Baring

BEOWULF
Background to an Anglo-Saxon Epic
HISTORICA
L • Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old
English, the language spoken in Anglo-
BACKGROU Saxon England before the Norman
ND Conquest and the eventual reign of William
the Conqueror, Anglo-Saxon England’s first
monarch in 1066. More than 3,000 lines
long, Beowulf relates the exploits of its
eponymous hero, and his successive battles
with a monster named Grendel, with
Grendel’s revengeful mother, and with a
dragon which was guarding a hoard of
treasure.
• Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed.
Beowulf is set in the pagan world of sixth-century Scandinavia,
but it also contains echoes of Christian tradition. The poem
must have been passed down orally over many generations,
and modified by each successive bard, until the existing copy
was made at an unknown location in Anglo-Saxon England.

• Beowulf survives in a single medieval manuscript, housed at

the British Library in London. The manuscript bears no date,
and so its age has to be calculated by analysing the scribes’
handwriting. Some scholars have suggested that the
manuscript was made at the end of the 10th century, others in
the early decades of the 11th. The most likely time for Beowulf
to have been copied is the early 11th century, which makes the
manuscript approximately 1,000 years old.
• The first-recorded owner of Beowulf is Laurence
Nowell (died c.1570), a pioneer of the study of Old
English, who inscribed his name (dated 1563) at the
top of the manuscript’s first page. Beowulf then
entered the famous collection of Sir Robert Cotton
(died 1631) – who also owned the Lindisfarne
Gospels and the British Library’s two copies of
Magna Carta – before passing into the hands of his
son Sir Thomas Cotton (died 1662), and grandson Sir
John Cotton (died 1702), who bequeathed the
manuscript to the nation. The Cotton library formed
one of the foundation collections of the British
Museum in 1753, before being incorporated as part
of the British Library in 1973.
 THE STORY OF
BEOWULF
• ACT ONE
• Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil, and
divides neatly into three acts. The poem opens in Denmark,
where Grendel is terrorising the kingdom. The Geatish prince
Beowulf hears of his neighbours’ plight, and sails to their aid
with a band of warriors. Beowulf encounters Grendel in
unarmed combat, and deals the monster its death-blow by
ripping off its arm.
 THE STORY OF
BEOWULF
• ACT TWO
• There is much rejoicing among the Danes; but Grendel’s
loathsome mother takes her revenge, and makes a brutal attack
upon the king’s hall. Beowulf seeks out the hag in her
underwater lair, and slays her after an almighty struggle. Once
more there is much rejoicing, and Beowulf is rewarded with
many gifts.
 THE STORY OF
BEOWULF
• ACT THREE
• The poem culminates 50 years later, in Beowulf’s old age. Now
king of the Geats, his own realm is faced with a rampaging
dragon, which had been guarding a treasure-hoard. Beowulf
enters the dragon’s mound and kills his foe, but not before he
himself has been fatally wounded.
• Beowulf closes with the king’s funeral, and a lament for the
dead hero.
• The Geats were Beowulf's clan - a seafaring CAST OF
tribe residing in the south of Sweden. As the CHARACTERS
poem suggests, the Geats appear to have been
conquered and disappeared into history.
• BEOWULF – famous Geat known for his heroic
feats such as swimming across oceans and
battling sea monsters.
• WIGLAF – Beowulf’s second-in-command and
constant friend. He was with Beowulf for many
of his adventures and inherited his throne
after death.
• HYGELAC – Beowulf’s father and friend to
Hrothgar.
• The Danes were residents of Denmark. Heorot (MEAD HALL) the
place where most of dramatic of scenes occurred is likely to have
been located on the island of Sjaelland near the present day city of
Roskilde [Denmark]
• HROTHGAR – King of the Danes, his kingdom plagued by the
nightly attacks of a monster that feeds on the residence of his once
vaunted Hall.
• UNFERTH – the cunning, sly advisor to King Hrothgar, he is
distrustful of the Geats and does not wish for their presence even
at the king’s behest.
• 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.
• 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.
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
Out from the marsh, from the foot of 4oo But never, before nor after that night,
misty Found Herot defended so firmly, his reception
Hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred, So harsh. He journeyed, forever joyless,
Grendel came, hoping to kill Straight to the door, then snapped it open,
395 Anyone he could trap on this trip to Tore its iron fasteners wit h a touch,
high Herot. 405 And rushed angrily over the threshold.
He moved quickly through the cloudy He strode quickly across the inlaid
night, Floor, snarling and fierce: His eyes
Up from his swampland, sliding silently Gleamed in the darkness, burned wit h a
Toward that gold-shining hall. He had gruesome
visited Hrothgar's Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall
Home before, knew the way—
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
410 Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed 420 Waiting to see his swift hard claws.
With rows of young soldiers resting together. Bronze coin showing a
And his heart laughed, he relished the sight, warrior killing a monster.
Grendel snatched at the first Geat
Intended to tear the life from those bodies
He came to, ripped him apart, cut
By morning; the monster's mind was hot
His body to bits wit h powerful jaws,
