Beowulf is
the greatest epic poem surviving from Anglo-Saxon times. The materials
on which the poet drew are ancient: some elements derive from the Germanic “homeland”
in Scandinavia, others from folklore. Yet these ancient materials have
been transformed by a later Christian writer. The narrative of the poem
is centred on the hero Beowulf’s three great battles, against the ogre Grendel
(in the hall of Hrothgar, king of the Danes), against Grendel’s mother (underwater)
and, after a space of time, against a dragon (involving exposure to fire).
Such a bald description makes the poem sound something like a comic-strip adventure.
However, twentieth-century criticism has revealed the religious elements, elegaic
and homiletic, which underlie the poem and which are employed in a sophisticated
and highly-wrought manner. The comparison with the epics of Homer and
Virgil is a valid one.
There are numerous translations of Beowulf. That contained in
S.A.J.Bradley, Anglo-Saxon Poetry (London: Dent, 1982) is a convenient
prose version, but it is worth looking at verse-translations as well.
Recommended are those by K.Crossley-Holland (London: Macmillan, 1968), E.Morgan
(Aldington: Hand and Flower Press, 1952) and M.Alexander (Harmondsworth: Penguin,
1973), all the work of practising poets. The best editions are those by
F.Klaeber (the major scholarly edition; Lexington: Heath, 1950) and G.Jack (the
best students’ edition, but with much of interest for advanced scholars; Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1994). This passage, with a few minor modifications,
follows these editions.
The passage given below comes from early in the poem (lines 64-125).
Hrothgar, king of Denmark, has erected a great hall appropriate to his royal
dignity and expressive of the personal bonds between him and his retainers:
Heorot, whose name has usually been taken to correspond to the hart, a creature
with royal significance in ancient Germanic society. In the hall, men
drink mead; they receive gifts; they listen to hearpan sweg (harp's music).
Thus far we are reminded of the tribal societies recorded by the Roman writer
Tacitus in his Germania (for which see H.Mattingly and S.A.Hanford trans.
Tacitus: The Agricola and the Germania, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970).
But the poem to which the king and his courtiers listen nevertheless appears
to correspond in subject-matter to that in Cædmon’s Hymn (see Text
(5) above), a deeply Christian poem.
Heorot is therefore in origin a place of joy. However, there are
one or two ominous hints of evils to come, eg. hea?owylma bad ([it] awaited
hostile flames); and the swutol sang scopes (sweet song of [the] poet),
awakens the demon who lurks on the frontiers of tribal society. This semi-human
monster is called Grendel - a phonaesthetically-significant name (cf. PDE grim
grind, gruff etc.). Grendel is infuriated by the presumption of the humans,
and he attacks Heorot, carrying off thirty of Hrothgar’s retainers. The
situation is only resolved when Beowulf, a prince of the the Geatish tribe living
in what is now Southern Sweden, hears of Hrothgar’s troubles and decides to
prove his valour by destroying Grendel.
Þa wæs Hroðgare heresped gyfen,
wiges weorðmynd, þæt him his winemagas 65
georne hyrdon, oðð þæt seo geogod geweox,
magodriht micel. Him on mod be-arn,
þæt healreced hatan wolde,
medoærn micel men gewyrcean
þonne yldo bearn æfre gefrunon, 70
ond þær on innan eall gedælan
geongum ond ealdum, swylc him God sealde
buton folcscare ond feorum gumena.
Da ic wide gefrægn weorc gebannan
manigre mægþe geond þisne middangeard, 75
folcstede frætwan. Him on fyrste gelomp,
ædre mid yldum, þæt hit wearð ealgearo,
healærna mæst; scop him Heort naman
se þe his wordes geweald wide hæfde.
