Analysis

It is often said that Beowulf begins and ends with a funeral, and that is very
nearly the case. The narrator sets the heroic tone and introduces the setting
through the founding character of Scyld Scefing; his most detailed early
description is saved for Scyld's parting after death. The king's body is placed
on a ship, surrounded by treasure and "war-dress" (39) to accompany him into
the unknown. Gold, silver, jewels, and the finest swords and armor are placed
aboard with the corpse and then set afloat in the sea. The idea is to honor the
king but also to provide him with objects that might prove useful in the
afterlife.

Hrothgar's great hall (Heorot, "Hall of the Hart") functions as both symbol and
setting. Symbolically, it represents the achievements of the Scyldings,
specifically Hrothgar, and their level of civilization. It is a place of light and
warmth in the dark, cold winters. Here Hrothgar celebrates his victories and
rewards his thanes (warriors) with various rings and treasures. Heorot is no
common beer hall; it is more of a palace, towering high like a cliff.
Significantly, this is where Beowulf's first great battle for the Danes takes
place. The hall also symbolizes the concept of comitatus, the honor code that
exists between the king, or feudal lord, and his warriors. Thanes swear
devotion to their leader and vow to fight boldly, to the death if necessary, for
him. If the leader should fall, his life must be avenged. For his part, the leader
rewards his thanes with treasure, protection, and land. His generosity often is
mentioned as one of his strengths of character.

When Grendel invades this setting, he strikes at the very heart of the
Scyldings. Grendel's heritage is essential to his enmity. He is a descendant of
the biblical Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel
out of jealousy (Genesis 4). Cain's name in Hebrew is Qayin, meaning
"creature," and the legend is that the monsters of the earth are his
descendants. Grendel resents the joyful beauty of Heorot and its inhabitants.
The scop's Song of Creation (90-98) especially enrages him because it tells of
the beauty and light of God's creation, which Grendel can never recover for
himself.

The modern reader might think it odd that the poem's narrator interrupts his
description of the glories of the hall to foreshadow (82-85) the hall's eventual
destruction by Hrothgar's son-in-law, but such digressions are common
in Beowulf. Throughout the epic are the reminders of the sometimes grim
whims of fate and the mutability of human existence. The world of Beowulf is
harsh, and joy is never permanent.

There is considerable scholarly discussion concerning the concept of

Christianity in Beowulf. The epic makes no mention of Jesus, and references
to one omnipotent God are more Old than New Testament. Harold Bloom
(Bloom's Reviews: Beowulf, 1999, p. 5) says that the epic is a Christian poem
but "just barely." Hrothgar and Beowulf sometimes refer to a single, all-
powerful God; there are instances of symbolic rebirth in the epic. Grendel and
his mother are described as descendants of Cain. The Beowulf poet may have
been an educated Christian, and his audience in eighth-century England had
been exposed to the religion. But the poem is more heroic than Christian.
Sometimes it seems as if Christian terms have simply replaced heroic. For
example, occasional mention of God's determination regarding man's fortune,
throughout the poem, sounds very much like the Anglo-Saxon concept of
fate (wyrd).

This heroic/Christian world is the context for Grendel who "grieved not at all /
for his wicked deeds" (136-37) as well as the thanes who "were ignorant of
God, / knew not how to worship our Protector above" (181-82). Grendel is too
deeply engrossed in sin to consider repentance. He is beyond hope. The thanes
are pagan and near despair themselves as Grendel decimates them. They offer
sacrifices to heathen gods and speak old words designed to ward off evil.
Some scholars argue that the warriors are Christian but "backsliding" to pagan
ritual under stress. At any rate, nothing works. Hrothgar and his men abandon
the glorious hall at night, and it becomes Grendel's lair. Only the "gift-throne"
(168), Hrothgar's seat of power, cannot be touched by Grendel because it
carries God's blessing. Hrothgar has grown old and is helpless against Grendel.
He needs "the strongest of all living men" (196) to rescue him.

