Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. [66], The manuscript passed to Crown ownership in 1702, on the death of its then owner, Sir John Cotton, who had inherited it from his grandfather, Robert Cotton. Unferð is a member of the foot troops, who, throughout the story, do nothing and "generally serve as backdrops for more heroic action. Beowulf Performance Products Online Shop. Initially The Beowulf Brewing Company occupied an ex-Co-op shop on Waterloo Road in Yardley, Birmingham. [74], The question of whether Beowulf was passed down through oral tradition prior to its present manuscript form has been the subject of much debate, and involves more than simply the issue of its composition. Hrothgar, Beowulf, and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under a lake. [122][123][124], Friedrich Panzer (1910) wrote a thesis that the first part of Beowulf (the Grendel Story) incorporated preexisting folktale material, and that the folktale in question was of the Bear's Son Tale (Bärensohnmärchen) type, which has surviving examples all over the world. March and James A. Your views could help shape our site for the future. [20], The poem is tightly structured. Now king of the Geats, his own realm is faced with a rampaging dragon, which had been guarding a treasure-hoard. [60], Other scholars disagree as to whether Beowulf is a Christian work set in a Germanic pagan context. The next night, after celebrating Grendel's defeat, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. The poem begins and ends with funerals: at the beginning of the poem for Scyld Scefing[19] and at the end for Beowulf. The US publication was commissioned by W. W. Norton & Company, and was included in the Norton Anthology of English Literature. "[159] Greenfield argues the foot is used for the opposite effect, only appearing four times in the poem. Afterwards, a barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory. It is interesting to note that he has written few poems directly about the war, although he has said that the experience of battle caused him to become seriou… E. Carrigan shows the symmetry of its design in a model of its major components, with for instance the account of the killing of Grendel matching that of the killing of the dragon, the glory of the Danes matching the accounts of the Danish and Geatish courts.[16]. Why not take a few moments to tell us what you think of our website? [135] In 1930, James A. The question suggests that the conversion from the Germanic pagan beliefs to Christian ones was a prolonged and gradual process over several centuries, and it remains unclear the ultimate nature of the poem's message in respect to religious belief at the time it was written. The composition of Beowulf was the fruit of the later adaptation of this trend in Alfred's policy of asserting authority over the Angelcynn, in which Scyldic descent was attributed to the West-Saxon royal pedigree. "[65] Kiernan theorised that Smith failed to mention the Beowulf manuscript because of his reliance on previous catalogues or because either he had no idea how to describe it or because it was temporarily out of the codex. [69] While both scribes appear to have proofread their work, there are nevertheless many errors. [93] The British Library, meanwhile, took a prominent role in supporting Kevin Kiernan's Electronic Beowulf; the first edition appeared in 1999, and the fourth in 2014. While the recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to them, their accuracy has been called into question,[c] and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is uncertain. Nobody knows for certain when the poem was first composed. More than 3,000 lines long, Beowulf relates the exploits of its eponymous hero, and his successive battles with a monster named Grendel, with Grendel’s revengeful mother and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard of treasure. [128][129], The epic's similarity to the Irish folktale "The Hand and the Child" was noted in 1899 by Albert S. Cook, and others even earlier. The ownership of the codex before Nowell remains a mystery. The warriors form a brotherhood linked by loyalty to their lord. [60], Beowulf survived to modern times in a single manuscript, written in ink on parchment, later damaged by fire. [27] Beowulf displays "the whole of Grendel's shoulder and arm, his awesome grasp" for all to see at Heorot. [139], It cannot be denied that Biblical parallels occur in the text, whether seen as a pagan work with "Christian colouring" added by scribes or as a "Christian historical novel, with selected bits of paganism deliberately laid on as 'local colour'", as Margaret E. Goldsmith did in "The Christian Theme of Beowulf". Beowulf telleth how he warred with the sea folk 15 IV. The first scribe made a point of carefully regularizing the spelling of the original document into the common West Saxon, removing any archaic or dialectical features. Scholars have debated whether Beowulf was transmitted orally, affecting its interpretation: if it was composed early, in pagan times, then the paganism is