415 With the thought of food and the Drank the blood from bis veins, and bolted
feasting his belly
425 Him down, hands and feet; death
Would soon know. But fate, that night,
And Grendel's great teeth came together,
intended
Snapping life shut.
Grendel to gnaw the broken bones
Then he stepped to another
Of his last human supper. Human Still body, clutched at Beowulf wit h his claws,
Eyes were watching his evil steps, Grasped at a strong-hearted wakeful sleeper
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
430 —And was instantly seized himself, claws 440 But Higlac's follower remembered his final
Bent back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm. Boast and, standing erect, stopped
That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, The monster's flight, fastened those claws
Knew at once that nowhere on earth I n his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel
Had he met a man whose hands were harder; Closer. The infamous killer fought
435 His mind was flooded wit h fear—but 445 For his freedom, wanting no flesh but
nothing retreat,
Could take his talons and himself from that tight Desiring nothing but escape; his claws
Hard grip. Grendel's one thought was to run Had been caught, he was trapped.
From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide That trip to Herot
there:
Was a miserable journey for the writhing
This was a different Herot than the hall he had monster!
emptied.
The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
450 And Danes shook with terror. Down 460 Hrothgar's wise men had fashioned Herot
The aisles the battle swept, angry To stand forever; only fire,
And wild . Herot trembled, wonderfully They had planned, could shatter what such skill
had put
Built to withstand the blows, the struggling
Together, swallow in hot flames such splendor
Great bodies beating at its beautiful walls;
Of ivory and iron and wood. Suddenly
455 Shaped and fastened with iron, inside
465 The sounds changed, the Danes started
And out, artfully worked, the building
I n new terror, cowering in their beds as the
Stood firm.. Its benches rattled, fell terrible
To the floor, gold-covered boards grating Screams of the Almighty's enemy sang
As Grendel and Beowulf battled across In the darkness, the horrible shrieks of pain
them. And defeat, the tears torn out of Grendel's
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
470 Taut throat, hell's captive caught in the arms 480 From every side, trying to open
Of him who of all the men on earth A path for his evil soul, but their points it
Was the strongest. Could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest
That mighty protector of men iron
Meant to hold the monster till its life Could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-
Leaped out, knowing the fiend was no use stained demon
475 To anyone in Denmark. All of Beowulf's Had bewitched all men's weapons, laid spells
Band had jumped from their beds, ancestral 485 That blunted every mortal man's blade.
Swords raised and ready, determined And yet his time had come, his days
To protect their prince if they could. Their courage Were over, his death near; down
Was great but all wasted: They could hack at
Grendel To hell he would go, swept groaning and helpless
To the waiting hands of still worse fiends.
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
490 Now he discovered—once the afflictor The battle was over, Beowulf
Of men, tormentor of their days—what it 500 Had been granted new glory:
meant Grendel escaped,
To feud wit h Almighty God: Grendel But wounded as he was could flee to his den,
Saw that his strength was deserting him, his His miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh,
claws Only to die, to wait for the end
Bound fast, Higlac's brave follower tearing at Of all his days. And after that bloody
495 His hands. The monster's hatred rose 505 Combat the Danes laughed wit h delight.
higher, He who had come to them from across the sea,
But his power had gone. He twisted in pain, Bold and strong-minded, had driven affliction
And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder Off, purged Herot clean. He was happy,
Snapped, muscle and bone split Now, with that night's fierce work; the Danes
510 Had been served as he'd boasted he'd serve them;
And broke. Beowulf,
 BATTLE WITH
GRENDEL
A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel, 525 And lonely flight, to the edge of the lake
Ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering Where he'd dragged his corpselike way, doomed
Forced on Hirothgar's helpless people And already weary of his vanishing life.
By a bloodthirsty fiend. No Dane doubted The water was bloody, steaming and boiling
515 The victory, for the proof, hanging high In horrible pounding waves, heat
From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the 530 Sucked from his magic veins; but the swirling
monster's
Surf had covered, his death, hidden
Arm, claw and shoulder and all.
Deep in murky darkness his miserable
And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded
End, as hell opened to receive him.
Herot, warriors coming to that hall
Then old and young rejoiced, turned back
520 From faraway lands, princes and leaders
535 From that happy pilgrimage, mounted their hard-
Of men hurrying to behold the monster's hooved
Great staggering tracks. They gaped wit h no sense Horses, high-spirited stallions, and rode them
Of sorrow, felt no regret for his suffering, Slowly toward Herot again, retelling
Went tracing his bloody footprints, his beaten
Beowulf's bravery as they jogged along.