tructure of The Poem

The exact converting of poetic features of “Beowulf” would contradict modern rules. One of the main features is

alliteration. Every hemistich included at least one word beginning with the same consonant the last word ended

with. Moreover, all vowels were in alliteration with each other. In Old English and Old Icelandic languages the

first syllable of root was stressed so a hemistich got two stresses syllables. Rhythm of “Beowulf” is based on

alternation of long and short syllables, but depends on their quantity. There were a number of metrical

versifications which were used by author of “Beowulf” with great skill. For him alliteration was no more than

minor adornment of the text, as the rhyme was for Old English poets. From the other side, the poets of that time

had never considered alliteration as a poetic approach. Only in a few cases we can consider 2 long lines having

same alliteration as a special method, but not negligence. “Beowulf” has got other methods like this one:

assonances and puns. Grim play on words passes through the whole description of Grendel: in Old English

language words “ghost” and “guest” sounded very similar and Grendel was called an evil and cursed ghost, but

at the same time he was an uninvited guest. Translators of “Beowulf” tried to save alliteration (yet not always on

the first syllable), but they could not save its old function. Modern reader would vainly try to find usual

approaches: the poem has got few similes, epithets are rather relative, and there are no metaphors at all. From

the very beginning we should pay attention to great number non-practical poetic words and synonyms,

especially connected with princes, sailing and war. In Anglo-Saxon there are no usual principles of designation

of simultaneity of events. Main plot is always interrupted with digressions. These digressions, on their part,
compose another plot that has own plan and system, yet they are not noticeable during first reading. Both plots

cooperate with each other with obeying special rules. Many events are not running, from time to time we can see

hints about people and battles that are not remembered for at least one thousand years. It is also interesting to

know about other poetic approaches of ancient times.

Study of “Beowulf”

Researchers of Beowulf, that are linguists, archeologists, historians interpreted difficult parts of the poem,

described its rhythm, revealed origins of Anglo-Saxon epics, their connections with myths, legends and history,

its relationship with Bible, Scandinavian and Icelandic traditions. They found out influence of Homer, Latin

authors and “fathers of church”. ”Beowulf” was a source of knowledge about way of life, religion, and ethics of

ancient Germans. And relatively not long ago the poem was revealed as source of good verse. Then first works

about its poetic structure and artistic influence appeared. After the theory of two American folklorists (М. Parry,

А. В. Lord) was found, many researches started searching basis and framework of the poem, i.e. already made

parts that singer used. М. Parry specialized on ancient Greek epics and was studying epics on Balkans. He drew

a conclusion that text of heroic epics was not learned by heart, but improvised, but improvised according to strict

rules. A singer combined word formulas and always used traditional topics, i.e. habitual to this sort of genre

(arrival of hero, departure of hero, arrival of ambassador etc.). This theory was applied during studying of

“Beowulf”. The aim of the research was ascertainment of the fact if the poem was a product of improvisation or a

product which was written as a regular poem. There was another school that was in opposition to Parry-Lord

school and affirmed that poem got one strict author, who knew Latin verses and pagan stories. The interest was

focused on the personality of the author, was he half-educated tailor or a monk? There are so many works on

Beowulf that every line can become a subject of discussion. For example, in the publication of Fr. Klaeber

(«Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg». Edited, with introduction, bibliography, notes, glossary and appendices

by Fr. Klaeber. Third edition with first and second supplements. D. C. Heath and Company. Lexington,

Massachusetts, 1950) text of Beowulf occupies about 120 pages and preface and comments – about 300 pages.

Summing up, we can say, that “Beowulf” is a difficult and many-sided poem and source of

knowledge. Summarizing the poem is the first step to a good essay on Beowulf. A good essay on Beowulf

should have something in common with the studies held: be rather deep and take into account historical, cultural

and ethical features of that epoch. There are many articles about writing essays on ancient poems and epics.

However, if you still hesitate and do not know how to write an essay on Beowulf, visit our Services page and

order a great text for yourself.