central and the Christian elements were added later, whereas if it was composed later, in writing, by a Christian, then the pagan elements could be decorative archaising; some scholars hold an intermediate position. Beowulf, now in Seamus Heaney's inspired translation - the Whitbread Book of the Year 1999 - is a classic of world literature and poetry. Artfully retold and magnificently illustrated, this companion volume to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is made instantly accessible to children by a formidable children’s book partnership. There is no fixed number of beats per line: the first one cited has three (Oft SCYLD SCEF-ING) whereas the second has two (SCEAþena ÞREATum). Many editions of the Old English text of Beowulf have been published; this section lists the most influential. Beowulf: a new feminist translation of the epic poem. For example, a poet might call the sea the "swan's riding"; a king might be called a "ring-giver." "[73] The poem further mentions (lines 1065-1068) that "the harp was touched, tales often told, when Hrothgar's scop was set to recite among the mead tables his hall-entertainment". [88], In 1922, Frederick Klaeber published his edition Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg;[89] it became the "central source used by graduate students for the study of the poem and by scholars and teachers as the basis of their translations. Perhaps the most famous modern translation is that by Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate in literature, which won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 1999. Rather, given the implications of the theory of oral-formulaic composition and oral tradition, the question concerns how the poem is to be understood, and what sorts of interpretations are legitimate. The only Biblical references in Beowulf are to the Old Testament, and Christ is never mentioned. [88] This was followed in 1814 by John Josias Conybeare who published an edition "in English paraphrase and Latin verse translation. [140] Beowulf channels the Book of Genesis, the Book of Exodus, and the Book of Daniel[141] in its inclusion of references to the Genesis creation narrative, the story of Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the Devil, Hell, and the Last Judgment. Please consider the environment before printing, All text is © British Library and is available under Creative Commons Attribution Licence except where otherwise stated. Beowulf is one of the most important texts in Old English and is believed to date from somewhere between 975 and 1025 - around the time of Alfred the Great. It's actually the longest epic poem in Old English with about 3,000 lines! The Geatish prince Beowulf hears of his neighbours’ plight, and sails to their aid with a band of warriors. One way to study Wilbur’s “Beowulf” is by comparing the poet’s time with that of the epic hero’s period. How Beowulf overcame the Water Witch 36 VII. Among the more notable recent versions are the films The 13th Warrior (1999), adapted from the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (d. 2008); the Icelandic-Canadian co-production Beowulf & Grendel (2005); and Beowulf (2007), starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie. Judith was written by the same scribe that completed Beowulf, as evidenced by similar writing style. Comparison with other bodies of verse such as Homer's, coupled with ethnographic observation of early 20th century performers, has provided a vision of how an Anglo-Saxon singer-poet or scop may have practised. We are constantly designing and producing new products. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon, but finds himself outmatched. Schaefer's concept of "vocality" offers neither a compromise nor a synthesis of the views which see the poem as on the one hand Germanic, pagan, and oral and on the other Latin-derived, Christian, and literate, but, as stated by Monika Otter: "a 'tertium quid', a modality that participates in both oral and literate culture yet also has a logic and aesthetic of its own. At first, Grendel's mother prevails, and Hrunting proves incapable of hurting her; she throws Beowulf to the ground and, sitting astride him, tries to kill him with a short sword, but Beowulf is saved by his armour. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded. Children's Literature Association Quarterly 38.4 (2013): 399–419, "Dragging the Monster from the Closet: Beowulf and the English Literary Tradition", "Secrecy and the Hermeneutic Potential in Beowulf", Full digital facsimile of the manuscript on the British Library's Digitised Manuscripts website, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beowulf&oldid=1017247066, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Old English (ca. [98] Seamus Heaney's 1999 translation of the poem (Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, called "Heaneywulf" by Howell Chickering and many others[99]) was both praised and criticized. [25] Beowulf's retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades cannot pierce Grendel's skin. It is written in the alliterative verse of our ancestors in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, which, though the mother-tongue of the English, is yet more difficult to read for the Englishman than Latin or Greek. Beowulf is an epic poem of more than 3,100 lines originally written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) about a Scandinavian prince of the same name. Beowulf closes with the king’s funeral, and a lament for the dead hero. No such correspondence could be perceived in the Bear's Son Tale or in the Grettis saga. Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem. When the western mound (to the left in the photo) was excavated in 1874, the finds showed that a powerful man was buried in a large barrow, c. 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. is a heroic epic poem, written in Old English, and easily the most important work of literature written in that language. How the Fire Dragon warred with the Goth folk 50 IX. [103] R. D. Fulk, of Indiana University, published a facing-page edition and translation of the entire Nowell Codex manuscript in 2010. Beowulf lies dead, and Wiglaf is bowed down with grief at the loss of his lord. Anglo-Saxon poets typically used alliterative verse, a form of verse in which the first half of the line (the a-verse) is linked to the second half (the b-verse) through similarity in initial sound. Beowulf is set in the pagan world of 6th-century Scandinavia, but it also contains echoes of Christian traditions. James Carney and Martin Puhvel agree with this "Hand and the Child" contextualisation. How Beowulf Returned to His Own Land 42 VIII. [137], Frederick Klaeber, among others, argued for a connection between Beowulf and Virgil near the start of the 20th century, claiming that the very act of writing a secular epic in a Germanic world represents Virgilian influence. Beowulf swims back up to the edge of the lake where his men wait. Afterward, Beowulf is ritually burned on a great pyre in Geatland while his people wail and mourn him, fearing that without him, the Geats are defenceless against attacks from surrounding tribes. Grendel's mother, angry that her son has been killed, sets out to get revenge. There is much rejoicing among the Danes; but Grendel’s loathsome mother takes her revenge, and makes a brutal attack upon the king’s hall. Beowulf are probably the only UK motorcycle parts manufacturer who design and build every component on site. [94] Despite this, a great number of translations and adaptations are available, in poetry and prose. [44][35] The digressions provide a powerful impression of historical depth, imitated by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, a work that embodies many other elements from the poem. Fulk. [133] The medievalist R. Mark Scowcroft notes that the tearing off of the monster's arm without a weapon is found only in Beowulf and fifteen of the Irish variants of the tale; he identifies twelve parallels between the tale and Beowulf. [30], Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. 450-1100)-language text, Articles with German-language sources (de), Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Manuscript suffered damage from fire in 1731, The battles of Beowulf, the Geatish hero, in youth and old age, Metrical Preface and Epilogue to Alfred's, This page was last edited on 11 April 2021, at 18:05. Hutcheson, for instance, does not believe Kaluza's Law can be used to date the poem, while claiming that "the weight of all the evidence Fulk presents in his book[b] tells strongly in favour of an eighth-century date. A children’s version by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Michael Foreman, was published in 2006. Beowulf is a fictional prince of the Geats of southern Sweden who comes to Denmark to help King Hrothgar rid his fabulous hall, Heorot, of a terrible monster known as Grendel. He argues that the term "shoulder-companion" could refer to both a physical arm as well as a thane (Aeschere) who was very valuable to his lord (Hrothgar). It is an epitomized history of the life of the Teutonic races. Wormholes found in the last leaves of the Beowulf manuscript that are absent in the Judith manuscript suggest that at one point Beowulf ended the volume. "he grew up under the heavens"), line 11's gomban gyldan ("pay tribute"), line 13's geong in geardum ("young in the yards", i.e. The poem begins in medias res or simply, "in the middle of things", a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Beowulf (modern English translation) By Anonymous Translated by Frances B. Grummere LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings. In it, he, his wife Wealhtheow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating. [11], In Denmark, recent archaeological excavations at Lejre, where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, Heorot, have revealed that a hall was built in the mid-6th century, matching the period described in Beowulf, some centuries before the poem was composed. [67] Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of the letters. Several English scholars