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Beowulf is the most famous and most frequently translated poem in the Anglo-Saxon language (also called Old English); at 3,182 lines it is also by far the longest to have survived. An anonymous work written sometime between the late eighth century and the early eleventh century, Beowulf is better known than any other poem before Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c. 1390–1399). For nearly two centuries, this poem has embodied the early Middle Ages for millions of readers. But Beowulf is much more than the sum of its exciting narrative parts; the poem's history is closely connected with the development of the nineteenth-century nation-state, and scores of editions and translations collectively demonstrate its power to arouse controversy and stir deep feeling.
History of the Text
Beowulf exists in a single, imperfect copy in a tenth-century manuscript now in the British Library, London, known as Cotton Vitellius A.xv, and sometimes also as the Nowell Codex after the sixteenth-century scholar Laurence Nowell, who once owned the manuscript. There is no record of anyone's having read or understood Beowulf before 1705, when Humphrey Wanley, an Oxford scholar and librarian, catalogued the manuscript. Wanley described the poem as an account of the conflict between "Beowulf the Dane" and the Swedes. His work drew the attention of Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin, a Danish archivist and historian (1752–1829), who went to England and sometime in 1786 commissioned a transcription of the poem; later, about 1790, he made another copy himself. The Beowulf manuscript had been badly damaged in a fire in 1731, and in the course of the nineteenth century words and letters were lost as its burned edges crumbled. Thorkelin's copies are thus the only evidence left for some of this material. In 1815 Thorkelin published the first edition of Beowulf, subtitled A Danish Poem in Anglo-Saxon Dialect concerning Danish Events of the Third and Fourth Centuries. Thorkelin's edition was accompanied by a Latin translation, since he did not expect even scholars to be able to read the poem in its original language.
Thorkelin's edition was ready for the press much earlier than 1815, but it was destroyed when his house burned during the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. This misfortune coincidentally frames the contest between English and Danish scholars for control of the poem. In 1805 the historian Sharon Turner examined Thorkelin's transcription of the poem; Turner translated a few passages and included them in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, which set the tone for Beowulf criticism for a full century or more. "It is the most interesting relic of the Anglo-Saxon poetry which time has spared to us," he wrote; "and, as a picture of the manners, and as an exhibition of the feelings and notions of those days, it is as valuable as it is ancient."
Beowulf had acquired the status of historical record by the time John Mitchell Kemble published the first English edition of the poem in 1833 (it was revised in 1835, and reissued with translation and commentary in 1837). Kemble thought that Beowulf had been written in the middle of the fifth century, the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. However, in his preface of 1837 Kemble changed his views and now claimed that the poem was "a confused remembering of heathen myth" about an "earlier Beowulf" who was not a historical figure at all but rather a god. Kemble linked Beowulf's name to twenty-four figures he regarded as comprising "the ancient mythic genealogy of our kings nearly as it was known to our forefathers in the heathen times." With this bold stroke, Kemble attached the pagan gods of the poem to the backbone of English history.
This brief account of the poem's history shows that early scholars sought to use Beowulf to confirm national identities and recover cultural memory. Throughout the nineteenth century, interest in Beowulf continued to grow, spurred partly by the desire to recover early records of national history, partly by growing fascination with folk and national literatures, and partly by philology, which improved the study of medieval languages. In its first hundred years as an object of serious study, the poem was translated forty times and edited fifteen times. Throughout the twentieth century, scholarship on Beowulf exceeded that on all other works written in Anglo-Saxon England.
Beowulf's Story
It is a great irony that the oldest epic in the English language is a poem about Scandinavian rather than Anglo-Saxon history and peoples. Beowulf himself is not an Anglo-Saxon hero; his people are the Geats of Geatland, now southern Sweden. He is the nephew and protégé of Hygelac, the Geatish king to whose throne the young man will eventually succeed. It is at Hygelac's behest that Beowulf undertakes his mission to neighboring Denmark and enjoys his first successes in diplomacy and in battle.
