Beowulf

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

One of the most important remains of
Anglo-Saxon literature is the epic poem
Beowulf. Its age is unknown; but it comes
from a very distant and hoar antiquity…It is
like a piece of ancient armor; rusty and
battered, and yet strong.
 What is it about Beowulf that moved the
American poet Longfellow to compare it to “a
piece of ancient armor; rusty and battered,
and yet strong”?
► Perhaps it is that the poet fused early Germanic history,
legends, mythology, and ideals with Christian faith and
values to create an enduring work of art that inspires as it
entertains.

► Or perhaps it is that we still cherish many of the qualities

that Beowulf embodies—among them courage, loyalty, and
generosity.
 Historical Perspective
► Ancient civilizations, some of which were quite advanced,
had arisen in other parts of the world well before the
Anglo-Saxon period.
► For example, the great pyramids had already been built
along the Nile.
► City states had risen and fallen in Mesopotamia.
► Persia had already united many lands.
► China was a unified, powerful empire.
► The beginnings of democracy had already come and gone
in Greece.
► By contrast, Britain was a green, dark, isolated, sleepy
island where civilization and empire had yet to bloom.
 England’s Beginnings
► Beowulf is an English poem, yet the setting
is northern Europe in what is now Denmark
and Sweden.
► The events described probably took place at
the same time as invasions of England by
Scandinavian tribes from Denmark in the 5th
& 6th centuries.
► After the first foothold in c. 440, the Angles,
Saxons, and Jutes inhabited most of
England by the middle 6th century.
► Although Beowulf appears to be a fictional
character, Hygelac, Beowulf’s uncle and
king, is an historical character who was
killed in battle c. 521.
► The story includes Beowulf early adventures in
Denmark through his succession to Hygelac’s
throne after the death of both Hygelac and the
son whom Beowulf helped to succeed him.
► Thus, Beowulf’s story occurs in the homelands
about the same time the first Englishmen were
migrating to England and establishing themselves
as a dominant culture.
Meet the Geats, Danes, and Swedes
of Beowulf

By the time that Beowulf was written down,

Germanic tribes from Scandinavia and elsewhere
in northern Europe had been invading England’s
shores for centuries. The principal human
characters in Beowulf hail from three Scandinavian
tribes: the Geats, the Danes, and the Swedes.
 The Geats

The Geats
Swerting
/
Hrethel

Swerting

/ daughter
m. Edgetho

Herbald Higlac (m. Higd) /

Hrethel BEOWULF
 What is the date of Beowulf?
► It is not known exactly, but it tells of people
who lived in Denmark or southern Sweden
between 550 and 600 A.D.
► The tribes who made the poem came with the
Angles, Saxons, and the Jutes to conquer Britain.
► Finally, in Britain, or England, between 800 and
900 A.D. someone wrote Beowulf down in the
West-Saxon dialect.
► About 1000 A.D. someone transcribed a single
copy of the manuscript, probably a monk from
Northumbria.
 Pagan and Christian Elements
in Beowulf
► The monasteries served as centers of learning in
this period, just as they would in the Middle Ages.
► In England the cultural and spiritual influence of
monasteries existed right alongside the older
Anglo-Saxon religion.
► The monasteries preserved not only the Latin and
Greek classics but also some of the works by
popular literature, such as Beowulf.
► The copy of Beowulf has been lost. A copy
is now safely guarded in the British
Museum.
► A single copy survived Henry VIII’s
destruction of all the monasteries and the
great libraries.
► It has two distinct handwritings and the
edges are burned and ragged as the result
of a fire in 1731.
 Why is this poem important to us?

► It is the sole survivor of a great epic

tradition.
► It is great poetry.
► It is an archaeological relic which is most
interesting.
► As a linguistic document, it’s full of
revelations.
► It gives us information about Old English
social life and politics.
 Language
► English is divided into three periods: Old English
(ca.449-1100), Middle English (ca. 1100-1500), and
Modern English (ca. 1500-).
► Old English is sometimes known as Anglo-Saxon.
► The English language changed from Old English to Middle
English in 1100 and from Middle English to Modern English
in 1500. These shifts took place over hundreds of years.
► It is important to realize that the wide-spread notion of a
standard language or even of standardized spelling are
modern notions made possible by the printing press.
 Evolution of English Language

► Although major grammatical and phonetic changes

took place throughout the Old English period, the
Norman invasion of 1066 and its resulting influx of
French words into the language meant that the
English of 1100 was much different from the
English of 1000.
► Likewise, while English underwent a number of
grammatical and phonetic changes throughout the
Middle English period, the 15th century saw such a
radical change in the pronunciation of English that
1500 serves as a useful date for the shift from
Middle to Modern English.
 Language Evolution continued
Old English makes use of unfamiliar letters,
most of which derive from the runic
alphabet, an alphabet used by the Germanic
peoples.
 The Features of an Epic
► Takes the form of a long narrative poem about a quest,
told in formal, elevated language
► Narrates the exploits of a larger-than-life hero who
embodies the values of a particular culture
► Begins with a statement of subject and theme and,
sometimes, a prayer to a deity
► Deals with events on a large scale
► Uses many of the conventions of oral storytelling, such as
repetition, sound effects, figures of speech, and stock
epithets
► Often includes gods and goddesses as characters
► Mixes myth, legend, and history [Holt 55]
 Other Examples of Epics
► Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia

► The Iliad and the Odyssey from Greece

► The Aeneid by Virgil from Rome

► Paadise Lost by Milton

 Why is the poem an epic?
It is the first great work of the English
national literature—the mythical and literary
record of a formative stage of English
civilization. It is also an epic of the heroic
sources of English culture.
What characteristics of the heroic epic do we
find in Beowulf?
► Tells of the traditions of the people
► Is a long, dignified narrative poem
► Tells of the actions of the hero
► Has definite verse
► The characters are of noble birth.
 Anglo-Saxon Elements

► Stern, barbarous life

► Relgious feeling, fatalism of Anglo-Saxon
► Mixtures of savagery, sentiment, and nobility
► Love of nature and especially being influenced by
the sea
► Common sense, power of endurance, seriousness
of thought
► Emotional, imaginative, sensitive.
 Also—the ideals are
► Love of glory
► Allegiance to lord or king
► Reverence for women
► Love of personal freedom
► Open-handed hospitality of lord to thane
► Honoring truth
► Repression of too much sentiment
 Four episodes of Beowulf
► The purging of Herot, the Danish mead-hall of
Hrothgar, the king, from Grendel, the giant
► The killing of Grendel’s mother down in her watery
lair
► The triumphant return of the hero to his homeland
► After fifty years of peace, the hero-king saves his
own people by slaying the fire-drake, but he dies
in this attempt.
 Beowulf as Verse Form

► Four stressed syllables with three syllables alliterated /’(‘)/’

► Alliteration means repetition of the same letter sound, usually the first
letter of the accented syllable. “Ship, its timbers icy, waiting” (three s’s
– one c)
► The verse does not rhyme
► Lines have a pause in the middle, called a caesura, or are end-stopped
(definite pause at the end of the line)
► Rhythm is free.
► Use of parallelism – ideas expressed in the same form or repeated for
emphasis
► Use of kennings – two words separated by a hyphen as sea-horse, a
ship; whale’s road, the sea; sky-candle, the sun
► Gnomic sentences – used for emphasis as “There was a king!”
► Written to be accompanied by a harp with a person singing—meant to
be heard, not read.
 Beowulf is…
a long, dignified narrative poem of 3,182
lines telling the story in a serious way of a
hero and his great deeds trying to save
people in danger
 What is the source of Beowulf?

It is a version of the widespread “Bear’s Son Tale.”

There are over two hundred different versions,
ranging from Iceland to Japan. The American
Indians knew it. The hero is usually brought up by
bears or as a child of bears, comparable to the
story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of
Rome. This hero’s name would be “Beewulf”, a
kenning for “Bear.” Again the hero fights with his
hands, having great strength so he can crush his
enemies
 The Translations of Beowulf

► Part One of the text you will read is from Burton Raffel’s
1963 translation of the epic.
► Part Two is from the Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s award-
winning, bestselling translation of the work published in
2000.
► Other translators include Bruce Mitchell and Fred C.
Robinson (1998),Charles Scott Moncrieff (1921), Francis B.
Gummere (1923), R.K. Gordon (1926), William Ellery
Leonard (1939),Charles W. Kennedy (1940), Lucien Dean
Pearson (1965), E. Talbot Donaldson(1975), Howell D.
Chickering, Jr. (1977),Ruth P.M. Lehmann (1988), R.M.
Liuzza (2000).
What was the Anglo-Saxon religion?

It was a dark fatalistic religion influenced by

Norse Myth
 What figures in Norse mythology
influenced ethics?
► Anglo-saxon ethics ha
► d much in common with Norse/Scandinavian
mythology.
► Woden (Odin) represents death, poetry,
magic
► Woden’s Day becomes Wednesday.
 Origin of poetry
► In Norse myth poetry was originally a
sacred mead that came into possession of a
giant (Kvasir) but was stolen by Odin, who
assumed the shape of an eagle and carried
it to the world of the gods
► Poetry was called Odin’s theft or Kvasir’s
Blood
 Norse Myth continued