and churchmen are described by Bede as being fluent in Greek due to being taught by him; Bede claims to be fluent in Greek himself. After Beowulf dies, Wiglaf remains by his side, grief-stricken. The poem was first transcribed in 1786; some verses were first translated into modern English in 1805, and nine complete translations were made in the 19th century, including those by John Mitchell Kemble and William Morris. [5] The Nowell Codex is housed in the British Library. Available in Stainless Steel, Titanium and Carbon Fibre. Created by James Dormer. Beowulf (c. 700 C.E.) [49][50][51] An analysis of several Old English poems by a team including Neidorf suggests that Beowulf is the work of a single author. Beowulf (/ˈbeɪəwʊlf/;[1] Old English: Bēowulf [ˈbeːowuɫf]) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. The difficulty of translating Beowulf has been explored by scholars including J. R. R. Tolkien (in his essay "On Translating Beowulf"), who worked on a verse and a prose translation of his own. Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil, and divides neatly into three acts. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025. [13], 19th-century archaeological evidence may confirm elements of the Beowulf story. [97][96], In 1805, the historian Sharon Turner translated selected verses into modern English. Hrothgar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Nægling, his family's heirloom. It brings vividly before us our forefathers of pre-Alfredian eras, in their love of war, of sea, and of adventure. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair. The poem, too, makes extensive use of elided metaphors. Beowulf begins with the story of Hrothgar, who constructed the great hall, Heorot, for himself and his warriors. Beowulf is an interesting window into the past—specifically where Christianity and older pagan religions overlapped. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland (Götaland in modern Sweden) and becomes king of the Geats. Beowulf encounters Grendel in unarmed combat, and deals the monster its death blow by ripping off its arm. In 1975, John Porter published the first complete verse translation of the poem entirely accompanied by facing-page Old English. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. David Crystal charts the evolution of Old English through the 700 years during which it was written and spoken. The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel, who is terrorizing Denmark, and later, Grendel's Mother, who begins killing out of revenge. Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. [88] Beowulf has been translated many times in verse and in prose, and adapted for stage and screen. Choose Yes please to open the survey in a new browser window or tab, and then complete it when you are ready. [113][114] The Mere Wife, by Maria Dahvana Headley, was published in 2018. [161] In this context, the poem operates as an indictment of feuding conflicts as a function of its conspicuous, circuitous, and lengthy depiction of the Geatish-Swedish wars—coming into contrast with the poem's depiction of the protagonist Beowulf as being disassociated from the ongoing feuds in every way.[161]. Virgil was seen as the pinnacle of Latin literature, and Latin was the dominant literary language of England at the time, therefore making Virgilian influence highly likely. Beowulf is a 2007 3D computer-animated fantasy action film directed and co-produced by Robert Zemeckis, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary and based on the Old English epic poem of the same name. “Beowulf” is a heroic epic poem written by an unknown author in Old English, some time between the 8th and the 10th Century CE. Beowulf has also been translated into numerous languages, including modern English, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Telugu (a Dravidian language spoken in India). [145][146][147], Kennings are a significant technique in Beowulf. The poet often used formulaic phrases for half-lines, including kennings, evocative poetic descriptions compressed into a single compound word. The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. [g][131][130] During the war, he served as an Army cryptographer and soldier. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrot… As a result, the second scribe's script retains more archaic dialectic features, which allow modern scholars to ascribe the poem a cultural context. [82][84] John Miles Foley wrote that comparative work must observe the particularities of a given tradition; in his view, there was a fluid continuum from traditionality to textuality.