BEOWULF

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BEOWULF
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• Beowulf  is the oldest surviving epic in English
  literature.  An unknown bard composed it around
  the 7th or 8th century, and probably recited it
  to the accompaniment of harp music. 

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• By the tenth century, the words were first
  written in Old English.  This would be a foreign
  language to us, although a few words are
  familiar scyld (shield), sweord (sword), Gode
  (God) and strong.  

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What is an epic?

• An epic is a long story in the form of a poem,
  which tells about a hero and his great exploits. 
  The protagonist, or hero, usually has superhuman
  qualities and abilities.  Sometimes he also has a
  fatal flaw which causes his undoing.  The most
  famous epics in western literature are the Iliad
  and the Odyssey, which celebrate the deeds of
  Greek heroes such as Achilles and Odysseus. 

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• Hwæt! We Gardena         in geardagum,
  þeodcyninga,         þrym gefrunon, hu ða
  æþelingas         ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld
  Scefing         sceaþena þreatum,
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• monegum mægþum,         meodosetla ofteah,
  egsode eorlas.         Syððan ærest wearð
  feasceaft funden,         he þæs frofre gebad,
  weox under wolcnum,         weorðmyndum þah,
  oðþæt him æghwylc         þara ymbsittendra
• 10
• ofer hronrade         hyran scolde, gomban
  gyldan.         þæt wæs god cyning! Ðæm eafera
  wæs         æfter cenned, geong in geardum,    
      þone god sende folce to frofre        
  fyrenðearfe ongeat
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• þe hie ær drugon         aldorlease lange hwile.
          Him þæs liffrea, wuldres wealdend,      
    woroldare forgeaf Beowulf wæs breme        
  (blæd wide sprang), Scyldes eafera        
  Scedelandum in.

• LO, praise of the prowess of people-kingsof
  spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,we have
  heard, and what honor the athelings won!Oft
  Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,from many
  a tribe, the mead-bench tore,awing the earls.
  Since erst he layfriendless, a foundling, fate
  repaid himfor he waxed under welkin, in wealth
  he throve,till before him the folk, both far and
  near,who house by the whale-path, heard his
  mandate,gave him gifts a good king he!

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Who wrote Beowulf?

• The author did not sign and date the manuscript,
  and no records were kept of when the poem was
  written. Given the lack of information pointing
  to the origins of the poem, scholars must deduce
  the text's history by the artifact that exists.
  But why study the authorship of the poem? Colin
  Chase summarises the reasons for this quest in
  the prologue of the collection The Dating of
  Beowulf The date of Beowulf, debated for
  almost a century, is a small question with large
  consequences. Does the poem provide us with an
  accurate if idealized view of early Germanic
  Culture? Or is it rather a creature of nostalgia
  and imagination, born of the desire of a later
  age to create for itself a glorious past? If we
  cannot decide when, between the fifth and the
  eleventh centuries, the poem was composed, we
  cannot distinguish what elements in Beowulf
  belong properly to the history of material
  culture, to the history of myth and legend, to
  political history, or to the development of the
  English literary imagination.

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• Grendel was a monster, one of a giant race which
  survived the great flood, slain by Beowulf. It is
  told that his origins stretch back to Cain, who
  killed Abel. He is of particular cause of trouble
  to Hrothgar because of his disregard for law and
  custom he refuses to negotiate a peace
  settlement or to accept tributes of gold. There
  is reference to "Grendel's Mere", "Grendel's Pit"
  and "Grendel's Peck" in the Anglo-Saxon
  Chronicle. The references seem to collaborate the
  underground or water lair of the Beowulf epic,
  but it is unclear what the true origins of these
  names were. Grendel's mother is supposedly a
  smaller creature than her son. She is a vengeful
  creature who illustrates the constant cycle of
  war in the poem, even when the enemy appears to
  be defeated. As part of a mythical giant race,
  both Grendel and his mother appear impervious to
  normal swords, hence the difficulty the Danes
  must have had in trying to deal with them.
  Beowulf eventually finds a sword forged by the
  giants themselves in order to defeat them, but
  their blood runs hot enough to melt even that
  blade.

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• The Geats were Beowulf's clan - a seafaring tribe
  residing in the south of Sweden.
• The Danes were residents of Denmark. Hroðgar's
  Heorot is likely to have been located on the
  island of Sjaelland near the present day city of
  Roskilde.

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• F.A. Blackburn summarises the possible sources
  for the Christian elements of the poem in his
  essay The Cristian Colouring in the Beowulf
• The poem was composed by a Christian, who had
  heard the stories and used them as the material
  of the work.
• The poem was composed by a Christian, who used
  old lays as his material.
• The poem was composed by a heathen, either from
  old stories or from old lays. At a later date it
  was revised by a Christian, to whom we owe the
  Christian allusions found in it.
• Unfortunately, without records of those old
  stories or lays upon Beowulf may have been based,
  we cannot be sure which one of these is true.
     Blackburn also classifies these Christian
  elements
• Passages containing biblical history or allusions
  to some scriptural narrative. These include
  references to Cain, Abel, and the flood.
• Passages containing expressions in disapproval of
  heathen ideas or heathen worship. There is one of
  these in the introduction to the Danes near the
  beginning of the poem.
• Passages containing references to doctrines
  distinctively Christian references to heaven,
  hell, and the day of judgement. He finds ten
  cases.
• Incidental allusions to the Christian God. He
  finds some 53 cases.
•   What is clear about the religious colouring of
  Beowulf is that while it is clearly Christian,
  there is little Christian doctrine. References
  are only to the Old Testament narratives and
  concepts easily refigured from their pagan
  equivalents. It seems that Beowulf tells of a
  period in the midst of religious change being
  neither entirely pagan, nor fully Christian or
  to be an attempt to integrate Germanic history
  into an old testament time frame.

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• What is an Epic?
• What is an Epic Hero?