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Beowulf
First page of Beowulf in Cotton Vitellius A. xv Author(s) Unknown Old English (West Saxon and Language some Anglian) Unknown, sometime between Date the 8th and 11th century Manuscript suffered damage State of existence from fire in 1731 Manuscript(s) Cotton Vitellius A. xv First printed by Thorkelin (1815) edition Genre Narrative heroic poetry Verse form Alliterative verse Length c. 3186 lines The battles of Beowulf, the Subject Geatish hero, in youth and old age Setting Denmark and Sweden Include Beowulf, Hygelac, Hrothgar, Wealhtheow, Personages Hrothulf, schere, Unferth, Grendel, Grendel's mother, Wiglaf, Hildeburh.
Beowulf ( /be.wlf/; in Old English [beowlf] or [bewlf]) is the conventional title[note 1] of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. It survives in a single manuscript known as the Nowell Codex. Its composition by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet[note 2] is dated between the 8th[1][2] and the early 11th century.[3] In 1731, the manuscript was badly damaged by a fire that swept through a building housing a collection of Medieval manuscripts assembled by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton. The poem fell into obscurity for decades, and its existence did not become widely known again until it was printed in 1815 in an edition prepared by the Icelandic scholar Grmur Jnsson Thorkelin.[4] In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the help of Hrogar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall (Heorot) has been under attack by a being known as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother attacks the hall and is then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats. After a period of fifty years has passed, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants bury him in a tumulus in Geatland.
Contents
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1 Story 1.1 Structured by battles 1.1.1 First battle: Grendel 1.1.2 Second battle: Grendel's mother 1.1.3 Third battle: The dragon o 1.2 Structured by funerals 1.2.1 First Funeral: Scyld Scefing (lines 152) 1.2.2 Second Funeral: Hildeburgs kin (lines 110724) 1.2.3 Controversial Funeral: Lay of the Last Survivor (lines 224766) 1.2.4 Third Funeral: Beowulf (lines 313782) 2 Historical background 3 Sources and analogues 4 The Beowulf manuscript o 4.1 Provenance o 4.2 Writing o 4.3 Transcription 5 Authorship and date o 5.1 Debate over oral tradition o 5.2 Dialect 6 Form and metre 7 Interpretation and criticism 8 Translations and glossaries 9 Artistic adaptations 10 Notes 11 Bibliography o 11.1 Dictionaries o 11.2 Text o 11.3 Audio o 11.4 Scholarship 12 References
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13 External links
[edit] Story
The main protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a sword, which giants once used, that Beowulf found in Grendel's mother's lair. Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon into its lair, at Earnans, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded. He is buried in a tumulus or burial mound, by the sea. Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem also begins in medias res ("into the middle of affairs") or simply, "in the middle", which is a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been an ongoing event. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages are spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds of valour.
Beowulf is challenged by a Danish coast guard, Evelyn Paul (1911). Beowulf begins with the story of King Hrogar, who constructed the great hall Heorot for his people. In it he, his wife Wealheow, and his warriors spend their time singing and celebrating, until Grendel, a troll-like monster who is pained by the singing, attacks the hall and kills and devours many of Hrogar's warriors while they sleep. But Grendel does not touch the throne of Hrogar, for it is described as protected by a powerful god. Hrogar and his people, helpless against Grendel's attacks, abandon Heorot. Beowulf, a young warrior from Geatland, hears of Hrogar's troubles and with his king's permission leaves his homeland to help Hrogar. Beowulf and his men spend the night in Heorot. Beowulf bears no weapon because this would be an "unfair advantage" over the unarmed beast. After they fall asleep, Grendel enters the hall and attacks, devouring one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf has been feigning sleep and leaps up to clench Grendel's hand. The two battle until it seems as though the hall might collapse. Beowulf's retainers draw their swords and rush to his aid, but their blades can not pierce Grendel's skin. Finally, Beowulf tears Grendel's arm from his body at the shoulder and Grendel runs to his home in the marshes to die. [edit] Second battle: Grendel's mother The next night, after celebrating Grendel's death, Hrothgar and his men sleep in Heorot. Grendel's mother, angered by the death of her son, appears and attacks the hall. She kills Hrogar's most trusted warrior, schere, in revenge for Grendel's death. Hrogar, Beowulf and their men track Grendel's mother to her lair under a lake. Beowulf prepares himself for battle; he is presented with a