The song of beowulf

The heroic epic Beowulf is the highest achievement of Old English literature. The only existing manuscript of the poem was written down in the classical West Saxon of the Kingdom of Wessex by an unknown scribe at the beginning of the 10th century and was not discovered until 1705. The Song of Beowulf was composed much earlier and reflects events which took place at the beginning of the 6th century when the forefathers of the Jutes lived in the southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula and maintained close relations with kindred tribes (e.g. Danes). The poem is believed to be composed between 700 and 750. Although originally untitled it was later named after Beowulf, the Scandinavian hero, whose exploits and character provide its connecting theme. There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, sites, and events can be historically verified, e.g. a raid of the Franks, made by Hygelac, the king of the Jutes in 520.

The poem consists of two parts with an interpolation between them. The epic is essentially pagan in spirit, while the interpolation is obviously an addition made by the Christian scribe who copied it.

Story overview: Part I opens with a description of the reign of the Danish king Hrothgar who, after he had won many victories in battles and gathered vast treasures, decided to build a large feast-hall, Heorot, where he could give feasts and distribute rewards among his kinsmen and warriors. However, soon Heorot was deserted. Attracted by the noise of the feasts Grendel, the Man-Eater, a large sea monster who lived in the neighbouring swamps, regularly appeared at Heorot at night-time, devoured some of Hrothgar’s warriors and then returned to his lair. Grendel looked like a man but was twice as tall and covered with such thick hair that no sword could kill him.

The disaster in Hrothgar’s kingdom had lasted 12 years when the news reached the ears of Beowulf, a young and mighty warrior of the Jutes. Although a nephew of the king of the Jutes, Beowulf did not seek power or riches, his only desire was to serve the people and win the fame. He immediately sailed to Denmark with a small band of warriors. Hrothgar had heard of Beowulf’s deeds and his strength that equalled the strength of 30 warriors, and he gladly welcomed Beowulf and his people. During the banquet given in Beowulf’s honour one of the Danes, jealous of his fame, tried to belittle him, speaking of an episode from Beowulf’s boyhood. Beowulf responded by a brilliant description of the facts, showing that he commanded not only the might of a warrior, but the talent of a poet as well.

After the feast Beowulf remained in Heorot with his men to wait for Grendel. As the monster always came unarmed Beowulf decided to fight him on fair terms and to meet him unarmed. When the monster broke through the bolted door Beowulf caught him in such a mighty grip that could strangle the life out of him. Grendel lost his courage and tried to escape. The walls of the hall shook from their furious struggle. Finally Grendel wrenched himself from Beowulf’s grip but left his arm, torn off at the shoulder socket, in Beowulf’s hands. Grendel crawled to his lair and died.

Beowulf left Heorot to have a rest. Meanwhile Grendel’s mother, the Water Witch, came to Heorot to avenge her son, killing many people there. Beowulf found her in her cave at the bottom of the mere (lake) and killed her by cutting off her head. At Heorot Hrothgar made a farewell speech about the character of the true hero and Beowulf, enriched with honours and princely gifts, returned to King Hygelac of Jutes.

Part II passes rapidly over King Hygelac’s death in a battle, the death of his son, Beowulf’s succession to the kingship, and his peaceful rule of 50 years. Now a fire-breathing Dragon began to ravage his land because of people’s interference into an ancient treasure he had been guarding for over three countries. The aging Beowulf decided to fight the Dragon. The fight is long and terrible and a painful contrast to the battles of his youth. Painful is also the desertion of his retainers except one of them, Wiglaf. Beowulf wins the victory but is mortally wounded. The poem ends with his funeral rites and lament and prediction of disasters, which are to happen.

Beowulf belongs metrically, stylistically and thematically to the inherited Germanic heroic tradition. Many incidents (e.g. tearing off the monster’s arm, cutting off the monster’s head, descent into the lake, three fights of the hero, delivery of a magic weapon) are familiar motifs from folklore.

The ethnical values are manifestly the Germanic code of loyalty to chief and tribe and vengeance to enemies. Yet the poem is so infused with Christian spirit that it lacks the grim fatality of Iceland sagas. Beowulf seems more altruistic than many Germanic heroes or the heroes of the Iliad. His three battles are not against men, which would entail the retaliation of the blood feud, but against evil monsters, enemies of the whole community and of civilization itself. Many critics have seen the poem as a Christian allegory with Beowulf as the champion of goodness and fighter against the forces of evil and darkness. His sacrificial death is seen as a befitting end of a good hero’s life. There are references to the Old Testament (God is the creator of all things; Grendel is described as a descendent of Cain). Yet there are no references to the New Testament – Jesus Christ and his crucification.

Representatives of the mythological school have interpreted the monsters as the allegorical representation of the storms of the Northern Sea; Beowulf, as a kind god subduing the elements; his peaceful ruling as the graceful summer; his death, as the arrival of winter.

John Gardner’s Grendel (1971) is a retelling of the story from the point of view of the monster.

Another group of Anglo-Saxon poems that has survived are the so-called elegiac poems. They tell of the sadness of exile or separation from one’s lord or community and include The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Deor’s Lament and the unusual lyric Wulf, written by a woman. Anglo-Saxon prose is also a rich source of insights into this culture: laws, charms and riddles have all survived, as well as the very important Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a prose record kept in Old English from 891 until 1154. It is also an invaluable indication of how the language itself changed, particularly after 1066. Finally, although the Vulnerable Bede, a monk from Northumbria, wrote in Latin, his History of the English Church and People is the most important source for the period.