Beowulf Overview
Background of the poem:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
One of the oldest surviving epic poems in English (though it is in a form of English that is
significantly different from the English we speak today)
The longest existing poem in Old English (3,182 lines), it represents about 10% of the known body
of Old English poetry.
The poem was originally unnamed in the manuscript and was given its title in the 19 th century.
Oldest surviving poem in English is Caedmon’s Hymn
Note the very Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) sound of the Old English
Believed to be written somewhere between 685-1000
One “original” copy of the manuscript exists (original meaning “old”); while some scholars believe
that it is the author’s original, most agree that it is probably the last in a succession of copies of the
original.
It is uncertain where the poem was before it was “discovered” in the hands of Laurence Nowell in
the 16th Century; for several hundred years after its discovery, it was read and studied not as
poetry, but more from an historical/anthropological standpoint in terms of what it revealed about
Germanic tribes and Germanic history (see handout on evolution of English language). The
spellings in the poem mix the west Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though they are
mostly West Saxon. The manuscript, called the Cotton Vitellus A.XV, suffered extreme damage
in a fire in 1731.
The manuscript was first transcribed into Latin in 1786 by the Icelandic scholar Thorkelin; these
manuscripts have become highly prized, particularly since the original manuscript has suffered such
decay. A later translation, into Danish, was done by Nicolai Grundtvig and published in 1820.
Other well-known translations have been done by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and E. Talbot
Donaldson, who provided a translation from Norton and Company. These translations tend to
vary widely, with some (Donaldson’s) sticking closer to the original and others (Heaney’s)
deviating from the original but using richer, more vivid language.
The first real study of the poem as literature was brought about by J.R.R. Tolkein, who had had a
life-long interest in the poem.
The poem, though generally regarded as a work of literary fiction, has definite historical/factual
connections: In 1939, the remains of a buried ship were found at Sutton Hoo, an estate in Suffolk,
England. Archeological dating of some of the items buried with the ship, including a sword, a
shield, a helmet, and a harp, suggest a date of 650-700 A.D., the approximate date of the action of
the poem.
Additionally, the poem does mention a historic event, the raid by King Hygelac into Frisia c. 516.;
also, some of the characters and events in the poem appear in other early Scandinavian sources
(including the prose Eddas, one of the sources of Norse mythology). Thus, many of the people
mentioned in the poem were probably real historical figures c. 450-600 in Denmark and Southern
Sweden.
The poet is widely believed to have been a Christian. One of the characters in the poem sings a
song about the Creation (lines 87-98); Grendel is said to be a descendent of Cain, and there are
references to God’s judgment and to fate but none to any pagan deities.
Structure and Features:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Narrative does not follow a linear structure; the narrator foreshadows events that will occur later
by talking about events yet to come.
The characters talk about things that have already occurred in the poem
The narrator and other characters tend to discuss events and characters that are outside the
narrative of the poem
Some critics have referred to these as literary “digressions,” and have seen them as a flaw of the
poem, but all of these can be connected to the story in some way; the poet uses them to parallel
human experience with all of its recurring patterns.
The poem contains a number of words, called hapax legomena by linguists, that appear only once in a
language. The poet may have found them in other sources, but their frequent occurrence in the
poem suggests that many/most of them may have been invented by the poet himself.
The poem is an epic (see handout on epic) in alliterative verse, a structure in which the metrical
structure is based on patterned repetition of initial sounds within the lines.
The poet makes frequent use of kennings, compound phrases, usually metaphorical, substituted for
nouns (i.e. “storm of swords” for battle, “whale-road” for sea, etc.)
Themes:
1
2
3
4
5
Beowulf is a depiction of the Germanic warrior society; as such, it emphasizes the relationship
between a warrior and his lord – not so much a “master and servant” relationship as one of mutual
respect and trust
The relationship between kinsmen is also emphasized, and the code of vengeance invoked when
one’s kin have been killed
Death is a central issue, and the poem begins and ends with descriptions of a funeral and is full of
references to and laments for the dead
The poem can be viewed as the poet’s lament for those pagan dead who, unlike him, went to their
deaths in darkness rather than being saved by their Christian faith
The world of the poem is steeped in fate and destiny, particularly destiny as it relates to Beowulf’s
actions.