Beowulf was probably composed as an elegy for a death of a king in 7th century. Beowulf prelude of the founder of the danish house. He tears the door from its hinges with his bare hands and. Tolkien said that the dragon in beowulf is one of only two true dragons in all of literature the. The king praises beowulf and rewards him, and they feast in hart, and the tale of finn and hengest is told.
Although beowulf is a masterpiece of early english literature, written approximately between 975 and 1025, the unfamiliar dialect makes this epic poem difficult to understand. Thanks to this translation, placed right near the original text, readers can now appreciate the battle of good and evil that unfolds between the wise and heroic beowulf. He combined the story of beowulfs deeds with those of the mythic hero sigmund and his offspring, fitela. Mythical son of edgetho, higlacs nephew and followerbound warrior. Compared to beowulf, we are told that hermod was treacherous, exiled along with. Beowulf swims back to the surface of the lake, where his warriors are overjoyed to see him. When he was drunk and full of anger he would attack the men at his table with his sword. Hrothgar was a great warrior in his time, but now hes an old king and cant seem to protect his people. So becomes it a youth to quit him well with his fathers friends, by fee and gift, that to aid him, aged, in after days, come warriors willing, should war draw nigh, liegemen loyal.
Beowulf is cremated on his funeral pyre overlooking the sea, and then he is buried in a barrow containing the dragons treasure. What is the sign of victory beowulf gives to hrothgar. From the old testament, he is the brother of cain, also killed by cain, progenitor of mankind and humanity goodness. Beowulf shares characteristics with many old english epic poems. King hrothgar, the ruler of the danes, is troubled by the rampages of a demon named grendel. His novels the hobbit and the lord of the rings trilogy are steeped in the mythology and culture in which beowulf is set. Beowulf, plot beowulf was written in old english and its the oldest epic poem in the english language. Beowulf was composed in old english, probably in northumbria in northeast england, sometime between the years 700 and 750. Beowulf represents christ while his opponents symbolize the devil. Then hrothgar leaves hart, and so does beowulf also with his geats, but the danes keep guard there. And his mother now, gloomy and grim, would go on that quest 5 of sorrow, the death of her son to avenge. In beowulf s old age, a thief finds a passageway into an old barrow. Fortunately, a young geat warrior named beowulf travels to heorot hall. Beowulf lies dead, and wiglaf is bowed down with grief at the loss of his lord.
English iv honors beowulf test on friday 921 learn with flashcards, games, and more for free. The first adversary in beowulf is no mere man, but a supernatural demon, angered by the very mention of gods creation. See a complete list of the characters in beowulf and indepth analyses of beowulf, grendel, hrothgar, unferth, wiglaf, grendels mother, and the dragon. Summary choose, dear beowulf, the better part, eternal rewards. Beowulf old english version by anonymous poetry foundation. Beowulf is an old english poem about a geatish hero who comes to denmark to kill a monster beowulf comes to the aid of hrothgar, king of the danes, to fight the monster grendel. Beowulf, knowing his death is near, decides to fight the dragon. Grendel comes, the great marchstepper, bearing gods anger. Hermod, however, was a bad king who spread sorrow and heaped troubles on his. Hermods story tells of a former danish king who was very strong, but had mad rages during which he killed his own.
You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. Notice that the supernatural elements in beowulf are intermingled with the religious ones. Old english, translation, kingship most of this class was background to old english and to the poem, but there are a few useful things to remember about old english poetry and about beowulf we talked about what it means to translate a work, in terms of language old. Beowulf s trusted sword, naegling, is no match for the monster. Hrothgar also became famous for taking care of his own thanes, sharing treasure and land with them as the heroic code of comitatus prescribes. At this point, the king decides to give beowulf a lecture on. Edition by anonymous author, sparknotes editors author 5. Every night, grendel attacks king hrothgars wealthy meadhall, heorot, killing danish warriors and sometimes even eating them. Reading the lesson will help you make sense of these.
Very little anglosaxon literature has survived, and beowulf comprises roughly 10% of all surviving anglosaxon literature the. God had made him stronger than all other men, and a great lord. Grendels mother avenges grendel the feast continues and the men celebrate unaware of the dark fate that hangs over them. Unferth taunts beowulf ecglafs son unferth peace spoiler, jealous of beowulfs bold seajourney, rebukes him by recounting the story of the swimming match with breca, which according to unferth beowulf had lost. Read the original text of beowulf along with a sidebyside translation in plain english. These are someof the reasons why beowulf is a great example of an early english epic.
Tweet about the beowulf book notes email the beowulf book notes to a. Grendel is an ogrelike creature, but also a demon with a part albeit a negative one to play in a christianized world. All retire to rest, beowulf, as it were, sleeping upon his arms. Excerpts from beowulf 2000 a new verse translation. The narrator tells the story of the legendary queen modthryth, who perpetrated terrible wrongs against her subjects, torturing and even killing many innocent people who she imagined were offending her. Beowulf sees enormous amounts of treasure in grendels mothers lair, but all he takes are the jewelinlaid hilt of the melted sword and grendels severed head. Beowulf is an old english epic poem written anonymously around 975 ad. At this time, beowulf, nephew of the geatish king hygelac, is the greatest hero in the world. When beowulf hears tales of the destruction wrought by grendel, he decides to travel to the land of the danes and help hrothgar defeat the demon. The tale of beowulf sometime king of the folk of the weder geats translated by william morris and a.
