Anglo-Saxon Literature

Introduction to Beowulf

Marjan Shokouhi, PhD

Universidad de Granada, Sep 2022
 Some Questions
1. What is an epic?
2. What is the relationship between epic poetry
and national identity?
3. Can you name some famous epics?
4. What is the oldest epic known to us?
5. What is the role of women in epic poetry?
6. What are the characteristics of an epic hero?
7. What is the style in the epic poetry?
8. Is Beowulf an English epic?
 Beowulf

• Authorship: Anonymous poem in OE: 3,182

lines (the oldest of the great long poems in
Anglo-Saxon English)
• Genre: Epic poetry + elegy
• Alliterative verse: “Oft Scyld Scefing //
sceaƥena ƥreatum”
• Date and place of composition: 8th-10th Cent.,
in England (Mercia/Midlands)
•
Language: Originally written in OE by a
Christian scop in the Mercian/Anglian dialect,
later on transcribed by two Christian
scribes/monks in the West Saxon dialect
Numerous kennings such as battle-sweat,
whale-road, sleep of the sword
Oral formulaic language >> set phrases used
throughout the poem to help the scop
memorize the text, to create suspense, to
extend the plot and to fill lines in the
appropriate alliterative verse form >>
“Beowulf spoke, son of Ecgtheow”
“Hrothgar spoke, protector of the Scyldings”
Narrator: A Christian omniscient scop (3rd person
POV), who tells the adventures of a hero
(Beowulf) from Geatland and the history of the
Scandinavian nations of Geats and Danes
Action: There’s some reference to real historical
events that happened around the 5th and 6th
centuries in Southern Sweden (Geatland) and
Denmark (not on English Soil).
The only surviving copy
>> the “Nowell Codex” or
or “Beowulf MS”
>>transcribed in the 10th
Cent, nowadays kept at
the British Library

There are slight

imperfections on some
pages due to old age and
earlier bookbinding but
mainly due to the damage
produced by a fire in the
18th Century.
 Main Features and analysis
Structure of the poem (3 parts):
● Grendel’s domination of Heorot Hall and
Beowulf’s fight and victory over him, followed by
celebrations
● Vengeance of Grendel’s mother after Grendel’s
death and Beowulf’s victory over her, followed by
celebrations
● The rage of the dragon, the old king Beowulf’s
fight against him, both die; ends in Beowulf’s
funeral
 Tone
Tone refers to the attitude of the writer towards a
topic/subject, often revealed through diction (e.g.
adjectives)

Heroic >> enthusiasm and celebration regarding

Beowulf’s heroic actions (epic)

Elegiac >> frequent moments of doom and grief

(elegy)

🡪 A warrior’s life consisted of fighting and

celebrating (epic) and grieving and mourning (elegy)
 Elements and Motifs in Beowulf
• The oral tradition: useful to establish a hero’s
identity and fame, as well as the history of a
nation and the lineage of kings 🡪 importance of
the scop in the construction of the fame and
reputation of an individual (e.g. Beowulf) and of
a national identity (e.g. the Geats, the Danes)
 Mead-hall
>> two halls: Hrothgar’s Heorot in Denmark and
Hygelac’s hall in Geatland
>> the motif of the mead-hall provides
community interaction, light, warmth, food,
drink, entertainment, singing, learning and the
construction of reputations, protection, refuge
from a dangerous and hostile external world
(the wilderness, the mountains, the swamps, the
lakes, the sea, the cold climate, the wild
fauna…)
Excavations have shown that mead-halls
consisted of several rooms attached to a large
hall of about 50 meters long)
 The Germanic Heroic Code
Comitatus relationship with a lord or a king (loyalty for life
in exchange for protection and gifts) >> Beowulf is loyal to his
kings and when he is a king he expects loyalty from his
warriors
Acceptance of fate as inevitable (“wyrd”): fate helps to
determine the warrior’s life 🡪 pessimism and awareness of
the transitoriness of life
Belief in fame and glory (“lof”) as a way of securing earthly
immortality: Beowulf is anxious to acquire fame and glory
through valor, warfare and boasting
Courage in battle (disregard for their own lives)
Vengeance >> It is a warrior’s duty to demand either blood
revenge or “wergild” (“man price” in compensation) if a
relative/kinsman has been killed 🡪 numerous feuds
(sometimes lasting generations)
Funerals to commemorate those important warriors who
died fighting bravely
Christian elements:
References to the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Daniel,
Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Devil, Hell, the Last
Judgment); Jesus Christ is never mentioned.