► Thunor (Thor) symbolized lightening and

thunder. His symbol is the hammer and the
twisted cross (swastika)
► Thursday comes from Thor’s Day.
 Norse Myth continued
► Anglo-saxons believed that immortality or
lof – fame that survives death– could be
earned through heroic action.
► The deity Wyrd (Norms) in Norse myth
represents fate in life
 Worldview
► An important element
of the Anglo-Saxon
worldview was the
concept of fate (wyrd).
► Specifically, the Anglo-
Saxons believed that a
hero could postpone
death through personal
bravery but that fate
eventually would win
out.
 Norse Influence
► The dragon is the protector of the treasure; the fiery
dragon is the personification of “death the devourer” and
the guardian of the grave mound (where warriors’ ashes &
treasure lay)
► The dragon was the living embodiment of evil and death.
[Danes sailed boats with prows carved in shape of
dragons’ heads and fangs]
► Iormungand, the Midgard Serpent, is the dragon of the
Northlanders.
► The dragon is an archetypal figure that emerges from the
bowels of the earth and dominates the air with its flames.
► Translator Seamus Heaney says that the dragon appears
less a physical opponent than an embodiment of wyrd.
Norse Myth & Grendel
Grendel’s Origin
► Grendel’s character has roots in Old Norse
stories of the draugar, or dead men of
supernatural strength who walked at night,
spreading evil and terror. Often a draugar
had a mother even more terrible than he —
a ketta or she-cat.
 What earthly virtues did Anglo-Saxons value?

► Bravery
► Loyalty
► Generosity
► Friendship
 The Epic Hero
► The epic hero is the central figure in a long
narrative that reflects the values and heroic ideals
of a particular society. An epic is a quest story on
a grand scale.
► Beowulf is ancient England’s hero, but he is also
an archetype, or perfect example, of an epic hero.
► The hero archetype in Beowulf is the dragon
slayer, representing a besieged community facing
evil forces that lurk in the cold darkness (Grendel).
 Beowulf, the epic hero
► Beowulf, like all epic heroes, possesses
superior physical strength and supremely
ethical
► He embodies the highest ideals of Anglo-
Saxon culture. In his quest he must defeat
monsters that embody dark, destructive
powers. At the end of the quest, he is
glorified by the people he has saved.
 The Oral Tradition

► To the anglo-saxon poetry was as important as fighting,

hunting, & farming.
► The anglo-saxon bard was a honored member of society.
► The anglo-saxon communal hall, besides offering shelter
and a place for council meetings, provided space for
storytellers & their audience
► As in other parts of the ancient world (Homeric Greece),
skilled story tellers, or bards [rhapsodes], sang of gods
and heroes.
► The Irish allamhs were both historians and entertainers
who preserved their culture’s myths & legends. The Irish
shanachies, the tellers of tales of history, were entrusted
with 178 accounts.
 Story Tellers
► Other cultures have their traditional storytellers,
too. These include Navajo singers, who recite
stories in Blessingway ceremonies that last for
days, and the Inuit of the far north, who use
whalebone knives to trace scenes from their
traditional stories in the snow and mud.
► All these storytellers preserve oral traditions and in
the end influence the written literature of their
people.
 The Anglo-Saxon Storyteller or Bard

► The Anglo-Saxons did not regard

these bards – whom they called
scops (pronounced shop) – as inferior to warriors.
► The poets sang to the strumming of a harp.
► As sources for their improvisational poetry, the
storytellers had a rich supply of heroic tales that
reflected the concerns of a people constantly
under threat of war, disease, or old age.
 Beowulf, the text
Section Title Section #s Page #s
The Monster Grendel 1-3 21 - 24

The Arrival of the Hero 4–5 24 - 26

Unferth’s Challenge 6–7 26 – 31

The Battle with Grendel 8 – 11 31 – 36

The Monster’s Mother 12 – 13 36 – 38

The Final Battle 14 – 17 43 - 48

 Anglo-Saxon Concepts
The Anglo-Saxons had a custom called
wergild, of paying compensation to the
relatives of the people they murdered. If the
murdered person was not related to the
murderer, then this kind of payment was
considered satisfactory by the relatives of
the victim. No such way of making amends
existed, however, for taking the life of one’s
own kin.
 Anglo-Saxon Concepts continued
According to the Anglo-Saxon code of the
comitatus, warriors must defend their lord to the
death. Some critics see the failure of Beowulf’s
men to come to his aid — a catastrophic breach of
comitatus — as an ominous forecast of the demise
of the Geats. In ll. 802 – 809 Beowulf wants to see
the treasure to assure himself that he has
provided for his people’s welfare after he is gone.
Dispensing treasure as a symbol of the loyalty
between a king and his people, according to the
Anglo-Saxon code, is comitatus.
 Anglo-Saxon Mead Hall
► Herot means “hart” or “stag.” The hart was an Anglo-
Saxon symbol of kinship.
► Archaeologists have confirmed that Herot was built of
wood held together with iron bands. The gabled roof was
overlaid with gold, and the floor was inlaid.
► The mead hall was a communal gathering place. Warriors
gathered here to drink mead and celebrate victories. The
community gathered here to hear ancient epic tales told by
scops.
► In literature, the mead hall symbolizes safety, fellowship,
and all that is good in humanity. The Anglo-Saxons lived in
a dark, cold, often frightening world. The mead hall was a
bright spot in this darkness.