Epic Poetry
Meter Reader
When you read Beowulf, unless you know Old English, you'll be reading it in translation, so you
may not realize that it's actually a poem. In fact, it's written in alliterative verse, which is the kind of
poetry the Anglo-Saxons used. Alliterative verse uses, you guessed it, a lot of alliteration—often
three or even four words that begin with the same sound in each line.
It also has a strong pause, or caesura, in the middle of the line, and two strong stressed syllables
on either side of the caesura. (So that's four stresses per line.) That may all sound pretty
complicated, but actually it creates a really simple, easy-to-remember formula with a heavy rhythm
to it.
We suggest you go check out an audio recording of Beowulf so that you can hear someone
reciting a few lines in the original Old English. It's basically a "Dum Dum (pause) Dum Dum" sort of
rhythm.
Why did the Anglo-Saxons use this heavily accented meter? Well, one persuasive theory is that
most of their poetry was recited at feasts and other gatherings by bards who needed easy ways to
remember it. This sing-songy rhythm made memorization easy—and it also made it easy to
compose new poetry using established patterns.

Just. So. Epic.

Anyway, back to Beowulf. So Beowulf is a poem, but it's a very specific kind of poem—an epic.
Like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, or Virgil's Aeneid, or Dante's Inferno, Beowulf is a larger-than-life
tale about heroic battles and journeys.
It takes place over many years—a little more than fifty years, in fact—and describes entire family
trees of kings and lords in three different tribes. It deals with the deeds of man, but also with the
plans of God and the relationship between God, man, and supernatural creatures. It travels
between several different lands, sweeping across the sea, and even gestures at the wider context
of all of Europe.
It's also very long—more than 3,000 lines survive, and there may once have been more. All these
characteristics work together to give it a broad scope and truly make it, not just a poem, but an
epic poem.

Formal, Laudatory, Pious, Mournful

The narrator of Beowulf uses several different tones over the course of this long epic poem, but
throughout everything he is always super formal. This isn't a chummy, chatty, nudge-you-in-the-
ribs kind of narrator. Instead, everything in Beowulf seems to be spoken with grave, calm, even
stiff formality. We see this in the characters as well as in the narrator; even Beowulf himself
announces his own name through an elaborate speech about his deeds:
"So every elder and experienced councilman among my people supported my resolve to come
here to you, King Hrothgar, because all knew of my awesome strength. They had seen me
boltered in the blood of the enemies when I battled and bound five beasts, raided a troll-next and
in the night-sea slaughtered sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes and avenged the Geats (their
enemies brought it upon themselves, I devastated them). Now I mean to be a match for Grendel,
settle the outcome in single combat." (415-426)
Although his tone is always formal, the narrator of Beowulf does shift between three more specific
tones, depending on what's happening at the moment in the story. When Beowulf or someone
else is behaving especially heroically, the narrator becomes laudatory, or praising:
Thus Beowulf bore himself with valour; he was formidable in battle yet behaved with honour and
took no advantage. (2177-2179)
In fact, we'd go so far as to say that this narrator does some real boot-licking. To listen to the
narrator, you'd think that Beowulf was just the most awesome, honorable, powerful hero who ever
lived—which is exactly what epics are supposed to be about.
But when Beowulf starts losing, the narrator becomes mournful, lamenting the hero's defeat and
the suffering of the people, or pious, reminding us that all heroism is dependent on God's favor:

Majestic, Grandiose, Gruesome

Apart from the poetic qualities of the alliterative verse in which Beowulf is written (see "Genre" for
more on that), the epic has a grand, majestic style that seems to lift you up as you read it.
Beowulf isn't just a hero, he's a "prince of goodness" (676). Grendel isn't just a demon, he's a
"captain of evil" (749). Beowulf isn't just trying to win a wrestling contest for the Danes, he's going
to "ease their afflictions" (628).
Of course, all these phrases are in translation, but you get the idea. In Beowulf, you never just
take off a necklace; you unclasp a collar of gold from your neck in your great-heartedness (2809)
—now that's a grandiosestatement.

Of course, sometimes all this grandeur and majesty gives way to gruesomedescriptions of violent
deaths. Grendel doesn't just eat a man; he "bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood / and
gorged on him in lumps" (741-742).
We recommend that you eat one to two hours before reading Beowulf and give your meal a
chance to settle, because otherwise you might end up feeling just a little sick.