He beot ne aleh, beagas dælde, 80
sinc æt symle. Sele hlifade
heah ond horngeap; heaðowylma bad,
laðan liges; ne wæs hit lenge þa gen,
þæt se ecghete aþumsweoran
æfter wælniðe wæcnan scolde. 85Da se ellengæst earfoðlice
þrage geþolode, se þe in þystrum bad,
þæt he dogora gehwam dream gehyrde
hludne in healle; þær wæs hearpan sweg,
swutol sang scopes. Sægde se þe cuþe 90
frumsceaft fira feorran reccan,
cwæð þæt se Ælmihtiga eorðan worhte,
wlitebeorhtne wang, swa wæter bebugeð,
gesette sigehreþig sunnan ond monan
leoman to leohte landbuendum, 95
ond gefrætwade foldan sceatas
leomum ond leafum, lif eac gesceop
cynna gehwylcum þara ðe cwice hwyrfaþ.Swa ða drihtguman dreamum lifdon,
eadiglice, oð ðæt an ongan 100
fyrene fremman feond on helle.
Wæs se grimma gæst Grendel haten,
mære mearcstapa, se þe moras heold,
fen ond fæsten; fifelcynnes eard
wonsæli wer weardode hwile, 105
siþðan him Scyppend forscrifen hæfde
in Caines cynne. Þone cwealm gewræc
ece Drihten, þæs þe he Abel slog.
Ne gefeah he þære fæhðe, ac he hine feor forwræc,
Metod for þy mane mancynne fram. 110
Þanon untydras ealle onwocon,
eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas,
swylce gigantas, þa wið Gode wunnon
lange þrage; he him ðæs lean forgeald.Gewat ða neosian, syþðan niht becom, 115
hean huses, hu hit Hring-Dene
æfter beorþege gebun hæfdon.
Fand þa ðær inne æþelinga gedriht
swefan æfter symble; sorge ne cuðon,
wonsceaft wera. Wiht unhælo, 120
grim ond grædig, gearo sona wæs,
reoc ond reþe, ond on ræste genam
þritig þegna; þanon eft gewat
huðe hremig to ham faran,
mid þære wælfylle wica neosan. 125
(66) oðð þæt = oþ þæt
(68) hatan wolde '[he] wanted'. The subject-pronoun is often left unexpressed in verse, as here.
(79) se þe his wordes geweald wide hæfde 'he who had authority widely in his speech', ie. the power to announce law. Kings in Anglo-Saxon times exercised power directly, through the verbum regis (the word of the king).
se þe is a relative construction, marked by a combination of determiner and relative particle.(80) beot 'vow, boast'. The “heroic boast” is a frequent phenomenon in ancient Germanic literature. For a classic example, see an Old Icelandic text, the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241). In the portion of this text known as King Olaf Tryggvasson’s Saga, chapter 35, Snorri gives an account of the baroquely ingenious vows of the Jómsborg vikings. For a convenient translation of this text, see S.Laing (rev. J. Simpson), Snorri Sturluson: Heimskringla, Part I (The Olaf Sagas) (London: Dent, 1964).
(84) aþumsweoran An “irregular” dative-plural = 'between son-in-law and father-in-law'. The lines þæt se ecghete aþumsweoran/ æfter wælnide wæcnan scolde may be translated as 'that violent hatred between son-in-law and father-in-law had to arise after (ie. through) deadly enmity'. These lines refer to something treated at greater length later in the poem, future conflict between Danes and another tribe, the Heathobards - something Hrothgar had tried to halt by marrying his daughter Freawaru to Ingeld, a prince of the Heathobards.
(98) þara ðe Another example of a relative construction using determiner and relative particle.
(100) an 'one' modifies feond 'enemy' in the following line.
(106 - 7) him Scyppend forscrifen hæfde/ in Caines cynne The reference here is to the banishment of Cain and his descendants after the killing of Abel; see Genesis, chapter 4.
(109 - 110) Ne gefeah he þære fæhðe, ac he hine feor forwræc/ Metod for þy mane mancynne fram 'nor did he (ie. Cain) gain joy for that hostile act, but he, God, banished him far away from mankind because of that crime'.
(113) þa The determiner is here used in place of a relative particle.
(117) æfter beorþege 'after beer-drinking'. The ritual and social role of drinking-bouts and feasting in ancient Germanic society is well-attested; see, for instance, Tacitus, Germania, chapter 22.