Beowulf and his men return to the magnificent hall of king hygelac and to queen hygd, who is beautiful and wise, though very young. All contain heroic boasting, verbal taunting, and a hero with a troubled youth. History beowulf is the earliest major work in english. Slowly, the geatish warriors who had fled from the battle straggle back to the barrow to find wiglaf still vainly trying to revive their fallen leader. For long thereafter in the walled towns was beowulf, the loved folkking of the scyldings, known to fame among the peoples his father had gone elsewhere, the prince from his own, till in time was born to him the great healfdene, who, whilst he lived, ruled the scyldings in kindness, the ancient one, fierce in battle. Beowulf inherits the kingdom on the death of his uncle and is a fair and just ruler.
Gleefully imagining the destruction that he will wreak, grendel bursts into heorot. Both the narrator and characters reference the future and the past. Beowulf modern english translation by anonymous poetry. To herot came she, where helmeted danes slept in the hall. Beowulfs trusted sword, naegling, is no match for the monster. Beowulf insists on fighting the dragon alone even though the kings death will leave geatland vulnerable to attack from old enemies. Beowulf beaw was famed his renown spread widescyldes eafera scedelandum in. The events related in beowulf are not strictly in chronological order.
He lives in geatland, a realm not far from denmark, in what is now southern sweden. Heremod is described by hrothgar after beowulf returns to heorot and boasts about his battle with grendels mother. Augustine on christian doctrine book used to teach future priest beowulf main character, hero, attributed successes to god. In beowulfs old age, a thief finds a passageway into an old barrow. This is the first funeral scene in the epic, but it certainly wont be the last. When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. When darkness falls, hrothgar retires and the warriors prepare for sleep in the hall, with their arms close at hand, unaware that grendels mother, who lived in the icy waters was plotting a.
Many, many years ago a race of man had fought so many wars, that only one man was left. When beowulf is an old man, however, a thief disturbs a barrow, or mound, where a great dragon lies guarding a horde of treasure. The protagonist of the epic, beowulf is a geatish hero who fights the monster grendel, grendels mother, and a firebreathing dragon. Wulfgar spake, the wendles chieftain, whose might of mind to many was known, his courage and counsel. She lunges at him and clutches him in her grip, but his armor, as. Breca and beowulf had foolishly challenged each other to a swimming contest in the ocean, and braved the sea for. As he nears the murky lake floor, grendels mother senses his approach. Beowulf telleth how he warred with the sea folk 15 iv.
How the fire dragon warred with the goth folk 50 ix. The narrator opens the poem with a discussion of shield sheafson, a great king of the ancient danes and the founder of their royal line. Beowulf s 3 rd fight was with a dragon as was christs 3 rd fight. Those two heroes of long ago killed many giants and. The bane of the race of men roamed forth, hunting for a prey in the high hall. In off the moors, down through the mist bands godcursed grendel came greedily loping.
Summaries of beowulf lectures introduction to beowulf, september 10, 2014 keywords. He rules wisely for fifty years, bringing prosperity to geatland. The geats return to heorot hall, taking grendels enormous severed head with them. Free sections 18 lines 8371250 summary of beowulf by gareth hinds. Beowulf begins with death with the description of the lavish burialatsea of the danish king, shield sheafson. Tolkien was a professor of anglosaxon at oxford university, and an authority on beowulf. The thief steals a cup, but the dragon discovers the theft and burns the land, including beowulfs meadhall. Led by the fugitive and accompanied by eleven of his warriors, beowulf seeks out the dragons barrow. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Beowulf epic are the stories of dream and legend, of monsters and of godfashioned weapons, of descents to the underworld and of fights with dragons, of the heros ques t and of a community threatened by the powers of evil. Beowulf the battle with grendels mother then sank they to sleep and grendels mother, monster of women, mourned her woe. Beowulf leaves his kingdom to wiglaf, the only knight to come to his aid. The thief steals a cup, but the dragon discovers the theft and burns the land, including beowulf s meadhall.
Beowulfs 3 rd fight was with a dragon as was christs 3 rd fight. An analysis of the grendel in beowulf, an anglo saxon epic. The project gutenberg ebook of beowulf this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Actually, if youll excuse the spoilers, if we look at the last lines of the poem, beowulf isnt remembered with a bunch of compound words after his death, hes simply remembered as the one who was the mildest among men and most gracious, thekindest to people and most eager for fame manna mildust ond mon. Beowulf sparknotes literature guide and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. Tolkien said that the dragon in beowulf is one of only two true dragons in all of literature the other being fafnir. Augustine on christian doctrine book used to teach future priest beowulf main character, hero, attributed successes to god only. How the water witch warred with the dane folk 28 vi.