrumental in converting a medieval piece of literature from obscurity to prominence, and now Beowulf is acknowledged as one of the finest pieces of Old English literature—and, indeed, medieval literature in general.

The Beowulf manuscript

The precise date of the manuscript is debated, but most estimates place it close to 1000. Traditionally the poem's date of composition has been estimated, on linguistic and other grounds, as approximately 650–800. More recently, doubt has been raised about the linguistic criteria for dating, with some scholars suggesting a date as late as the 11th century, near the time of the manuscript's copying. The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv), along with other works. The manuscript is the product of two different scribes, the second and more accurate scribe taking over at line 1939 of Beowulf.

The poem is known only from a single manuscript. The spellings in the surviving copy of the poem mix the West Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though they are predominantly West Saxon, as are other Old English poems copied at the time. The earliest known owner is the 16th century scholar Laurence Nowell, after whom the manuscript is known, though its official designation is Cotton Vitellius A.XV due to its inclusion in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the middle of the 17th century. It suffered irreparable damage in the Cotton Library fire at the ominously-named Ashburnham House in 1731.

Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1786 and published it in 1815, working under a historical research commission of the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. Their accuracy has been called into question, however (e.g., by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in The Translations of Beowulf, a comprehensive survey of 19th century translations and editions of Beowulf), and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is unclear.

Themes, characters and story

Themes

The poem as we know it is a retelling of folktales from the pagan, Anglo-Saxon Oral tradition directed at a Christian audience. It is often assumed that the work was written by a Christian monk, on the grounds that they were the only members of Anglo-Saxon society with access to writing materials.

In historical terms the poem's characters would have been pagans. The poem's narrator, however, places events into a Biblical context, casting Grendel and Grendel's Mother as the kin of Cain and placing monotheistic sentiments into the mouths of his characters. Although there are no direct references to Jesus in the text of the work, the Old Testament serves as an important touchstone, and poem's tone and style are indeed quite similar to the straightforwardness and violent nature of many Old Testament stories.[1]. Scholars disagree as to whether Beowulf' is a pagan or Christian poem in nature. The poem most certainly valorizes a pagan people and their rather ruthless, un-Christian customs of vengeance and warfare. It is often suggested that, since the poem was almost certainly transcribed by a Christian monk, the poem's scribe attempted to adapt a pagan poem to Christian viewpoints by making minor changes to the text.

Beowulf depicts a Germanic warrior society, where relationship between the king and his thanes, or warriors, is of paramount importance. In Beowulf, this relationship was defined in terms of provision and service; the thanes defend the interest of their king in return for material provisions: weapons, armor, gold, silver, and supplies.

The society of Beowulf is strongly defined in terms of kinship; if a relative is killed it is the duty of surviving relatives to exact revenge upon his killer, either with his own life or with weregild, a reparational payment. This theme of familial loyalty and holy vengeance is so strong that the hero's very existence owes itself to this tradition; Beowulf's father Ecgtheow was banished for having killed Heatholaf, a man from the prominent Wulfing clan. He sought refuge at the court of Hrothgar who graciously paid the weregild. Ecgtheow did not return home, but became one of the Geatish king Hrethel's housecarls and married his daughter, by whom he had Beowulf. The duty of avenging killed kinsmen became the undoing of king Hrethel himself, because when his oldest son Herebeald was killed by his own brother Hæthcyn in a hunting accident, it was a death that could not be avenged, because it was a murder among kin. Unable to enact vengeance for his son's death, Hrethel would die of sorrow, and the young Beowulf would be sent home to Geatland.

Story

Scholars argue that Beowulf can be divided according to the three main battles of the poem:

First Battle: Grendel

Beowulf begins with the story of King Hroðgar (also written Hrothgar), a great king of the Danes, who has built the great hall of Heorot to house and protect his people. Safe in the walls of Heorot, Hrothgar, his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating until Grendel, a hideous monster, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hrothgar's warriors. Hrothgar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks, abandon Heorot in shame.

Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, a region of southern Sweden, hears of Hrothgar's troubles. Beowulf recalls Hrothgar's kindness to his father Ecgtheow many years before; he gathers a band of warriors and, with his own king's permission, leaves for Denmark to aid Hrothgar in his time of need. After receiving a warm reception at Heorot, including a feast, music, and banter. Many of the Danes, although impressed by Beowulf's strength and stature, insist that Grendel is invincible, and that he and his men could not possibly do any better than the Danes themselves against the beast. Beowulf ignores these comments, and his men spend the night in Heorot while Hrothgar and his people leave, knowing that the monster will return at nightfall. After Beowulf's men fall asleep, Grendel enters and attacks, devouring one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf, feigning sleep, leaps up and grabs Grendel's arm in a wrestling hold, and the two battle until it seems as though the hall itself might fall down from the force of their battle. Beowulf's men draw their swords and rush to his help, but Grendel is a magical creature and cannot be harmed by mere swords; only Beowulf's pure strength can possibl defeat him. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body and Grendel flees home, bleeding to death.

Second Battle: Grendel's Mother

The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death and lauding Beowulf with gifts and praise, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot for the first time since Grendel's appearance. Grendel's mother appears and attacks the hall. She kills Hrothgar's most trusted warrior in revenge for Grendel's death and promises to menace Heorot just as her son once did.

Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under an eerie lake. Beowulf prepares himself for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by a warrior called Unferth, one of the Danes who had most vocally doubted Beowulf's prowress. After stipulating to Hrothgar what should be done in the event of his death, Beowulf then dives into the lake to do battle with Grendel's mother. There, he is swiftly detected and attacked by the monster. Unable to harm Beowulf through his armour, Grendel's mother drags him to the bottom of the lake. There, in a cavern containing her son's body and the remains of many men that the two have killed, Grendel's mother and Beowulf wage a ferocious battle.

Grendel's mother at first gains the upperhand. Hrunting, the sword given to Beowulf by Unferth, proves to be useless against the creature. Grendel's mother moves in for the kill, but again Beowulf is saved by his mighty armor. Beowulf spies a mighty sword lying in a heap in the monster's lair (a sword so heavy, the poem tells us, no other warrior could have lifted it) and, grasping it quickly, Beowulf beheads Grendel's mother. Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse; he severs the head, and with the heads of the two creatures he returns to Heorot (the warriors who had been waiting at the surface of the lake having given up, presuming that Beowulf must have been killed). He is given many gifts by an even more grateful Hrothgar, and at last peace returns to Denmark and Heorot.

Third Battle: The Dragon

Many years pass after the defeat of Grendel and his mother. Beowulf returns home to Geatland and eventually becomes king of his people. One day, late in Beowulf's life, a man steals a golden cup from a dragon's lair. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning up everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but only one of the warriors, a brave young man named Wiglaf, stays to help Beowulf, while his other companions flee in terror. Beowulf, in accordance with the tradition of wyrd, or fate, in Anglo-Saxon stories has a premonition of his death. He realizes that he will not survive his encounter with the dragon, and the poem takes what is perhaps one of its most remarkable turns, describing in a series of extended metaphors Beowulf's feelings as he faces death. Brave and heroic to the end, Beowulf does not flee; he faces the dragon alone in battle, and manages to kill it with the aid of Wiglaf. Beowulf, however, has suffered serious wounds from the battle; he will be dead within minutes. Beowulf calls Wiglaf and the other warriors to him; he chastises those he fled—many of them were Beowulf's most trusted veterans and allies, and yet when they faced the dragon they were still afraid—he praises Wiglaf for his courage and loyalty, and then succumbs to death. The dragon's treasure is taken from its lair and buried with Beowulf's ashes. Wiglaf, who is outraged that his fellow Geats let their king go into battle alone, closes the poem with a speech of his own, prophesying the downfall of the Geats for their cowardice, and lamenting the loss of more heroic days. According to Seamus Heaney's acclaimed translation, Wiglaf speaks as follows:

So it is goodbye to all you know and love

on your home ground, the open-handedness,

the giving of war swords. Every one of you

with freeholds of land, our whole nation,

will be dispossessed, once-princes from beyond

get tidings of how you turned and fled

and disgraced yourselves. A warrior will sooner

die than live a life of shame.

Language and Verse-form

Beowulf is the longest poem that has come down to us from Old English, one of the languages ancestral to Modern English. It is seen as a lament for the lost days of heroism and battle, as well as an encomium, a song of praise, for a great lost king. It begins thus:

"Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon."

"Lo! We the Spear-Danes, in days of yore, have heard of the glory of the people's kings how the noble ones did deeds of valor."