Beowulf opens with a swift account of King Hrothgar's rise to power and of how the monster Grendel's murderous rage presages the king's decline (lines 64–85, citing Howell Chickering's dual-language edition). Helpless, the Danes have lapsed into paganism (175–188), but help arrives with Beowulf and his Geatish contingent. In a boastful address, Beowulf announces himself as Hygelac's retainer and emissary (405–455). He soon kills Grendel (745–819); after Grendel's monstrous mother makes a surprise attack to avenge her son, Beowulf kills her as well (1495–1605).
Between these demonstrations of heroic prowess, Beowulf is caught up in the ceremonies and political currents of Hrothgar's court. Eventually, twice rewarded for his victories (1160–1231 and 1866–1869), Beowulf prepares to return to Geatland. His departure is marked by one of the poem's most moving moments, a speech in which the old king, in tears, bids farewell to the young hero, and, it would seem, to the last glories of his reign (1870–1880). As Chickering observes, the aged warrior's tearful farewell has all the pathos and power of a father's parting words to his son. Beowulf, like any impatient youngster, seems eager to be on his way.
The poem's Danish sequence firmly establishes Beowulf as a hero and prepares for his rise to power. His astute judgment emerges when he reports his triumphs to Hygelac and gives the king a detailed and decidedly pessimistic account of the future of Hrothgar's court (2000–2115). Significantly, we learn more about the condition of Hrothgar's court after Beowulf leaves it than we do while he is there. Beowulf predicts that Hrothgar will fail in his attempt to use his daughter, Freawaru, as a "peace-weaver." By marrying her to Ingeld, prince of the Heathobards, Hrothgar hopes to end an ancient hostility; Beowulf predicts that the marriage will instead lead to the destruction of Hrothgar's reign (2020–2040). Beowulf gives to Hygelac and to Hygd, his queen, the treasure Hrothgar has given to him (2155–2176). The poet lavishes praise on the young hero and recalls his unpromising beginnings, but only to emphasize the pending greatness of Beowulf's reign (2183–2190).
The remainder is dark; it concerns Hygelac's death, the death of his son Heardred, Beowulf's ascent to the throne, his revenge on the Swedes for Heardred's death, his reign of fifty years, and the hero's death. Very few of these latter events are shown to the reader. Instead, the poet moves rapidly to the final phase of Beowulf's kingship, its end is brought about by the attacks of a fire dragon who takes revenge for the theft of his treasure (2214–2231). Because the dragon has burned Beowulf's hall—this was also the fate of Heorot, Hrothgar's hall—the king boldly if unwisely chooses to confront the dragon himself. He makes a memorable speech on old age that resembles the sober warnings Beowulf heard from Hrothgar many years earlier (2425–2537; compare Hrothgar, 1700–1784). Beowulf's men flee the scene of his final fight; only Wiglaf, the king's last loyal retainer, remains (2599–2668), and thanks to his assistance, Beowulf kills the dragon (2669–2820). But the old hero is wounded in the fight and soon dies. Wiglaf chastises the cowardly retainers and sends Beowulf's people the sad news of the hero's death. The messenger predicts the destruction of Beowulf's kingdom, and the poem ends with praise for the dead king mixed with subtle warnings about the dangers of pride and eagerness for glory in the world (3110–3182). Beowulf was —most eager for fame,— and to some readers this ultimately implies that the hero was indeed too eager for it.
The Poet's Achievement
Beowulf is the benchmark for Anglo-Saxon heroic literature, and Beowulf himself, however unhistorical or mythical he may be, sets the standard for heroism. Readers customarily focus on the hero's fights with the monsters, three episodes that are among the poem's most suspenseful and exciting. No doubt the Anglo-Saxons who recited and heard the poem celebrated its heroism and its magnificent use of suspense, as when Grendel emerges from the moors to attack Beowulf and his men on their first night in Denmark (702–727), but there was much else to draw their interest and admiration. For example, the poem is a fascinating representation of court culture. Encounters between key figures, especially the young, untried hero and the aged, illustrious but declining Hrothgar, are distinguished by exceptional verbal dexterity. Their speeches not only demonstrate a mastery of courtly conduct but also show these men to be custodians of tribal memory: the histories of their nations and the histories of their own families are one. The poet also conveys excitement over the visual magnificence of heroic courts, describing Heorot and its ornaments in great detail.