sword, Hrunting, by Unferth, a warrior who had doubted him and wishes to make amends. After stipulating a number of conditions to Hrogar in case of his death (including the taking in of his kinsmen and the inheritance by Unferth of Beowulf's estate), Beowulf dives into the lake. He is swiftly detected and attacked by Grendel's mother. However, she is unable to harm Beowulf through his armour and drags him to the bottom of the lake. In a cavern containing Grendel's body and the remains of men that the two have killed, Grendel's mother and Beowulf engage in fierce combat. At first, Grendel's mother appears to prevail. Beowulf, finding that Hrunting cannot harm his foe, discards it in fury. Beowulf is again saved from his opponent's attack by his armour. Then Beowulf finds a golden sword on a cabinet. With this, he beheads her. He later finds this sword is a very special sword. Once Beowulf returns to the surface the blade melts like ice and only the hilt is left. Beowulf then presents the hilt of the blade to Hrogar.)[6] Travelling further into the lair, Beowulf discovers Grendel's corpse and severs its head. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour" (l. 1600, "nn", about 3pm).[7] He returns to Heorot, where Hrogar gives Beowulf many gifts, including the sword Ngling, his family's heirloom. [edit] Third battle: The dragon
A 1908 depiction of Beowulf fighting the dragon by J. R. Skelton. Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of an unnamed dragon at Earnaness. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this display and fearing for their lives, creep back into the woods. One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great distress in seeing Beowulf's plight, comes to Beowulf's aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded. Beowulf is buried in Geatland on a cliff overlooking the sea, where sailors are able to see his tumulus. The dragon's treasure is buried with him, in accordance with Beowulf's wishes, rather than distributed to his people, and there is a curse associated with the hoard to ensure that Beowulf's wish is kept.
earthly possessions are then used to establish this dead kings greatness in respect to the treasure.[8] Scylds funeral helps the poet to elaborate on the glory of battle in a heroic society and how earthly possessions help define a persons importance. This funeral also helps the poet to develop the plot to lead into the confrontation between the protagonist, Beowulf, and the main antagonist, Grendel. [edit] Second Funeral: Hildeburgs kin (lines 110724) The second funeral in the poem is that of Hildeburgs kin and is the second fitt of this poem.[10] The funeral is sung about in Heorot as part of a lay during the feasting to mark Beowulf's victory over Grendel. The death of Hildeburgs brother Hnf, son(s) and, later, her husband Finn the Frisian king are sung about as the result of fighting in Frisia between the visiting Danish chieftain Hnf and his retainers (including one Hengest) and Finn's followers. The funeral mirrors the use of funeral offerings for the dead with extravagant possessions in Scyld's funeral.[10] Hildeburgs relatives are buried with their armour and gold to signify their importance.[8] However, the relatives funeral differs from the first as it was a cremation ceremony. Furthermore, the poet focuses on the strong emotions of those who died while in battle.[10] The gory details of heads melt[ing], gashes [springing] open...and the blood [springing] out from the bodys wounds[10] describes war as a horrifying event instead of one of glory.[8] Although the poet maintains the theme of possessions as important even in death, the glory of battle is challenged by the vicious nature of war. The second funeral displays different concepts from the first and a change of direction in the plot that leads to Beowulf's fight against Grendel's Mother. [edit] Controversial Funeral: Lay of the Last Survivor (lines 224766) "The Lay of the Last Survivor" is arguably an addition to the other three funerals in Beowulf because of the striking similarities that define the importance of the other burials.[8] The parallels that identify this passage with the other three funerals are the similar burial customs, changes in setting and plot, and changes of theme. The lament appears to be a funeral because of the Last Survivors description of burial offerings that are also found in the funerals of Scyld Scefing, Hildeburgs kin, and Beowulf.[8] The Last Survivor describes the many treasures left for the dead such as the weapons, armour and golden cups[10] that have strong parallels to Scylds well furbished ship...,bladed weapons and coats of mail,[10] Hildeburgs Kins blood-plastered coats of mail [and] boar-shaped helmets[10] and Beowulf's treasure from the dragon.[10] An additional argument towards viewing this passage as a funeral lies in the statement, tumbling hawk [and] swift horse[10] mentioned in the poem. This is an animal offering which was a burial custom during the era in which the poem takes place.[8] Moreover this passage, like the other funerals, signifies changes in setting and plot. [8] One can also argue that it is the 3rd part to the poem since it describes the settings during the time lapse for the final battle between Beowulf and the Dragon. The poet also describes death in battle as horrifying, a concept continued from the second part of the poem, through the Last Survivors eyes.[8] [edit] Third Funeral: Beowulf (lines 313782)
