Beowulf
Introduction
Why Beowulf ?
• Beowulf is the only full-length epic in existence from the Anglo-Saxon period
of English literary history.
• Epic- a long NARRATIVE poem (originally handed down in oral tradition, later a
literary form) dealing with great heroes and adventures, having a national, worldwide, or
cosmic setting, involving supernatural forces, and written in a deliberately ceremonial
style.
• Anglo-Saxon period- 441 AD – 1066 AD
• It is full of suspense, scenes of action, monsters, and blood and gore.
Important Themes
• The Nature of Heroism
• The Virtues of Anglo-Saxon Kingship
• The Loyalty of Kinsmen and Sworn Followers
The Quest for Glory
• To the Anglo-Saxon, fame was all-important because it alone transcended the
limitations of time and the inevitability of death.
• The struggle for fame was the pathway of the hero, and his renown was
spread by the scop.
• The Anglo-Saxon poet, who sang of his glorious deeds.
• Beowulf exemplifies the ideal Anglo-Saxon hero and king.
Background Information
• Beowulf is an English poem, yet the setting is northern Europe in what is now
Denmark and Sweden.
• 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 ’s 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.
The Story
• Beowulf consists of two parts:
• First, the story of Beowulf ’s defeat of the monster, Grendle, and his hag of a mother, to
save the Danes, a tribe in what is now Denmark.
• Second, the fatal battle in which Beowulf defeats a dragon in defense of his own people, the
Geats (Yeets), a tribe in Southern Sweden.
• No one knows who first wrote the story of Beowulf, but scholars believe it was first
composed in its present form during the 8th century.
• The earliest copy is a tenth century transcript made by two scribes with is now in
the British Museum.
Beowulf
Language and Style
Style
• Beowulf was written in the tradition of alliterative verse, the style of poetry
which the ancestors of the Beowulf-poet brought to England from their
homelands in Scandinavia.
• Alliterative Verse- early verse of the Germanic languages in which alliteration, the
repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables, is a
basic structural principle.
• The Germanic alliterative line consists of two hemistichs (half lines) separated by a
caesura (pause).
Scops
• The heroic poems were sung by trained singers, called scops, who sometimes
composed them extemporaneously for the entertainment of the king and
his warriors at celebrations in the meadhall.
• Extemporaneously- spoken or done without preparation.
• The scops were much honored by the Anglo-Saxon kings and people
because they were the keepers of the history and mythology of their
countrymen since the Anglo-Saxons, until they became Christians, did not
know how to write or read.
Scops
continued…
• A good scop spread the fame of
his king by composing songs
about the exploits in battle of
the king and his warriors and
comparing him to the ancient
heors of saga and song.
• Many warriors would flock to
the mead-hall of a famous king
to share his glory.
Language
• The language used by the Beowulf-poet is Old English, which is so different
from modern English that we would need to learn it like a foreign language
before we could understand the original poem.
• You will read a translation of Beowulf…there are many different translations