Beowulf
The Basics
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
By Whom?
• By whom was it written?
– Most Anglo-Saxon poetry was oral at first, meaning it
was transmitted or performed by a Bard (Scop) from
memory; it wasn’t actually written down, per se
until . . .
– Somewhere between the eighth and ninth centuries
A.D., “The Beowulf-Poet” (his identity is unknown)
wrote down the poem which for many years had been
sung/spoken.
– The Beowulf-poet, scholars believe, was an English
monk (and therefore, Christian) who probably lived in
one of the Anglo-Saxon settlements in Western
England (Mercia)
About Whom?
• Even though the poet himself was English
and Christian, the poem is about neither
Englishmen nor (full-fledged) Christians
• It is the story of several Scandinavian
peoples (tribes, really), mainly the Geats
and the Danes, but also the Swedes.
Beowulf is a Geat. He goes to the aid of
the Danes, whose king is Hrothgar
• They live in . . .
Map of Baltic Region of Scandinavia
and the Viking Invasions (700-800)
“Who?” in Review
• The poem’s hero is Beowulf, a Geat who lives in
Scandinavia. He is probably a fictional character. He is
certainly an epic hero. More on this later. The poem is
also about three races or tribes:
– The Geats
– The Danes
– The Swedes
• It is written by an English (Anglo-Saxon) monk who is
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looking back in time to the days when his ancestors still
lived in Scandinavia and by a different code of ethics.
(The Anglo-Saxon code was on its way out, soon to be
replaced by Christian values)
The original audiences would have heard the poem, and
they would probably have been distant relatives of those
tribes who play major roles in the poem
Who are the main characters?
• Beowulf (Geat)
• Hrothgar (Dane)
• Unferth (Dane)
• Wiglaf (Geat)
• Grendel
• Grendel’s mother
• The dragon
Main Characters Part Deux
• Many people divide the poem into thirds; it is
about Beowulf’s three epic battles with evil
creatures
– Grendel
– Grendel’s Mother
– The Dragon
• However, as Heaney points out, it is also really
about three tribes:
– The Geats
– The Danes
– The Swedes
What?
• What is it? Beowulf is an epic poem. An epic is “a long
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narrative poem that relates the great deeds of a largerthan-life hero who embodies the values of a particular
society” (Elements 1263).
What is he? Beowulf is an epic hero; the essay you
write about this work will deal with one of the AngloSaxon or Christian values he represents
What is it about? It is about a transitional point in history
(though it is mostly mythological and fictional)
It is poetic, creative, imaginative, and one of the earliest
works of art in the English language (albeit Old English)
It is also important to remember that it is NOT a work
written in Latin. It is written in the vernacular (OE) and
about people who were England’s founders (or
conquerors) in the middle of the first millennium.
What (else)?
• Fuller definition of epic: An epic is “a long narrative poem that relates the great
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deeds of a larger-than-life hero who embodies the values of a particular society.
Most epics include elements of myth, legend, folklore, and history. Their tone is
serious, and their language is grand. Most epic heroes undertake quests to achieve
something of tremendous value to themselves and their society. Homer’s Odyssey
and Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid are the best-known epics in the Western tradition. The
two most important English epics are the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf . . . and
Milton’s Paradise Lost” (Elements 1263).
Beowulf is also, in very many ways, allegorical. An allegory is “A story in which the
characters, settings, and events stand for abstract or moral concepts” (Elements
1259). It would be better to say that there are allegorical features in Beowulf than to
call it an allegory. Just looking at the three creatures Bewoulf defeats may help show
how the poem can be read allegorically:
– Grendel stands for the monstrous features of fratricide; consider that he is born of Cain
(who is know for killing his brother). The Geats, Danes, and Swedes, were in many ways
“brothers,” but they were also at war. Who else kills his brother (or kinsmen) in the poem?
– Grendel’s mother may stand for the root of (or mother of) our deepest animalistic
aggressions. When heroes go into the sea, it is said by some scholars that they are actually
going into the deepest recesses of their psyche. IS Beowulf, by defeating Grendel’s mother,
simply “killing” the concept of revenge for revenge’s sake?