The barrow of Skalunda, a barrow that was identified by the archaeologist Birger Nerman as Beowulf's burial mound.[11]
The fourth and final funeral of the poem is Beowulf's funeral. During the final battle against the dragon, Beowulf receives fatal wounds and dies. The greatness of Beowulf's life is demonstrated through this funeral, particularly through the many offerings of his people.[8] "Weohstan's son (pause) commanded it be announced to many men (pause) that they should fetch from afar wood for the pyre."[10] for their leader's funeral. The dragon's remains are thrown into the sea, a parallel to Scyld's burial in his ship. Beowulf's funeral is the fourth fitt of the poem and acts as an epilogue for the hero who is the "most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame."[10]
Approximate central regions of tribes mentioned in Beowulf with the location of the Angles. See Scandza for details of Scandinavia's political fragmentation in the 6th century. The events described in the poem take place in the late 5th century, after the Anglo-Saxons had begun migration and settlement in England, and before the beginning of the 7th century, a time when the Saxons were either newly arrived or in close contact with their fellow Germanic kinsmen in Scandinavia and Northern Germany. The poem could have been transmitted in England by people of Geatish origins.[12] It has been suggested that Beowulf was first composed in the 7th century at Rendlesham in East Anglia, as Sutton Hoo also shows close connections with Scandinavia, and also that the East Anglian royal dynasty, the Wuffings, were descendants of the Geatish Wulfings.[13][14] Others have associated this poem with the court of King Alfred, or with the court of King Canute.
[3]
Ohthere's mound The poem deals with legends, was composed for entertainment, and does not separate between fictional elements and real historic events, such as the raid by King Hygelac into Frisia. Scholars generally agree that many of the personalities of Beowulf also appear in Scandinavian sources (specific works designated in the following section). [15] This does not only concern people (e.g., Healfdene, Hrogar, Halga, Hroulf, Eadgils and Ohthere), but also clans (e.g., Scyldings, Scylfings and Wulfings) and some of the events (e.g., the Battle on the Ice of Lake Vnern). The dating of the events in the poem has been confirmed by archaeological excavations of the barrows indicated
by Snorri Sturluson and by Swedish tradition as the graves of Ohthere (dated to c. 530) and his son Eadgils (dated to c. 575) in Uppland, Sweden.[16][17][18] In Denmark, recent archaeological excavations at Lejre, where Scandinavian tradition located the seat of the Scyldings, i.e., Heorot, have revealed that a hall was built in the mid-6th century, exactly the time period of Beowulf.[19] Three halls, each about 50 metres long, were found during the excavation.[19]
Finds from Eadgils' mound, left, excavated in 1874 at Uppsala In Sweden supported Beowulf and the sagas. Ongeneow's barrow, right, has not been excavated.[16][17] The majority view appears to be that people such as King Hrogar and the Scyldings in Beowulf are based on real people in 6th-century Scandinavia.[20] Like the Finnsburg Fragment and several shorter surviving poems, Beowulf has consequently been used as a source of information about Scandinavian personalities such as Eadgils and Hygelac, and about continental Germanic personalities such as Offa, king of the continental Angles. 19th-century archeological evidence may confirm elements of the Beowulf story. Eadgils was buried at Uppsala, according to Snorri Sturluson. When Eadgils' mound (to the left in the photo) was excavated in 1874, the finds supported Beowulf and the sagas. They showed that a powerful man was buried in a large barrow, c 575, on a bear skin with two dogs and rich grave offerings. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a tafl game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a costly buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. This would have been a burial fitting a king who was famous for his wealth in Old Norse sources. Ongeneow's barrow (to the right in the photo) has not been excavated.[16][17]
which a hero enters a cave and kills two giants, usually of different sexes." Both Grettis saga and Beowulf fit this folktale type.[21] Scholars who favored Irish parallels directly spoke out against pro-Scandinavian theories, citing them as unjustified. Wilhelm Grimm is noted to be the first person to ever link Beowulf with Irish folklore. Max Deutschbein is noted as the first person to present the argument in academic form. He suggested the Irish Feast of Bricriu as a source for Beowulfa theory that was soon denied by Oscar Olson. Swedish folklorist Carl Wilhelm Von Sydow argued against both Scandinavian translation and source material due to his theory that Beowulf is fundamentally Christian and written at a time when any Norse tale would have most likely been pagan in nature.
