Beowulf
Beowulf
is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is
arguably one of the most important works of Old English literature. The date of
composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating
pertains to the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. The author
was an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, referred to by scholars as the "Beowulf
poet".
The
story is set in Scandinavia. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of
Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has been under
attack by a monster known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother
attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to
Geatland and later becomes king of the
Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but
is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his
body and erect a tower on a headland in his memory.
The
full story survives in the manuscript known as the Nowell Codex. It has no
title in the original manuscript, but has become known by the name of the
story's protagonist. In 1731, the manuscript was badly damaged by a fire that
swept through Ashburnham House in London that had a collection of medieval
manuscripts assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton. The Nowell Codex is currently
housed in the British Library.
Beowulf,
heroic poem, 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
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.