Beowulf

Prologue

Listen! We have heard of the glory of the kings who ruled the Danes in
olden times. Scyld Scefing often drove enemy warriors from their mead-hall
benches, although he himself had once been a destitute foundling. In spite of
this he came to prosper. With time all the neighboring tribes served him and
paid him tribute. That was a good king! Scyld died at the fated time. Following
his wishes, his body was placed on a well-outfitted ship, laden with treasures
and weapons. Then his kinsmen let the sea bear him away. No one on earth
knows who received that ship's cargo.

Beowulf is a heroic poem and the highest achievement of Old English

literature and the earliest European vernacular epic. It deals with events of the
early 6th century and is believed to have been composed between 700 and
750. Although originally untitled, it was later named after the Scandinavian
hero Beowulf, whose exploits and character provide its connecting theme.
There is no evidence of a historical Beowulf, but some characters, sites, and
events in the poem can be historically verified. The poem did not appear in
print until 1815. It is preserved in a single manuscript that dates to circa 1000
and is known as the Beowulf manuscript (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV)

Beowulf falls into two parts. It opens in Denmark, where King Hrothgar’s

splendid mead hall, Heorot, has been ravaged for 12 years by nightly visits
from an evil monster, Grendel, who carries off Hrothgar’s warriors and
devours them. Unexpectedly, young Beowulf, a prince of the Geats of
southern Sweden, arrives with a small band of retainers and offers to cleanse
Heorot of its monster. Hrothgar is astonished at the little-known hero’s daring
but welcomes him, and, after an evening of feasting, much courtesy, and
some discourtesy, the king retires, leaving Beowulf in charge. During the night
Grendel comes from the moors, tears open the heavy doors, and devours one
of the sleeping Geats. He then grapples with Beowulf, whose powerful grip he
cannot escape. He wrenches himself free, tearing off his arm, and leaves,
mortally wounded.

The next day is one of rejoicing in Heorot. But at night as the warriors
sleep, Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son, killing one of Hrothgar’s
men. In the morning Beowulf seeks her out in her cave at the bottom of a
mere and kills her. He cuts the head from Grendel’s corpse and returns to
Heorot. The Danes rejoice once more. Hrothgar makes a farewell speech
about the character of the true hero, as Beowulf, enriched with honours and
princely gifts, returns home to King Hygelac of the Geats.

The second part passes rapidly over King Hygelac’s subsequent death
in a battle (of historical record), the death of his son, and Beowulf’s
succession to the kingship and his peaceful rule of 50 years. But now a fire-
breathing dragon ravages his land and the doughty but aging Beowulf
engages it. The fight is long and terrible and a painful contrast to the battles of
his youth. Painful, too, is the desertion of his retainers except for his young
kinsman Wiglaf. Beowulf kills the dragon but is mortally wounded. The poem
ends with his funeral rites and a lament.

Beowulf belongs metrically, stylistically, and thematically to a heroic

tradition grounded in Germanic religion and mythology. It is also part of the
broader tradition of heroic poetry. Many incidents, such as Beowulf’s tearing
off the monster’s arm and his descent into the mere, are familiar motifs
from folklore. The ethical values are manifestly the Germanic code of loyalty
to chief and tribe and vengeance to enemies. Yet the poem is so infused with
a Christian spirit that it lacks the grim fatality of many of the Eddaic lays or
the sagas of Icelandic literature. Beowulf himself seems more altruistic than
other Germanic heroes or the ancient Greek heroes of the Iliad. It is significant
that 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 the champion of goodness and light against
the forces of evil and darkness. His sacrificial death is not seen as tragic but
as the fitting end of a good (some would say “too good”) hero’s life.

That is not to say that Beowulf is an optimistic poem. The English

critic J.R.R. Tolkien suggests that its total effect is more like a long,
lyrical elegy than an epic. Even the earlier, happier section in Denmark is filled
with ominous allusions that were well understood by contemporary audiences.
Thus, after Grendel’s death, King Hrothgar speaks sanguinely of the future,
which the audience knows will end with the destruction of his line and the
burning of Heorot. In the second part the movement is slow and funereal:
scenes from Beowulf’s youth are replayed in a minor key as a counterpoint to
his last battle, and the mood becomes increasingly sombre as the wyrd (fate)
that comes to all men closes in on him.