[21]
In the late 1920s, Heinzer Dehmer suggested Beowulf as contextually based in the folktale type The Hand and the Child, due to the motif of the monstrous arma motif that distances Grettis saga and Beowulf and further aligns Beowulf with Irish parallelism. James Carney and Martin Puhvel also agree with this Hand and the Child contextualisation. Carney also ties Beowulf to Irish literature through the Tin B Frech story. Puhvel supported the Hand and the Child theory through such motifs as the more powerful giant mother, the mysterious light in the cave, the melting of the sword in blood, the phenomenon of battle rage, swimming prowess, combat with water monsters, underwater adventures, and the bear-hug style of wrestling.[21] Attempts to find classical or Late Latin influence or analogue in Beowulf are almost exclusively linked with Homer's Odyssey or Virgil's Aeneid. In 1926, Albert S. Cook suggested a Homeric connection due to equivalent formulas, metonymies, and analogous voyages. James A. Work's essay, Odyssean Influence on the Beowulf, also supported the Homeric influence. He stated that encounter between Beowulf and Unferth was parallel to the encounter between Odysseus and Euryalus in Books 78 of the Odyssey even to the point of them both giving the hero the same gift of a sword upon being proven wrong in their initial assessment of the hero's prowess. This theory of Homer's influence on Beowulf remained very prevalent in the 1920s, but started to die out in the following decade when a handful of critics stated that the two works were merely comparative literature[21] although Greek was known in contemporary England. Bede states that Theodore, a Greek, was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 668, and he taught Greek. Several English scholars and churchmen are described by Bede as being fluent in Greek due to being taught by him. Bede claims to be fluent in Greek himself.[22] At this time, Homer's poems were used as textbooks for the study of Greek. Friedrich Klaeber somewhat led the attempt to connect Beowulf and Virgil near the start of the 20th century, claiming that the very act of writing a secular epic in a Germanic world is contingent on Virgil. Virgil was seen as the pinnacle of Latin literature, and Latin was the dominant literary language of England at the time, therefore making Virgilian influence highly likely.[23] Similarly, in 1971, Alistair Campbell stated that the apologue technique used in Beowulf is so infrequent in the epic tradition aside from when Virgil uses it that the poet who composed Beowulf could not have written the poem in such a manner without first coming across Virgil's writings.[21] A large number of similarities in episodes, themes, and description in the two epics have been identified. Some specific examples of these are things such as:
The reception of Beowulf by the coast guard with drawn spear and a challenge but the situation is quickly smoothed over by an explanation of why the ship has arrived parallels Aeneas' landing and very similar reception with drawn spear by Pallas in book VIII of the Aeneid. The court bard in both epics sings of the creation of the world. A human like giant, a Cyclops in the Aeneid book III, Grendel in Beowulf, coming into a hall every day to eat members of the hero's crew. Hercules (Aeneid book VIII) following a trail to the giant Cacus' cave where he wrestles with him and kills him parallels Beowulf following a trail to Grendel's mother's cave where he wrestles with and kills her. The scene in the forest of the hero shooting a "huge" beast with his bow and arrow while his men watch, and the men retrieve the body - a deer in the Aeneid, and a sea snake in Beowulf. The commissioning of a special metallic shield to fight Turnus in the Aeneid and the dragon in Beowulf.
The hero's sword shattering in his final battle before he is killed, at the end of the poem - Turnus' in the Aeneid and Beowulf's in Beowulf. The following of a deer leading to a critical encounter with the enemy. Youths riding around on horses at the funeral of a great man - Anchises and Pallas in the Aeneid and Beowulf in Beowulf. A woman predicting the fall and destruction of the nation by invaders - Cassandra in book II of the Aeneid and "A Geatish Woman" in Beowulf.
