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Beowulf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship whose dating is uncertain.[1] Its creation is typically assigned by scholars either to the period 700–750 AD, or to the time of composition of the only manuscript, circa 1010.[2] At 3183 lines, it is notable for its length. The poem is untitled in the manuscript, but has been known as Beowulf since the early 19th century.

As the single major surviving work of Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry, the work—in spite of dealing primarily with Danish and Swedish events—has risen to such prominence that it has been described as "England's national epos."[3] A source of much study, the poem was a central inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien, whose academic career was built around its analysis and explication.

In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, who is attacking the Danish mead hall called Heorot and its inhabitants, Grendel's mother, and becoming a King after returning to Geatland (modern Sweden) later in life, he fought an unnamed dragon. He is mortally wounded in the final battle, and after his death he is buried in a barrow in Geatland by his retainers.

Historical background

The events described in the poem take place in the late 5th century and during the 6th century after the Anglo-Saxons had begun their migration and settlement in England, and before it had ended, a time when the Anglo-Saxons were either newly arrived or in close contact with their fellow Germanic kinsmen in Scandinavia and Northern Germany. The poem could have been transmitted in England by people of Geatish origins.[5] It has been suggested that Beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at Rendlesham in East Anglia,[6] as Sutton Hoo also shows close connections with Scandinavia, and also that the East Anglian royal dynasty, the Wuffings were descendants of the Geatish Wulfings.[7] Others have associated this poem with the court of king Alfred, or with the court of Canute.[2]

The poem deals with legends, i.e. it was composed for entertainment and does not separate between fictional elements and real historic events, such as the raid by king Hygelac into Frisia, ca. 516. Scholars generally agree that many of the personalities of Beowulf also appear in Scandinavian sources,[8] but this does not only concern people (e.g., Healfdene, Hroðgar, Halga, Hroðulf, Eadgils and Ohthere), but also clans (e.g. Scyldings, Scylfings and Wulfings) and some of the events (e.g. the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern). The Scandinavian sources are notably Ynglinga saga, Gesta Danorum, Hrólfr Kraki's saga and the Latin summary of the lost Skjöldunga saga. As far as Sweden is concerned, the dating of the events in the poem has been confirmed by archaeological excavations of the barrows indicated by Snorri Sturluson and by Swedish tradition as the graves of Ohthere (dated to c. 530) and his son Eadgils (dated to c. 575) in Uppland, Sweden.[9][10][11] In Denmark, recent archaeological excavations at Lejre, where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, i.e. Heorot, have revealed that a hall was built in the mid-6th century, exactly the time period of Beowulf.[12] All the three halls found during the excavation were about 50 metres long.[12]

The majority view appears to be that people such as king Hroðgar and the Scyldings, in Beowulf, are based on real people in 6th century Scandinavia.[13] Like the Finnsburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian personalities such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic personalities such as Offa, king of the continental Angles.

Nineteenth-century archeological evidence may confirm elements of the Beowulf story. Eadgils was buried at Uppsala, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound (to the left in the photo) was excavated in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas. They showed that a powerful man was buried in a large barrow, c 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a tafl game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a costly buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. This would have been a burial fitting a king who was famous for his wealth in Old Norse sources. Ongenþeow's barrow (to the right in the photo) has not been excavated.[9][10]

Eadgils was buried at Uppsala, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound (to the left) was excavated, in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas.

A turning point in Beowulf scholarship came in 1936 with J. R. R. Tolkien's essay Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics when, for the first time, the poem and Anglo-Saxon literature were seriously examined for its literary merits—not just scholarship about the origins of the English language as was popular in the 19th century.

The Beowulf manuscript

For more details on this topic, see Nowell Codex.

Beowulf was written in England, but is set in Scandinavia. It is an epic poem told in historical perspective; a story of epic events and of great people of a heroic past. Although the author is unknown its themes and subject matter are generally believed to be formed through oral tradition, the passing down of stories by scops (tale singers) and is considered partly historical. Originally thought to be a majority of oral tradition merely transcribed by a literate monk, the author is now understood to be an imaginative poet in his own right, who by taking the pagan elements, the traditional accounts of heroic events and combining them with his own imaginative ingenuity created a completely new work of his own, more unified than the originally oral stories.[1][14]

The poem is known only from a single manuscript, which is estimated to date from close to AD 1000. Kiernan concluded from a detailed examination of the manuscript that it was the author's own working copy. He has dated the work to the reign of Canute the Great.[2] The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv), along with other works. The manuscript is the product of two different scribes transcribing an earlier original, the second scribe taking over at line 1939 of Beowulf.

The spellings in the poem mix the West Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though they are predominantly West Saxon, as are other Old English poems copied at the time. The earliest known owner is the 16th century scholar Laurence Nowell, after whom the manuscript is named, though its official designation is Cotton Vitellius A.XV due to its inclusion in the catalog of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the middle of the 17th century. It suffered damage in the Cotton Library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731. Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of the letters. Rebinding efforts, though saving the manuscript from much degeneration, have nonetheless covered up other letters of the poem, causing further loss. Kevin Kiernan, professor of English at the University of Kentucky is foremost in the computer digitization and preservation of the manuscript (the Electronic Beowulf Project), using fiber optic backlighting to further reveal lost letters of the poem.

Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcription of the manuscript in 1786 and published it in 1815, working under a historical research commission of the Danish government. Since that time, the manuscript has suffered additional decay, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. The recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to these transcripts. Their accuracy has been called into question, however (e.g., by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in The Translations of Beowulf, a comprehensive survey of 19th century translations and editions of Beowulf), and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is unclear.

Themes, characters, and story

Themes

In historical terms the poem's characters would have been Germanic pagans and the events are set long before the Christianization of Scandinavia. The poem's narrator, however, places events into a Biblical context, casting Grendel and Grendel's Mother as the kin of Cain and placing monotheistic sentiments into the mouths of his characters.

While it could be said that Beowulf is the only substantial extant Old English poem that addresses matters heroic rather than Christian, there are nonetheless Christian references within the poem. Some scholars have suggested that the Christian elements were inserted later, perhaps by the scribe or scribes copying the manuscript.

Although there are no direct references to Jesus in the text of the work, there are many indirect references. Also, the book of Genesis serves as a touchstone for the poem, since Grendel and Grendel's mother (due to their heritage) are seen as punished by the Curse and mark of Cain.[15]

Professor Robert F. Yeager notes that the role of Christianity in a pagan context poses one of the mysteries surrounding Beowulf: That the scribes of Cotton Vitellius A.XV were Christian is beyond doubt; and it is equally certain that Beowulf was composed in a Christianized England, since conversion took place in the sixth and seventh centuries. Yet the only Biblical references in Beowulf are from the Old Testament.

Scholars disagree as to whether Beowulf's main thematic thrust is pagan or Christian in nature. Of particular note is the description of soldiers' helmets, decorated with boar-carvings, alongside Christian references, such as when Beowulf is given up for lost in Grendel's Mere at the ninth hour, which was the time at which Christ dies on the cross in the Bible. This could possibly be evidence of Christian details being placed in the story alongside traditional accounts of ancient Germanic religious practices. However, the lack of a pre-Christian written version of the epic leaves the issue unresolved.


Thus reflecting the above historical context, Beowulf depicts a Germanic warrior society, in which the relationship between the leader, or king, and his thanes was of paramount importance. This relationship was defined in terms of provision and service; the thanes defended the interest of the king in return for material provisions: weapons, armor, gold, silver, food, and drinks.

This society was strongly defined in terms of kinship; if a relative was killed it was the duty of surviving relatives to exact revenge upon his killer, either with his own life or with weregild, a reparational payment. In fact, the hero's very existence owes itself to this fact, as his father Ecgþeow was banished for having killed Heaðolaf, a man from the prominent Wulfing clan. He sought refuge at the court of Hroðgar who graciously paid the weregild. Ecgþeow did not return home, but became one of the Geatish king Hreðel's housecarls and married his daughter, by whom he had Beowulf. The duty of avenging killed kinsmen became the undoing of king Hreðel, himself, because when his oldest son Herebeald was killed by his own brother Hæþcyn in a hunting accident, it was a death that could not be avenged. Hreðel died from the sorrow.

Beowulf’s own beliefs are not expressed explicitly. He offers eloquent prayers to a higher power, addressing himself to the “Father Almighty” or the “Wielder of All.” Were those the prayers of a pagan who used phrases the Christians subsequently appropriated? Or, did the poem’s author intend to see Beowulf as a Christian Ur-hero, symbolically refulgent with Christian virtues?[16]

Beowulf (character)

J. R. R. Tolkien argued that the name Beowulf means bee-hunter (literally, bee-wolf) in Old English. The name Beowulf could therefore be a kenning for "bear" due to a bear's love of honey.[citation needed] Jacob Grimm attributes the term "bee-hunter" to a type of woodpecker.[citation needed]

Some scholars[attribution needed] suggest that Beowulf could correspond to Bödvar Bjarki, the battle bear, from Norse sagas. Both left Geatland (where Bjarki's brother was king), arrived in Denmark and slew a beast that terrorized the Danish court. They also both helped the Swedish king Eadgils defeat his uncle Áli in the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vänern.

Author John Grigsby argued that the word Beowulf translates as 'Barley wolf'[citation needed] and links this character to ancient warrior cults of Indo-European tradition. R. D. Fulk[citation needed] and Joseph Harris[citation needed] suggest that the name is theophoric, related to the germanic god Beow, citing the rarity of kenning derived names and other similar names such as Gott-fried, Gott-lieb, Torsten(Thor-stone), the Norse þór-ólfr, and the English Tiu-wulf.

Characters and objects

A depiction of Queen Wealhþeow as the hostess of the banquet by J. R. Skelton (1908).

Story

Jane Chance (Professor of English, Rice University) in her 1980 article, "The Structural Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother" argued that there are two standard interpretations of the poem: one view which suggests a two-part structure (i.e. the poem is divided between Grendel and the dragon) and the other, a three-part structure (i.e. Grendel's mother is included).[18] Chance stated that, "this view of the structure as two-part has generally prevailed since its inception in J. R. R. Tolkien's, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics in Proceedings of the British Academy 22 (1936)."[18] In contrast, she argued that the three-part structure has become "increasingly popular."[18]

First battle: Grendel

Beowulf begins with the story of King Hroðgar, who built the great hall Heorot for his people. In it he, his wife Wealhþeow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel, who is angered by the singing and an outcast from society, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hroðgar's warriors while they sleep. But Grendel dare not touch the throne of Hroðgar, because he is described as protected by God. Hroðgar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks, abandon Heorot.