– Dragons often represent greed. They horde treasure and become violent if the treasure is
touched. By killing the dragon, is Beowulf killing his own greed? Notice what he bequeaths
to his people after he dies.
When?
• When was it written? It was probably written sometime
around 700 A.D.
• When did the events in it take place? Again, it is a
fictional work. However, it is an imaginative work about
people who occupied the Baltic region sometime in the
fifth century A.D.
• Some events in the poem did take place:
– The raid against the Franks by Hygelac, Beowulf’s lord, took
place in the sixth century A.D.
• It is important to remember the vast role time (Past,
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Present, and Future) plays within the poem itself.
Beowulf and the other characters who populate the
poem seem to be obsessed themselves with the human
relationship to time (or “when”)
Most important thing to remember is that it is a poem
that reminisces about a previous, “dead” world.
Where?
• Where was it written? It was written down, most likely,
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in the kingdom of Mercia (East Central Enlgand today).
Where do the events in the poem take place? The action
in the poem takes place in Geatland and Denmark (the
island of Zealand and in Southern Sweden) . . . Or more
generally, in the Baltic region of Scandinavia
Also consider more specific settings:
– The sea, the meadhall, the swamp, the cliff, the battlefield, etc.
• In the modern world, it is Denmark and Sweden and the
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islands in the Baltic between the two countries.
But it is also indirectly about the poet who wrote the
poem down; we can say this because so many Christian
features exist in the work. So it is also about AngloSaxon England, but only indirectly. None of the action
takes place in England.
The Scary, Horror Movie “Where”
• Heaney puts it nicely in his introduction when he says
that Beowulf takes place in a “once upon a time world”
and that it taps into “three archetypal sites of fear”:
– The barricaded night house (Grendel)
– The infested underwater current (Grendel’s mother)
– Reptile-haunted rocks of a wilderness (dragon)
• I like to think of them this way, in terms which may
mean more to your and my generation:
– Our beds on a stormy night when we are alone in the house
(where we should feel safe)
– A murky lake, or the beach where Jaws takes place (Ever been
waterskiing and wondered what was nibbling on your toes?). Or,
how about a dark forest by yourself?
– The dark recesses of the earth: a cave, or even better, your own,
dark basement
Why?
• Why do we read it?
– It’s a very creative, imaginative, poetic masterpiece (see the
Heaney intro; this is why he wants us to read it—not “because
we have to”!!!)
– It gives us insight into the origins of the British people, the
culture who, through seafaring conquest, founded the world we
currently live in
– It gives us insight into the origins of our language
– It gives us insight into all people everywhere and throughout
time (time, birth, death, fame/success/glory, honor, friendship,
conflict, home, country, adventure, spirituality—all of these
things transcend English literature and matter to all people)
– It’s challenging and we all love a good challenge!
– It’s scary and gets us to think about our own worst fears
– It’s a VERY important piece of literature historically (this is the
“because we have to” reason!).
Important Themes in the Poem
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Past, Present, and Future (and Fate)
Life and Death
Fame (often achieved through war)
Setting
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Geography (Denmark, Geatland, Sweden, . . . And England??)
The Meadhall (Heorot)
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Man vs. Man
Man vs. Beast (Man vs. Himself? If allegorical)
Good Christian Traits vs. Evil
Good Pagan (Anglo-Saxon traits) vs. Evil
Bad Pagan Traits
Christianity vs. Paganism (Paganism not evil)
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Friendship
Loyalty
Fame, Honor
Bravery
Generosity
Man-Price
Thane’s duty to his Lord; Lord’ duty to his Thanes
• Good vs. Evil & Religion
• Anglo-Saxon Code
• Christianity emerging as the dominant faith and worldview in the Scandinavian world
• Stories and Songs themselves
• Masculine and feminine roles in the world
Review of Important Details
• Epic poem
• Written in Old-English about the early
Christian, but still pagan, Scandinavians
who eventually conquered most of
England
• Epic hero represents the values of his
culture