The poet did not minimize the place of women in this poem of mighty men's deeds. The portrait of Grendel's mother is an inspiring account of blood revenge and steely determination that nearly undoes the hero—only a magic sword saves his neck. Hrothgar's queen, Wealtheow, not only circulates prominently among the warriors at celebrations—a familiar representation of the woman as social ornament, even possession—but also delivers a stern warning to her husband about the dangers of granting Beowulf, their illustrious visitor, a role in the future of the kingdom (1169–1187). During an evening of entertainment in the hall, the scop, or court poet, recounts the disastrous career of a "peace-weaver," a woman who is married by one tribe into an enemy tribe with the intention of joining their blood through her offspring and so bringing peace (1068–1160). This is Hildeburh, whose marriage ends in death and disaster; the poet hints that Hrothgar's daughter, Freawaru, will meet the same fate. Modthryth, an evil queen, is compared with Hygd, the queen of Beowulf's patron, Hygelac, in a striking contrast of behavioral types (1925–1976). Finally, a Geatish woman sings the lament for Beowulf (3150–3155).
Beowulf is a philosophical poem rather than a Christian work; the poet makes many references to God, but none to the Christian beliefs of the audience. Biblical narrative is woven into the poem through references to Cain (104–114), who is given a place in the ancestry of the poem's monsters, but these references to the Hebrew Old Testament do not give the poem anything like a "Christian coloring." Rather, the poem is an exposition of the relationship between wisdom and heroic conduct, a lesson in moderation and humility, and a warning about the transitory nature of even the most hard-won worldly glories.
Text and Tradition
Summaries of Beowulf, and all translations of the poem, invariably create the impression that the text is a smoothly integrated and continuous narrative with few if any mysteries. In fact, the poem is riven with gaps and mysteries that begin with the manuscript itself. Beowulf was copied into the Cotton manuscript by two different scribes, neither one of whom, in most scholars' views, was the author. The second scribe began at line 1939, near the end of the first section of the poem. Kevin Kiernan (1982) argued that this scribe undertook a revision designed in part to bring the poem into alignment with contemporary conditions. In pursuit of this thesis, Kiernan pioneered the use of electronic photography and digital reproduction to examine the manuscript; his edition, known as The Electronic Beowulf, reproduces the manuscript in digital form and allows readers to see much evidence that had once been invisible even to the aided eye. Kiernan estimated that about two thousand letters had disappeared from the manuscript's edges by the middle of the nineteenth century; digital imaging is a significant breakthrough in retrieving lexical information that was assumed to have been lost forever.
Physical deterioration makes it difficult to read some parts of Beowulf, but the poem is often enigmatic for other reasons, including its notoriously allusive quality. It is widely assumed that the epic was performed for aristocratic audiences who were familiar with the names of its most famous characters and the social networks associated with them. Modern readers need footnotes to identify the poem's vast list of characters and to associate them with the Danish, Geatish, and Swedish tribes of the fifth century. The poet's medieval audience, however, did not.
Communal memory and shared tribal history also explain the puzzle of one of the poet's favorite techniques, the "digression," so called because the poem frequently halts action in the present to refer to lengthy episodes of the past. These "digressions" often provide commentary on the poem's action by means of contrast. For example, the admiring portrait of Hygelac's young queen, Hygd, is developed by contrast to that of Modthryth, the haughty queen of the ancient King Offa. The digressions allow the poet to move both forward and backward in time, and invariably his reflections and recollections of figures and episodes from the past intensify the fated character of the present. It was the great insight of J. R. R. Tolkien to argue that in Beowulf the monsters are central rather than marginal to the poem's meaning; this might be said of all the poet's many digressions, each one of which examines an ethical or moral conflict from the poem's narrative present by contrast or comparison with a moment from the past.