Women’s roles:
* “Peace-weavers” >> Mothers, wives and sisters’ role to
patch up a blood feud
* Queens: expected to possess diplomacy virtues

Love relationship in marriage is unimportant 🡪 What matters

is the loyalty of the wife to the new family, expected even if it
clashes with her original family
Mixture of historical events with legends and fictional events:

* History: events taking place in the 5th and 6th

centuries, before the completion of the Anglo-Saxon
migration

* Real individuals (Healfdene, Hrogarth, Halga, Hrodulf;

but not Beowulf himself), dynasties (Scydings, Wulfings)
and battles mentioned in the poem 🡪 sometimes used
as source of information about Scandinavian historical
events (Geatish-Swedish wars) and people

* Legends: passed orally from the Germanic tradition

from one generation of (illiterate) poets to another and
later on transcribed in by the Anglo-Saxon monks
(scribes) who were familiar with both the paganand the
Christian worlds
Main Characters
• Beowulf: “Beo + wulf” (Bee+wolf: bear), a Geat warrior,
the perfect hero, virtuous, follows heroic code both in
youth and in old age, looking for fame (boastful;
volunteers to go to the land of the Danes in aid of the
Danish king)
- Youth: personification of the Germanic heroic code
(loyalty, courtesy, pride), loyalty to his own king and to king
Hrothgar (helps his son, the rightful heir, to gain the
throne). Looking for fame, he fights Grendel and Grendel’s
mother; he has superhuman strength (fights without
weapons), possesses courage, is an excellent swimmer, and
he is immature (King Hrothgar delivers fatherly advice on
how to act as a wise ruler and future king),
- Old age (50 years later): wise king of the Geats, but
still a brave warrior (fights the dragon for the good of his
people)
King Hrothgar: wise and aged King of the Danes,
rules his people from Heorot, military success
and prosperity until Grendel terrorizes his realm,
father figure to Beowulf, model of a king;
desperate for not being able to avenge his
retainers by killing Grendel and Grendel’s
mother and accepts Beowulf’s help; represents
the virtues of old age vs. Beowulf’s youthful
impulsiveness
Grendel: Demon descended from Cain, ambigous nature
(half-human and half-monster), preys on Hrothgar’s
warriors in the king’s mead-hall; malignant nature,
ruthless and miserable existence is part of God’s
punishment for Cain’s murder of Abel, exiled in to the
swamplands outside human society, attacks at night,
strong and powerful

Grendel’s mother: unnamed swamp-hag, lives

underwater, with fewer human qualities than Grendel,
terrorizes Heorot as revenge for her son’s death; more
dangerous than Grendel

