English’s first epic

Some are only guesses, some know with more certainty based on archeological record

Some groups have more than one name based on other stories/events etc.

Major players: Angles (Offa, Eomer) Brondings (Beanstan, Breca) Danes, AKA the Shieldings (Hrothgar) Frisians (Folcwalda, Finn) Geats (Hygelac) Heatho-Bards (Ingeld) Swedes (Ongentheow) Weagmundings (Beowulf, Ecgtheow, Wiglaf) Wendels (Wulfgar) Wulfings, AKA the Helmings (Wealhtheow)

Currently preserved at the British Library, LondonPure chance have document as most from Anglo-

Saxon period did not surviveStory copied by scribes – dated from between 10th

and 11th centuries ADBeowulf part of a series of pieces put together as

a book on wondrous creatures (includes The Passion of St. Christopher, alleged to be 12 ft. tall)

Last page of Beowulf is scuffed, implying it was, at least for a time, last text in book

Before ending up in British Library, part of the collection of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631)

Library had a fire in 1731 and Beowulf was badly damaged

Prior to Cotton, text was owned for a time by Lawrence Nowell, who purchased book around 1563 based on an inscription on one of the other texts

Prior to Nowell’s purchase, history is unclearCommon theory: book part of monastic library as

this is where almost all texts would have been kept at this time

Beowulf is a copy of a copyCopied by two different scribes

Scribe A: Lines 1-1939Scribe B: remaining existing linesHave different spelling habits as spelling not

standardLines 1-19 and 53-73 copied in 1705 before fire

so are confident in those linesIcelander Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin (1752-1829)

made research trip in 1786 and had professional copy of poem made; help understand lines which are now all but unreadable due to age of the document

Does not work on principle of iambic foot of modern English

Poem constructed of phrasal linesTwo half-lines = one verse line divided by caesuraHalf-lines linked by alliteration on stressed

syllablesEach half-line has two primary stresses, so four

per lineEX: “God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping”

Alliterative sounds are not repeated from line to line, emphasis on variety

Characteristic of Old Norse poetryHighly compressed figure of speech which

allow for alliterationEX: “Edges of iron” and “remnants of

hammers”= a sword

Blood stained and honor bound – warrior culture

“The little nations are grouped around their lord; the greater nations spoil for war and menace the little ones; the lord dies and defencelessness ensues; the enemy strikes; vengeance for the dead becomes an ethic for the living; bloodshed begets further bloodshed; the wheel turns …” (Heaney, xxvi-xxvii)

“It is always better/ to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning” (1384-85).

Beowulf unique in being neither steadfastly pagan or staunchly Christian – synthesis of two worlds, one old and one new

Anglo-Saxon state founded on paganism, culture respected old families, swords which had been handed down through generations, etc. Now need to make space for Christian faith – cultural issue

“Beowulf is a half-baked native epic the development of which was killed by Latin learning; it was inspired by emulation of Virgil, and is a product of the education which came with Christianity; the rules of narrative are cleverly observed …; it is the confused product of a committee of muddle-headed and probably beer-bemused Anglo-Saxons …; it is a string of pagan lies edited by monks; … it is a work of genius, rare and surprising in the period …; it is a wild folk tale …; it is a poem of aristocratic and courtly tradition …; it is a hotch-potch; it is a sociological, anthropological, archaeological document; it is a mythical allegory …; it is rude and rough; it is a masterpiece in metrical art; it has no shape at all; …it is thin and cheap; it is undeniably weighty; it is a national epic; … it is a burden to English syllabuses; and … it is worth studying.” – J.R.R. Tolkien