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Beowulf

Beowulf. English’s first epic. Beowulf : Understanding geography. Major tribes. 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 )

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Beowulf

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  1. Beowulf English’s first epic

  2. Beowulf: Understanding geography

  3. Major tribes • 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)

  4. Beowulf: The Manuscript • Currently preserved at the British Library, London • Pure chance have document as most from Anglo-Saxon period did not survive • Story copied by scribes – dated from between 10th and 11th centuries AD • Beowulf 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

  5. The murky history • 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 unclear • Common theory: book part of monastic library as this is where almost all texts would have been kept at this time

  6. What we think we know • Beowulf is a copy of a copy • Copied by two different scribes • Scribe A: Lines 1-1939 • Scribe B: remaining existing lines • Have different spelling habitsas spelling not standard • Lines 1-19 and 53-73 copied in 1705 before fire so are confident in those lines • Icelander GrímurJónssonThorkelin (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

  7. Old English poetics • Does not work on principle of iambic foot of modern English • Poem constructed of phrasal lines • Two half-lines = one verse line divided by caesura • Half-lines linked by alliteration on stressed syllables • Each half-line has two primary stresses, so four per line • EX: “God-cursed Grendel came greedily loping” • Alliterative sounds are not repeated from line to line, emphasis on variety

  8. The kenning • Characteristic of Old Norse poetry • Highly compressed figure of speech which allow for alliteration • EX: “Edges of iron” and “remnants of hammers”= a sword

  9. Culture: The world of Beowulf • 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).

  10. Influence of Christianity • 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

  11. How this poem fits into academics • “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

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