British Literature

Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Poetry

1. Read the extracts from Old English poems given below and answer the question: What source
is the third extract taken from?

ABOUT THE OLD ENGLISH POETRY

English literature began with oral songs and heroic poems. According to the Germanic poetic traditions? The language in
verse was archaic, with frequently use phrases or formulae, developed to help the scops (singing poets) fill out their lines
spontaneously. In order to enjoy such poetry we must learn to ignore the fixed number of syllables in verse lines, the regular
pattern of stress (iambic or trochaic feet), and rhyme. The essential poetic unit was the four-stress line, divided by a caesura
across which stress-syllables alliterated. Alliteration (or head rhyme) was the only requirement. Old English poetic language ,
which knew no rhyme, stanzas, or refrains, was built out of special formulaic vocabulary providing several terms for lord
(master, king, leader, liege, commander), spear (lance, pike) and so on. The dignified poetic speech of Old English poetry
always kept afar from everyday English and remained remarkably stable.

1. Hymn ABOUT THE BEOWULF STORY

[From The Ecclesiastical History… by Bede]
Now we must praise heaven-kingdom’s Guardian,
The Measurer’s might and his mind-plans,
The work of the Glory-Father,
When he of wonders of every one.
Eternal Lord, the beginning established.
He first created for men’s sons
Heaven as a roof, holy Creator;
Then middle-earth mankind’s Guardian,
Eternal Lord, afterwards made ―
For men earth, Master almighty.
2. The Dream of the Rood
[From the Vercelli manuscript]
… Then I saw the Lord of mankind hasten with stout
heart, for he would climb upon me. I dared not bow or
break against God’s word, when I saw the earth’s
surface tremble. I might have felled all foes, but I stood
fast.
3. ………................................. [From…………………………………….]
The monster’s thoughts were as quick
As his greed or his claws:
He slipped through the door and there in the silence
Snatched up thirty men, smashed them
Unknowing in their bed and ran out with their bodies,
The blood dripping behind him, back
To his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter.
Beowulf falls into two parts. It opens in Denmark, where
King Hrothgar has a splendid mead hall known as Heorot, a
place of celebration and much merriment. However, the joyous
noise angers Grendel, an evil monster living in a nearby swamp.
For 12 years the creature terrorizes Heorot with nightly visits in
which he carries off Hrothgar’s warriors and devours them.
After learning of the Danes’ trouble, young Beowulf, a
prince of the Geats in what is now southern Sweden, arrives with
a small band of retainers and offers to rid Heorot of its monster.
Hrothgar is astonished at the little-known hero’s daring but
welcomes him. After an evening of feasting, much courtesy, and
some discourtesy—at one point, one of Hrothgar’s men insults
Beowulf—the king retires, leaving Beowulf in charge. During the
night, Grendel comes from the moors, rips open the heavy
doors, and devours one of the sleeping Geats. He then grapples
with Beowulf, who refuses to use a weapon. Beowulf grips one
of Grendel’s hands with such force that the monster finally
wrenches himself free only when his arm is torn off at the
shoulder. Mortally wounded, Grendel returns to his swamp and
dies. Beowulf then displays the monster’s arm in Heorot for all
to see.
The next day is one of rejoicing in Heorot, and a feast is
thrown in Beowulf’s honour. However, as the warriors sleep that
night, Grendel’s mother, another swamp monster, comes to
avenge her son’s death, and she kills one of Hrothgar’s men. In
the morning Beowulf dives into her mere (lake) to search for
her, and she attacks him. They struggle in her dry cave at the
mere’s bottom, and Beowulf finally kills her with a sword. In the
cave, Beowulf discovers Grendel’s corpse, whose head he cuts
off and takes back to Heorot. The Danes rejoice once more.
Hrothgar makes a farewell speech about the character of the
true hero, and Beowulf, enriched with honours and princely
gifts, returns home to King Hygelac of the Geats.
The second part passes rapidly over 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. However, the tranquility ends when a fire-
breathing dragon becomes enraged after a man steals from its
treasure-filled lair. The creature begins ravaging Geatland, and
the brave but aging Beowulf decides to engage it, despite
knowing that he will likely die. The fight is long and terrible—a
painful contrast to the battles of his youth. Painful too is the
desertion of all his retainers except for his young kinsman
Wiglaf, who comes to his aid. They ultimately kill the venomous
dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded from a bite in the
neck. Before he dies, he names Wiglaf his successor. Beowulf is
cremated on a funeral pyre, and his remains are buried in
a barrow built by the sea. As his people mourn his death, they
also express the fear that, without Beowulf, Geatland will be
invaded by nearby tribes.
[Translated into Modern English by Burton Raffel]

Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty

Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,
Grendel came, hoping to kill
Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Heorot.
He moved quickly through the cloudy night,
Up from his swampland, sliding silently
Toward that gold-shining hall.
He had visited Hrothgar’s
Home before, knew the way ―
But never, before nor after that night,
Found Heorot defended so firmly, his reception
So harsh. He journeyed forever joyless,
Straight to the door, then snapped it open,
Tore its iron fasteners with a touch
And rushed angrily over the threshold.
He strode quickly across the inlaid
Floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes
Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome
Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall
Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed
With rows of young soldiers resting together.
And his heart laughed, he relished the sight,
Intended to tear the life from those bodies
By morning; the monster’s mind was hot
With the thought of food and the feasting his belly
Would soon know. But fate, that night, intended
Grendel to gnaw the broken bones
Of his last human supper. Human
Eyes were watching his evil steps,
Waiting to see his swift hard claws.
Grendel snatched at the first Geat
He came to, ripped him apart, cut
His body to bits with powerful jaws,
Drank the blood from his veins and bolted
Him down, hands and feet; death
And Grendel’s great teeth came together,
Snapping life shut. Then he stepped to another 2. Do the tasks on Beowulf Poem:
Still body, clutched at Beowulf with his claws,
Grasped at a strong wakeful sleeper ― 1 Find antonyms in the text to: love, slowly,
And was instantly seized himself, claws kindly, crowded, weak, sleeping, loose, advance.
Bent back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm.
That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime,
2. Reorder the events according to the story:
Knew at once that nowhere on earth a) Beowulf and his followers remained on night
Had he met a man whose hands were harder; guard;
b) Beowulf returned to his King Hygelac;
His mind was blooded with fear ― but nothing
Could take his talons and himself from that tight
c) Beowulf found Grendel’s mother and killed her;
Hard grip. Grendel’s one thought was to run d) The monster approached Beowulf;
From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there: e) Grendel’s mother came to revenge her son;
This was a different Heorot than the hall he had empted. f) One night a gigantic monster killed Hrothgar’s
warriors;
But Hygelac’s follower remembered his final
Boast and, standing erect, stopped g) Beowulf mortally wounded Grendel escaped
The monster’s flight, fastened those claws h) The court left the palace;
Had been caught, he was trapped. That trip to Heorot i) Beowulf came across the sea to Denmark;
Was a miserable journey for the writhing monster! j) Hrothgar ordered a large palace to be built.
The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,
And Danes shook with terror. Down 2. Explain the meaning of the words:
The aisles the battle swept, angry formulae, caesura, rhyme, alliteration, stanzas.
And wild. […]