Beowulf has often been translated into modern English; renderings

by Seamus Heaney (1999) and Tolkien (completed 1926; published 2014)
became best sellers. It has also been the source for retellings in text—John
Gardner’s Grendel (1971), for example, which takes the point of view of the
monster—and as movies.

……………

The Old English epic poem Beowulf tells the story of a young Geatish

warrior who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the King of the Danes, whose
kingdom is being terrorized by a monster named Grendel. Beowulf uses his
epic strength and bravery to slay Grendel in Hrothgar’s mead hall, Heorot, and
then to slay Grendel’s vengeful mother in her underwater lair. Beowulf’s fame
spreads, and he returns home to Geatland laden with treasure for his king,
Hygelac. Beowulf later becomes the king of the Geats and rules for a peaceful
fifty years. When a dragon begins to pose a threat to Geatland, Beowulf and
his servant Wiglaf set off to defeat it. Beowulf succeeds in slaying the dragon,
but dies in the process.

……………

Beowulf was written in Old English and it’s the oldest epic poem in the
English language. Beowulf was probably composed as an elegy for a death of
a king in 7th century. It describes a Germanic warrior society.

 
King Hrothgar of Denmark has built a great mead-hall (Heorot) where
his warriors can stay for drinking together and listen to the stories by the
scops. But a terrible monster, Grendel, frightens the Danes and killing them.
The menace continues for 12 years, till coming of Beowulf, a young warrior at
the court of Hygelac(the king of Geats). He fights against monster in a hand-
to-hand combat and hurts him mortally. The monster escapes and dies dies
shortly after. Later Grendel’s mother comes to Heorot for vindicating her son.
She kills Aeschere,a friend of Hrothgar.
So Beowulf travels to murky lake, where the monster lives, and kills Grendel’s
mother with a giant sword. Then he finds the Grendel’s corpse, decapitates
him and brings the head as a prize to Hrothgar.
Beowulf come back to Geatland. Later the king Hygelac is killed in war and
,after his son's death, Beowulf became the king of the Geats. He rules for 50
years. So when Beowulf is an old man, a thief disturbs a barrow where a
dragon is guarding the treasure. the angry dragon begins to kill the Geats.
Beowulf kills the dragon with the aid of Wiglaf, but he is hurt mortally. His
warriors burn his body in a funeral pyre and then bury him in a barrow near
the sea.
ORIGIN

Beowulf was written in Old English and it’s the oldest epic poem in the
English language. 
Beowulf was probably composed as an elegy for a death of a king in 7th
century. It describes a Germanic warrior society. The relationship between the
leader (or king) and his thanes is based on provision and service: the thanes
defend the interest of king in return of material provisions (gold, silver, food…)
This world is ruled by fate and destiny, infact it’s believed that also the
Beowulf’s actions are controlled by fate.

MYSTERIES

Beowulf was a Scandinavian hero, a warrior of the tribe of the Geats.

Beowulf was composed before the coming of the Northmen about 790 A.D.,
probably in a Christianised England. The only biblical references in Beowulf
are to the Old testament. The poem is set in pagan age, neither Christ is
mentioned nor the characters are Christian.

EPIC

Beowulf is an epic because it talks about history of great lands and

braves deeds and describes the struggles of good against evil.
Beowulf is a hero, he has an incredible strength, he fights in many battles and
often returns victorious. 
He kills with his bare hands the monster Grendel, he slashes the neck of
Grendel’s mother with a giant’s sword. 
Another peculiarity of Beowulf is to put his people welfare before his own.
After Beowulf has served for 50 years his people as a king of the Geats, and
before his death although he was old, he fought with a dragon that afflicted his
people. Beowulf contains the typical elements of epic style, the language is
elevated.