The dragon: Ancient powerful serpent, guards a horde of

treasure in a hidden mound. Beowulf’s fight with the
dragon constitutes his last fight and the subsequent
death of both contenders
 Secondary characters (Geats)
• Hygelac: B’s uncle, king of the Geats, husband of Hygd;
he heartly welcomes B back from Denmark
• Hygd: Hygelac’s wife; young, beautiful, gentle and
intelligent queen of the Geats
• Wiglaf: young and loyal retainer of old king B; helps B in
the fight against the dragon; follows heroic code better
than B’s other retainers; suitable successor to B as king
• Ecgtheow: B’s father (now dead but with noble
reputation), Hygelac’s brother in law, and King
Hrothgar’s friend
• King Hrethel: king of the Geats who took B in as a ward
after the death of Ecgtheow
• Breca: B’s childhood friend, whom he defeated in a
swimming match
 Secondary characters (Danes)
• Sheild Shearfson: legendary Danish king, heroic founder of a long
line of Danish rulers, an ancestor of King Hrothgar; the poem
begins with the story of his life (from being an orphan to becoming
a warrior-king) , a good king
• Beow: Sheild Shearfson’s son and second king in the Danish
genealogy, a good leader to his people, father of Halfdane
• Halfdane: father of Hrothgar, Halga, and another daughter who
was later married to a king of the Swedes; successor of Beow’s
throne
• Wealhtheow: King Hrothgar’s wife, gracious queen of the Danes
• Unferth: Danish warrior, weak, cowardly, treacherous, jealous of B;
unable to fight Grendel
• Hrethric: King Hrothgar’s eldest son, heir to the Danish throne
• Hrothmund: King Hrothgar’s second son
• Hrothulf: King Hrothgar’s treacherous nephew (who usurps his
cousin Hrethic’s throne, but finally loses it thanks to B’s loyal
support to Hrethnic)
• Aeschere: Hrothgar’s trusted advisor
 Plot
King Hrothgar of Denmark, a descendant of king Shield
Sheafson, enjoys a prosperous and successful reign. He
builds a great mead-hall (Heorot), where his warriors can
gather to drink, receive gifts from their lord, and listen to
stories sung by the poets. The joy of Heorot angers
Grendel, a demon who lives in the swamplands of
Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel terrorizes the Danes for 12
years every night, killing them, and defeating their efforts
to fight back. The Danes suffer many years of fear and
death at the hands of Grendel. A young Geatish warrior
named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s plight. Inspired by the
challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company
of men, determined to defeat Grendel.
Hrothgar, who had once done a great favour for
Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow, accepts his offer to
fight Grendel and holds a feast in the hero’s
honor. During the feast, an envious Dane named
Unferth accuses Beowulf of being unworthy of his
reputation. He responds with a boastful
description of some of his past accomplishments.
His confidence cheers the Danish warriors and the
feast lasts merrily into the night. Grendel arrives.
Beowulf fights him unarmed. As Grendel tries to
escape, Beowulf tears the monster’s arm and
shoulder off. Mortally wounded, Grendel slinks
back into the swamp to die. The severed
arm/shoulder is hung high in the mead-hall as a
trophy of victory.
Overjoyed, Hrothgar showers Beowulf with gifts and
treasure at a feast in his honor. Songs are sung in praise
of Beowulf, and the celebration lasts late into the night.
Grendel’s mother, a swamp-hag who lives in a desolate
lake, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son’s
death. She murders Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s most
trusted advisers, before slinking away. To avenge
Aeschere’s death, the company travels to the murky
swamp, where Beowulf dives into the water and fights
Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair. He kills her
with a sword forged for a giant; then, finding Grendel’s
corpse, decapitates it and brings the head as a prize to
Hrothgar. The Danish countryside is now purged of its
treacherous monsters.
Beowulf’s fame spreads across the kingdom. He
departs after a sorrowful goodbye to Hrothgar,
who has treated him like a son. He returns to
Geatland, where he and his men are reunited
with their king and queen, Hygelac and Hygd, to
whom Beowulf recounts his adventures in
Denmark. He then hands over most of his
treasure to Hygelac, who, in turn, rewards him.
In time, Hygelac is killed in a war against the Shylfings,
and after Hygelac’s son dies, Beowulf ascends to the
throne of the Geats. He rules Geatland wisely for fifty
years. When he is an old man, a thief disturbs a
mound, where a dragon lies guarding a treasure. The
dragon emerges and begins fiery destruction upon the
Geats. Sensing his own death approaching, Beowulf
goes to fight the dragon. With the aid of Wiglaf, he
succeeds in killing the beast, but the dragon bites him
in the neck and its venom kills him moments after their
encounter. The Geats fear their enemies will attack
them now that Beowulf is dead. They burn their king’s
body on a huge funeral pyre and then bury him with a
massive treasure in a barrow overlooking the sea.
 Some Questions
1. What is meant by the Anglo-Saxon term ‘wyrd’ ?
2. What is meant by ‘wergild’?
3. Is Beowulf a Danish hero?
4. What’s the name of the mead-hall in the land of the Danes?
5. What are the Danes called in Beowulf?
6. Who is their great ring-giver?
7. What is the meaning of weather-eye?
8. Who is the killer of souls in these lines?
Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offering to idols, swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to their aid
and save the people
9. Beowulf is first referred to as which king’s thane?
10. What is the reaction of the elderly in Geatland when Beowulf
announces his plan to sail the swan’s road and help the Danes?
11. What have you learned about Beowulf so far?
 Some Questions
1. Who is Beowulf’s rival in Hrothgar’s
mead-hall?
2. To whom does the royal epithet ‘gray-haired
treasure-giver’ refer?
3. Who’s Hrothgar’s wife and what’s her role in
the epic?
4. What does ‘spoiling for action’ mean?
5. What is the meaning of the following
kennings: bone-lapping, wound-slurry?
6. Interpret the following excerpt:
The chieftain went on to reward the others:
each man on the bench who had sailed with Beowulf
and risked the voyage received a bounty,
some treasured possession. And compensation,
a price in gold, was settled for the Geat
Grendel had cruelly killed earlier –
 Guide for pronunciation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbOSL0_Vs
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