A burst of Beowulf translations marked the millennium, the most famous being that by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney. Many older translations, including the prose version by E.Talbot Donaldson and the dual-language edition of Howell Chickering, offer better guides to the poem's language and themes. Heaney's translation attempts to reshape the poem into a commentary on the history of relations between Ireland and England. Heaney claims in his preface that the poem is "part of his voice-right" and that he was "born into its language … and its language was born into me." Employing deliberately archaic diction, Heaney attempts to reverse the nationalism that colored the early reception of Beowulf and to align the poem with a culture oppressed by the British rather than with a culture that contributed to English identity. It is a mark of the poem's power that, so many years after Beowulf first entered the public realm, it should continue to voice conflicts of interest nearly as old as the poem itself.
Allen J. Frantzen
Editions and Translations
Chickering, Howell, ed. and trans. Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition. New York, 1977. An excellent translation facing an edition of the Old English text, with superb critical commentary.
Donaldson, E.Talbot, trans. Beowulf: A New Prose Translation. London, 1967. A thoughtful, conservative prose translation.
Heaney, Seamus, trans. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. Edited by Daniel Donoghue. Norton Critical Edition. New York, 2002. Reprints Heaney's translation along with important studies of the poem.
Klaeber, Friedrich, ed. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. 3d ed. with supplements. Lexington, KY, 1953. The standard scholarly edition.
Further Reading
Bennett, Helen. "The Female Mourner at Beowulf's Funeral: Filling in the Blank/Hearing the Spaces." Exemplaria 4 (1992): pp.35–50. The female mourner seen as an editorial construction.
Bessinger, Jess B., Jr., and Robert F. Yeager, eds. Approaches to Teaching Beowulf. New York, 1984. Useful ideas for approaching the poem for students at all levels.
Bjork, Robert E., and John D. Niles. A Beowulf Handbook. Lincoln, NE, 1997. An exhaustive compilation of scholarship and traditions concerning the poem, its reception, editions, translations, and other topics.
Chambers, R. W. Beowulf: An Introduction to the Study of the Poem with a Discussion of the Stories of Offa and Finn. Cambridge, U.K., 1959. A rich contextualization of the poem's historical and mythical significance.
Damico, Helen. Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition. Madison, WI, 1984. An analysis of battle maidens in the poem and in Nordic literary traditions.
Dockray-Miller, Mary. "Beowulf's Tears of Fatherhood." Exemplaria 10 (1998): pp.1–28. A discussion of gender, age, and power that concentrates on the hero's departure from Heorot.
Hill, John M. The Cultural World in Beowulf. Toronto, 1995. A sociological and anthropological analysis of tradition in the poem.
Kiernan, Kevin S. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript. New Brunswick, NJ, 1981. A revolutionary study of the manuscript evidence.
Kiernan, Kevin S., ed. Electronic Beowulf. London and Ann Arbor, MI, 1999. State-of-the-art electronic publishing with extensive resources.
Lees, Clare A. "Men and Beowulf." In Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages, edited by Clare A. Lees, pp.129–148. Minneapolis, 1994. An analysis of patriarchy and masculinism in the poem and its critical tradition.
Lerer, Seth. Literacy and Power in Anglo-Saxon Literature. Lincoln, NE, 1991. Orality, writing, and the theory of representation in the poem.
Overing, Gillian R. Language, Sign, and Gender in Beowulf. Carbondale, IL 1990. A semiotic analysis of the poem as a death-centered world.
Tolkien, J. R. R. "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." Proceedings of the British Academy 22 (1936): pp.245–295; reprinted in An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism, edited by Lewis E. Nicholson, pp.51–103. Notre Dame, 1963. An oft-cited discussion of the poem and its structural unity and balance.
From The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature
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