The division of both poems into two distinct phases - a first half Odyssean phase of wandering and adventuring in a different land and a second half Iliadic phase upon taking leadership in a new kingdom and fighting a terrible enemy there. Beowulf's landing, an awkward reception at first, and stay at Heorot, being begged to stay there to fight king Hrothgar's enemies paralleling Aeneas' landing and stay at Carthage, again, awkward at first, including being begged to stay there to fight the queen's enemies, but the hero decides to leave in spite of being promised great wealth and privilege. The hero works for and under another king for half the epic. In Beowulf, Hrothgar. In the Aeneid, king Latinus.[23]
Whether seen as a pagan work with Christian coloring added by scribes or as a Christian historical novel, with selected bits of paganism deliberately laid on as 'local color', as Margaret E. Goldsmith did in The Christian Theme of Beowulf,[24] it cannot be denied that Christianity pervades the text, and with that, the use of the Bible as a source. Beowulf channels Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel[21] in its inclusion of references to God's creation of the universe, the story of Cain, Noah and the flood, devils or the Devil, Hell, and the Last Judgement.[24] The Bible can fall into both the category of ecclesiastical sources and also this category, as the Beowulf poet would have relied on Old English translations.
Beowulf survives in a single manuscript dated on paleographical grounds to the late tenth or early eleventh century. The manuscript measures 195 x 130 mm.
[edit] Provenance
The earliest known owner of the Beowulf manuscript is the 16th-century scholar Laurence Nowell, after whom the manuscript is named, though its official designation is British Library, Cotton Vitellius A.XV because it was one of Robert Bruce Cotton's holdings in the Cotton Library in the middle of the 17th century. Kevin Kiernan argues that Nowell most likely acquired it through William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, in 1563, when Nowell entered Cecils household as a tutor to his ward, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.[3] It suffered damage in the Cotton Library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731. Since then, parts of the manuscript have crumbled along with many of the letters. Rebinding efforts, though saving the manuscript from much degeneration, have nonetheless covered up other letters of the poem, causing further loss. Kevin Kiernan, professor of English at the University of Kentucky, is foremost in the computer digitalisation and preservation of the manuscript (the Electronic Beowulf Project[25]), using fibre-optic backlighting to further reveal lost letters of the poem. The poem is known only from this single manuscript, which is estimated to date from close to AD 1000. Kiernan has argued from an examination of the manuscript that it was the author's own working copy. He dated the work to the reign of Canute the Great.[3] The poem appears in what is today called the Beowulf manuscript or Nowell Codex (British Library MS Cotton Vitellius A.xv), along with other works. The earliest extant reference to the first foliation of the Nowell Codex was made sometime between 1628 and 1650 by Franciscus Junius (the younger).[3] The owner of the codex before Nowell remains a mystery.[3] Reverend Thomas Smith and Humfrey Wanley undertook the task of cataloguing the Cotton library, in which the Nowell Codex was held. Smiths catalogue appeared in 1696, and Humfreys in 1705.[26] The Beowulf manuscript itself is mentioned in name for the first time in a letter in 1700 between George Hickes, Wanleys assistant, and Wanley. In the letter to Wanley, Hickes responds to an apparent charge against Smith, made by Wanley, that Smith had failed to mention the Beowulf script when cataloguing Cotton MS. Vitellius A. XV. Hickes replies to Wanley "I can find nothing yet of Beowulph."[26] It has been theorised that Smith failed to mention the Beowulf manuscript because of his reliance on previous catalogues or because either he had no idea how to describe it or because it was temporarily out of the codex.[26]
[edit] Writing
The Beowulf manuscript was transcribed from an original by two scribes, one of whom wrote the first 1939 lines and a second who wrote the remainder, so the poem up to line 1939 is in one handwriting, whilst the rest of the poem is in another.[3] The script of the second scribe is archaic.[3] Both scribes proofread their work down to even the most minute error. The second scribe slaved over the poem for many years "with great reverence and care to restoration".[3] The first scribe's revisions can be broken down into three categories "the removal of dittographic material; the restoration of material that was inadvertently omitted or was about to be omitted; and the conversion of legitimate, but contextually incorrect words to the contextually proper words. These three categories provide the most compelling evidence that the scribe was generally attentive to his work while he was copying, and that he later subjected his work to careful proofreading." The work of the second scribe bears a striking resemblance to the work of the first scribe of the Blickling homilies, and so much so that it is believed they derive from the same scriptorium.[3] From knowledge of books held in the library at Malmesbury Abbey and available as source works, and from the identification of certain words particular to the local dialect found in the text, the transcription may have been made there.[27] However, for at least a century, some scholars have maintained that the description of Grendels lake in Beowulf was borrowed from St. Pauls vision of Hell in Homily 16 of the Blickling homilies.[3] Most intriguing in the many versions of the Beowulf FS is the transcription of alliterative verse. From the first
