Beowulf

1
Beowulf

• Text and Context

2
Background

• Composed around 700 A.D.
• The story had been in circulation as an oral
  narrative for many years before it was written.
• The action of the poem takes place around 500 AD
• Poet is reviving the heroic language, style and
  values and pagan values of ancient Germanic oral
  poetry
• The poem deals with ancient Germanic forebears,
  the Danes and the Geats
• Only a single manuscript of the poem survived the
  Anglo-Saxon era. In the 1700s it was nearly
  destroyed in a fire
• It was not until 1936 when the Oxford scholar
  J.R.Rgt Tolkien published a paper on the poem that
  is became popular.

3
The Beowulf Poet

• The poet is Christian
• The poem reflects established Christian tradition
• Allusions to the Old Testament
• Beowulf is a Redeemer who is sent by God to save
  man from sin
• The price of salvation is life itself
• Correspondences between Beowulfs death and the
  death of Christ

4
Heroic Values in Beowulf

• Relationship between king and his warriors
• The king rewards his warriors with gifts
• If a kinsman is slain, obligation to kill the
  slayer or obtain payment (wergeld) in
  compensation

5
Conflict Christian Values and Heroic Values

• This tension is at the heart of the poem
• Pagan history and myth are made to point to a
  Christian moral
• Beowulf is poised between two value systems

6
The Character of Beowulf

• He fights for personal honor, but is committed to
  service to his own people and humanity.
• A superhuman who remains recognizable
• Contrast old and young Beowulf
• Beowulf as savior

7
Themes

• Good vs. Evil
• Fate
• The Importance of Establishing Identity
• Tension between Heroic Code and Christianity
• Significance of artifacts
• The past

8
Important Elements of the Poem

• Elegaic tone
• Heroic poem
• Contrasts
• Christian and pagan
• Youth and old age
• Rise and fall of nations
• Joy and sorrow
• Fate and Gods will
• Violence
• Irony

9
Sutton Hoo

• Burial site discovered in 1939
• Important links to Anglo-Saxon world and Beowulf
• Remains of a boat were discovered and large
  burial chamber containing numerous artifacts
• Artifacts suggest a distinctly Christian element
  intermingled with pagan ritual.
• Episodes in Beowulf now have tangible
  archaeological violence to add creditability to
  the blend of customs in the text.

10
Sutton Hook Images
11
Suggested Further Reading

• Beowulf, A Verse Translatioin. Trans. Seamus
  Heaney. Ed. Daniel Donaghue. Norton Critical
  Edition. 2002.
• Norton bibliography on Beowulf , p. 2902.
• Websites on Beowulf, Old English poetry, and
  Sutton Hoo.