BEOWULF

1. BEOWULF Prepared by Professor Mario O. Castillo Rangel Survey of English Literature I - 2008 Department of English and Modern Languages, NCU

2. Summary • Name: Beowulf • Genre: Epic Poem • Author: Anonymous Anglian Poet • Times: 8th Century, manuscript 10th Century • Composition: 3182 lines - Caesura • Language: West Saxon Dialect – Kennings – Alliteration – Caesura - Parataxis

3. Summary (Continued) • Content: Fusion of Scandinavian history and Pagan mythology with Christian Elements • Story: Beowulf rids the Danes of the monster Grendel and Grendel’s mother. • Importance: The most important work of Old English Literature

4. Origin of the Name • O.E. beo wulf • Lit. “bee-wolf” • A kenning for “bear” • Because of their ability to fight and survive, animals like wolves and bears were admired by tribal warriors. • (See definition of kenning)

5. Scandinavian Brown Bear • Brown bears colonialised Scandinavia after the last Ice Age about 10-14000 years ago from two directions: from the east and from the south

6. Epic - Definition • An epic is a long narrative poem, o a grand scale, about the deeds of warriors and heroes. • It is a polygonal, ‘heroic’ story incorporating myth, legend, folk tale and history.

7. Epic – Definition (cont.) • Epics are often of national significance in the sense that they embody the history and aspirations of a nation in a lofty and grandiose manner. (Cuddon 1999, 264)

8. Kinds of Epic (A) Primary Also known as oral or primitive. (B) Secondary Also known as literary. (Cuddon 1999, 265)

9. Primary Epic • Belongs to the oral tradition. • Hence, composed orally and recited • Only much later it is written down • (in some cases). • Examples: Gilgamesh, Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf.

10. Seconday Epic • Literary • Hence, composed in the written mode. • Examples: Virgil’s Aeneid, the anonymous Song of Roland, Milton’s Paradise Lost. (Cuddon 1999, 265)

11. AUTHOR • Anonymous Anglian Poet

12. Beowulf Manuscript • Preserved only in a single manuscript • Cotton Vitellius A.xv • British Library

13. Europe

14. Denmark

15. Scandinavia

16. People and places in Beowulfafter F. Klaeber (Damrosch 28)

17. Beowulf challenged by the coastguards

18. Dates • c. 400 Germanic peoples settle in Britain  • c. 400 The Battle of Finnsberg (Finnsburh)takes place. •  498 Froda kills Halfdene of the Danes; Froda’s son Ingeld born •  499 Heorogar, Hroðgar, and Halga (Danes) kill Froda  • 503 Hæðcynbecomes king of the Geats  • 503 First Swedish-Geatish feud begins.

19. Dates • 510 Hæðcyn king of the Geats, and Ongenþeow, the Swedish king, are killed in Battle of Ravenswood.  Hæðcyn’s brother Hygelac becomes king of the Geats, and Ohþere king of the Swedes.  • 518 Freawaru, daughter of Hroðgar, marries Ingeld to forestall a renewal of the feud. •  520 Ingeld attacks and burns down Heorot, but is then defeated by Hroðgar and Hroðulf  • 524 Hygelac of the Geats is killed in his ill-fated Frisian raid.  Heardred, Hygelac’s son, becomes king of the Geats.

20. Dates • 532 Second Swedish-Geatishfeud begins.  • 533 Death of Swedish king Ohþere(Ottar Vendel-Crow, buried at Vendel in Uppland Sweden. His brother Onela seizes the throne while his sons Eanmund and Eadgils seek refuge in the Geatish court. Onela attacks the Geats and kills their young king Heardred [In Beowulf, Beowulf takes the throne at this point].   In the battle Eanmund is killed by Weohstan, Onela’s champion. [In Beowulf, Weohstan is Wiglaf's father, however, Wiglaf's existence has not been proven outside Beowulf.]

21. Dates • 535 Eadgils is laid in a mound at Old Uppsala. •  c. 540 Gildas in De excidio Britanniae laments the effects of the Germanic settlements on the supine Britons  • 597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent to convert the English  • c. 625 A cenotaph ship containing rich treasures analogous to those described in Beowulf is buried in a mound at Sutton Hoo, East Anglia (mound 1). 

22. Dates • 597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent to convert the English c. 625 A cenotaph ship containing rich treasures analogous to those described in Beowulf is buried in a mound at Sutton Hoo, East Anglia (mound 1). 

23. Dates • c. 400 Germanic peoples settle in Britain c. 400 The Battle of Finnsberg (Finnsburh)laments the effects of the Germanic settlements on the supine Britons • 597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent to convert the English  • c. 625 A cenotaph ship containing rich treasures analogous to those described in Beowulf is buried in a mound at Sutton Hoo, East Anglia.  

24. Importance • The most important work of Old English Literature. • Epics are often of national significance in the sense that they embody the history and aspirations of a nation in a lofty and grandiose manner. (Cuddon 1999, 264)

25. The End

26. Works Cited and Sources • Baswell, Christopher and Anne Howland Schotter. “The Middle Ages”. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Ed. David Damrosch. Vol. A. London: Longman, 2004. 153-245. • Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. A History of the English Language. Fifth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. • Bloomfield, Morton W., and Leonard Newmark. A Linguistic Introduction to the History of English. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.

27. Works Cited and Sources • Brook, G.L. A history of the English Language. New York: Norton Library, 1958. • Cuddon, J.A. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Fourth Edition. London: Penguin Books, 1999. • Damrosch, David, ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature. Volume A. 2nd Compact Edition. London: Longman, 2004. • David Burnley. The History of the English Language. 2nd ed. London: Pearson Education, 2000.

28. Works Cited and Sources • Glatthorn, Allan A., Charles W. Kreidler & Enerst J.Heiman. ­The Dynamics of Language. Book 4. USA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1971. • Miller, James E., Jr., Myrtle J. Jones, and Helen McDonnel. England in Literature. Macbeth Edition. London: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1973. • Nist, John. A Structural History of English. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966.

29. Videos and Films • Beowulf & Grendel. Dir. Sturla Gunnarsson.. Perf. Gerry Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, Ingvar Sigurdson, Sarah Polley. Films with Global Vision. Canada, 2005. • Beowulf. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Robin Wright Penn, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Baker, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, et al. USA: Paramount Pictures, 2007. • Schama, Simon. “Beginnings.” A History of Britain, The History Channel. VHS Documentary. BBC. New York: New Video, 2001.

30. Internet Sources • “Beowulf & Grendel.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_&_Grendel • Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page • Snell, Melissa. “The Dark Ages on the History Channel.” Melissa’s Medieval History Blog. Friday March 2, 2007 http://historymedren.about.com/b/2007/03/02/the-dark-ages-on-the-history-channel.htm

31. Library Databases and Online Catalogues • http://library.ncu.edu.jm/ • http://mona.uwi.edu/library • www. netlibrary.org

32. Prepared by Prof. Mario O. Castillo Rangel Survey of Literature I Department of English and Modern Languages Northern Caribbean University December 2008 (To be further elaborated)