scribe's edits, emenders such as Klaeber were forced to alter words for the sake of the poem. "The lack of alliteration in line 1981 forced Klaeber in his edition, for example, to change side (the scribe's correction) to heal. The latter scribe revealed not only astute mechanical editing, but also unbridled nourishment of the physical manuscript itself.".[28] Over the years Beowulf scholars have put the work of the scribes under intense scrutiny, many debate whether the scribes even held a copy as some believe they worked solely from oral dictation. Men such as Benjamin Thorpe saw many errors in rhetoric and diction, implying that the transcribing made little to no sense. Most intriguing however becomes the abhorrence of the first scribe's mechanical editing. This reveals the strength of Beowulf's oral history as poetic flow were prioritised over dialect/ grammatical coherency.[28]
[edit] Transcription
Icelandic scholar Grmur Jnsson Thorkelin made the first transcriptions of the manuscript in 1786 and published the results in 1815, working under a historical research commission of the Danish government. He made one himself, and had another done by a professional copyist who knew no Anglo-Saxon. Since that time, the manuscript has crumbled further, and the Thorkelin transcripts remain a prized secondary source for Beowulf scholars. The recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to these transcripts. Their accuracy has been called into question, however (e.g., by Chauncey Brewster Tinker in The Translations of Beowulf,[29] a comprehensive survey of 19th-century translations and editions of Beowulf), and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin's time is unclear.
written as a celebration of the king's heroic royal ancestors, perhaps intended as a form of artistic flattery by one of his English courtiers. A suggestion made by John Mitchell Kemble (1849) and defended by Jching (1976) puts a terminus post quem of the early 9th century on the Finnesburg episode at least. Kemble identifies the character of Hnf son of Hoc with the historical Alamannic nobleman Hnabi son of Huoching (d. ca. 788), worked into the earlier episode set in Frisia around AD 800 at the earliest.[33] The 11th century date is due to scholars who argue that, rather than transcription of the tale from the oral tradition by a literate monk, Beowulf reflects an original interpretation of the story by the poet.[1][34]
the "arming the hero",[39] or the particularly well-studied "hero on the beach" theme[40]) do exist across AngloSaxon and other Germanic works, some scholars conclude that Anglo-Saxon poetry is a mix of oral-formulaic and literate patterns, arguing that the poems both were composed on a word-by-word basis and followed larger formulae and patterns.[41] Larry Benson argued that the interpretation of Beowulf as an entirely formulaic work diminishes the ability of the reader to analyze the poem in a unified manner, and with due attention to the poets creativity. Instead, he proposed that other pieces of Germanic literature contain "kernels of tradition" from which Beowulf borrows and expands upon.[42][43] A few years later, Ann Watts published a book in which she argued against the imperfect application of traditional, Homeric, oral-formulaic theory to Anglo-Saxon poetry. She also argued that the two traditions are not comparable and should not be regarded as such.[43][44] Thomas Gardner agreed with Watts, in a paper published four years later which argued that the Beowulf text is of too varied a nature to be completely constructed from formulae and themes.[43][45] John Miles Foley held, specifically with reference to the Beowulf debate,[46] that while comparative work was both necessary and valid, it must be conducted with a view to the particularities of a given tradition; Foley argued with a view to developments of oral traditional theory that do not assume, or depend upon, finally unverifiable assumptions about composition, and that discard the oral/literate dichotomy focused on composition in favor of a more fluid continuum of traditionality and textuality.[47][48][49][50] Finally, in the view of Ursula Schaefer, the question of whether the poem was "oral" or "literate" becomes something of a red herring.[51] In this model, the poem is created, and is interpretable, within both noetic horizons. Schaefers concept of "vocality" offers neither a compromise nor a synthesis of the views which see the poem as on the one hand Germanic, pagan, and oral and on the other Latin-derived, Christian, and literate, but, as stated by Monika Otter: "...a 'tertium quid', a modality that participates in both oral and literate culture yet also has a logic and aesthetic of its own."[52]
[edit] Dialect
The poem mixes the West Saxon and Anglian dialects of Old English, though it predominantly uses West Saxon, as do other Old English poems copied at the time.[citation needed] There is a wide array of linguistic forms in the Beowulf manuscript. It is this fact that leads some scholars to believe that Beowulf has endured a long and complicated transmission through all the main dialect areas.[3] The