Old English poetry such as Beowulf is very different from modern poetry. It was probably recited, for few people at that time were able to read. Instead of pairs of lines joined by rhyme , Anglo-Saxon poets typically used alliteration - a technique in which the first half of the line (the a-verse) is linked to the second half (the b-verse) through similarity in sounds at the beginnings, rather than the endings, of words, as follows:

Oft Scyld Scefing sceaðena threatum

Old English poetry does not have meter in the traditional sense. Most other poetry, including the poetry of the medieval ages as well as most of the classical Latin and Greek poems, follow strict forms where the number of accented and unaccented syllables is always the same. In Anglo-Saxon poetry, however, the syllables are not counted at all; some of the lines in Beowulf run quite long while others run short. The meter of the poem is defined by its accented syllables only: each line contains four accented syllables, three of which alliterate and one of which does not. In addition to this, each line includes a pause, called a caesura (the term is Latin, not Germanic); although other forms of poetry, particularly in Latin, also include such a pause, the caesura in Beowulf and in Anglo-Saxon poetry in general is irregular; it does not always fall at the middle of the line. All these technical aspects make Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon poetry rather difficult to translate, with some authors taking more liberties than others with the form. The rhythm of Anglo-Saxon poetry, when read aloud properly, is altogether different from the more regular rhythms of most other poetry. Due to the focus on alliteration rather than rhyme and the rather harsh consonants of Old English in general, Beowulf reads quite forecefully in the original, sounding almost more like a battle-chant than a poem. This, of course, is consistent with the rather war-like tone of the poem, and of the culture of the Anglo-Saxons in general.

Beowulf also makes liberal use of kennings, an Old English technique of metaphor, where simple things are referred to by complicated names. For example, a poet might call the sea the "whale-road"; a king might be called a "ring-giver"; and a battle might be a "blade-dance". There are many kennings in Beowulf, and the device is typical of most poetry in Old English,. The name Beowulf itself may be a kenning for "bee-hunter," that is, for "bear." Scholars suspect that kennings relate very closely to the oral nature of Old English poetry; a poet could use kennings of common words so as to complete the meaning of a given line while still preserving the alliterative meter. The style is quite similar to other ancient poetry, most notably Homer, whose Homeric formulas (repeated words and phrases used to describe certain characters and objects that vary based on the length of the line) are remarkably similar to Old English kennings.

It may be easier to understand the poem's verse-forms through a more substantial. Here follows a quotation from an early scene, where Beowulf first introduces himself by name:

Line	Original	Translation
	oretmecgas æfter æþelum frægn:	...asked the warriors of their lineage:
	"Hwanon ferigeað ge fætte scyldas,	"Whence do you carry ornate shields,
	græge syrcan ond grimhelmas,	Grey mail-shirts and masked helms,
[335]	heresceafta heap? Ic eom Hroðgares	A multitude of spears? I am Hrothgar's
	ar ond ombiht. Ne seah ic elþeodige	herald and officer. I have never seen, of foreigners,
	þus manige men modiglicran,	So many men, of braver bearing,
	Wen ic þæt ge for wlenco, nalles for wræcsiðum,	I know that out of daring, by no means in exile,
	ac for higeþrymmum Hroðgar sohton."	But for greatness of heart, you have sought Hrothgar."
[340]	Him þa ellenrof andswarode,	To him, thus, bravely, it was answered,
	wlanc Wedera leod, word æfter spræc,	By the proud Geatish chief, who these words thereafter spoke,
	heard under helme: "We synt Higelaces	Hard under helm: "We are Hygelac's
	beodgeneatas; Beowulf is min nama.	Table-companions. Beowulf is my name.
	Wille ic asecgan sunu Healfdenes,	I wish to declare to the son of Healfdene
[345]	mærum þeodne, min ærende,	To the renowned prince, my mission,
	aldre þinum, gif he us geunnan wile	To your lord, if he will grant us
	þæt we hine swa godne gretan moton."	that we might be allowed to address him, he who is so good."
	Wulfgar maþelode (þæt wæs Wendla leod;	Wulfgar Spoke – that was a Vendel chief;
	his modsefa manegum gecyðed,	His character was to many known
[350]	wig ond wisdom): "Ic þæs wine Deniga,	His war-prowess and wisdom – "I, of him, friend of Danes,
	frean Scildinga, frinan wille,	the Scyldings' lord, will ask,
	beaga bryttan, swa þu bena eart,	Of the ring bestower, as you request,
	þeoden mærne, ymb þinne sið,	Of that renowned prince, concerning your venture,
	ond þe þa ondsware ædre gecyðan	And will swiftly provide you the answer
[355]	ðe me se goda agifan þenceð."	That the great one sees fit to give me."