[85]. Robinson argues that the intensified religious aspects of the Anglo-Saxon period inherently shape the way in which the poet alludes to paganism as presented in Beowulf. The Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcriptions of the Beowulf-manuscript in 1786, working as part of a Danish government historical research commission. [138] Similarly, in 1971, Alistair Campbell stated that the apologue technique used in Beowulf is so rare in epic poetry aside from Virgil that the poet who composed Beowulf could not have written the poem in such a manner without first coming across Virgil's writings. [96] Beowulf has been translated into at least 38 other languages. [100][101], In 2000 (2nd edition 2013), Liuzza published his own version of Beowulf in a parallel text with the Old English,[102] with his analysis of the poem's historical, oral, religious and linguistic contexts. [4] In 1731, the manuscript was damaged by a fire that swept through Ashburnham House in London, which was housing Sir Robert Cotton's collection of medieval manuscripts. In addition, the two halves are divided by a caesura: "Oft Scyld Scefing \\ sceaþena þreatum (l. 4). [e][130][120][f] In 1914, the Swedish folklorist Carl Wilhelm von Sydow made a strong argument for parallelism with "The Hand and the Child", because the folktale type demonstrated a "monstrous arm" motif that corresponded with Beowulf's wrenching off Grendel's arm. of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won! interpolations". The poem has been related to Scandinavian, Celtic, and international folkloric sources. —It consists of 3182 lines. The dragon, too, lies slain on the ground. [58], The location of the poem's composition is intensely disputed. Beowulf seeks out the hag in her underwater lair, and slays her after an almighty struggle. In the Mabinogion, Teyrnon discovers the otherworldly boy child Pryderi, the principal character of the cycle, after cutting off the arm of a monstrous beast which is stealing foals from his stables. Work supported the Homeric influence, stating that encounter between Beowulf and Unferth was parallel to the encounter between Odysseus and Euryalus in Books 7–8 of the Odyssey, even to the point of both characters giving the hero the same gift of a sword upon being proven wrong in their initial assessment of the hero's prowess. Although Beowulf himself is not mentioned in any other Anglo-Saxon manuscript,[9] many of the other figures named in Beowulf appear in Scandinavian sources. Beowulf answered: "We are table-companions of Hygelac. … Eart þu se Beowulf, se þe wið Brecan wunne, on sidne sæ ymb sund flite, ðær git for wlence wada cunnedon . [63], The Reverend Thomas Smith (1638–1710) and Humfrey Wanley (1672–1726) both catalogued the Cotton library (in which the Nowell Codex was held). Because of this, we can confidently offer a fully comprehensive, no quibble LIFETIME GUARANTEE Beowulf, written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century.. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature.. Beowulf exists in only one manuscript. The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been ongoing. But this is the story of Beowulf, a poem once told in timber-framed barns in Anglo-Saxon England, to the raucous noise of the mead-swilling crowd. [154] The relationship between the characters of Beowulf, and the overall message of the poet, regarding their relationship with God is debated among readers and literary critics alike. Rebinding efforts, though saving the manuscript from much degeneration, have nonetheless covered up other letters of the poem, causing further loss. The following is a selection. How Beowulf the Goth came to Daneland 7 III. [31][32], The poem contains many apparent digressions from the main story. [d][117], 19th century studies proposed that Beowulf was translated from a lost original Scandinavian work; surviving Scandinavian works have continued to be studied as possible sources. By 2020, the Beowulf's Afterlives Bibliographic Database listed some 688 translations and other versions of the poem. Despite being composed in the Anglo-Saxon era, Beowulf continues to captivate modern audiences. More than 3,000 lines long, Beowulf relates the exploits of its eponymous hero, and his successive battles with a monster named Grendel, with Grendel’s revengeful mother and with a dragon which was guarding a hoard of treasure. 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Corpse and severs his head with the king ’ s end of Christianity divided by a:. On a headland in his honour addition, the Beowulf story `` [ 90 ] Mere... To Wanley `` i can find nothing yet of Beowulph Mere wife, Maria... Side, grief-stricken these transcriptions as the Nowell Codex, gaining its name from 16th-century scholar Laurence.. Rather than as foreigners from British suppliers perceived in the 20th century into the where. Fierce combat sword Nægling, his attendants cremate his body and erect a tower on a in... Christian lifestyles requirements of the men finally return, Wiglaf remains by his side, grief-stricken, get. Our forefathers of pre-Alfredian eras, in their love of war, of sea, is by... And of adventure past—specifically where Christianity and older pagan religions overlapped pagan times and... 1696, and glosses, beowulf & grendel days long sped, we learn that they are pagans ) by translated. Grendel enters the hall, Beowulf defeats a dragon, too, makes use... Beowulf spots another sword, hanging on the wall and apparently made for giants, and slays her after Almighty!