poem retains a complicated mix of the following dialectical forms: Mercian, Northumbrian, Early West Saxon, Kentish and Late West Saxon.[3] Kiernan argues that it is virtually impossible that there could have been a process of transmission which could have sustained the complicated mix of forms from dialect to dialect, from generation to generation, and from scribe to scribe.[3] Kiernans argument against an early dating based on a mixture of forms is long and involved, but he concludes that the mixture of forms points to a comparatively straightforward history of the written text as: ... an 11th-century MS; an 11th-century Mercian poet using an archaic poetic dialect; and 11th-century standard literary dialect that contained early and late, cross-dialectical forms, and admitted spelling variations; and (perhaps) two 11th-century scribes following slightly different spelling practices.[3] According to this view, Beowulf can largely be seen to be the product of antiquarian interests and that it tells readers more about "an 11th-century Anglo-Saxons notions about Denmark, and its pre-history, than it does about the age of Bede and a 7th- or 8th-century Anglo-Saxons notions about his ancestors homeland."[3] There are in Beowulf rather more than thirty-one hundred distinct words, and almost thirteen hundred occur exclusively, or almost exclusively, in this poem and in the other poetical texts. Considerably more than one-third of the total vocabulary is alien from ordinary prose use. There are in round numbers three hundred and sixty uncompounded verbs in Beowulf, and forty of them are poetical words in the sense that they are unrecorded or rare in the existing prose writings. One hundred and fifty more occur with the prefix ge-(reckoning a few found only in the pastparticiple), but of these one hundred occur also as simple verbs, and the prefix is employed to render a shade of meaning which was perfectly known and thoroughly familiar except in the latest Anglo-Saxon period. The nouns number sixteen hundred. Seven hundred of them, including those formed with prefixes, of which fifty (or considerably more than half) have ge-, are simple nouns. at the highest reckoning not more than one-fourth is absent in prose. That this is due in some degree to accident is clear from the character of the words, and from the fact that several reappear and are common after the Norman Conquest.[53]
road" or the "whale-road"; a king might be called a "ring-giver." There are many kennings in Beowulf, and the device is typical of much of classic poetry in Old English, which is heavily formulaic. The poem also makes extensive use of elided metaphors.[54] J. R. R. Tolkien argued that the poem is an elegy.[1]
pagan times, and none of the characters is demonstrably Christian. In fact, when we are told what anyone in the poem believes, we learn that they are pagans. Beowulfs own beliefs are not expressed explicitly. He offers eloquent prayers to a higher power, addressing himself to the Father Almighty or the Wielder of All. Were those the prayers of a pagan who used phrases the Christians subsequently appropriated? Or, did the poems author intend to see Beowulf as a Christian Ur-hero, symbolically refulgent with Christian virtues?[60] Writer E. Talbot Donaldson seemed extremely certain in his criticism of the poem, focusing on the exact age and locational elements that surrounded the poem itself. He claimed that it was probably composed more than twelve hundred years ago during the first half of the eighth century. Donaldson also believes the writer to be a native of what was then West Mercia, located in the Western Midlands of England. However, the late tenth century manuscript "which alone preserves the poem" originated in the kingdom of the West Saxons as it is more commonly known.[61] As a result of the 1731 fire that seriously damaged the manuscript, Donaldson claims that several lines and words have been lost from the poem. Concerning language, Donaldson argues that the reason as to why Beowulf is difficult to connect with is because there have been numerous transcriptions starting from the poem's composition up until it was copied into manuscript form. Even though there have been many debates about whether there are Christian entities present within the poem, Donaldson is certain that "the poet who put the materials into their present form was a Christian and...poem reflects a Christian tradition".[61] He points out the use of God and his recognised will as well as describing Grendel as a descendant of Cain. He also mentions the inclusion of Heaven and Hell in the poem as the dead await God's judgement while the damned such as Grendel and his mother are to be thrust into the flames of Hell. J.R.R. Tolkien, author and Merton professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, criticised his contemporaries' own literary criticism of the poem as being confused by their interest in its historical implications.[1] He noted that as a result the poem had mostly been overlooked as a literary benchmark until his 1936 criticism Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics suggested that the poems nature is in fact so interesting as poetry, in places poetry so powerful, that this quite overshadows the historical content[1]