Translations

The first translation, by Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin, was to Latin, in connection with the first publication of his transcription. Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, greatly unsatisfied with this translation, made the first translation into a modern language — Danish — which was published in 1820. After Grundtvig's travels to England came the first English translation, by J. M. Kemble in 1837.

Since then there have been numerous translations of the poem in English. Irish poet Seamus Heaney and E. Talbot Donaldson have both published translations with W.W. Norton of New York. Other popular translations of the poem include those by Howell D. Chickering and Frederick Rebsamen. Among the most widely used translations — sometimes in conjunction with one another — are E.T. Donaldson's very literal prose version, and Burton Raffel's verse rendering. An online translation can be found at http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/

Derivative works and contemporary influences

Literature

• Grendel: The Beowulf story is retold from Grendel's point of view in this (1971) novel by John Gardner.
• Beowulf exercised an important influence on J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote the landmark essay Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics while a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. Tolkien also made a translation of the poem, which the Tolkien Society has recently decided to publish. Significantly, the word orc-neas is used to describe Grendel's race. Many parallels can also be drawn between Beowulf and The Hobbit.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Old English plus glossary

• Alexander, Michael. Beowulf: A Glossed Text. Second ed. Penguin: London, 2000.
• Jack, George. Beowulf : A Student Edition. Oxford University Press: New York, 1997.
• Klaeber, Fr, ed. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. Third ed. Boston: Heath, 1950. (A fourth edition, edited by Robert E. Bjork, John Niles, and R.D. Fulk, is expected during 2006.)
• Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred Robinson, eds. Beowulf: An Edition with Relevant Shorter Texts. Oxford, UK: Malden Ma., 1998.

Modern English translations

• Crossley-Holland, Kevin; Mitchell, Bruce. Beowulf: A New Translation. London: Macmillan, 1968.
• Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
• —"Introduction" in Crossley-Holland, Kevin (tr.) Beowulf. London: Folio, 1973.
• Morgan, Edwin. Beowulf. Manchester: Carcanet, 2002 (first published 1952).
• Swanton, Michael (ed.). Beowulf (Manchester Medieval Studies). Manchester: University, 1997.
• Tinker, Chauncey Brewster. The translations of Beowulf; a critical bibliography. New York: Holt, 1903. (Modern reprint with new introduction, Hamden: Archon Books, 1974).

Dual-Language Editions

• I. Chickering, Howell D. Beowulf: a dual-language edition.New York: Anchor books ed., 1977,1989 ISBN 0-385-06213-3
• Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN 0-393-32097-9

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External links

Texts

• Old English edition edited by James Albert Harrison and Robert Sharp
• Beowulf on Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace) by Benjamin Slade - full Old English text and new translation, with many other resources
• Electronic Beowulf - by professor Kevin Kiernan
• Beowulf read aloud in Old English

Translations:

• Beowulf read aloud in Old English

Translations of Beowulf at Project Gutenberg:

• • Modern English translation by Francis Barton Gummere
  • Modern English translation by John Lesslie Hall
• Ringler, Dick. Beowulf: A New Translation For Oral Delivery, May 2005. Searchable text with full audio available, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries.
• Several different Modern English translations

Misc.:

• Summary of the story
• Beowulf: Recognizing the Past
• Christianity in Beowulf
• James Grout: Beowulf, part of the Encyclopædia Romana
• Beowulf: The Movie(s). A Comprehensive Look at the (Brief) List of Cinematic Adaptations of the English Language's Most Enduring Epic Poem an article from Film as Art: Danél Griffin's Guide to Cinema
• Additional information about the Ashburnham House fire
• Several dozen more translations, with images of the book covers, and ISBN numbers
• Searcheable Beowulf text and Searcheable Old-English dictionary at www.BeowulfAndGrendel.Org
• Scyld Shef'sson and the epic poem, Beowulf
• Modern English translation

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