beowulf

-BEOWULF LONGEST OLD ENGLISH POEM

-FOUND 1631, LIBRARY OF ROBERT COTTON

-FIRST PUBLISHED 1815

-FIRST SERIOUS LITERARY TREATMENT IN 1930s

-DOCUMENT DATES FROM @ 1000 A.D.

-POEM WRITTEN @ 700-750 A.D.

-EVENTS DESCRIBED: @600-650 A.D.

-IN OLD ENGLISH, BUT DESCRIBES SCANDINAVIA

-BROUGHT BY INVADING TRIBES

-MODIFIED BY ENGLISH

-eg. Christian references

-TRANSMISSION = INACCURACIES

-eg. impossible feats

-vague settings

-combination of folk-tales, heroic legends, and actual history

-ORAL POEM OF SEMI-NOMADIC WAR TRIBE

-PORTABLE HISTORY & CODE

-THEREFORE DIGRESSIONS

-ORAL POETRY = FORMULAIC

-OLD ENGLISH POETRY. . .

-no rhyme

-each line contains 4 stresses, in 2 units separated by a pause

-units linked by alliteration

-therefore many synonyms

-Akenning@ = concentrated metaphor

-ocean = whale road

-sword = war friend

-sun = world candle

-contrast as organizing principle

-therefore two part structure of poem

-BEO SET IN DENMARK

-BEOWULF COMES FROM SWEDEN

-to honour favour to his father

-to achieve glory

-CELEBRATION OF WARRIOR CLASS

-SEE INTRO: SHIELD

-foundling

-becomes a king

-creates wars

-l. 30 re. burial

-BURIAL PARALLELS BEOWULF=S

-INDICATES IMPORTANCE OF FAME

-STORY OF SHIELD

-1. establishes antiquity of Danes

-2. gives context B Hrothgar = Shield=s grandson

-3. gives Beowulf a context / pattern

-JUMP TO PRESENT: HROTHGAR

-HEOROT

-OUTSIDE - GRENDEL

-HERO = EPITOME OF SOCIETY

-GRENDEL = OUTCAST

-ONLY THING WORSE = BAD KING

-SERIES OF CONTRASTS

-12 YEARS OF ATTACKS

-paganism, inertia

-TO GEATLAND: ACTION

-HERO NOT NAMED UNTIL HEOROT

-DEFINED BY DEFENDING CULTURE

-UNFERTH AND BEOWULF=S BOAST

-RELATIONSHIP TO GRENDEL

-BATTLE IS PRIMITIVE; OF WILLS

BEOWULF GRENDEL

CENTRIPETAL CENTRIFUGAL

HEOROT OUTLANDS

COMMUNITY ISOLATION

BODY FRAGMENTED, DISTORTED BODY

-LITTLE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF MONSTER OR HERO

-LARGELY SYMBOLIC B MIRROR IMAGES

-G=S MOTHER ATTACKS

-defences down

-revenge as universal principle (1384-5)

-MONSTER=S ENVIRONMENT

-1362ff

-@1440

-WEAPONS USED, ABANDONED, USED

-HROTHGAR=S SPEECH

-TRANSITION: BEOWULF=S KINGLINESS

-political smarts

-loyalty

-wisdom

-BROADER STRUCTURE OF POEM:

EPHEMERALITY OF WARRIOR CULTURE

NOSTALGIC IDEAL

GREATEST VS. LAST VICTORY

DANES & GEATS

-SO, BEOWULF = LINK BETWEEN POEM PARTS

-IN BOTH, HE POSTPONES ULTIMATE TRAGEDY

-HYGELAC

-Geat equivalent of Hrothgar

-relationship with Beowulf exemplary

-DEATH REVERBERATES THROUGH POEM

-defines Beowulf

-dissolves treaty with Danes

-see treaty scene

-means decline of the Geats

-INDICATIVE OF PATTERN: DANGER CAN ONLY BE POSTPONED

-2200 TRANSITION

-BEO. = GOO D KING

-2354-2390 history

-THEN DRAGON

-history of its treasure

-belonged to an extinct people

-2238 >one left=

-2247ff vision of destruction

-DIFFERENT FROM GRENDEL

-inhuman motion (see esp. 2560-70)

-obsessive greed

-indiscriminate attacks (2310)

-BEO. DESTINED TO MEET IT

-home destroyed

-stolen cup!! (2405)

-recounts history 2425ff

-CAN=T FIGHT IN ON ITS TERMS

-COWARDICE OF FOLLOWERS (2596)

-DRAGON AS SYMBOL:

-BAD KING

-CHAOS

-MONSTER OF A DEBASED AGE

-WIGLAF AND BEO. AS EMBLEM

-2675, 2706

-NB. DESCRIPTION OF TREASURE @2755

-IRONIES OF BEO=S DEATH

-PREDICTIONS - 2910ff

-CURSE - 3052, 3070

-FUNERAL

-Geat woman=s lament

-ELEGIAC TONE OF SECOND HALF

-SYMBOLIC LOCATIONS

-HEOROT; MERE; MOUND